Bruschetta in Bern

The weather forecast today called for light rain. That was ok with us, as we were looking forward to a relaxing day at home anyway. After a morning run, we went to the store and picked up the ingredients for bruschetta -- bread, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and fresh basil. It is a pretty easy recipe. We used our new grill to toast the bread, rubbed it with garlic, diced up the basil and tomatoes, drizzled it with a little olive oil, and...viola. Delicious!

We sat out under the canopy on our balcony and enjoyed the fruits of our labor. It looked so nice even Chelsea came out to join us. Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, Pam noticed a rainbow over the Aare River. It was a great ending to a nice, relaxing day. Here are some pictures.

Happy Birthday, Mich!!!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday dear Michelle, happy birthday to you!!!

Hope you have a wonderful day.  ENJOY!!!

Smoke on the Water

We finally made a day trip to Montreux today. I say finally because every time we considered a trip to Montreux it seemed like bad weather would thwart our plans. Montreux is a resort town located along the southeast corner of Lake Geneva (a.k.a. Lac Leman). It is considered the "jewel of the Swiss Riviera," according to our guidebook, and is best known for its annual Jazz festival in July. In fact, when Frank Zappa played at the festival in 1971, a rocket flare from the show set off a fire at the Montreux casino and cast a pall of smoke over Lake Geneva. The scene inspired Deep Purple to write the famous rock classic, Smoke on the Water. Montreux was also the second home of Freddie Mercury, who died there in 1991.

But we didn't go to Montreux for the music (this time). No, we went to check out the Chateu de Chillon. Chillon is one of Switzerland's most recognizable sights, right up there with the Matterhorn. The stunningly picturesque castle is set on a rocky island a short walk south along the coast from Montreux. We purchased the audio guide tour and spent two hours exploring, visiting just about every tower and medieval chamber the place had to offer. We learned the dungeon was once used as a prison. The most famous prisoner was Francois de Bonivard, who spent six lonely years in captivity chained to one of the columns. The story was immortalized by Lord Byron in his famous poem 'The Prisoner of Chillon" in 1816. Legend has it that Byron was so moved by his visit to Chillon that he actually carved his name into the column to which de Bonivard was chained. Not sure if that is true, but I took a picture of the graffiti just in case.  Pam also took a picture of me imagining myself as poor Francois.

Anyway, after our tour of Chateu de Chillon, we took the short ferry ride back to Montreux for dinner. Montreux is a beautiful city built into the steep hillside along the waterfront, with wonderful views across the lake of Savoy (France) and the Alps. We enjoyed a short, relaxing walk along the shore after dinner and then caught the 8:30PM train back to Bern. All in all, Montreux was definitely worth the wait.  Here are some pictures from our day in Montreux/Chillon.

Tourist Attraction

Today we went to the Bundesplatz in Bern's Old Town, where they have an outdoor market every Tuesday and Saturday morning. We picked out some flowers and potted plants for our balcony, then headed to the store to buy an outdoor grill. It was a great day for a BBQ!

After much debate, we finally decided on the deluxe Elektrogrill 4071 -- 1500W of pure grilling power for the ultimate outdoor barbecuing experience! Unfortunately, amid all the excitement, I didn't give much consideration to how I was going to get the 100 lb. box back home. I ended up dragging the @%$& thing right down Marketgasse (past all the gawking tourists). I'm sure there's an unflattering picture out there of me heaving and dripping with sweat on someone else's blog by now. Nice.

Anyway, I finally got the grill home and fired it up. Well, technically there was no fire...but you know what I mean. It was delicious all the same. We ate hamburgers and sausages, with rice and corn on the side. Afterward, I enjoyed a nice cigar while Chelsea proceeded to destroy our new flowers. :) It was a great day. Here are some pictures.

It's a wrap...

(Pam) Today was my last day in German class. Overall, it was worthwhile. I am satisfied with how I did, since I had no exposure to the language before (besides the standard "Guten Tag" and "Gute Nacht"). Now, menus and ordering are much easier. I also don't have to hold up my fingers to say how many products I need when I am buying anything. Although, some pronunciations like "zwei" for the number 2 is still a challenge. I also met a few people -- like Carmin and Tony.  Carmin invited me to her son's birthday part next Friday.  At the end, there were only four others left in the class. The rest were much more advanced and departed for the next level. 

I do plan to take the next level so I can be somewhat conversational but, I am taking a few weeks off to relax after such a strenuous class! Actually, I plan to use the next couple weeks to search for some volunteer work. There are not many charitable organizations in Bern as the government takes care of this. 

Ballenberg

We woke up Sunday morning in Interlaken and gazed at the fog hanging over the nearby Jungfrau mountain. The cloud plumes made it look as if the mountain was burning. The weather was starting to clear, so Pam and I decided to visit Ballenberg (a coworker had recommended it to me). We took the train from Interlaken to Brienz, then a bus to Ballenberg.

Ballenberg is a so called "open air museum" where there are over 100 centuries-old houses from almost every region in Switzerland. It kind of reminded me of Sturbridge Village. We walked around looking at demonstrations of old Swiss handicrats and trades: from a historical pharmacy and sausage smoking to wood-carving and basket-weaving. There was also a pottery exhibit. See video. We didn't actually see the wine making exhibit, but we certainly enjoyed the final product at one of the outdoor cafes.

We were having a great time. But the weather was starting to turn, so we decided to head back to Bern a little early. All in all, it was another great weekend.

Interlaken

The entire country of Switzerland seemed to have rain in the forecast this weekend. But that didn't deter us from planning a weekend trip. We decided to take care of some unfinished business: Interlaken. In hindsight, probably not the best weekend for it. Interlaken is best known for its many outdoor activities -- hiking, river rafting, canyon-jumping, ice-climbing, sky diving, etc. -- so visiting on a rainy, foggy weekend really limited our options.

As a regional gateway, Interlaken itself possess few attractions. But we made the best of it. We had some great views from our hotel room balcony, and enjoyed a nice fondue dinner Saturday night at a beautiful little restaurant overlooking the Aare River (same river that flows through Bern). We also walked down the city's main promenade, the Hoheweg, and stopped by the ritzy Grand Hotel Vitctoria-Jungrau (rooms start at $600 per night) to inquire about a massage at their world famous spa. Turns out the spa treatments cost a lot too! Here are some pictures of Interlaken.