Soirée Raclette

Raclette is a Swiss tradition (also seen in the Savoyard region of France) where cheese is melted under a grill or on a heated metal plate. The melted cheese is then scraped off onto a plate and served with boiled new potatoes. While my description doesn't sound terribly appetizing, hopefully the pictures will appeal. Raclette is a special type of cheese and the entire meal is delicious. Often served along with regional dried meats, gherkins, pickled onions, pickled courgettes, and bread, the cheese and potatoes are a great combination!

The Raclette at the beginning of the evening.

The Raclette at the end of the evening
(keeping in mind there were only about a dozen of us eating!!!)

This particular evening was at the restaurant in Champoussin. One server was responsible for melting the cheese while the other server delivered the cheese, plate by plate, as much as you could eat, and made sure that everyone had drinks, bread, and anything else they needed.

Switzerland, part 3

Le lac Lehman / Lake Geneva

Switzerland, part 2

The chapel in Champoussin. Inside, above and behind the platform is a wall of windows, so looking out during a service, you would see the mountains and be able to reflect on God's handiwork.

Goat cheese, anyone?

Les Dents du Midi - seen from Champoussin (and out my front window!)

Switzerland

Champoussin - the resort.

My apartment is the window on the far left, above the grocery store (the first level in the wood portion of the chalet).

The mountains as seen from the road in front of the resort.

Surviving the flood . . .

The song by Jars of Clay comes to mind: If I can't swim after 40 days . . .

It's been raining in Switzerland for three days. The worst of it is west of where I've been, thankfully, but I'm feeling a little waterlogged nonetheless!

Being up on the mountain when the rain came in was very cool - the clouds seemed to rise to cover us and we could stand in them! Very cool.

I'm back in the train station in Geneva waiting for my train back to France. With about two hours between arrival and departure, I'd decided to go explore a little . . . got about two blocks from the train station and the deluge started again. Ok, deluge is a little strong, but walking around in the rain when I've got limited time as it is - not my idea of fun.

Tuesday was a relaxation day for me and it turned out to be a good choice as the rains came in and made doing just about anything else unimaginable! I spent the day writing postcards, watching TV, and napping. In the evening, the restaurant had a raclette evening. What a great way to end the day. I ate with a couple from New Zealand I had met the day before. Raclette is a Swiss tradition where a massive round of cheese is put beneath a heating element. As the top layer of cheese starts to melt, it is scraped off onto a plate and then served. There was one guy taking care of the raclette and another serving. Tables were given a basket of boiled new potatoes, a plate of dried meats, bowls of gherkins, pickled onions, and pickled courgettes, and a basket of bread. When the cheese was delivered, you took a new potato and ate the two together - was it ever delicious! As you finished, your plate was wisked away and more cheese was scraped onto it. After the main course, we were given a bowl of rum and raisin (quite strong!) ice cream with chantilly.

Yesterday I went on an RCI trip to Gruyères and then to Broc. Gruyères you may recognize as the hometown of the cheese typically used in Fondue. We had the opportunity to see how cheese is made in a little restaurant / fromagerie. After the demonstration, we got to try a cheese fondue and three types of cheese typical of the region. We also explored the château de Gruyère.

The best part, though, was Broc. The name may not mean much to you, but Nestlé probably does! Broc is the hometown of Nestlé chocolate and in particular the Cailler brand only available in Switzerland. Two words: free samples!! Four more words; All you can eat! What more can a girl want? Oh, right, a discount store where chocolate is more than half the cost in the regular stores!!!!! Woohoo!!

Happy trails! Beaux chemins!

Champoussin, Switzerland

Champoussin is a little village high on a mountain (foothill?) in the Swiss Alps. From the window of my apartment (thanks Mom and Dad and RCI!!!) my main view is the Dents du Midi range - a range of the Alps that ressemble teeth (hence the name).

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous - sunny and hot, cool in the evenings.

I arrived here on Thursday. Getting to Champoussin from Geneva was an experience in itself. From Geneva, I took a CFF (national) train to Aigle. In Aigle, I got on a little 2 car regional train. This train (AOMC) works a little like a bus - you must request your stop - except that the upcoming stops are not announced or even posted. This train climbs the mountain using a cog rail system as the climbs are very, very steep at times. Amazing views of the valley and of the mountains. Thankfully the controlleur on the train found someone else getting off at Val d'Illiez and pointed them out to me so that I could tell when to get off. In Val d'Illiez, the bus up to Champoussin was waiting for the train's arrival. The bus climbed up and down and around the switchbacks leading up to Champoussin.

The village itself is quite small but very charming. There is a small grocery store connected to a small restaurant.

My apartment is above the grocery store (thankfully I didn't have to haul my suitcase up another hill to get to my unit!). After exploring the apartment (which is larger than I expected - could hold up to 5 people comfortably), I had dinner down in the restaurant, called Le Caveau. I had a fondue with potatoes and bread - yummy!

The grocery store offers just about everything you could want, including souvenirs and fresh-from-the-oven bread - so fresh that I saw the cashier take the bread from the oven. I'm not sure I should call him the cashier as he also works at the restaurant!

On Saturday I got up early and took the first bus out of Champoussin (there are 3 buses to Champoussin and 3 from Champoussin each day). From Champoussin I travelled to Monthey and on to Martigny where I caught the Mont Blanc Express. The Mont Blanc Express is another cograil that climbs over the Alps and down to Chamonix, France. Again, absolutely breathtaking views and the steepness of the track was crazy at times.

Descending from the train in Chamonix, the first thing I saw was a sky filled with hang-gliders floating down from the mountain top. Turning around, I saw Mont Blanc towering over the town.

Chamonix was an incredible town - despite being absolutely jam-packed with tourists. I took two cable cars up to the top of l'Aiguille du Midi mountain peak and then another over to Helbrunner, Italy. There were people camped out on the snow, others were hiking the glacier, and others were rockclimbing at incredible heights.

I returned to Champoussin the next day and spent some time relaxing and journalling. I then climbed (walked) up to the top of the mountain (about 20 - 30 minutes) where there is a chèvrerie (a goat cheese factory) where you could taste several cheeses and see the goats that produced the milk. There's also a restaurant where I had a slice of pie and listened to the live music. The first group was an oompah style band - you've never heard "Achy Breaky Heart" until you've heard it performed by an oompah band! Next up was a men's choir in traditional costumes from La Gruyère - absolutely amazing voices.

Today I took a trip with RCI over to Montreux. After crossing Lake Geneva on a paddleboat, I wandered around the town with a couple from New Zealand. We ate lunch at a brasserie on a porch overlooking Lake Geneva. The view was as good as the food! I had a rösti paysan - like a large hashbrown with bacon and fried onions on top, served in the frying pan it is cooked in.

After Montreux (beside some beautiful views and a statue of Freddy Mercury, Montreux doesn't have a lot to offer), we headed over to the Château de Chillon. This château is amazing - one of the best I've seen. Lord Byron wrote a poem about a prisoner who was kept here for years (The Prisoner of Chillon) and even carved his name in one of the pillars in the dungeon. Very cool.

No pics this time - the computer is too old and won't recognize my card reader. Maybe when I'm waiting in the Geneva train station on Thursday!

Happy trails!

Travelling

The St. Denis Basilica was breathtaking!! I'd never been there before. The tombs and memorials to the different kings and queens of France were incredible. Perhaps more incredible was that these all survived the Revolution and that they made a tomb / memorial (not sure which) to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette after the Revolution!!!

Got up early to try and beat the hords at the Eiffel Tower - but not early enough. It took over two hours from the moment I joined the line to the moment I stepped off the elevator at the highest floor. However, the view was worth it.

Spent some more time sitting by the Seine yesterday, this time across from Notre-Dame. Paris in August, at least this August, is beautiful. The weather has been perfect - warm but not overly hot and beautiful sunshine every day.

The bridge closest to Notre-Dame was closed as they were filming a musical - fun to watch it all.

Climbed the towers of Notre-Dame again, trying to get some good shots of the gargoyles for my grade eleven students who read Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre Dame). The stairs are absolutely killer!! By the time you set foot on terra firma, your legs are shaking and continue shaking for quite a while.

The view of the Cathedral from the tops of the belltowers is incredible - it's hard to believe the effort the masons put into the gargoyles and all the detail on areas of the cathedral that can't be seen anywhere but from the belltowers. Amazing! And, again, great views of Paris.

Got some of my favourite treats from the grocery store and called it a fairly early evening as I needed to get up early to get to the train station. Three metro / RER changes later, with my heavy suitcase and backpack, I finally got the the Gare de Lyon. I sat next to a lady from Paris who is also a language teacher and had the opportunity to converse with her on many topics: since speaking French was the main reason (ok, one of the main reasons!) for this trip, it worked out great.

I'm sitting in an internet café at the Geneva train station, waiting for my train to take me on the next stage of this journey. A week in the Swiss Alps should be relaxing after the craziness of the last few days!

Happy trails!

Paris Pictures!!!

Paris

Here I am in Paris again. Arriving here on Sunday was, in many ways, like coming home. I love living in Canada and being Canadian (or is that Canadienne???) but a part of me will always belong in France (despite the crazy keyboards - apologies in advance for any typos!!);

My plane left Toronto a little late - the crew had recently arrived from another flight and needed to get in their required rest time before they could fly again - but we arrived in Paris on time.

From Toronto to Montreal, I had the row to myself. In Montreal, a couple and their 16 month old daughter boarded. I was apprehensive to say the least, but she was an entertaining cutey and she slept most of the way.

The sky was overcast and drizzly when I arrived. With the help of a kind French couple, I figured out the bus thing and took the bus directly to my hotel (well, less than a block away). After a nap and some downtime to combat jetlag, I took the Métro and set off to explore.

I got off the Métro at Cité - the Métro stop closest to Notre Dame but also the Métro stop with a lot of stairs (although not as many as the Métro near Sacré Coeur) - not so fun when you've just flown for way too many hours!!

It was a great feeling when I was able to direct some American tourists to where they needed to go - I know this city better than I thought I did!!

After wandering through the flower and pet market (ferrets or squirrels, anyone?), I walked over to Notre-Dame and sat and people-watched for a while. At one point I looked at a tourist who was taking a picture and thought that she looked familiar but thought, "Nah, couldn't be." - famous last words!! She looked over and recognized me, too (after an understandable double-take). It was a teacher who teaches high school French in the same school board as I!!!!! And, a teacher that I had roomed with at a conference. Small, small world!!!

She invited me to wander around with her and her group (her husband, sister-in-law, and a friend). We wandered around the Island for a bit and then went for dinner in the Latin Quarter. We ate at the "Taverne de la Huchette" - the same restaurant where my mom, my aunt, my friend and I ate in 1999 and where I ate on my last night in France before moving home from Bayeux (2002). As always, the food was great and the service was a blast. I really had to laugh when the waiter brought my crème brûlée - or, rather, my crème!!! He had forgotten the "burnt sugar" crispy topping!!!!

Yesterday (Tuesday), I slept in and then took the Métro up to Charles de Gaulle / Etoile, where the Arc de Triomphe is and then wandered all the way down the Champs Elysées (stopping for an iced coffee and free wifi internet at McDonalds - who knew!! - and to browse through the Disney store) to the Jardin des Tuileries.

The last few times I've been here, I've been unable to visit the Orangerie museum because it has been closed for security reasons and for renovations. Thankfully, I was able to visit yesterday. This is the museum where Monet's Waterlillies hang - what amazing creations!! I knew they were beautiful but had no idea of the scope or magnitude of them - or how many there were!!

The museum also has other Impressionist paintings (my fav), including some by Renoir (my fav). Had to laugh though - one of Renoir's landscapes was out on loan - to the National Gallery in Ottawa!!!

I met up with Patty (the teacher) and her friends again last night for dinner near the Eiffel Tower - what a blessing to run into someone I know!!

Today, I've been wandering around the Les Halles district. I don't think I'd ever seen the Eglise Saint-Eustache before - breathtaking!! I'm heading over to the Pompidou Centre next to take a few snapshots and the back to the Forum des Halles for some shopping. Later, maybe a visit to Saint-Denis basilica (where the Kings of France are buried) and then a boat ride down the Seine.

If you've read this far, I congratulate you!! Sorry for the lack of pics - not sure I want to hook my camera up to an unknown computer and I don't have a card reader - maybe next time. I'll definitely get some put up when I get home.

Until next time, happy trails!!

Canada Day

For many, the official start of summer is Victoria Day - the first long weekend of the summer. For me, and I imagine most teachers, Canada Day is the signal that summer has finally arrived. A day to kick back and relax, knowing that the marking is done for another school year.

Last night, Fergus held their annual fireworks - take a look:

The Hazards of Air Travel

Travelling by air is always an experience - early landings for medical emergencies, extra security measures due to enhanced security concerns, weather delays, mechanical problems - and this trip was no different. Getting to Europe was a challenge, but we finally arrived a day and a city late. Getting home from Europe was just as much a challenge.

We arrived at Munich Airport and went through security. We then spent time wandering around the airport, looking in the duty free shops. We then went through passport control to get to the international departures area and spent more time browsing through the shops.

We went to the gate at the appointed hour. Thankfully we had not bought any liquids in the duty free shops as we had to pass through security a second time - complete with x-ray machines and removing our shoes - where they were confiscating all liquids (again).

Our flight was delayed two hours so we were waiting at the gate for hours with nothing to drink - not even a water fountain! Thankfully, there were bathrooms because the gate attendants were not being very nice about letting people back out to get food or a drink.

We finally boarded our plane and flew to Philadelphia. We were supposed to catch a connecting flight from Philadelphia to Toronto via Pittsburg. We missed our flight to Pittsburg, but they put us on a direct flight to Toronto - with a confirmed seat for one of us and likely a seat for the other. (If this is sounding familiar - you're right!)

So, we get to the gate where a very unhelpful gate attendant tells us, no we're not confirmed on the plane, we're not even first on the list for standby! (This is the same gate attendant that the agent arranging our new flight was talking to!).

So, we wait a few minutes and then are told we need to get on the plane in the next five minutes because they had been given an earlier departure time as long as the plane got out within ten minutes.

We get on the plane with no boarding pass, no assigned seat, and no idea if our luggage would make it! BUT, we were on the plane!

We arrived in Toronto at the same time we should have arrived if we had made our original connections - no harm, no foul - except that the luggage was back in Philly!

I finally got my luggage back on Thursday (we flew home Sunday) - a little worse for the wear, but everything was there.

Munich, Germany

If you read the first post on this blog, you know already that we missed Munich on the first part of our trip due to airport purgatory. We did have a few hours in Munich on the last night of our trip. Our first stop was the Hofbrauhaus and then a local restaurant to enjoy a Bavarian dinner.

The Glockenspiel

The Hofbrauhaus, complete with Oompah band and lederhosen.

Flowers - Salzburg

Salzburg

Salzburg, a city nestled in the mountains, is the birthplace of Mozart. The mountains are inspiring. The fortress perched up on the hill overlooking Salzburg dominates the skyline and is more than a little intimidating.

Festung Hohensalzburg

Mirabellgarten

The narrow pedestrian streets of Salzburg reflect the old and the new. The signs hanging out front of the stores use pictures and symbols to identify the shops - much as they did in medieval times when few people knew how to read. The shops themselves are very modern - McDonald's, Claire's, Nordsee, etc.

The hills are alive with the sound of music!

Flowers - Vienna

Vienna Woods

A drive along the Vienna Woods Panoramic Road.

After a drive along the Vienna Woods road, we stopped for dinner at a traditional "Heurigen" (wine tavern). Dinner was traditional viennese food - including wienerschnitzel!

The evergreen wreath in front of the heurigen indicates that they have new wine available and are open for business.

A local musician entertained us with "Schrammelmusik." In addition to performing local songs, he also performed music from the countries the guests were from - although the only Canadian song he knew was the Maple Leaf Forever (and the Canadians didn't even know that one!).

Schonbrunn Palace

Schonbrunn Palace was Empress Maria Theresa's hunting lodge-turned-palace that reminded me of Versailles, France. An immense, decadent palace; massive gardens (only this one has a zoo!); on the outskirts of a major centre - incredible!