Friday, July 21, 2017

Switzerland

 

We are well into our second "housesitting" experience now in Montmagny, Switzerland.
Coat-of-Arms-Montmagny

We are located in a very small "hamlet" in between Lake Neuchàtel (New-sha-tail) and Lake Moret which is approximately midway between Zurich and Geneva, Switzerland. I say hamlet because Montmagny (pronounced Mo-ma-née) is on a hill that has old farm houses and around 180 people. Montmagny is one of seven hamlets or tiny villages that merged in 2011 to form the community of Vully-les-Lacs, While the house where we stayed in England was "the special part", here it is certainly the area. 
 
 
Montmagny, rarely found on a map, is 1.5 sq miles in size!  73% is agricultural, 21% forested and 4.5% settled with buildings and roads.  Most of the crops we see growing are rapeseed, wheat, corn and tobacco but vineyards are clearly taking over. 
 
The Vully is so charming, full of colorful huge old farmhouses, with superb panoramic views of the lakes, the Jura Mountains and the Alps.  The area lies in the crossover between the French-and German-speaking areas.  "Swiss German",  is very different than German, as I'm finding out--"Grüezi"-hello and Merci vilmal-thanks a lot. Swiss German has its own pronunciation, grammar and many Germans have difficulty understanding it.  Rest assured, most Swiss speak English, or so we have been told.  In fact, because we are in an area that is not a typical tourist area for English or Americans, we are discovering that hand gestures and our dictionary are most helpful.  When we do need to have more help in English, we seek out the younger people, such as the young mom with her child in the grocery store! 
 
 
Back to our house.  This is the style of an old stone\masonary "house-barn", about 150 year-old, that was originally was used for the livestock and hay in 2\3 of the building and living in the other 1\3. 
 
 While there are still many of these around here, our barn-side (brown wood) was converted into a house about 40 years ago.  The walls are very thick and the living areais the second floor with the small square windows obviously from the barn. (the gray side is a rented duplex apartment)
 
Inside, however, its modern, large, comfortable and has 3 sets of stairs!  From our windows we hear the clock ringing on the hour and even longer at certain times like noon and 8:00 pm.  Why?  We think it is still to bring in the farmer from the fields, or maybe if his cell phone is out of battery....
 
We are actually the center of the village, or hamlet, and the farm machinery, cars, bikes and even the bus go right in front of our house.
 
 
Our housesitting responsibilites are 3 pets..
an outside cat, 6 canaries and YES a tortoise
 
 
The steep banks of the Vully-les-Lacs is perfect for grapes and this small VOC has 24 winegrowers open their cellars for customers.  
 
the cellars in Montmagny-about 300 mts from us
wine made from the vineyard of our hosts













While red wine varieties are becoming more popular, around the Vully its the white grape that dominates, specifically the Chasselas, Switzerland's most widely planted white wine grape.  This grape tends to ripen early making it a good match for the "cooler climate of the alpine slopes. 
 
 
 
The first weekend here, we were treated by our house-hosts to participate in the annual "Balade Gourmande of the Vullz-les-Lacs", a 5km walk through the vineyards with 9 different stops to taste the local wine and food specialities.  What a great experience and fun!  Took about 4 hours....
 We were given staw hats, for the intense sun, and a wineglass to wear around our neck. 
the route with wine variety & specialy food
 
#1 stop-Chassela wine & gàteau du Vully (a savory kind)
walking through wildflowers with the Alps in the distance
stops for more wine, meat & potatoes, bread
more wine...cheese and gelato
We found a few English speakers to chat with at the stops


of course, wine, with sweet Vully gàteau cake (Jack in the blue shirt right up front!)

the watertower, highest spot in Montmagny at 42 mts, can be climbed for a magnificent view of the vineyards and lakes


it is our "Landmark" for when we are out driving through the area


bye for now, we are going on the Vully wine trail today.....

 




 




Sunday, July 16, 2017

Wind power and pedal power-it`s Amsterdam


We stopped in Amsterdam for several days after leaving Ireland. It was quite a sensory overload after the quiet, small towns of Ireland to come into a city of over 800,000 with at least double of that in tourists. 

Actually we had a conversation with a person from Holland and he said that they are concerned because more and more people are coming to vacation in Amsterdam and there aren't enough services and hotel rooms!  We stayed about 3 km (1 mile) from the center which was easily accessed by tram.  It was a great spot as it was still active yet far less people and noise. 

fabulous and exhausing


of course- lots of people

Amsterdam is a wonderful city full of life, youthfulness and energy.  I think that feeling comes from the thousands and thousands of bicycles that crowd the roads everyday.  It is said that 65% of Dutch ride their bikes daily.  Did you know that Amsterdam has a Bicycle Mayor?  Yep.  In 2016, Anna Luten, the world's first bicycle mayor was elected in the Netherlands to act as an ambassador for cycling and the culture that comes with it. 

There are certainly more bicycles than cars which seems to reduce the noise and commotion that one finds in other big cities.  Everyday people, as well as bewildered tourists, whiz by on bikes carrying groceries, children, friends, food delivery and I even saw a full size computer. Moms sometimes have three children in special cargo bikes.


 The bikes come in all sizes, shapes, and configurations, but they all have one thing in common--they appear old, clunky and in need of paint.  This is primarily to deter thieves which is the biggest problem for the Dutch commuters.
Zaanse Schans, outside of Amersterdam

kind of an "open air" museum town with preserved historic windmills and houses

working mills still grinding, crushing, blending


wooden shoes are still made here

We took our chances and rented bikes and spent 3 hours riding about 15 km to a small town along the Amsel River.  Our bikes were well maintained yet we chose one-speed with pedal brakes since there are no hills to climb in this dyked city!  What an experience and a lovely way to really experience Amsterdam.

Ouderkerk ann de Amstel

slow down Jack, only 30 kph allowed!


We're on to Switzerland for our next "Housesitting" experience
 

Saturday, July 8, 2017

More fun in Ireland

We did lots of touring of ancient ruins and historical sites as we really like learning and exploring history, but we also had lots of fun in Ireland!  

Pubs are as natural to Ireland as shamrocks and we found our share.  
Actually most days when we were in the smaller villages this was our spot for lunch or dinner. Pub food was good and actually it was hard to distinguish from what we would call restaurant food.  We tried a different beer in every pub and one of the things that surprised us was that the beer is cold, unlike in the UK. 

Near the end of our three weeks we found the second oldest pub in Ireland. It can hold about 20 people and it was packed with local men just getting off work. We chatted up a couple of men who talked us into going behind the bar to pose for a photo. This was the highlight! Later they taught us the authentic way to make and drink Irish coffees.

After the men consumed at least 4 pints they were ready to head home for dinner!! Apparently the local joke is, "don't drive after five"

K

It said that there are more sheep than people in Ireland and we believe it. Sheep we're everywhere-on the narrowest of roads, balencing on the cliffs, running in the fields and of course crossing the highway.   Each each farmer has a unique marking of paint on the sheep so that when they round up the sheep after summer they can find their own.  Kind of wooly branding.
Sheep on the cliffs
Sheep in the field
Sheep in the roadway

Finally the music was wonderful and we were always on the lookout for a small pub with local musicians playing and we found several.

Irish pipes

We got caught up in some filming for the All Ireland Music Festival coming in August

Filming



We listened to guitar, fiddle, bodhran drum, uilleann pipes, flute, penny whistle, button accordian, concertina, banjo, mandolin, and harp.    We were in several other towns that were known for their "trad music" but often it didn't start until 10 o'clock at night-too late for us to be out driving!


Best of all was the gal who step on to a small piece of wood on the floor and started dancing.  Little did we know that one of the first pubs we were in would be the best for local music.


Georgian doors in Dublin

Good-bye Shamrocks and Ireland
Shamrocks garnish on dinner