Musings

Hello again

At the end of a pretty intense day, just a few notes.

One, I've long meant to mention that I recently read Frank McCourt's "memoir", Angela's Ashes, about growing up in Ireland in the 1930s/1940s. Impressive read. At university I read James Joyce's "memoir", A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which McCourt's book seems to almost seamlessly pick up from. The similiarities in their catholic upbringing are striking. McCourt's poverty is even more extreme. I admire anyone who pulled through that kind of abject destitution.
I won't go into whether Angela's Ashes is a factual enough book -- let me just say that, if one really focuses on certains points in one's past and stops worrying about what might turn up, it's amazing what details will surface, right down to tones of voice, facial expressions, colours, physical sensations, smells, noises, etc. So I have no problem believing McCourt.

What else. Oh yes, bitching about the weather: Yesterday I received an announcement about European River Swimming Day on Sunday, July 15. Lovely idea: people everywhere will jump into their favourite rivers to demonstrate their love of a healthy environment. More at http://www.rivernet.org/bigjump/ However, as I thought when I read the announcement, our river here is much too dangerous these days, so the event has had to be cancelled. Maybe further downriver things will be better. I'm hoping to perhaps jump into a river in the Jura -- definitely taking my swimwear as hot weather has been forecast.

A year ago, this is where I was, at this very hour, 5:30-ish PM:
Absolutely no-one else will ever be allowed to use this photo [© R.A.E., by the way] because it's a far from attractive view of me from behind. It will serve very nicely, thank you, as a memory of how great it was to be walking towards that lovely, cool water of the top end of Lake Thun after a hot descent from the Jungfraujoch the same day.
Mind, I won't forget that excursion in a hurry, because of the great time we all had up on the ice and in the snow after getting up at the crack of dawn to catch the first train up. Worth it just for the gorgeous early morning drive up the Aare valley all the way to Interlaken Ost (I'll remember that for the rest of my life, too, but that's another story). And also because, a few minutes after the above photo was taken, I had to muster all my ancient rescuing skills when dealing with a drowning person: the friend I had spent the day with, an outdoors person if I've ever seen one, suddenly felt very faint out by a raft which, however, had not steps to climb up, was too far above the water and out of reach. He almost had to be dragged back to safety. The combination of massive differences in elevation, lack of sleep, lack of food and the great heat, followed by sudden cool water took a toll on a body that once was fighting fit but that day (dare I say it) rather overweight and under-fit at the time. Gave us rather a nasty fright. Not sure I've been forgiven for coaxing the man into the water in the first place. Ah well, such is life, I suppose. Need I say that I'm glad nothing more serious happened?

To finish this off for today, here's another sky picture -- just as a reminder of how lovely summer can be, even in Berne, even in July (by the way, I'm currently wearing scarf, long-sleeved shirt, vest, long trousers, socks, warm slippers, and still not feeling really warm. Temperature this morning, at about 9AM: about 10°C! Unheard-of for this time of the year. I woke several times last night, feeling like the tip of my nose was about to fall off with the cold. Honestly!

Nuff said, here comes the blue sky!

A day in Spiez, Bernese Oberland/Lake Thun

Hello again!
Before the memory fades completely, a look back at last Saturday, June 30, which was a perfectly beautiful day. I had an interpreting gig for a Swiss-Guatemalan human rights NGO -- always highly satisfying events (I don't want to call them jobs because they're so much more)! More on that event on my Spanish-language blog at http://aventurask[dot]blogspot[dot]com...
The above shows the mountain of mountains, a perfect triangle almost from anywhere you look at it. The famous Niesen has been painted and photographed more times than probably the mountain itself cares to acknowledge -- one of the most famous and most impressive renditions must be Paul Klee's Ad Parnassum, currently on show at Zentrum Paul Klee in Berne -- details at http://www.zentrumpaulklee.ch/ww/en/pub/web_root/pro/wechselausstellungen/vorschau.cfm
Here are some impressions from Spiez, a lovely, privileged little town on the western shore of Lake Thun. The climate there allows for white wine production, not very large quantities, admittedly, and there are jokes that call Spiez wine really sour, but I think that's the voice of envy talking. :)
The church has some quirky architectural features, probably from the early 20th century, but I was deep in conversation when I came up close so don't have a better picture. And I'm sure the origins of this church, as of many others along this shore of Lake Thun, go back a long, long way.
Typical Bernese Oberland/Lakeland view on a not very good day. Switzerland is one of the most densely built-up countries in the world and it shows.
We had a fairly long run of chilly, damp weather. Nevertheless, these roses seem to be thriving:
Here's a detail from the more sophisticated rose bush -- pity this can't convey the sweet fragrance of that bloom:
... a lovely clump of little roses down by the harbour ...
... and some exotic plants, also down by the harbour, which is one of the lovelier things about Spiez. I took the next picture when it was already rather too dark. But perhaps one of you out there can enhance this photo. It does capture the almost magical atmosphere of the place.
[I am adding this bit a day later, having received someone's comment re brightening things up a bit using my trusted, crusty Mac's iPhoto tools:
... a wee bit better, perhaps -- one does live in hope.]
It was a pretty good day for a leisurely sail, as this view demonstrates -- eat your heart out, D.E., ;) ...
... but most people on this Saturday evening had already packed up and gone home to their barbecues, or not yet arrived for the weekend:
Seeing these lovelies really makes me want to do something about my decade-long yen for sailing. Pity the Aare river here isn't sailable! The lakes are all at least a half-hour train ride away...
The public pleasure boats of Lake Thun stop here for passengers. One of them is the "Bubenberg", a motor boat, on her way to Thun. She's quite elegant, but not a patch on everyone's darling, on which more after this... Everybody's darling is the "Blüemlisalp", avenerable, beautifully restored paddle steamer. She was saved from the scrapyard by a public fundraiser and hundreds of hours of voluntary restoration work. I remember her from my childhood days, when she was limping rather than chugging along before taken out of commission and all but rotting away in obscurity. Back in her former glory, here she comes floating into the harbour (I took this photo unable to see the actual frame, so it looks like she's chugging uphill; interesting concept...), with one of the numerous Niederhorns on the horizon, the slopey peak on the right.
Fantastic! ... and there she goes again:
About ten minutes later, she was crossing over to Beatenbuch, or perhaps Merligen:
Spiez harbour has other lovely spots:
Above, a better picture of the Niederhorn as seen from a quiet spot near the embarkation point. Below, some exotic-looking flowers in a parterre by the main road. No idea what these are called.