Day 12
Half asleep in bed at 7 a.m. I heard Jill mutter “Oh Shit”, and roll over. Another bad weather day? Looks like it.
The decision was to skip Ballenberg, as planned for today, and do lunch, antiquing, and that’s about it. So we had bacon & eggs, put a DVD on for Kristen, and took it easy
At least till the sun came out around 11… then it seemed like maybe we should get our asses in gear – even though no one else on this street of vacation rentals ever seems to. What do they do?
So the decision was Murten, aka Morat in French, site of a major turning point in Swiss independence history, though damned if I can tell you what happened.
Got a parking spot right on the main street of the medieval walled city and it looked like some kind of festival was in progress.
Found a decent looking pizzeria next to a fountain right by the Barentor (Bear Tower) and ordered up 3 pizzas. Then we were treated to the start of a road race run by an auto club. They set up a timer clock, and about 25 old classic cars started once per minute – Porsche, Lamborghini, MG, Ferrari, etc. All from at least the 1960’s, and we had front row seats.
The pizza was pretty good, as it should have been for $40. (All food in restaurants here is expensive.)
The decision was to skip Ballenberg, as planned for today, and do lunch, antiquing, and that’s about it. So we had bacon & eggs, put a DVD on for Kristen, and took it easy
At least till the sun came out around 11… then it seemed like maybe we should get our asses in gear – even though no one else on this street of vacation rentals ever seems to. What do they do?
So the decision was Murten, aka Morat in French, site of a major turning point in Swiss independence history, though damned if I can tell you what happened.
Got a parking spot right on the main street of the medieval walled city and it looked like some kind of festival was in progress.
Found a decent looking pizzeria next to a fountain right by the Barentor (Bear Tower) and ordered up 3 pizzas. Then we were treated to the start of a road race run by an auto club. They set up a timer clock, and about 25 old classic cars started once per minute – Porsche, Lamborghini, MG, Ferrari, etc. All from at least the 1960’s, and we had front row seats.
The pizza was pretty good, as it should have been for $40. (All food in restaurants here is expensive.)
After lunch, it was up the block for one of the old churches, and up a couple of flights of wooden steps to the ramparts. Nice views over the roofs, including a suspicious-looking houseplant. Kristen enjoyed climbing the towers and looking at all the chimneys, including a twisted one.
Strode around the town in what was now 72 degree bright sun, did some window shopping. Spied the Murtensee and decided to drive down and have a look.
There was a nice grassy lakeside park, and as luck would have it, one of the 2 (!) benches in the entire large park was vacated as soon as we got near.
Kristen was dying for some bread to feed the ducks, swans, etc. – we should have saved some of that pizza crust! She had to content herself with some vicarious feeding with some other kids. There was one very interesting looking diving bird with a crest, who peeped like a sparrow.
Miss K got an ice cream (she’s trying to hold a record for ice cream every day, as I am for cheese; our stomachs show it) and we took the 1 ½ hour drive home. Stopped at the Co-Op for some glue to fix something the girls broke. .
Strode around the town in what was now 72 degree bright sun, did some window shopping. Spied the Murtensee and decided to drive down and have a look.
There was a nice grassy lakeside park, and as luck would have it, one of the 2 (!) benches in the entire large park was vacated as soon as we got near.
Kristen was dying for some bread to feed the ducks, swans, etc. – we should have saved some of that pizza crust! She had to content herself with some vicarious feeding with some other kids. There was one very interesting looking diving bird with a crest, who peeped like a sparrow.
Miss K got an ice cream (she’s trying to hold a record for ice cream every day, as I am for cheese; our stomachs show it) and we took the 1 ½ hour drive home. Stopped at the Co-Op for some glue to fix something the girls broke. .
Stopped at the Espace Ballon where Jill unfortunately found out that our balloon flight for tomorrow is cancelled, as have been all flights for the last 3 weeks, with the possible exception of yesterday. Bummer.
Home for drinks and quiche, pasta for Kristen. Tomorrow, Ballenberg, which Jill is really looking forward to returning to.
Gassing up the car this evening, a 90+ year old guy with a 70 year old hat stepped out of a younger guy’s car and said to me (French of course) “looks like we’re both trying to drink from the same bottle”, since I was gassing up from the same pump he wanted to use.
I wish I had attempted a conversation with him – imaging all the changes he’s seen in this area. The L’Etivaz slideshow said that there was virtually no outside communication or travel around here until 100 years ago.
Home for drinks and quiche, pasta for Kristen. Tomorrow, Ballenberg, which Jill is really looking forward to returning to.
Gassing up the car this evening, a 90+ year old guy with a 70 year old hat stepped out of a younger guy’s car and said to me (French of course) “looks like we’re both trying to drink from the same bottle”, since I was gassing up from the same pump he wanted to use.
I wish I had attempted a conversation with him – imaging all the changes he’s seen in this area. The L’Etivaz slideshow said that there was virtually no outside communication or travel around here until 100 years ago.
