Visiting Switzerland and Germany in May/June 2008, I sent news emails to my circle of friends and relatives. This is an edited version, . Others will follow,more or less in chronological order, in the next week or so (or when I can bestir myself to do it!), so that it doesn't get to be one great long and boring post.
From Zug; email dated 18th May 2008.
Hi everybody,
The Main News from me is that it`s very cold and wet here! Only 14 deg and raining, wondering if I should have brought more warm clothes. I`m here two weeks earlier than last year and Spring is late. However, the drive down from the airport yesterday was a sight for sore eyes: all the trees in the first green leaf, the grass long, and the farmers already cutting hay; the countryside is beautiful. I had a rather emotional moment when we came round the corner into Zug again, with the view of the lake, and the mist-shrouded mountains beyond. The two nearby peaks, the Rigi Kulm & Mt Pilatus, still have some snow on the higher slopes. We had a brief glimpse of the sun this am, but it poured with rain in the pm.
Today was a pleasant, if tiring start, went to a rowing regatta at Cham, also on Lake of Zug, where M__, the P___s` younger daughter, was taking part. She`s good, rows "single sculls" & "double sculls", the latter with a girl she hasn`t been out with for long. I think they did well yesterday, and today we watched the doubles race, although as it`s 2000metres and starts at the far side, you have to try and find your team with binoculars! They had a real disappointment, as they had to return the 2nd place medal and repeat the race, as the referee deemed that two boats had touched, so the race was disallowed. The poor oarswomen had to row 2km back to the start, and row a 2km race, within 15 minutes. M___ is understandably upset, as they only made 4th place on the re-row. There were some very posh boats there, and competitors from clubs all over Switzerland. A jolly occasion. The afternoon we spent visiting two historic monastery churches in the district, at Frauenthal & Muri, and had tea at Bremgarten (photo above), a place I`d heard of, but turned out nice, what you could see of it through the rain. The cobbled narrow streets of the old town are now closed to traffic and you have to walk across an old wooden bridge over the strongly-flowing Reuss River to see the town.All this within a short drive from Zug.
As I write, the rain has stopped but the clouds are heavy, it`s dusk and the lights are twinkling across the lake.
Such a lovely view; to use an overworked clichè: I can think of worse places to live!
Rowing Regatta
[Please excuse any typo's!]
No comments:
Post a Comment