adventure, C.G. Jung, Education

Swiss studies… Watching life unfold at the lake! (part three)

Monday, June 30th, was an exciting day for Bill. He’d been looking forward to taking seminars at the C.G. Jung Institute for years. On his first day, he had an early lecture, so we got up early. He bought more wonderful bread at Wüst, and we enjoyed coffee and juice. I was already a bit nervous, because the proprietor at the Apart-Hotel Hugenschmidt advised us that they would be cleaning the apartment on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They requested that we not be in the apartment from 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM.

Those are the hours when I usually do my writing, but given how hot it was last week, it was just as well that I went to the lake. Bill looked so cute, dressed for class and carrying a backpack. The tram outside made it quick and easy for him to get to the Institute.

After I made a quick YouTube video, I headed to the lake. On the way there, life started unfolding in front of my eyes. First, I saw a sweet black cat. I made a soft “ssssing” sound, which attracted its attention. It meowed at me and came over, rubbing against my legs. Then it turned and went another direction. I like cats. We used to have them when I was growing up. Unfortunately, although Bill also likes cats, we can’t have them in our home. He’s very allergic to them. I am also supposedly allergic to them– and dogs, horses, and rabbits, too. I still like to say hello when I can.

Next, I saw a young man running down the street with a big smile on his face and his arms outstretched. He passed me and enveloped a young woman in his arms in a joyful reunion. It reminded me of when Bill came home from Iraq.

I walked a bit further and ran into a very fit looking couple. The female half wore extremely tight leggings that outlined an obvious camel toe. They looked like maybe they were exercise instructors, headed to the gym.

I crossed the street and walked to the park near the lake, where there are benches. I saw a man doing yoga by the Heureka sculpture. A dog came over to say hello, and then I noticed a woman dancing. She wore a sweatshirt, shorts, shades, and ear buds, and danced by the lake side, completely oblivious to the world. I watched her in amazement. She was completely uninhibited. I kind of admired it. And, of course, there were lots of ducks to watch…

This isn’t a super exciting video, except for the dancing lady. I could have watched her all day!

I walked around the lake area and took lots of pictures… I even sat for awhile near some boats, watching more waterfowl, in an attempt to kill enough time so the apartment could be cleaned. As it turned out, I should have stayed a little longer.

I took a slightly different route back to the apartment, passing the Plastic Surgery Pyramide Clinic. I later found out this is a private hospital where people have everything from breast reconstruction to facelifts done. I noticed they also had an outlet for La Prairie, a VERY expensive skincare/cosmetics brand that I first saw offered on SeaDream Yacht Club, a luxury cruise line. I read about the clinic, and most people had rave reviews for their experiences there. One woman left a very disturbing review of a doctor who had, apparently, taken advantage of her while she was in a weakened state. To be honest, her account sounded fictitious. Perhaps she had more going on than just physical illness. I didn’t get a good picture of the actual hospital, but these pictures are of clinics affiliated with it. I bet it costs a mint to go there.

I went by the apartment at about 10:45, but it still hadn’t been cleaned, so after a potty break, I walked to the COOP neighborhood grocery store to pick up a few things– napkins and sugar for my coffee. I also got a few other items. Bill and I both visited that store a couple of times. It was very convenient to where we stayed, but the layout was frustrating, and it seemed like people were always descending upon it en masse. We both found shopping there a bit nervewracking. There was a larger COOP store a little bit further in the opposite direction. That store offered more stuff, but was only marginally less annoying. However, we’ve been to other COOP stores in Switzerland, and have not found them to be so hectic. Maybe it just has something to do with the neighborhood. Below are a few more photos I took on the way back to the apartment.

When I got back to the apartment with the stuff I got at the store, one of the proprietors was in the middle of cleaning the bathroom. I startled her, but I needed to put some things in the refrigerator. She pointed out that there was a beach towel in the armoire. That was good to know, although we brought our own… and then didn’t end up using them, after all!

I decided to go back to the lake to give the lady a chance to finish her work. I’m glad I did, because there was more stuff going on…

When Bill got back from his seminar, at about 6:00 PM, he was very excited. He’d had a good day learning about psychology, and now he was ready for dinner. We ended up at Le Beaujolais, a Greek restaurant right next to the apartment. The waiter was friendly, professional, and kind, and the food was excellent. Bill had lamb, and I had Dorade and Seelach filets. Then we had ice cream for dessert!

A man showed up with his cute dog and sat next to us. The dog was so sweet, and made me miss our dogs, Noyzi and Charlie.

It may seem like not a lot happened on Monday, but I truly did enjoy sitting at the lake, watching people go about life. I really should have jumped in the lake, though.

Standard
caves, Champagne Bucket trips, Eastern Europe

Beautiful Punkva Caves in Brno… part eight of our 2023 Czech tour!

As I mentioned in my earlier travel post today, I’m still getting over whatever sickness I picked up in Czechia. Consequently, I’m pretty fatigued and kind of want to go to bed. But I also want to move onward with my Czech series, because, pretty soon, we’ll be going to Armenia, and I’m going to have to switch gears. So I’m going to press on and write about our awesome visit to the Punkva Caves in the Moravian Karst near Brno.

Originally, we thought we might visit this cave on Saturday. I’m really glad we didn’t do that, though, because I feel pretty certain we might have missed out. In the summertime, guides recommend booking tickets for this cave and the others in its complex weeks or even months in advance. It gets very busy in the summer. Since we were there on a Friday, we were able to tag along on a tour with a bunch of Polish high school kids. But we got two of the last tickets for the day, as the cave closed at 2:00 PM on the day of our visit. By the time we walked the two kilometers to where the tour started, they were completely sold out for the day.

I’m really glad we managed to see this cave, as it’s very beautiful and different from the other two caves we’ve recently visited in Germany. It’s not only a gorgeous limestone cave to walk through, but it’s also unique because the only way out is by boat. And on your way out, you stop by a room that is the prettiest of all you’ll see on your tour.

If you don’t want to walk to the cave entrance, you can pay for a tram ride. That’s how all the Polish kids arrived. I had a good laugh, because almost all of them made a beeline for the free toilets in the building. I only mention they’re free because there’s a pay toilet by the information center by the parking lot (which you also have to pay to use). The pay toilet is the one I used. 😉

The walk to the cave is very pleasant and not too difficult. I was glad we did it, because I got some beautiful photos, as well as some much needed extra exercise. I also got a stink eye from a fellow American, probably because he heard me complain about how loud Americans are. I guess that made me a hypocrite. 😀

Anyway, there’s not much I can tell you about the tour, since it was done in Polish (mostly via recording). There were Czech guides who, I assume, spoke Polish. The younger one also spoke English and halfway through the tour realized we weren’t with the Polish group. It was when I decided to hang back and let the younger set get ahead of us. I’m not dead yet, but I can’t keep up with teens anymore. It wasn’t a really hard cave to explore. There was just one area that required a steep climb and was a little challenging. Once that was done, we were doing great!

Below are some photos from our trip through Punkva Cave– just one of several at this complex. I noticed there was a hotel there, so you can book a stay and spend several days exploring. I might be persuaded to do that sometime. I’d like to see the other natural wonders at this complex, but there are only so many spoons, right?

This first set is from our walk… and a goofy shot of us while we were still smiling. I’m kidding, of course. This cave isn’t a bad one for the mediocrely fit of us…

Next are some cave shots… It was such a beautiful place! Well worth a visit! We weren’t allowed to take photos during the boat portion of the tour. My guess is because everyone is packed on the boats and they don’t want people trying to use selfie sticks. It might also have to do with light in the cave altering the ecosystem. Anyway, I followed the rules.

These next few were taken with my digital camera, both on the dry part of the cave, and in the really pretty room at the end of the tour. We reached the pretty room by boat.

We decided to walk back to the car, which added another two kilometers to our day’s exercise. As I sit here feeling kind of worn out and fatigued, I wish I still had the energy that I had just eight days ago. Little did I know, by Saturday evening a week ago, I was going to feel pretty yucky. At the end of our walk, we rewarded ourselves by having lunch at the hotel restaurant. Smoked saibling for Bill and grilled trout for me… and lots of potatoes and beer.

After we were finished visiting the cave, we decided to stop by Holedna Obora, a nature preserve in Brno. We read that it’s a huge fenced area where deer are left to roam and there’s a fenced in area for wild boars. It’s free of charge to visit and there’s a small free parking lot. We only saw one deer, but it was a big stag who had a big rack of antlers. He seemed to be napping in the late afternoon sun.

By the time we were done walking around the forest, I was pretty exhausted. So we went back to our hotel and watched some TV while we drank wine from Moravia. I saw a movie with a German actress who looked like the spitting image of Lori Loughlin. Alas… although my German friend gave me her name, I no longer remember it. But see for yourself…

Well, that about does it for part eight. See you when I write part nine… probably tomorrow.

Standard
Uncategorized

Tomorrow, we’re off to Stockholm, Sweden…

I am feeling markedly better today than I was yesterday. My nose quit running and my sinuses aren’t so pressurized. I am still a bit fatigued, and my voice has deepened. I do have a slight chest cough. But, other than that, I’m much improved. I am a bit disappointed that I’m not going to get to do everything I wanted to do in Bergen, but things could be a lot worse! At least I don’t have to go to work sick, right?

It’s rainy today, so I thought maybe it would be a good idea to continue to take things easy. We went down to breakfast and a German couple sat next to us. They were a lot quieter than most of the people we’ve been around this week, so it took a few minutes before I heard them say something in German. As we were getting up to leave, I shocked the wife by saying “Entschuldigung” (excuse me), as I moved to scrambled off of the soft couch we were both sitting on. Then, I flashed her a smile and said, “Auf Wiedersehen.” She rewarded me by beaming. I don’t think she was expecting that at all.

Later, we went to the top of the hotel tower, where I got some photos. I wish it were a prettier day. As I type this, it’s raining. Bergen is a very rainy place under normal circumstances, but this week, there has been a lot of sun. I did get some nice pictures of boats in the wharf, some of which were leaving.

As we were leaving the tower, we ran into the same German couple who asked us in German if that was the way to go. We said, “Ja!”, then moved on before it became obvious how bad our language skills are… or, at least mine are.

It occurred to me yesterday, that we’ll probably be fighting crowds of tourists for the rest of our trip. I guess we can’t complain too much, since we’re tourists, too. It just goes to show you, though, that things are back in full swing after the pandemic. Europe is full of Americans! I think I may have to find a less popular destination for our next trip.

I think we may try to visit the museum next door to our hotel, just to say we did something today. I would like to go on the funicular, but only if we have better weather and I don’t feel too fatigued. I’m going to need my strength as we move on tomorrow. Our flight leaves at 10:45 AM, and arrives at about noon. I look forward to the change of scenery, as lovely as Bergen is…

I’d come back, but maybe just to catch a cruise to the fjords, which I definitely want to see more of. Maybe not in June, though… 😉

Just a few photos from the top of the hotel, which was once a historic building. I’d say the tower might be this hotel’s best selling point.

Standard