Central Europe 2018

Well here we are - the final full day of our travels.  Last night Zurich had a spectacular set of thunderstorms - lightening all around us for several hours - and the rain bucketed down.  The forecast for today was not terribly good - chance of more rain and much cooler.  But we took a punt - and went ahead with a planned cruise on the lake. Well, not a cruise really - a ferry - one of many that ply the lake throughout the day.  Decided to make a day of it - 2 hours up to Rapperswil - have some lunch there, then back again.  And we didnt have a drop of rain after all!!!  However we had a bit of bother with wind on the way back - but more of that later.  Meanwhile, because of the poor weather outlook, we more or less had the ferry to ourselves: certainly in the first class section we treated ourselves to: There’s some pretty swish places along the lakes edge: And picturesque little towns: But the gem had to be Rapperswil: the City of Roses its known as....

Fairly hot day forecast for our walk around Zurich old town.  A financial city we were told so didnt expect anything too exciting - but were we surprised!   A cool calm walk along the lakes edge from our hotel A cool beer by the river Alan spots a “Smart” sports version! He decides he needs to lose at least a stone in weight before he buys one - and maybe even shorten his legs by about 24 inches! It was a hot walk around town - but oh so pretty. A few surprising sights in store for us ... ... WELL!  Are we really in Zurich???  What’s happening here?! Never did find out - just returned to less confronting scenery ——- Now to find the Co-op to buy some provisions.   We’ve decided to picnic by the lake tonight.   Couldn’t have chosen a more perfect evening for it.  The atmosphere was amazing.  Families, young couples, groups of teenagers - all enjoying the balmy night - bit of busking but no hooligans, no drunks, no rubbish.  Just a perfect roman...

Farewell dear England ... till the next time.

Friends of ours, Bill and Pat, hail from Sedgefield, not far at all from here in Elwick, so we just had to check it out.  And what a lovely little town it is too.  We were spoilt for choice for a lunch venue, they all look so tempting.  Settled on the Pickled Parson simply because of the name!  It’s named after a parson of the 17th Century who was supposedly pickled by his wife!  He inconveniently died just before the due date of the community’s tithes for his wages, so his wife pickled him and propped him up at his desk so she could still collect the money!   Nearby is Hardwick Park - convenient for walking off our lunch!  Bit windy and chilly mind!  It meant only the hardy ones tackled the walk around the lake - more or less had the place to ourselves.