The Old and the Restless

Wednesday is a half day for schools in Neuchatel. Brandon and Grandma rode from Corcelles, down the steep road used by the Vignerons to Auvernier and then on the bike path along the lake to the playround in Neuchatel. "Take a photo, Grandma. It's beautiful." The road we bike down from Corcelles to Auvernier has vineyards behind the stone walls. The big slide in Neuchatel: In the afternoon parents visit the parks with their children on the way home. I think that in Ontario we have taken down anything that is this high...and this much fun. Along the lake by the Phillip Morris factory: "Take a picture here, Grandma".

On the weekend, we rode 60 km to the town of Erlach, which is in the German speaking part of Switzerland, and back. (French is spoken on the Neuchâtel side of the lakes and the rivers connecting them , while German is spoken on the other side.) The new part of Erlach is on the Bielersee (Lac Bienne, in French). We climbed up a steep cobblestone road to the the Altstadt (old city) of Erlach which is an old fortified town on a rocky promentory. The couple who took our pictures are German. They live and work in Neuchâtel; but because Erlach is German speaking, they drive across the language frontier (about a 15 minute drive) to relax in their own language environment during the weekends. The view was worth the climb up the steep cobblestone street. The ride down from the Altstadt (old city) was via an easy paved road.

Jeune Fédérale is a Swiss holiday in September in which families eat plum torte and donate the money saved from not eating regular meals to the world's needy. After breakfast, Hervé and Alicia went out to the back garden to play. Eventually, Hervé and Alicia went on the trampoline. It was so much fun on the trampoline that the whole family joined in (Paul excepted who was working on the computer all day since it wasn't a holiday in Canada). In the afternoon, Brandon and Sandra rode down the hill, through the grape fields, to meet Bryn, Hervé and Alicia at the playground. Brandon played at the playground in a contraption made from tires. Brandon and Sandra met Bryn, Hervé and Alicia midway at the play ground and also played on a "teeter totter" with large tires on each end.

The "chasse" (hunting season) is in the fall. During this season the grocery stores and restaurants specialize in dinners of game. It's traditional to serve game with various fruit, roasted chestnuts, wild mushrooms, red cabbage and spätzli. The whole family went for dinner to restaurant in Cressier. Alicia was content to sit in the high chair while Bryn had dinner. Bryn is wearing a bib because her game was served on a hot ardoise (stone) and presumably it spatters. In between playing with his gameboy, Brandon had some of our dinner. Paul is enjoying his dinner of selle de cerf (saddle of deer).

Immediately after finishing our cycling trip in the Netherlands, we flew to Switzerland where Bryn and Hervé had arranged that we participate in the Ballade Gourmande, the Neuchâtel regional festival featuring the best of its wine and food. The Ballade Gourmande is a 5 km walk through the scenic countryside with stops for each part of a 7 course meal. Since it starts at 10:30 AM, we would call it a 7 course brunch. Many families take part in this popular yearly event. Bryn, Hervé, Brandon, Paul and Alicia (in the stroller). A bus took us up the mountain to the secret starting point. We were given wine glasses and route maps to follow so that we could find each course. We started the Ballade at a tower on the property of the castle above Boudry. The tour began with an appetizer...local sliced sausage canapes and local sparkling wine...or mineral water. A distant view of the starting point from the valley below. From the castle in Boudry, we walked down to the Areuse torrent with its w...

What does one do after finishing a two week bike and barge tour? Rent a bike at the Amsterdam Central Railway Station and explore the area just north of Amsterdam, called The Waterland! Pretty Durgerdam is the first seaside town north of Amsterdam harbour. Looking inland from a dike at the reflection of the threatening Dutch sky. A rest stop by the lake in Zuiderwoude Crossing the bridge leaving Zuiderwoude in the Waterland. We stopped for lunch at an old inn in Broek in Waterland that specialized in Dutch pancakes or crepes. Paul's cheese and mushroom crepe looked to him like a pizza.

Dutch humour? What you can do with your worn out wooden shoes. Beautiful thatched-roof houses lined the canal in some of the towns. Houses like this were built ouside of Amsterdam in the heyday of the Dutch empire by the rich who acquired their wealth in Indonesia.