Beautiful weather in Carcassonne and we must have imported it to Seytroux. Absolutely perfect spring weather for the last few days and the area is stunning. Lovely to be able to sit on the deck drinking tea (&drinking in the warm weather - mid 20's) and either reading or doing crosswords gazing up every now and then at the incredible scenery - snow capped alps, forests, meadows, etc etc. I need to pinch myself to make sure I am really here.
After a couple of lazy days we headed off to Bern, capital of Switzerland today. Bern was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 2004 (I think). We drove a significant way around Lake Geneva (an absolutely enormous lake) to get there and obviously crossed the French / Swiss Border. No-one was interested in checking our passports, maybe because it was a Public Holiday in France & Switzerland today (also on Friday - Pentecost, Monday Whit Monday). The scenery around Lake Geneva is breathtaking and as the amount of daylight changes so does the outlook. Bern (approx 16th C) is very impressive. A beautiful city on the River Aare. Einstein lived here from 1903 - 1905. A place I would love to visit again. Switzerland is very beautiful, obvious German influences, very clean and ordered. On the way to Bern we passed Gruyere where the well known cheese is made.We crossed the Rhone River which flows from the Swiss Alps down through France, through Lake Geneva and down to the meditteranean. We passed over it last wekk close to its outlet. We also drove through Evian on the banks of Lake Geneva - That's right spring water!
One of the main squares in Bern had a series of fountains with plentiful water under which children were happily playing. Brought back memories of a former Australia, pre-drought. All the shops were closed but plenty of people out enjoying the beautiful weather and plenty of restaurants open. Our biggest cahllenge is always finding a place that serves food that Matt will eat which usually means it needs to serve pizza or spaghetti bolognaise. So endeth a great day. It also means that my trip is nearing its end and on Friday (very early) I start the long trek home arriving back in Adelaide Sunday morning. It will be difficult to adjust back to clock watching and routine. I think I will need plenty of caffeine to overcome the inevitable jetlag which is always much worse on the way back.
Even though France is very beautiful and so accessible to the rest of Europe (which opens up so many opportunities for travel) I'm not sure that I would want to live here. Very expensive, language difficulties and an awful lot of adjustments to toatlly different ways of doing things. I think I am getting too old for that level of change. And when it's cold it is very cold and I haven't experienced winter!! But, a wonderful place to visit and so much more to still see including Paris and Nice to name just two.
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