Post parents trip and pre-Paris with parents
Friday 29th June, Richard saw his parents off at Zurich airport. I couldn't come because I had a train to Paris to catch - going down for the micro rocket training weekend. I thought it would be rather important to fully understand all the safety aspects for my camp - plus of course I really wanted to make and launch my own rockets! I was a bit panicked about the physics quiz on the info booklet though. Friday afternoon I spent further sorting out the impressive quantities of stuff I left in Manu's parents attic. We had a glorious dinner together (as always) listening to opera. Early next morning I set off for the out of town camp. On the last bus ride one my leaders recognized me by my iPad and we chatted.
The days were pretty packed as promised, first day we learnt about all the equipment and safety aspects of handling it. We then made our first rocket - Enzo and I made a purple and white striped 'milka' rocket with polka dot fins and and an unfinished top bit that we decided was an Oeulien (egg alien from our camp's storyline). We then learnt all of the safety aspects of the launch of the rockets and watched ours take off - ours was the awesomenest of course.
After lunch we analysed our rocket flights and discussed stability and physics. Even I could tell that the explanation really wasn't Kosher - which in some ways reassured me but also means I don't know that much about the actual science. We were taught the tricks about calculating surface areas of wing spans and it would have been OK except I was with a physics nerd who wanted to do the proper calculations for our double storied rocket... We made the mistake of leaving our top tube very long which made the calculations all the more difficult. It got late into the night and we were still doing calculations when the others were decorating theirs with ribbons. We called ours 'le pondéré' and while it wasn't decorated, its size alone was impressive. It actually worked really well, to the relief and delight in particular of my team mate, unlike someone else's double rocket which was unstable at first causing it to spin and then when the second propulsion was launched it stabbed into its position, flying just over our heads!
Our rocket did so well that it's propulsion fell from a great height and look as we may in the neighbouring gardens, in the rain, we couldn't find it. No matter, we headed back for debrief then started each running part of a fictive session. My bit was relatively easy - intro. I was a bit worried at one of my leader's safety instructions since they weren't very forceful and he didn't notice when 'students' weren't listening, but that is something I'll just need to watch. I passed with flying colours (naturally) the trainers had lovely things to say and want to go on camps with me.
I spent another night with Manu's wonderful parents, and then set off that Monday morning with several very large and ridiculously heavy bags. I must've looked pitiful because I was offered a lift to the station, which was much appreciated as the metro would have been quite a chore. Richard let my parents know, so they came down to Geneva to meet me off the train. Mum had worked miracles and managed to find an affordable hotel in Geneva for the night :) Dad took one heave of my wheely bag and decided we'd taxi there :p after installing ourselves we wandered back into the city.
It was fun to see a different side of Geneva than the area around the train station. We wandered around seeing the sights - including the door to purgatory and the crossroads of hell and purgatory streets (near Madeleine street). Having done our tourism we retreated into a bar out of the cold and rain into a restaurant 'the antiquitaire' which was full of curious including rows of hats along the top of walls, military paraphernalia and photos. They had a speciality stew on the menu which we all ordered as it was that kind of day - for a change Dad can eat it rather than the waiter shaking their head dolefully and then saying 'I know, he can have grilled entrecôte!' (Dad gets to eat a lot of steak and chips ;) ). They also had a special Geneva sorbet coupe - mango and blackberry (?) sorbet and cointreau (?) on top with a little flag :)
Next day we organised to boat leisurely back to Lausanne on the scenic boat journey in the first class restaurant cabin. It really was rather lovely and luxurious and a great way to see the gorgeous scenery. The food was rather excellent too - I particularly remember the large slab of delicious (NZ) lamb done to perfection sitting on gingerbread and covered with a heavy, meaty gravy. :) Couple of train and bus connections and we were home!
Wednesday I found out that my work was giving me effectively less pay and reserving the right to ask me to do work and then stop it at any given time - a formalisation of what had slowly been happening since January. I'm so busy at this time I would've actively needed to work around their schedules and I wasn't going to get stuck like earlier this year! So with some relief I declined to sign a new contract even if the idea of losing a salary isn't opportune. I certainly have been kept busy since, getting on top of everything I didn't have time for (travel, wedding, photos, bootlog, moving back to Aus) and looking at my current schedule I rather wonder how I planned to do it anyway!
Wednesday was a much needed washing and packing day. Richard was talked out of an epic journey across Switzerland, then the plans changed because of weather. We went to Avenches, including seeing a roman amphitheater still in use - in fact gearing up for an opera ahead of a rock festival. It was searing hot so we cafe hopped a bit, and the Payerne highlight was probably the lovely bakery...
Thursday Mum and Dad left for Edinburgh and I left for my péléVTT. In true style I still really wasn't sure what I was doing or how to meet up with people. There was a bit of ruckus a finding each other at the airport but then I was making awkward conversation with other people in the car as per normal. The camp was extremely difficult from a professional point of view, but also personal since we were sleeping in crowded tents and very little at that. But it certainly was interesting to see a completely different type of camp than I was used to, and also to be part of a real Catholic pilgrimage. I bit my tongue a lot when they talked about Protestants ;) The all singing, all dancing arrival at the church was quite something, as was the epic carved interior of the place.
I was feeling quite broken by the end of the camp when I was ejected outside the airport (my plane left early the next morning so it was discussed that would be the best place to leave me). A bit of hunting and I discovered that the nearest hotel was a Radisson Blu so I decided to walk there and see whether they had space - my phone had inexplicably stopped charging just before the camp so I was being judicious in its use, which was making things like contacting potential candidates for my own camp fairly difficult.
I must've looked a sight wandering in there in dirty camp clothes, bright yellow t-shirt that we had to wear the whole week, without having washed for 40 hours (long story, even longer than my current epic bootlog posts will allow). They found we a room and Ai decided not to leave it til I absolutely had to. I ordered room service (no way I was going back downstairs in any if my clothes) then had my first shower to get some of the grime off. I fine dined a wined in my complimentary bath robe. Bisque with shrimp raviolis then Magrat de canard and creamy risotto - a far cry from the hurriedly wolfed 'vache qui rit' sandwiches or soup served in massive tureens. I did develop quite a taste for the apple compote served in 'popper' like contains that you suck on, but the chocolate cake with the melting centre was amazing. First wine for a week too! Hunger satisfied, I then decided to soak my itchy bites, welts and sore muscles in a bath :) best night ever!
Next morning I went down and had breakfast at the epic buffet - even got an omelette specially made. I ate too much as always, mindful of how much these things cost, and then got a nice surprise at checkout when they decided it was included in my room price after all :) The flight back was uneventful and it was lovely to see Richard again on the other side. We stopped by the Swiss station and ordered raclette- in the end for one but turned out for the best.
I recuperated for a couple of days and came in late to Zurich to start my run of scanning - I'm still too viscerally attached to my class work to simply throw it away but looking at the mountains of stuff coming out of Paris I need to get creative about my solutions ;). Richard's friend Andrew flew over so we met him at the airport and trained him through to Fribourg. We had a drink in the restaurant car to unwind and were joined by Emre the Turk who was here from Doha (Ed note: I instinctively wrote DoHA! Can take the girl out of the public service). He was over for a conference on hoteliers, loves the high life and has an identical twin brother in Sydney. Andrew got to really experience what Richard's commutes are frequently like. We then took him to fondue on the terrace of the Cafe de l'Ange because cheese is awesome.
As per usual, Andrew took a while to emerge from our guest bedroom. I got into a sorting out administration mood, so I sent the two of the off to the markets. They dropped by with delicious pizzas from the markets then set off in the Frbourg tour while I continued to work. We we going to have a BBQ with Florie and Chris but the weather was bad (again). Andrew had brought a bottle of Pimms over with him and they'd bought appropriate accompaniments so Richard decided to channel his inner barman. The cucumbers were sliced nice and thinly, the strawberries and mont elegantly prepared and the whole jug drunk with much appreciation... It is entirely too easy to drink though. So apéro continued, the bread and dips were delicious and somehow we forgot to have dinner. Richard started to get creative with cream on various drinks (not convinced it works with Pimms) and inside apricots (yum). I still managed to finish my photo scanning the whole while though :)
Sunday morning was a bit rough though. We had cuchalle to make us feel better though ;) We headed out to meet with Colin for a boat ride on the lake near Biel/Bienne. We we running a bit late so we thought we'd pick up lunch somewhere on the route. From Neuchatel we went to a small picturesque village that was lovely - however nowhere to pick up a sandwich in sight and it was pushing 2 so we didn't want to sit down to eat. I foresaw the issue and ate an ice cream but the boys couldn't countenance it. So we set off on a lovely 1 hour hike anyways...
Saw mountains, lovely photos, usual stuff :p Coming down the mountain it looked as though there wasn't a sandwich shop in sight and it was nearing 4pm. When all hope seemed lost the delightful smell of roasting chicken wafted up. A cheerful guy in a red van sold us a chicken, carefully quartered, and some potatoes (we got to try them first - ohm nom nom, then he wanted to make sure we wanted the big packet). We couldn't hold ourselves back and started eating some potatoes on the pier waiting. This drew favourable comment from a verbose Italian man - well the chicken not our greediness. He also felt the need to chat more to Richard since he loves New Zealand although the flight is a bit long.
The walk to Colin's house was one of sunshine and rain - we decided to brave it anyway and I rocked my blue plastic poncho :) Not that this stopped them botanising in the slightest. The hillside was also covered in vines, with the rows having names affixed. I think the village below had a kind of cooperative going. Colin's place is a bit out if the way up a hill, but has the most amazing views over the place and is really lovely. We had a Mexican-inspired meal with make your own enchiladas and delicious wine (the norm over here really).
We left it at little late for catching trains back so it took even longer as we had to wait for connections. Around midnight I remember giggling fits about town names such as 'Wankdorf'. There were a couple of voluble Hungarians too who insisted on talking to us. They taught us a new expletive 'Fuckshit' - used to describe the economic situation of Europe in general - and talked excitedly about bushmen when they found out we were from New Zealand (Richard and I answer that question in a multitude of different ways depending on the situation).
Back to work for Richard whereas I caught up on much needed sleep and started the absolute pile of booking and organising we had to get done. I found the time to make a fancy dinner, lighting the Christmas wreath we still have on the table and opening another amazing bottle of red from the travels around the South of France. Tuesday I came to work with him to continue to use the scanning machines to digitize my class work and to chat to people. We had a light dinner and drinks by the lake afterwards - at the pub we'd come to a year ago with Richard's group. This time it was with friends and it was lovely to enjoy the still warm sunshine and the lake in the evening.
As often was the case back then, I was slow to get going in the morning on Wednesday. We grabbed a quick panino at the train station - they have this amazing machine that is both fast and loud. Heading down to Luzern I sorted photos while Richard listened to Opera and worked. Arriving we took a lovely, long, round trip on the lake, stopping off briefly to visit Rutli field. That was the historic place where the Swiss confederation was started. The scenery was spectacular, I think we only got slightly suntouched in the intense afternoon sun. To keep us going I managed to grab a couple of icypoles - which had a tip dipped in chocolate which was odd but otherwise delicious. We had dinner in the Pickwick pub, where we first celebrated our engagement, and felt very happy with our wander. Thursday I left for Paris to Jett up with Mum and Dad who'd just finished their Scottish trip.
