Tag: Cities

Hamburg

We traveled to Poland from where we took off to Hamburg for a weekend where I was to become a God Mother of little Gabriel. It was a bit of a crazy stay as we arrived Saturday midday and left Sunday afternoon and had family events in between but we managed to squeeze in some sightseeing tour. I have already been to Hamburg a couple of times as a child and a teenager but forgot all of it. I wanted to come earlier but somehow never actually made it. And now I am sure I will be back as only one weekend is not enough to get to know this lovely city (whoever reads my blog from the beginning may know that I am particularly in fond of German cities).

Goldenpass train ride: Gstaad and Château-d’Oex

We have friends coming over to our place so this always mean busy and fun days. I really try and keep my house open to anyone willing to visit us and I always enjoy those visits. Although seeing the same places becomes a bit of a routine to me (I never enjoyed going twice to the same spot) there are still places we haven’t seen around and friends’ visit is a very good occasion to discover something new.
And so… Switzerland is well known for its panoramic trains that meander through mountains and lakes. There are two that are particularly famous – Goldenpass panoramic trail and Glacier Express. The first one is a train that goes way up to the Swiss Alps and has big panoramic screens. The other one goes through glaciers and snow caps.
We drove to Montreux with Monika and Przemek where we hopped on the Panoramic train that would take us up to Gstaad.

The panoramic trail was nice but I guess living here we are a bit used to those landscapes of Lake Geneva and mountains. Gstaad on the other hand was really nice.  It’s a well known ski resort and a very posh place where all the high class of Switzerland spend their holidays and shop for accessories in fancy boutiques.

After a short walk and a hot chocolate break in Gstaad we hopped on a train again and rode to Château-d’Oex (crossing the language border – back to Frenchies). Again, we had a walk in this picteresque village, situated in a valley between the mountains. We didn’t get to see the castle in close up but I don’t regret it as we had a pretty tasty lunch instead. Tummies full? Yes? So let’s go back to Geneva.

Museum Ariana

Today we visited Ariana Swiss Museum for Ceramic and Glass. Although I am not a particular fan of museum (especially on a day like today), we are all still feeling a bit ill and need a break from tiring and challenging weekends. That’s why we decided to see an exhibition.

I won’t lie to you – I didn’t like the exhibitions… 22 000 ceramic pieces – it’s just too much to take in and I am not into the topic anyway. There two most interesting bits about the museum were the building itself (built at the end of the 19th century) and a contemporary artist exhibition (but that was very small).

When we finished the tour we sat outside by the fountain and enjoyed a truly summery weather. It was hot like it should have been the whole August! After that we went to see the United Nations. We are planning to pay a visit to the building itself but we never had occasion so far. but even the surrounding is nice. There is the Broken Chair (5.5 tons of wood and 12 m high) that is there to remind about the land bombs and mines’ victims. There is also a fun fountains installation – they change size and sprout water in various manners. That one is kids’ favourite on a hot day like today!

Pit stop: Vevey

As Radek and Michał were riding round Lake Geneva, we decided to meet them somewhere half way. After a short discussion we chose Vevey for our meeting point. This little city is well known for Charlie Chaplin who lived and died there, as well as for propagation of the slow and healthy food.
When we arrived guys were already there waiting for us at the lake shore. We grabbed a bite, talked for a while and then they wanted to move on having still quite a distance to cover. So I stayed with Magda and walked around the city.

I liked the walk a lot as there where many little details about this place that made it unique and very vivid. When we went past the old part of the town, we moved on to the shore again and continued along a promenade, admiring various statues and installations scattered all over. We didn’t get to see the alimentarium museum – this will have to wait for our next visit!

Family visit: Broc, Gruyères, Montreux

We are having guests this week – my sister and cousin have come to us from Szczecin. They will be here only for a couple of action-packed days. The very first one -a must on a map of the nearby attractions – Broc, Gruyères, Montreux tour. Radek did the exact same tour with our friends (see this post), now it’s my turn with family.
We started with a Cailler chocolate factory in Broc followed by Gruyeres cheese house and the village of the same name. Our last destination was Montreux- always beautiful, but truly spectacular by the sunset.

Poetic Lausanne

Lausanne is a nice city very close to Geneva so we can be there whenever we want. Last time I visited it 3 months ago with my friends (see this post). This month I took my mum to see the Olympic city. Thanks to her interest in arts and literature I got to know many interesting facts about polish poets that lived there too. Juliusz Słowacki, Adam Mickiewicz, Stefan Żeromski, Zofia Nałkowska… Being curious about their works, I read a couple of Lyrics of Lausanne wrote by Adam Mickiewicz. I quote my favourite one (I can see Lausanne with my eyes of imagination when I read it).

 Nad wodą wielką i czystą                      
Stały rzędami opoki                               
I woda tonią przejrzystą                         
Odbiła twarze ich czarne.                      

 Nad wodą wielką i czystą                       
Przebiegły czarne obłoki                      
I woda tonią przejrzystą                        
Odbiła kształty ich marne.

 Nad wodą wielką i czystą
Błysnęło wzdłuż i grom ryknął
I woda tonią przejrzystą
Odbiła światło, głos zniknął.
A woda, jak dawniej czysta,
Stoi wielka i przejrzysta.

 Tę wodę widzę dokoła
I wszystko wiernie odbijam,
I dumne opoki czoła,
I błyskawice pomijam.

 Skałom trzeba stać i grozić,
Obłokom deszcze przewozić,
Błyskawicom grzmieć i ginąć:
Mnie płynąć, płynąć — i płynąć!…
 Lausanne, 1838.

 
/English version here/

Here are a couple of photos I took by the lake side that in my opinion illustrate well this poem…

But it’s not only the lake water that delighted the poets… Just a quick glance at the city is enough to win your heart. I’m pretty sure we will visit this place a couple of times more.

FestiChoc in Versoix

„Land of cheese and chocolate” – that’s what I call Switzerland. And it’s true, these two goods are relished by Suisse citizens. One of its evidence is FestiChoc – the festival of chocolate that takes place in Versoix, close to our place. This year it was already a 10th edition! We couldn’t miss it.
We started our walk by the Favarger chocolate factory. When I was here in 2010 and was lucky to get a ticket to visit it and see with my own eyes how  chocolate is manufactured. This year we skipped this attraction, it would be difficult to manouver through the machines with a pram 🙂 We also didn’t hop on a chocotrain – although I proposed we could have hop on our pram and catch the train from behind to have a free ride 🙂

The venue was really big. There were marry-go-rounds, face painting, a lot of buvets, chocolate sculpture exhibition and, last but not least, a huge tent full of chocolate makers showing, giving away and selling their chocolate.

We obviously had our treats too – do you think Radek could calmly go past a chocolate fountain? 🙂