July was another busy month at work, but counterbalanced with a week's holiday with my family, and a long weekend away with James's family. Before all of that though, during the weekend of the fourth James and I went down to his parents's house in Dorset for another family birthday celebration - this time for his sister's 27th. Since it also happened to be American independence day, his mum did his best to make me feel at home by cooking a BBQ of hamburgers and sausages, and even went to the trouble of making little American flags out of internet print-outs and toothpicks and hanging them all over the house. It was very sweet and made me feel so special. James's sister brought her new boyfriend down for the weekend (the first time she's ever brought someone to meet the family since I've been dating James), but she's since broken up with him. I thought he was pretty nice but she thought he tried a bit too hard. Which he did, but hey. That weekend we went to the restaurant of a famous TV chef called River Cottage Canteen (the restaurant, not the chef), in the country near his parents's place. There is a farm attached to the restaurant and everything served in the restaurant comes straight from the farm, so it's very fresh. It was very delicious food and we all left very stuffed.
The following weekend I flew to Zurich to meet my family, who had flown over for two weeks from the States! Not everyone had come, but mom, dad, Meg, Tim, Tim's girlfriend Elisha, and grandma were all there. The itinerary was Switzerland, Austria, Hannover, Paris, then London for the last few days. In Switzerland we went from Zurich to Interlaken, the small town that I had visited on my backpacking trip in 2005. The train ride there was gorgeous - it wound all the way around a mountain lake so made for some amazing views. Interlaken was just as stunning and charming as I remembered it to be - gorgeous views of the Jungfrau and everything in walking distance. It was unseasonably hot though, around 90 degrees the entire time! I felt bad for my family b/c they had come from that weather in Ohio and were looking forward to getting some relief in the mountains, but no such luck. I didn't mind since it never gets that hot in London, and enjoyed not being cold for once.
We stayed in Interlaken only one day, and spent the entire next day traveling to Austria via Munich on one of the busiest trains I have ever been on – I felt like I was on one of the cattle car type carriages you see in India in the movies. Coupled with 90 degree heat and no air conditioning, it was quickly turning ugly. Fortunately my mom suddenly realised she had booked our rail cards in first class, so we all made a mad dash for the front carriages. Not much cooler, but much more peaceful. Our original plans were to stay in Munich for four days, but a few days before we left we were invited by the family of the exchange student who had lived with my family for the last year, Clemens, to stay in their mountain house in Austria. We couldn't really say no, since we all wanted to meet his family, plus it was free and they also had a car for us to use while we were there! My family had grown quite close to Clemens during the year that he lived with them, so my mom was already missing him even though he had only been back in Austria for a month. The first night his family came up to have dinner and get us settled into the house - they are lovely people and it was so nice to spend the evening with them. Their mountain house was fantastic and it ended up being the most relaxing part of the trip. The scenery in the mountains was absolutely breathtaking - every morning I'd walk onto the back deck and be blown away by the view. It was exactly like the opening scene in the Sound of Music!
During the four days that we were in Austria we made a day trip to Salzburg, and another day trip to two famous castles (the Cinderella castle!) in the Bavarian region of Germany. Salzburg was lovely but it was so hot that day that I was worn out very quickly. We did a walking tour from our guide book through the old town, which was lovely but quite German, if you know what I mean. Not as beautiful as Paris, let's just say. Still worth a visit though. After the walking tour most of the family went on a Sound of Music bike tour, but grandma and I decided to forego the bikes and sit in a pub for a few hours and drink coffees and beers - we were tired.
A couple of days later we took a very long but very scenic drive through the mountains to the site of two very touristy castles in Bavaria - Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. Neuschwanstein is the castle that inspired Walt Disney in the creation of the Cinderella castle, which is probably why it's so popular, at least with Americans. They are beautiful castles though, and we did the tour of them both. The builder of the newer of the two - Neuschwantein - was Mad King Ludwig who was obsessed with Richard Wagner's operas. He had nearly every room decorated in the theme of a different opera - one was even a cave complete with stalactites and stalagmites! It was weird to walk through that one after endless rooms of 19th century opulence. On the way back to the car we got a bit lost and ended up going on a bit of a nature hike, but made it in the end and I think it ended up being a bit of a short cut. That day was another scorcher, so by the end of the day we were all sticky and so tired - it was a long day but well worth it.
The last night in Austria we went down the mountain to have dinner with Clemens in his hometown of Kufstein, about a 30 minute drive from the mountain house. We ate at a restaurant that had a pond in the back, and the fish on the menu were caught fresh every day. My mom, dad, and grandma ordered the fish, and it came out as a whole fish - head and eyes and all! I was so glad I hadn't ordered it, although they did say it was delicious. I had some traditional Austrian spinach dumplings, which were good but very filling. That night when leaving Clemen's driveway my dad backed into their gate and knocked the side mirror loose on the car his family had lent us - oopsie.
We left Austria after four relatively peaceful days bound for Hannover, Germany by train, and arrived midday. We spent the day sightseeing around the town, which didn't take long as it's a fairly industrial city and there isn't much to see. The Germans had even conveniently painted a “red thread” on the ground to guide you through all of the sites in the city – gotta love their efficiency. We made it to most of the places on the thread, including the city hall which offered good sites of the city from the tower which you reached by a curved elevator, and most impressively (or so I thought), inside the hall were four large models of the city from different eras – 1600s, 1930s before the war, 1945, and modern day. The 1945 model was shocking – per the history books over 90% of Hannover was destroyed in the war (makes sense seeing as how it was a major industrial site), and the depiction of the devastation was very arresting. I couldn't see how anyone could have lived in the rubble, b/c that was all that was left.
We ended the day in Hannover on a fairly negative note when my grandma and I got into a bit of a tiff – mostly just family drama brought to a head by the stress of traveling. Fortunately it ended well, although I think she's still getting over it. We left at about 10 or 11 that evening on an overnight train bound for Paris. None of us had ever been on a night train before, so were excited to see what it would be like. Especially since we had first class tickets – we wanted to see how posh it was! Not hugely, as it turns out, although we didn't see the standard class cabins. The cabins slept three each, and since there were seven of us one person had to sleep with a couple of strangers – my dad volunteered. There was hardly room to turn around in these cabins, but somehow they had managed to squeeze in three bunk beds and a small wash basin. The toilet and shower were shared by the car and ours happened to reek of urine, which meant we all went without showers that night. Except my dad, who really isn't picky.
We arrived in Paris on Saturday morning, and made our way to Nord station where we were to meet James who was arriving on the Eurostar from London for the weekend. After collecting everyone, we made our way to the cutest little hotel in Paris – called Hotel Relais Bousquet, near the Eiffel Tower. Anyone going to Paris should stay here – I know I will when I go back! It isn't too expensive, the staff are friendly and fluent in English, and the rooms are really lovely. After a few showers we had baguette sandwiches at a little outdoor cafe down the street (and felt so Parisian!), then went to the catacombs – miles of underground tunnels where they moved thousands of skeletons from city cemeteries when diseases started to spread from them. It was pretty creepy but the boys loved it. The next day we took a cruise down the Seine, hopping off to stroll through Notre Dame, then the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. That evening James and I went back to London, and work the next day. The rest of the family stayed in Paris for a few days and then came to London for the last few days, where I managed to squeeze everyone into my flat! I took off the two days they were here and we went to Windsor where we toured the castle and met James's parents for lunch, and the next day did the aquarium, London Eye (although only Tim and Elisha had a ride), and took a long walk through St. James's Park and past Buckingham Palace. It was very sad to see them off the next morning but also a bit of a relief. The trip was fun but fairly stressful with all of those people, and as I was the most experienced traveler in Europe at times I felt like a bit of a tour guide. I think everyone else was worn out as well b/c they said that next time we will only do one or two places, and just stay for a few days! I missed them so much though when I returned to my empty, quiet flat.
That weekend was a nice distraction from missing my family as I spent it with James's family! The 26th was his parents's 30th wedding anniversary, and they had rented a very peaceful and posh lakeside “eco cabin” outside a tiny village in Yorkshire. James and I and his sister took off the Monday to have a long weekend of relaxing lie-ins, afternoons of watching the swans and funny little ducks in the lakes, and lots of good food. It was a nice respite from the hectic traveling from the previous two weeks. The cabin was nice too – a new build so everything was very modern and slick, except the “eco” thing meant there was limited hot water – only about 5 minute showers! Let's just say I didn't shave my legs that weekend. :) On the Saturday we all went to visit the ruins of Richmond castle, and on Sunday we visited a beautiful arboretum that also had a falconry. We went for one of the flying shows and it was so cool! They have to fly the birds for exercise so have made a little show of it for the public. They flew a kestrel, an owl, and a peregrine falcon. The falcon was definitely the best b/c it was the fastest and flew the highest. SJ and I even got to have the kestrel perch on our hands! After the flying show we had a better look around the falconry, which also happened to have numerous other animals about, including a family of meerkats who had a tiny little baby amongst them! It was the most adorable thing to watch it scamper after its parents (or brothers or sisters – whoever they were). After the arboretum we met James's aunt and uncle for afternoon tea. These were some of the only family members that I hadn't yet met, so they gave me the traditional 20 questions. It was lovely to finally meet them though, now the only ones I haven't met are the ones in New Zealand – will have to make an excuse to visit! On the Monday James's parents exchanged anniversary gifts (his mum got loads of lovely pearls for the pearl anniversary), and then we sadly had to say goodbye.
And I'm afraid I'm going to have to say goodbye as well, it is late and I have an early train to catch to a client!
Cheerio and lots of love,
Heather xoxo
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