Visiting Ollie

Andy and Megan have a brand new baby boy! Oliver was born at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on 08-01-2008 at 08.25am, 7lbs9. More pics here.

The Spaced house

We live very close to the house used in the Spaced TV series (starring Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson), and we finally stopped by for a visit while having an afternoon stroll. Next up, the book shop from Blacks Books!

Switzerland - Day 8 (Zürich)

Popped out in the morning to see one more Lucerne landmark, Bertel Thorvaldsen's famous carving of a dying lion (the Löwendenkmal) commemorating the hundreds of Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when the mob stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

Afterwards stocked up on yummy food for the train ride to Zürich, Swizterland's largest and most cosmopolitan city, named as having the "best quality of life" in the world.

We had a big walk around the city, first through the old town, and then through the fancy shopping district, through which the windows were filled with jewellery and expensive watches.

We popped into the Grossmünster church and ascended the tower for the panoramic views:

St. Peter's, the largest clock face in Europe:

All in all we had a pretty low key visit to Zurich, but we were saving our energy for the big New Year's street party. And what a party it was - food stalls everywhere, 80s dancing on the side of the road, lakeside raving to popular German-language electronic music, and one of the best fireworks displays we've ever seen - a feuerwerkschiff on the lake. A fitting send-off for our holiday.

Tucking into street vendor food:

Raving:

The cityscape at night (yes, that's a circus):

And so it came time to say farewell to Emma and Frank and head back home to London. We really enjoyed having companions to travel with - the conversation was great, and the "Zombies!!!" games appropriately rousing. See you both again in Feb!

Switzerland - Day 7 (Lucerne)

Train hopped from Interlaken to Lucerne, another trip with fantastic scenery. Emma and I stood by the window, cameras at the ready, trying to get as many shots of the passing landscape as we could:

Lucerne sits on the shore of Lake Lucerne, within sight of Mount Pilatus and Rigi. It straddles the Reuss River, and therefore has a number of bridges, the most famous of which is the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke). This wooden bridge dates from 1333, and contains a series of paintings from the 17th century depicting events from Lucerne's history.

Crossing over, we found the Historical Museum, with an interesting collection artefacts and an even more interesting method of displaying them. Each item has a barcode, and you have a handheld scanner, which feeds you the relevant information in your language of choice! Quite a nice innovation, except it takes a few seconds between scan and response, plus a basic label on the items would help in decide whether or not to read more...

We crossed back via the nearby Mill Bridge (Spreuerbrücke), which also contains paintings, this time depicting various inviduals at the mercy of an anthropomorphisised Death. It has a small chapel in the middle that was added in 1568.

The old town is located just north of the Reuss River, and still has several fine half-timber structures with painted fronts. We visited the Picasso Museum, which - though it has some paintings - is actually an exhibition of photographs by David Douglas Duncan, depicting the impish artist at home and at work. A very interesting collection, though difficult at times to follow in the correct order!

We also went to the Swiss Transport Museum, which was pretty dull despite it's comprehensive display of locomotives, automobiles, ships, and aircraft. The most fun was had using the scooters to get between the large exhibition hangars.

Switzerland - Day 6 (Lauterbrunnen, Mürren, Schilthorn)

Today was out big mountain trip, and we began by heading up through Lauterbrunnen again. Two trains later, we switched to our first gondala up to Grütschalp, train through Winteregg to Mürren, gondola to Birg, then one last gondola up to Piz Gloria resort atop Schilthorn mountain (2971m).

Me and a friend, Mürren:

View from Mürren:

View from Birg (Piz Gloria on the pinnacle to the right):

Piz Gloria was used as a setting in the George Lazenby James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I'm attempting to recreate the scene when he slides acorss the heilpad, shotting Blofeld's cronies with a Sten gun. I hurt myself instead. ("That never happened to the other guy!")

The big three - Eiger (Ogre), Mönch (Monk) and Jungfraujoch (Young Girl).

Views fom Piz Gloria:

After taking in the sights, and watching the little James Bond feature in the panoramic auditorium, we had lunch in the revolving restaurant. Anna and I shared a "Diana Rigg" sundae, yum yum.

All in all it was a long and tiring day with all the travel, and we were glad to get back home. We had the funniest moment in our trip that evening: Frank and I were enjoying a rousing game of "Zombies!!!" when we heard someone apparently trying to open the door. Despite calling out that they had the wrong room, this mysterious person kept turning the handle. Suddenly the door popped open, and the hotel dog walked in. Poor Frank had a delicious tart stashed beside him on the floor and, bold as brass, the dog went straight for it and ate it in two gulps. We then managed to get him out before he ate any of our zombie board pieces.

This is the aftermath (note the crumbs).

Switzerland - Day 5 (Bern, Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen)

View of Bern from over the Kirchenfeldbruecke:

Yesterday I mentioned Bern's relationship with bears. Well, a little bad sad to say, they actually still have a bear pit. It's a pretty depressing site, though I guess not too dissiilar to a zoo. Apparently there are plans to expand the pit, and even give the bears access to the river. Here's hoping...

Went back to the Berner Münster to climb its 100m tower (344 steps!) for a spectacular view of the town and a bout of breathlessness (or if you prefer, à bout de souffle).

We then left Bern behind and enjoyed another magical train ride to the stunning Interlaken area, nestled between the Thuner and Brienzer lakes, and at the foot of a majestic mountain range. Although we were running out of day, we managed to sneak up the mountains as far as Lauterbrunnen. This valley was the basis for J.R.R. Tolkien's sketches and watercolors of Rivendell...

Switzerland - Day 4 (Bern)

Bern, the capital of Switzerland, sits on a peninsula formed by the meandering turns of the river Aare. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with over 6 kms of arcaded walkways along streets decked out with fountains and clock-towers. Unfortunately, many of the attractions were closed - the Einstein museum, the Parliament - but we really enjoyed walking around and taking in the ambience.

Fountain with child-eating ogre:

Albert Einstein rented this small flat with his wife during his years working at the Swiss patent office. Their first child, Hans Albert, and the special and general theories of relativity were born here, where Einstein's writing desk overlooked the busy street and its lovely clock-tower.

Einstein mask!

Berne is inseparably linked with bears. According to legend the city’s founder, Duke Berchtold V von Zähringen, named the city after the first animal to be caught here.

The Berner Münster was originally a small chapel (1191), but grew into the present Gothic church around 1421. The main entrance features a Last Judgement scene. It is one of the most complete Late Gothic sculpture collections in Europe, and the only statue in the Münster to survive the iconoclasm of the Protestant Reformation.

In the afternoon we caught a bus just outside the town to Zentrum Paul Klee, an extremely impressive museum housing a huge collection of work by the eponymous artist (he's one of my personal favourites). The museum itself is a celebrated work of modern architecture, with a rolling landscape-like form by Renzo Piano.

Dinner at the Tramdepot, the old final station of Berne's first tramway. The building now houses a popular brewpub.

Switzerland - Day 3 (Geneva, Montreux, Vevey, Lausanne)

Started the day with a little walk around Geneva. We successfully negotiated the tram system, which got us into the historic centre. It was extremely quiet, as everything was closed for Boxing Day. We found a few of the churches that were in the guidebook - one was impressively large in the style of a Roman temple - but kept moving so we didn't get cold.

I love this statue, but unfortunately I didn't note the plaque, and I can't find it on the internet.

War memorial

Fat, fluffy winter sparrows!

Me and Socrates catch up on old times

Hopped on a train to begin our day trip around Lake Geneva. First stop, Montreux! Famous as a base for recording studios in the wild days of rock n roll, it has entered music history via Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water". The song describes the fire that broke out at a Frank Zappa gig, and which levelled the Montreux Casino. Clouds of smoke wafted across the beutiful, still lake...

We all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline / To make records with a mobile - We didn't have -much time / Frank Zappa & the Mothers were at the best place around / But some stupid with a flare gun burned the -place to the ground / Smoke on the water, fire in the sky

The cast of Ice Age...

Lakeside

Château de Chillon is a castle on a small island, continuously built up from around 1005.

Originally built to exact a toll passing traders, it's now known as the prison of François Bonivard, a political prisoner from Geneva. His plight inspired many artists and writers, including Lord Byron's poem "The Prisoner of Chillon".

Byron's name is carved in one of the columns near where François was chained.

The next stop, Vevey, was a pilgrimage for myself and Frank, as it is the resting place of Charlie Chaplin. I've been a huge fan since Dad showed me a couple of Chaplin films as a kid. Modern Times and The Great Dictator especially had a profound effect on me. Frank, meanwhile, has been writing a screenplay about the notorious (but bungled) ransom attempt on Chaplin's remains...

When we got there, we didn't actually know where his grave was, so we went to a couple of the local musuems for information. It's another pretty town with stunning lakeside views.

Looks like a Claes Oldenburg fork to me... Wonder if the seagull has a nice view?

First find on our pilgrimage - Chaplin statue!

On a tip from the lady at the food museum (no really), we caught a train out to one of the suburbs. From there we proceeded to walk up some staggering hills looking for a cemetery. One false turn lead to a vinyard, the other to the wrong cemetery. Still, this lead to the second find of our pilgrimage - Graham Greene's resting place! This came as a complete surprise.

Finally - after questioning some locals - we found the right spot and paid our respects. There were fresh flowers on the site - afterall, we were there the day after the 30th anniversary of Chaplin's death (Christmas Day, 1977). It's a pretty spot, and he and his wife are safe now - newly encased in two metres of concrete...

It was getting late, but we still had time to stop at Lausanne on the way home for a visit to the Musée Olympique. This was a magnificent attraction (aside from one dodgy animatronic display that wasn't working at all well), with fascinating displays. They had one of the finest collections of Greek antiquities I've seen. We saw the highlights, but wished we'd had more time.