Barbara's travels continue 2018

After a fabulous week, strenuous as well as very enjoyable, it was time to have a relaxed final evening outside my usual bar watching the wonderful cat nonna who has been feeding these cats in Alghero every day for 20 years. Everytime I watched this joyful reunion of cats and the lovely old lady, I could not help but think of the musical Cats, especially looking at the poor long-haired cat(black and white, at the back of the line)  which is apparently quite sick and can't groom itself. I expected it to start singing 'Memories'! Actually, every night it allowed itself to be brushed quite roughly, whilst being told in a soothing voice how lovely he was. Such a great pleasure to have witnessed this cat lover. I decided to forego a school party because I needed to be up early for the bus, and to pack. A quiet evening was perfect. I did meet up with a group I knew, so that was great too. Alghero is quite small, so you get to know people quite quickly. Very nice! No wonder that m

It is fantastic to be back in the classroom even if it is as student and not as teacher. I love the feeling I may be making  progress with my Italian. It is a tiny school with energetic young teachers and very helpful admin staff. I was a bit anxious about the very grammatical test, but apparently I did well, definitely thanks to the podcasts I have been listening to and my friend Giuglia's help. Anyway, I ended up in the top class with a very fluent Spanish lady and a German lady who has spent many weeks at the school. The first hour of the day is grammar! Definitely not my preferred way to get the day going, but it's only 90 minutes and Eleonora is lovely and seems to enjoy us getting side-tracked! Then we have skills like reading and speaking with Aurora (lovely name). I love this part of the day in particular. Yesterday, we discussed The Mafia and the famous trial of the heads of Mafia - i was so pleased to have seen the superb movie based on true facts of the trial, The T

After a very short night of sleep after a bit of excessive reunion celebrations, it was a very sleep day yesterday until we touched down in Sardinia  with such a bump that all kids started screaming and woke me up! The cheap hotel I had in Olbia was comfortable and clean but a good 20- minute walk to town through a not so attractive area. I felt safe though. It was worth it though, as there were some lovely nooks and crannies in town and , of course, excellent food and drink. I could not believe how many German tourists there were. A huge cruise ship was in. The pandemic is not an issue here, it seems. I am not quite sure what this bar was offering? Thanks to the long walk to the hotel and back, I slept like a log. I am certainly not a 30-degree plus person and I am thankful nobody I knew saw me in such a sweaty mess! What I thought would be a very straightforward direct bus trip of 2.5 hours to Alghero today turned out to be a great opportunity to use my Italian. Thankfully I know som

I am so thankful that I arranged a relatively long stay in Russikon with Trudi before setting off on my travels. It was a marvelous chance to catch up with her, to enjoy resttful times in her beautiful garden and to also see other close friends, combining those meetings with local trips/walks.  First stop the tiny Luetzelsee near Groeningen, where in spring the fields are a mass of colour, and the marshes and trees are full of storks. I had not quite realised how huge these magnificent birds were until we happened to be led by a couple of them down the track to their nesting area! What a joy it is to sit in the shade beside their trees and observe  so many storks at one time. The trees were like a stork ghetto, each nest with one stork guarding the young chicks, which frequently raised their long necks in the hope of getting food. All was quiet until the foraging storks returned and then the guard stork would make  an incredibly loud clapping noise with its long beak. It was fantastic

Winterthur, our nearest big town. I love this place with all its colourful houses and quaint shopping streets. Unfortunately, I missed its fantastic market, but will enjoy it another time. I find the use of vivid colours on everyday items simply fantastic. You just need to keep your eyes open to see these little treasures down little sidestreets! Pfaeffikon, my home for eight years, now has a new main street leading down to the church I used to live next to, and the lake. Saturday morning, this quiet, partly oedestrian-only thoroughfare, becomes a small but quality Farmers' Market. It is a great place to meet up unexpectedly with old friends. What a wonderful week I have had catching up with so many great friends. The weekend was no different - a day with Dennis  in the welcome shade of Kuesnacht Tobel, a beautiful little gorge leading to Kuesnacht on the lake of Zuerich. With temperatures soaring to the thirties, the walk into the valley provided us with most welcome shade and co

Wow, summer has come early here! With temperatures around 30 degrees, it was definitely the right choice to head to the nearby, spectacular Rhein Falls.  They are so impressive at this time of year, even with less snow melt than usual. Our pathway started with this view back at the raging torrents. Quickly, the pounding of those hundreds of thousands of litres of water was a distant memory, instead we were strolling beside the gently flowing Rhein, enjoying the besutiful spring foliage and absolute tranquility. What a haven from the midday sun the forest was. The colours of the river here reminded me of The Clutha. From autumn gold to intense green in the space of a week. Travel is simply amazing. Occasionally this beautiful track towards Rheinau takes you away from the river and past horse paddocks, which were a magnificent sea of golden buttercups. After a lomgish but varied walk, we neared our destination, just above Rheinau. The water flowing over the dam was pristine and looked s