RAINY DAY HIKE

                                              First Swiss Hike

      My first day in Switzerland to hike the Alps was a misty dull one. The 15 of us were just getting acquainted. On a previous trip I had had a great time traveling via gondola up the 6000-foot Mt.Strassahorn. The view of the valley below on a clear sunny day  was vivid in my memory. So I was looking forward to the next couple of weeks in the Swiss Alps

     One can’t do much about the weather, so we took off to catch the cog railroad, the steepest in the world, going up Mt. Pilatus. With a 48-degree incline, it took a year to build the three-mile track in 1889.

     We couldn’t see much on the ride up, but by the time we reached the top of the 7000-foot high mountain the mist had developed into a heavy drizzle and visibility was zero. The plus side was that the quiet was wonderful. The only thing breaking the silence was the tinkling cow bells from the  valley below. I couldn’t  see the cows but knew they were there. There were less than a handful of people on the mountain.

     The hotel had packed lunches  for us which we all had in our packs. Trying to eat in the rain on the trail wasn’t very appealing to  any of us. There really wasn’t any suitable place on top of the mountain to squat and eat either, as the patio was closed.

     Our guide seemed to know everyone and his brother in the country so he entered the large restaurant to see if he could talk the management into letting his  American charges eat their lunches in the restaurant. Another example how nice people around the world are. Most of us ordered hot soup and tea to  accompany our lunch. We were very careful not to dirty the tablecloth and to pick up all  our mess and carry it out with us. Most of us tipped generously before we left to ride the gondola down to 1451 feet to start hiking.

     By then it was raining pretty hard but the thick canopy kept us from getting soaking wet as we hiked down the well-kept packed path. My rain jacket served me well. Some people had umbrellas and put them up. I got the giggles watching this bunch hike downhill with umbrellas. It just seemed so ludicrous  to me.

     That first day and hike was wet, but it was the only day we had any rain at all. The weather cleared and we hiked in beautiful weather and had a grand time. Those beautiful mountains and part of the world called me back again for more hiking and adventures.

WALKING UP STAIRS IN VICTORIAN TIMES

                                              Victorian know how

       Of all the palaces I’ve visited  on my travels three are at the top of my list: Warwick in Warwick, England, Yusupov in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Wurzburg Palace in Wurzburg, Germany. Each deserves a full long post of its own---another day.

    Standing at the foot of the beautiful grand staircase in the Wurtzburg Palace I listened to an excited flamboyant female docent describe the proper way to walk up stairs---at least in Maria Theresa’s day.

     We’re talking 1700s here and the docent explained, “Stand tall with your head slightly turned up so you can look down just a tiny bit. Your right hand would grasp your long skirt while your left hand would be bent at a 90 degree angle at the elbow. But the pinkly finger must be extended upward toward the ceiling while the rest of the hand is gently closed.”

     Standing at the foot of the stairs in front of our group I listened carefully to the docent’s instructions. As she turned to ascend the stairs I turned to my friend asking, “Are you ready?”

      “You’re kidding, right?”

      Feeling a little giddy, I responded, “No, I’m not. Come on now, Make believe your pants are a skirt. Let’s so.”

      We proceeded up the long wide staircase in an elegant slow walk in perfect cadence. We made it to the top without looking down and without stumbling or missing a step. We both giggled all the way up and were the only ones game enough to step back in time to the elegance of decades past---just for a few minutes anyway. It was fun.

     When we all cleared the stairs, one of the fellows said, “You plucky ole gals did a pretty good job. I’m surprised your bifocals didn’t trip you up.” 

     Neither of us has ever done it again, but it is a one of a kind fun unusual memory.

ECO-MUSEUMS

                                                 Fun Places to Visit

      During my travels I have visited several eco-museums. I always look for something new and different.

     The Hungarian museum is located along the Danube River not far from Budapest. Established in 1967 and opened to the public in 1974, it replicates a village from the last century. At the old cemetery the docent asked us to note the different colors of the wooden markers, then explained that blue designated a child and black an adult. A male marker was pointed and a female marker was rounded. If a woman was married twice she had two rounded mounds on her marker. The carved wooden markers told a story for those before people could read and write. These markers were certainly new to me.

     Eventually this museum will have 300 buildings in ten units. When I visited it had 10 houses, three churches, seven mills, an inn, school and workshops. The museum will explain history and illustrate social differences. It was an interesting visit.

     The eco-museum in Las Landes, Bordeaux, France was established in 1970 and covered 10,000 square kilometers. A train delivered us to the entrance of the museum.  Sheep added much fertilizer to the sandy soil so grass was able to grow. Maypoles were explained to us. The aromas wafting from the outdoor ovens made me hungry for the fresh baked bread inside.

    Ballenberg, in Switzerland, was the first eco-museum I visited and probably my favorite. Set in a lovely wooded area, well maintained winding paths led from one house to the next. I was practically interested in the apothecary and the hand lace makers.  There was a large restaurant at the  edge of the grounds where we enjoyed a delightful lunch to bring this museum visit to a close.

    In Stockholm, Sweden the eco-museum, Skansen means little fortress. It is the oldest such museum having been established in 1891.  Its 150 buildings are located on one of Stockholm’s islands where it and the zoo occupy the entire island.  In the old schoolhouse we saw the rabbit tail erasers that were used to clean chalk boards. With no electricity the school day was short and the teacher and his wife lived in a room attached to the classroom. 

    Each museum was different and had something new to see and learn about.

An eco-museum is a museum focused on the identity of a place, largely based on local participation aiming to enhance the welfare and development of local communities. Eco-museums originated in France, in 1971. The term  refers especially to a new idea of holistic interpretation of cultural heritage vs the display of items and things of traditional museums. Many such museums are located in Europe.

    There are many such places around the U.S.; we just haven’t adopted the term eco-museum instead we call them interpretive, open, village etc.

OPIUM ICE CREAM

                                             A Surprise Flavor

     One evening leaving a restaurant in Vienna where we’d enjoyed a really good, if different, pizza my travel buddy said, “An ice cream would be a perfect topping of a great meal.”

     “What a good idea!  I’m sure I saw an ice cream kiosk a block from the hotel when I was scouting out the neighborhood this afternoon before you arrived. (She lives in LA). We should hit it if we cross here and then turn right,” I answered.

     We did just that and then joined a short line in front of the kiosk. It was hard to make a choice of the twenty or so flavors displayed. Each was labeled, but in Austrian or German. It didn’t make any difference as norther of us spoke either language.

    I tried to find out from the young man behind the counter what flavor the vanilla-looking ice cream with tiny dark specks in it was.  Maybe chocolate chip?  The fellow didn’t speak any English, which was surprising for a young male.

     Not wanting to hold up the line forming behind us I gave up the conversation and just took the ice cream.  For this ice creamaholic, I knew no matter what the flavor it would be good. Licking our cones we walked off heading toward the hotel. Suddenly we heard a  young man  say, “Ladies, ladies. That ice cream you are eating is opium ice cream.”

    “What!” we exclaimed simultaneously.

     “Yes, you know like from the poppies that grow in Afghanistan. Opium ice cream,” he commented.

     After a minute a light went on in my head and I said, “Oh, you mean poppy seed.”

     “Yes, Yes.” He strolled past us licking on his cone.

     He was standing directly behind us, and we both wondered why he hadn’t jumped in to interpret for us when we were trying to converse with the vendor.

     We had a good chuckle over my opium ice cream and often mentioned it on succeeding trips when we were together.

PETER RABBIT

                                                A Naturalist as Well

      Beatrix Potter was very close to her dad, a wealthy barrister, but found her mother cold and domineering. As a child Beatrix had little contact with her family as she and her younger brother spent their time with a governess in rooms upstairs in the home. Unbelievably, she was in her mid-teens before joining the family for dinner.

     She started a journal at age fifteen and kept it until she was thirty. She wrote in code. The journal was discovered in 1950 but it took nine years to decode it. Some speculate that she used a code because she felt her mother was nosey and intrusive.  At sixteen a Vicar at a nearby church encouraged Beatrix to write and draw.

     A naturalist at an early age, she kept all kinds of critters, named them and created stories about them. As a young woman she had a profitable business drawing greeting cards.

     Vacations in Scotland during childhood sparked an interest in fungi, and she became an expert. She presented a paper on spore formation and other theories using a pseudonym, and had a male friend make the presentation. In the 1800s women did not do such things or attend male conventions.

     When her last governess left and had children Beatrix sent picture letters to the children, which became the beginning of her books. When six publishers rejected Peter Rabbit she self-published 150 copies, easily sold them to friends and then ordered 200 more copies. Peter, Flopsie, Mopsie and Cottontail have been famous ever since. She illustrated all of her books.

    In 1913, at 47, Beatrix married and thereafter was known as Beatrix Potter Heelis.  A sheep farmer’s wife, she only wrote four books after her marriage. However not idle, she is credited with saving the nearly extinct Herdwick sheep to a now thriving population. She was the first woman to serve as president of the Herdwick Sheep Association