So as I wrote in the last blog posting I will start part deux with ....
You just could n´t plan it...
I think that most would agree that very often the things you don´t plan turn out to be the best. So it was with the place we stayed in when we visited Silvaplana in San Moritz, Switzerland.
We ´couch surfed´with David, a highlander* who lives in Heidi country! But more, David lived in a Swiss chalet with floor to ceiling wood panelling and wood carving through out.
In every room there was period furniture which had been made by master craftsmen.
And we know what
period to the exact date: 24th of February 1898. We know that because
the newspaper glued the the back of the wardrobe, and also in excellent condition, was published on that date!
And the couch?
Well that turned out to be a
private bedroom, and more a room with a great view as you can see!
David was a gracious host, he who took
us on trips and give the best if insider-highlander tips.
Honest - the
whole experience would have made Heidi mad jealous!
-------------------------------------------------------
* Note: For those of you who have been watching re-runs of Highlander: to advise you ´highlander´ in Switzerland does not refer to Scottish lads with six pack abs wielding swords and saving damsels throughout the ages.
In Switzerland ´highlander´ refers to real heroes; namely teachers who leave the cities to teach in schools in the mountains. Living in the mountains is fine in the winter when there is snow, and all one´s nearest and dearest, `simply must come to visit - and perhaps get in a bit of skiing, while they are there`. And it´s fine too in the summer when it all looks like ...well like it does in the Heidi films! It´s the times in between can be bleak and lonely. Which is why these teachers are well regarded; without them the small schools would close, and the children would have to trek a long way to get to schools in the nearest towns.
And another ´you just could n´t plan it´:
A visit to the cousins (Herbert´s) who happen to live just two miles from what used to be a border dividing parts of former West Germany, East Germany and Czechoslovakia.
I had started writing up on this unplanned adventure, but I decided the whole matter was too serious, and sad, for a posting about my birthday celebrations. I will write a posting on the topic another time.
Soup in Bratislava
I know that sounds like the title of an avant-guarde film, but it is true, I did have a bowl of soup in Bratislava.
I was advised that this small restaurant had not changed in over forty years. And I could believe it. There was a very old fashion feel to the place, the posters on the wall were all in Czech; the menu, written in Czech, had very ´harty´ items like pigs feet, and cabbage with everything!
Two women at the table beside me were strong looking country women, that one might have seen in old film footage from the 1950´s communist era. The servers were gracious and no complaints there, but I felt very much an outsider compared to the usual customers. It was fun. More about Bratislava in another time.
And another adventure you could n´t plan was meeting my cousin Tom from Australia - he who I had not seen in over 40 years!
And I know you could not plan it, because we tried!
But I can tell you right now, this might not be a story for everyone, so move on if you want. But I warn you, you will miss a pearl of a story - at your peril. (I do love my puns!)
I had not seen cousin Tom since he left for Australia when he was barely in his 20´s with is Dublin born bride Maureen. I had heard he was making his annual trip home ´
to see his mammy´about the same time I was going home to ´
see my mammy´. We tried to co-ordinate a meet up, but understandably with Tom being home only three weeks, and his mammy nearly 90, they just planned each day as it came.
As it happens both Mammies are not only sisters-in-law, but best friends from childhood. Tom and his mammy had a spontaneous trip to visit my mammy on their agenda. So, Romeo H. and I arrived in from the airport at 2:30 one morning. I got up to get a drink of water at about 9:30 a.m. And there did n´t the phone ring. It was Aunty Jane, she did not know if we were in Ireland or not, but she rang anyway to say, they were coming to Kilkenny that day and could Herbert and I meet them for lunch before they went to see my mammy! Now had Aunty Jane two minutes earlier or later, I would have missed that call.
And noch mehr
- even more for your non-German speakers
. Cousin Cathy was supposed to be some where else other than Kilkenny that weekend. She gave me her cell phone number to call to say hello when I reach Ireland. Well, I called said number. I said, ´
Cathy I know you not supposed to be here this weekend, but just in case you are in town, cousin Tom from Australia et al are meeting up for lunch if you can join us.` Well her plans had change, and in walks Cathy just as we were to order. She too had not seen Tom for decades. It a wonderful rendezvous. The beauty about cousins is that even if you hardly ever meet, you both know all the family stories, so catch up is very easy.
Althgouh this photo below is a bit hazy, it has a very joyous backdrop to it.
We had a great meal and chat, followed by a visit to my mammy; it was lemonade and great sport all-around. AND noch mehr
arís - ´
again´ for you non- Irish speakers.
Just when you thought it could not get better - there did n´t it get better.
After visiting my Mammy, Romeo H. suggested a pint in everyone´s favorite local. Cousin Tom was game if it suited his Mammy.
And bless her, she was. So with 87 and a whole day on the road, in she went to the pub with her rollator to partake in a little imbibing. Cousin Tom still game for adventure knew another cousin of ours, Murt, worked nearby; Tom decided to go for a quick visit to Murt. Next thing they both returned for a pint of what ever you ´re having yourself.
A great end to a great day - the like of which you could never plan!
An nice addendum to that great day; Murt´s son was playing a hurling match the next day, and invited us to come. Romeo H. had never seen a hurling match live, so he was delighted with himself.
(For readers not fortunate enough to have ever seen a hurling match, see below for an intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtZ0zDHqtug
Wellie Racing on both sides of the Pond.
Although this photo on the right was taken in Ireland, the backround to the story with this ´
rather rural group of persons´ has its start in the metropolis of New York City!
The photo of moi with the Delaney father and son team was taken on 1st. of January 2016 at the 34th Castlecomer Wellie Race. I had not been home for the race in over 15 years. And there did n´t I meet the Delaney team by chance on the race route.
The last time I had seen Charlie and son was when they both participated in the 1st. New York City Wellie race, back in 2000. In the N.Y.C. race, Delaney jr. was ´running in his pram´.
What fun it was to bump into him 15 years later running in his wellies.
Nope, you just could n´t plan it!
Christmas Eve Midnight Service at Hampton Court.
Yes, THE Hampton Court favoured by Henry the VIII, the self same Hampton Court which was the location for Alexander Pope´s satiric poem ´
The Rape of the Lock´ - which all Leaving Cert students in Ireland had to learn.
And this as far from wellie racing up hills of Castlecomer in the pelting rain as can be! And another highlight of my 60th birthday celebration, that I could not have planned. I mean how can one commute from Allensbach to Hampton Court outside London where there is no public transportation - in the middle of the night - on Christmas Eve!
Fun facts: Although Henry VII instigated protestantism in England to marry herself for which he was excommunicated by the pope, Henry VIII himself never lost his Catholic faith.
As most know a key aspect of the new faith of which he was ´the boss´was the simplicity of the houses of worship. Such as this alter in the chapel at Hampton Court. See above.
This was a most understandable backlash to all the bells, whistles and feathers associtated with Catholic churches of the time. However.....
Henry and his fellow courtiers did not have to suffer such plainness; they attended services in the balcony high above the minions.
source for all Hampton Court pictures: http://www.chapelroyal.org/hdclosets.html
Here the look is MUCH different:
........Ich sage nichts!
And the two final
´just could n´t plan its were:
a)
Meeting Angela (or as cool German bloggers say ´das Merkel`)
Full disclosure: I have great respect for Chancellor Merkel, I don´t agree with all her actions. But, like many I have great respect for her attempts to find a humane workable solution for the refugees that are coming to Europe. Very often a lonely stance to hold.
So it was that I was delighted to attend the meeting when Angela came to visit our area. What was even more super was, I found a seat right up where as my böse brother would in-elegantly say I ´
was close enough to be able to pick her nose`.
And guess what I spoke with children who saw the real live Renvyle Mermaid. How LUCKY was I then!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sometimes in five star surrounds..... 
.. There was the odd cycle about the local countryside when there is nothing much else to do.... 
Perhaps the most interesting locale was the pub with the walls covered with platinum albums and pictures of world famous singers imbibing in a pint of what ever your having yourself in the self same pub... It was of course the pub belonging to the Mammy and Daddy of Enya and her equally gifted siblings, the members of Clannad!
Oh yes, another pub with more strangers... a whole family of them. Together we enjoyed watching Kilkenny win the All-Ireland Hurling Championships... (The same men that play hurling at a similar level of excellent that world class professional soccar players play their game - only the hurlers get up to go to work the next day!)...
