1 BBQ, 2 dinner parties, 1 ceramic market, 1 nursery open day, 2 countries, and lots of great company.. phew what a weekend!
Archive for the ‘Switzerland’ Category
Liestal
Last night we got to witness something pretty special. Normally on this night every year we’d head down the road to the Fasnachts Feuer (which we love), but this year we decided to mix it up and take a trip to a small Swiss town called Liestal to watch their fire parade.
Now, I’m not sure what the laws are like in other countries, but in Australia I’m pretty sure all events involving fire alone would be banned in a hundred different ways, let alone when they also include thousands of excited people pushing out onto a small street and a thick layer of confetti lying all over the ground.. but here in Switzerland, it’s all good! In fact, it’s an old tradition that involves a bunch of firefighters pushing or carrying huge burning carts and lanterns through the streets of Liestal, burning the faces off the spectators. Ok that last bit isn’t really true, but it felt like it! Aaannddd there wasn’t a barrier in sight.. take that Australia!
But really, it couldn’t have been more special, and thrilling, and hot. Oh so hot.. the photos and videos just don’t do it justice. As the carts went past, we were literally pushing people backwards to get away from the heat, but still had huge smiles on our faces because it was just so incredibly fantastic! I think we probably ingested our yearly dose of ash and dust, and I managed to pour beer all over myself (as a safety measure, of course).. but hey, so worth it.
The video may be a little bit bumpy in parts – that’s when it got hot! It really doesn’t do it justice.. best to just go there yourselves :)
Current Engagements
We spent the weekend in Zürich, and happened to have the most spectacular weather I think I’ve ever seen there. It was an unforgettable weekend full of photos, friends, champagne, and a proposal ;)
Basel Herbstmesse by night
Over the past few weeks, we have developed an interest in long-exposure photography. This is where you open the shutter for extended periods of time, and gives pretty great results when shooting moving lights. Luckily for us, the perfect event waltzed into town last week (Herbstmesse) full of flashing, spinning, bouncing lights just begging to be photographed… and so we did!
Basel Herbstmesse by day
The Basel Herbstmesse (Autumn festival) is on at the moment, and I love it! This is one of my favourite festivals all year, not because of the rides, but because there is so much happening – there are people everywhere, stalls and rides in all the major squares through Basel, and the overall vibe is really fun. It also means that in less than a month the Christmas Markets will begin :) This is the 540th Herbstmesse in Basel, which means it’s been going since the 15th Century.. a good 300 years before Australia was even colonised. Makes me feel so young and naive haha.
We’ve already been into Basel 3 times this past week, mostly to try out some really funky night-time photography (coming in the next post), but also just to soak up the atmosphere and buy some Mandeln (sugar-coated almonds).. mmm lecker!
Trift
Last weekend we took a drive, a cable car, and then a hike to reach the amazing Trift suspension bridge that overlooks the stunning Trift glacier. Well.. that’s what all the brochures say you’ll see.. our view ended up being a little bit different, but to me, no less beautiful.
It was quite eerie watching the bridge disappear into nothing, and hearing voices but not being able to see anything.. we felt a little bit robbed having killed ourselves hiking there to see a glacier.. but I think seeing the bridge like this was something pretty special too.
Swiss National Day
We live so close to Switzerland that sometimes we like to consider ourselves half Swiss and half German. Probably not the proper thing to think if you actually are one of those nationalities, but we can do that because we’re neither! ‘Strayen all the way. So anyway, when Switzerland puts on a party, we just go ahead and invite ourselves. And our friends.
Last Saturday Switzerland had their National Day, which is celebrated with fireworks and drinking and more fireworks (in Basel at least), so we headed to our nearest beach (on top of a parking garage – also blogged here), settled in with some beers and mojito’s and waited for the fireworks. 6 hours later, the fireworks appeared, closing out the most fantastic summer day yet. Hopefully the photos can give you some sense of how beautiful a day it was.. and can pass on a little bit of sunshine for those of you playing in ‘Straya. Enjoy!
Easter weekend
Some photos from the long weekend just gone.. we spent a few lazy days around home before heading to Zürich to spend time with some great friends. And I only just noticed that every photo either has to do with food, or with animals. hm!
Die Schweiz
After France we spent a bit of time in Switzerland, as you can see below :)
A visit from some old friends
Wow, ok… I’m running a bit behind with the blog! Sorry! We’ve had a pretty crazy couple of weeks here.. between 2 lots of friends visiting, work, German lessons, driving lessons and taking a trip to France, we haven’t had much spare time at home. But no excuses! I’m going to make up for all that lost time now..
So, two weekends ago we were lucky enough to have two of my friends from primary school come and visit. I was a little bit nervous going into this weekend, because, while I’ve kept in contact with one of the friends (now living in Paris), I hadn’t seen the other friend for about 14 years. As it turned out, I had no need to be nervous because we all still got along like we did in primary school, and we had a great weekend! We couldn’t help but find it funny that we’d never kept in contact while we were living in the same country, but now that we’d all moved overseas it came more naturally!
Here are some photos of our weekend/mini reunion.. (yes.. more raspberry picking! This time at a proper berry farm though)
