29 September

What a truly wonderful day I have just had!It started horribly early, meeting at 7.30am at the train station. I met with a group of 90 other expats for a day trip to see des Alpes. The day wasn't looking incredibly promising. Not only had it been raining and freezing cold for the last week and it was predicted that it would continue to be lousy, but when I got there I was the only person in the entire group who was alone. Everyone (and I really mean EVERYONE) else was with friends or family. Gulp. I sat on the train by myself. Two girls came and sat in front of me, but didn't exchange so much as an hello with me. Two ladies sat in the seats on the other side of the corridor. After about 10 minutes of the train moving, I decided that I wasn't going to have a good time unless I was not alone, so I got up, plopped myself down in front of the ladies and introduced myself. They were from the Singapore Mission, Noor and Pauline. They were delightful and happily welcomed me to join them for the day. As we gazed out the window and chatted, we saw that in fact the day was looking like it was going to be clear after all. We arrived in Nyon where a bus waited for us and took us up the winding road to St Cergue. The views were so pretty; hills so green and sky a vivid blue.

We started wandering through the village, enjoying the atmostphere, smelling the big pot of soup warming, and the fondue heating. And then, it was time for the cows.

First came these stylishly dressed men, hefting giant bells	Then the cowherds, with the cows right behind	with their colourful headdresses on.
These men seemed to have no purpose apart from having impressive beards	and what could be more Swiss than alpen horns	and St Bernards, pulling carts
As you can see, the village itself is very pretty	and here is a rather wonderful milking stool, strapped onto his backside	Strange musical instrument

We met some very charming and friendly Swiss guys from the village. One of them bought us a glass of wine, and explained to us the instrument you see above. Apparently it is a cream bowl, and is played by setting a 5 franc coin spinning around it, which sets off a kind of ringing buzz. How much more Swiss can you get than to play an item used for separating milk, with money? I made a short video of the guys playing it - click on the image below (840k)

At 11.15, we met at the train station to take the train back down the hill. We arrived back at Nyon and walked through the autumn market to the Chateau Nyon, where we were fed a delicious lunch, in the basement.

27 September Cool Art.

You just have to see my food! You have to look at my foodblog and see the food that I made on Sunday night! I was really pleased with both the dishes and the photos. Check this one out:

.

The Police concert was great. Sting really hasn't changed over the years, and his voice was as captivating as ever. I wish I could show you some photos, but you have heard my woes with my camera, so the best I can offer are these photos of the crowd, stage, and my friends:

I understand there were 25,000 people at the concert, despite the hideous expense of the tickets. Because this was the only concert playing in Switzerland, people flooded in from all over the country and they had to lay on extra trains after the concert.

This weekend is a relatively quiet one, party on Friday night, the fete de rue in Paquis, and hosting a challenge dinner party on Sunday night - theme: tea.

16 September

I am going to the Police concert tonight! Yay! Apparently in the fancy seats too, worth $250 a ticket!

11 September

Well, I had a fabbo time in Madrid despite the rather rocky start to the trip. (I ended up walking to the train station, where luckily I did find a taxi free!)

The hostel I stayed in wasn't charming, or beautiful, or fancy. But what it is, is right in the centre of Madrid, clean, and run by really lovely management. I recommend it to you; Hostal St Jordi.

The owner, Bruno, and staff Annika and Augusto are really warm and welcoming, and in fact Bruno went the extra mile and took us out dancing one night.

I ended up crawling into bed in the hostel as soon as I got one, and crashed out until the afternoon! Then went for a wander, just to get my bearings. Found the Prado, Thyssen Bornemisza Museum and importantly, the shopping district (grin). There are some pretty hoopy looking buildings in Madrid.

In the evening I ended up chatting and sharing a glass of wine with a mixed bunch of hostellers.

The next day it was off to the Prado for a proper look. To be truthful I was less impressed than I thought I would be. Its not that the Prado is terrible or anything like that, I guess there were just less things that really pushed my buttons that in other galleries and museums that I have been in. That said it was pretty amazing to get to see Brueghl's garden of earthly delights, and my notebook is filled with a list of paintings that I would like to get photos of. After getting spoilt in France by being able to photograph paintings in museums, its frustrating not to be able to snap photos of the paintings I found interested, and I was frustrated at the museum not having postcards, slides or prints of them. I have now emailed the museum to see if they offer a photograph service, so we shall see!

That evening, there was an offer by the manager of the hostel to take us to a night club. So we met up at 2am and off we went. As we stood outside the nightclub, queueing, a few of us were laughing and making jokes. Apparently this behaviour upset the bouncers and they refused us entry! However some negotiation by our host meant that we ended up in another night club a few doors down, and with free entry too. Dancing till the morning is something I love to do, and this converted theatre was a great place to go; wide marble stair cases and nice wooden floors to dance on. The drinks were hideously expensive (10 euros each, that's $15 AUD) and that was even for non-alcoholic drinks! Still, it had a few different areas with different sorts of music and I did get some seriously good dancing in.

Because I got to bed rather late (8am) I did lose much of the day to sleep, but had time to go out on the hunt for a particular garment I have been searching for. I had bought myself a rather sweet dress (in black and white) and desparately needed a pair of white bike shorts to wear under it. Bike shorts should never be seen in public, but are the perfect underwear for wearing under a dress when it is hot and sweaty - stops nasty thigh rub. But of course, being an unflattering garment at the best of times, its impossible to find bikeshorts in anything but black - no use for wearing under a white skirt or dress! El Corte Ingles is a big department store chain, and I had a good long hunt there.

There were some pretty frightening undergarments there I can tell you. Undies to push tummies in, thighs in, bums up, and even some with built-in pads to make your bum bigger. They ranged in price all the way up to 90 euros, which seems an extraordinary amount to pay! My thoughts on these undies is that its all very well squashing the tummy in, but where does all the flesh being squashed go? Its gotta be pushed somewhere, and either you are in agony, or you are bulging in places that people are just not supposed to bulge!

Anyway, after searching the sports section for bike shorts, the pyjamas section for sleeping shorts and the undies section for "undergarments", I found exactly what I was looking for. Whats more, they had a sale on, buy one pair get a second at half price, so I bought myself a second pair. Now all I needed was a new day so that I could wear my lovely new frock in public.

Luckily the weather in Madrid is indecently pleasant so the next day I got to wear my new frock. But, having slipped it on, and going to look in the mirror, what did I find, but an immense bruise on my shoulder - I have no idea when it happened; some vague recollection of going "ouch, that'll bruise" but nothing to explain the size and colour of this beauty. I ended up back in El Corte Ingles searching the makeup department for foundations to cover it.

I got to the Museum of Decorative arts, which was superb. I particularly enjoyed the second floor, which had some rooms set out as a room would have been in the 16th century. They had some pottery pieces:

some quite lovely jewellry

and a pretty interesting collection of textiles:

The piece de resistance is the chapel, which has been recreated in a downstairs room. The fashion, apparently, in the 16th century in spain, was leather wall paper. It was the first time I had ever seen it, and ooh how I miss having a decent camera. I did take some pics, but they aren't all they could be!

so really, if I had to choose which to go see, I reckon I would choose the Museum of Decorative Arts over the Prado. Bizarre but true.

I have figured out where I am off to next weekend for my four day Jeune Genevois holiday. Madrid! Easyjet fly there directly from Geneva, and once there, its not all that expensive as European cities go. I am staying in a hostel. So... watch this space!

Last Thursday night, I organised a dinner at a Thai restaurant. The food is not as good as Aussie Thai (or, of course, Thai Thai) but pretty good, and the decor and atmostphere ROCKS.

Best of all, while you eat, Thai dancers come up on stage and perform for you. Lovely.