We had a good dinner in a beer hall last night. At places like this you share a big table with other diners and enjoy huge wienerschnitzels. The beer was pretty good too.
There’s a record player in our hotel room, along with some albums from the 1970s.
We played a few records, but it’s very strange having to turn the record over every 20 minutes or so.
This morning we had a lovely breakfast and set off on a wander around the old town. The Munster dominates everything.
The Rhine divides the city.
The impressive Rathaus (town hall) is undergoing some renovation.
Nevertheless we had a wander around the interior.
This afternoon we popped into a pub for a beer, to find them offering Salcombe pale ale from south Devon. They can’t spell Salcombe though.
Basel is really nice – lots of streets are pedestrianised and although we get complimentary use of the public transport here we didn’t need it at all.
There was only one event on the agenda today. Our dear friend Ali, who has featured many times on these pages, passed away recently after a long illness. We had a memorial service at St Bernard’s church, and I’ve hardly ever seen the place so full.
As is our habit in Wengen, the congregation strolled back to Rocks afterwards for a few drinks and to reminisce. If you visit Ali’s profile on Facebook you can view a livestream of the service. Rest In Peace Ali.
We arrived back in Wengen yesterday afternoon. Not much has changed since we left a year ago, and that’s a good thing.
As it was Sunday, Beves and Ibe were playing at the Braunbaer.
We had a good crowd in the audience. Wil and Malwina came over from Grindelwald.
On the way home we encountered a badger. These creatures are very common in the village, and it wasn’t bothered by us in the slightest.
This morning the sun was shining and a hot day was in prospect. Beanie has a new job at the Gemeinde (local council) in Lauterbrunnen, so we popped down to meet her for lunch. Waterfall looking good, as usual.
After lunch we caught the train back to Wengen and bought ice cream. We found a shady bench to enjoy it. The heat is stifling and there’ll be a storm tonight, but we’ll have to venture out as we’re looking forward to dinner at the Eiger.
I have been neglecting this blog of late, largely because we’ve been a bit busy. Time for a catch-up. On Friday we caught the train over to Wellington. Thanks to our newly acquired Senior Railcards this cost us the princely sum of £1.10 each for the journey. We had a great night out with our buddies Elaine and Paul.
Not long after we moved to Shrewsbury we began to order new stuff for the flat. A few things arrived quite quickly, but the bigger stuff usually takes a few weeks (or months) to manufacture. This week some curtains arrived for our lounge and kitchen.
The heating system in our flat is desperately in need of modernisation. New radiators arrived yesterday, and tomorrow our electrician will begin to install them.
As well as sorting out the heating the electrician will refresh the lighting in the lounge and bedrooms, and improve the somewhat random distribution of power points. Once that’s finished we can look at getting some decorating done.
Summer has (suddenly) arrived here in Shropshire, and that’s great news for the organisers of the County Show. We can walk to the showground, and we met Sarah on the way. There’s lots to see.
Daredevils.
A band, called Second Wind.
Lots of food stalls, we enjoyed a sausage roll for lunch.
And of course, lots of livestock.
The animals are judged. A win will enhance the value of a herd or an individual animal.
Vintage cars and traction engines.
Morris dancers.
And everyone’s favourite, the Shrewsbury Rock Choir of which Sarah is a member. These guys and girls are so good that when they open their set with Guns ‘N Roses ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’, it literally gives me goosebumps. They had a good turnout today – we reckoned around 200 of them.
This morning we were collected from our hotel by a taxi. We had booked a ‘Black Cab Tour’ of the areas of west Belfast that were most badly affected during The Troubles. In fact our taxi wasn’t a black cab at all, but a rather nice Mercedes minivan. We start at the Protestant area along the Shankill Road.
The Protestants celebrate King William who defeated Catholic King James.
At the start of The Troubles the Loyalist and Nationalist residents divided their areas with barricades, usually made of burnt out vehicles and scaffolding. The British army replaced these with Peace Walls – 30 feet high with gates to allow passage through during daylight hours. A few photos.
The Peace Walls were very effective, and many more were built. Some 32 kilometres of the walls still remain, and the residents would not want to be without them. The walls have actually increased in height and number since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The gates between the different sides are still locked at night.
Our tour guide Danny was a mine of information having grown up in West Belfast. He showed us some of his trophies – rubber bullets.
Tourists are encouraged to add messages to the graffiti on the Peace Walls.
Next we were off to the Catholic area along the Falls Road. The street names are in Irish as well as English.
The Bombay Street area saw some of the worst atrocities. Hundreds of homes were burned down and many people lost their lives.
We move on, and find one of the most photographed murals in the world.
Nearer to the city is the Europa Hotel, once known as the ‘most bombed hotel in the world’. In all it was attacked 28 times.
Danny dropped us off at the Botanic Gardens which was on our list of things to see. We grabbed a Belfast Bap from a cafe and had a wander around. The Palm House.
We enjoyed our tour immensely, and I’d recommend it to anyone visiting Belfast if you can spare a couple of hours. The sheer amount of information is intense, and nothing is diluted or sugar-coated. At the end of the tour Danny gave us homework to do – a big list of books to read and documentaries to see.
Tomorrow morning we’ll be back off to Shropshire. We’ve enjoyed Belfast immensely. The people are friendly, the pubs and restaurants top-notch, and there’s lots to see and do. I’m sure we’ll be back.
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