St Gallen 10-11 Sept

Start of Andy's cycling holiday in Austria was from St Gallen, Switzerland, so I joined him on the way up there and we explored yet another Swiss city.
My best memory is having an extremely delicious mango sorbet for dessert, sitting outside in a nice restaurant on a nice summer's evening, with a view to the cathedral.

I have no picture of that mango sorbet or night time view, but here are some pics of St Gallen:

Immer wieder Andermatt

Another hot and humid weekend in Ticino, another welcome excuse to escape to our favourite place, Andermatt...

Walking above Airolo

We went to investigate the area around Airolo and the Ritom Lake recently, in 2 separate walks.  Here is what we found:

www - Weekend Adventure Part 2

A few more photos from Lake Garda, esp the Isola del Garda

A real dream Island ! But the landside is also quite nice.:

Gardone Riveria

Splendid Hotel Mayer and a ferry called Goethe... the Italians are obviously very tourist-friendly !

www -Where Were We?

Here are a few pictures from our latest adventure...

Weekend Adventure Part 1

I wish I could grow banana trees like this in my garden...

I found this a little bit scary...

... and this a little more scary.

Thankfully my fellow explorer was not scared...

... and neither was this relaxed lady...

... nor this peacefully meditating lady.

Ganesha, the cheerful Elephant God

Funky Water Lily

And sticking with the metal sculpture theme,
someone seeming a bit of out of place between
all the exotic statues in the park...

Finally, an interesting picture we took outside the park:

A well designed pedestrian crossing... and no, it's not in Ticino...

Euscorpius Germanus.

Euscorpius Germanus.

Distribution:- Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy (east of the river Adige (Etsch)), Slovenia and Switzerland.

Habitat:- (other than our lobby) This species is found in mountainous areas with high humidity. (Yep we have that). In some areas they are found above 2000 meters, and some of these areas have an average annual temperature between 4 and 10 degrees C (in January, the temperature in some of these areas can drop to minus 4). E. germanus is usually found under stones, under bark (or behind your front door). This species is rarely associated with human activities.....(Bloody is now, it's in our appartment building)

Venom:- (I hope never to find out) Little medical data available, but data from Italy suggest local effects only (ie your foot). Mildly venomous. Harmless scorpion, which rarely will use its stinger.




Yes I was rather close. I wont be going to the basement without my shoes on ever again



Vegetable Growing

A long long time ago... in the depth of cold snowy winter, we first met our new landlady and -lord. Predictably, one of my first questions was: "Would you mind if I take a corner of the (very large) garden to grow some tomatoes?"... Thankfully, Lord and Lady were kind enough to say "oh, alright then", and on the next visit I was shown the corner of the garden I was allowed to use.

So once it got warmer, it wastime to turn plans into actions, so in April, one Saturday was dedicated to a trip to the local DIY shop to purchase spade and fork, and a week later Andy set to work...



Mid April, under a Palm leaf... and with a cool beer as encouragement, Andy sets to work



So here is part one, ready to go... beautiful loam too



Part 2 done... now all we need is for Meike to put in some plants...

 

... and a month later, the windowsill nursery is declared ready for transplanting....



 Just to give some idea about where this mini "horto" is in relation to the house, and what the surroundings are like, here are some more pics



View from veg plot up to house.... remember, no water butt, and the tap for the watering can is where the house is....





Former chicken coop, turned random storage and interesting feature



The rest of the garden is rather a wild, mysterious adventure garden.... oh to be a child here !