watson home-making 103: geneva, switzerland (a miracle!)
Posted by torytolles | Filed under Home-Making, Switzerland
[Apologies: after living in our new apartment for more than a month, I finally managed the magical combination of cleaning AND camera.] Living here has been such a blessing. We still did not have a place to live the day before our sublease ended - and Chantal came to the rescue! She is an incredible roommate and shares with us an amazing apartment.
This is our cozy kitchen. Vixie, the fish, lives above the microwave and probably has been horribly irradiated over the years.
This is our bedroom. The small plant on the left is our little basil plant. His name is Lazarus Junior. It has been touch and go a few times. The doors lead to a balcony!
Chris and I have reveled in our access to Chantal’s books. Notice the giant gap in the Lord of the Rings section? We are hooked.
We live about three blocks from the lake. A small marina is right there, and the Jet just around the corner. With the lake right here and a park one block to the right, it is the most wonderful place to run - and live!
this is getting a little ridiculous
Posted by christolles | Filed under Switzerland
Incidentally, neither Tory nor I have decided whom we’re voting for, so please post a snarky comment if you’d like to sway us one way or the other. Anything associating Obama with salvation will be deleted without mercy, and the offending commenter will be removed from our blogroll. You’ve been warned.
- via Yahoo! News
ps - alternative interpretation: pull my finger.
chateau de chillon, switzerland
Posted by torytolles | Filed under Switzerland
My torrid love affair with Chateau de Chillon began in July with its picture on page 157 of The Lonely Planet’s guide to Switzerland. The castle’s seductive name became the answer to any question ranging from “What are you most excited for about Europe?” to Chris’s frequent “What do you want to do this weekend?”. Housing predicaments and inclement weather prevented us from fulfilling this fantasy until two weeks ago. Since then we have moved and enjoyed our first Parisian adventure - details to follow in subsequent (and imminent) posts.
At long last, Chris and I were seated on a train hurtling past Lake Geneva on the right and vineyard after vineyard on the left. Chris was obviously worried and he tenderly reminded me of my post-Green Gables depths of disappointment: “Chillon is just an old building, after all.” True, the giant highway seen above did not do much for the ambiance, but the enormous Swiss Alps beyond more than made up for it. This photo is taken from the castle’s keep (see below).
Chris need not have worried. Our self-guided tour began in the dungeons. Contrary to my expectations, they were possibly my favorite part. As Chillon was built on an island of rock in the 11th century, we could often see the island peek through the foundation - the dark bits on the floor in the photo above are part of the actual island the castle is built upon!
Paradoxically, the dungeons were also a source of inspiration: one prisoner painted this intense crucifixion scene (dated c. 1200 AD) during his imprisonment. Famously, Lord Byron popularized the chateau’s dungeon with his poem about the imprisoned Genevan monk and politician, François de Bonivard.
This is the ring to which de Boulevard was allegedly chained until he was freed by invading Bernese forces in 1536. Some people claimed that they could see his footsteps around the column, but the fact that the ring actually wore away parts of the column could not be denied.
I kept returning to this doorway, through which the executioners threw the dead bodies after they were hung. More romantically, one duke escaped through this secret back door when the Bernese were attacking the castle on the other side.
Chillon’s fortifications were such that it was not clear why the Savoyards acquiesced Chillon so quickly. This tall building, the keep, was at the centre of the castle. It was designed such that if the castle were attacked, it was possible for everyone to climb into this impenetrable tower and pull up the ladder and drawbridge behind them. If you look carefully, you can see the three architectural stages of the keep.
To further demonstrate the differences between Chris and me, Chris was obsessed with the incredible paneled ceilings in the grand halls…
…and I could not get over the latrines. Fist of all, you cannot tell it in this picture but there are two holes right next to each other so archeologists postulate that going to the bathroom was an intimately communal affair. Secondly, these toilets are built in a room that extends out past the exterior wall of the castle so that whatever may be deposited drops right into the lake. Finally, these openings could have posed a security threat so it was military strategy to dump nastier items down the holes in the event of an attack. Can you imagine being the soldier who is ordered to swim through the frigid lake, climb the poop-encrusted wall, only to have scalding water or acid dumped on you? Yuck.
