Weeks 17 and 18 - Cycling from Erlach to Île St. Pierre / Hike in the Gorges de l'Areuse

Two Fridays ago we had our company picnic (une pique-nique en français). K played soccer/football with a small team of Americans/British. His team came in third overall, but best of all he was complimented on his mad soccer skills despite being an American.

That weekend, after sulking over the USA's defeat in the World Cup, we took a relaxing

bike ride from Erlach (a city in the canton on Bern which sits on the western corner of Lake Biel/Bienne) to Île St. Pierre/Sankt-Peterinsel (which is really not an island at all but a peninsula in the lake). We parked the car near a couple of cows just outside Erlach and biked into town and on to the thin, grass-covered peninsula. The peninsula is a nature preservewith a wooden boardwalk off the main path that winds a little ways through the marshy grasses. There are signs that describe the flora and fauna (which include many kinds of water fowl, insects, and snakes) in the area.

For being in the middle of the lake it's somewhat surprising how little you can actually see of the lake; the grass and brush are over head height for most of the path. For most of the walk, the view is the path ahead of you and the hills on either side of the lake. On the "island", there is a hotel and

restaurant, as well as a small cafeteria-style bistro. We ate a delicious lunch at the restaurant; Margaret had fancy spinach and mushroom crêpes, and Ken had a platter of local meats,cheeses, and bread.

No car traffic is allowed on the path to Île St. Pierre. So you can either go there by foot or bicycle, or you can take a boat. After lunch, we found the port where the boat docks on the "island". There is a small café right next to the dock on a sandy beach. It's probably difficult to see in the picture, but there were a lot of boats and people in the water. It was quite an inviting area, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

During this past week, we've had a bit of a Swiss heat wave (which makes for a lot of melty cheese and chocolate). In the middle of the week, M made it to her first NIC (Neuchâtel International Club) event: Ladies Night Out at a bar at the train station. She had a nice time meeting several of the women in the group and chatted until almost 9:30 before she had to walk home and go to bed.

This weekend we went to the farmers' market to buy some more herbs. M's tomato plant is doing so well (it actually has mini, unripe tomatoes on it), she wanted to get some thyme and rosemary to put in another planter. We also bought ingredients for salsa or at least our best Swiss approximation of salsa. We could not find jalapeños, so we made it with tomatoes, onion, cilantro (coriandre), and a dried chipotle we had brought with us from the States. It was pretty tasty and our best attempt at celebrating the Fourth of July.

On Sunday, we decided to visit the Gorges de l'Areuse. We parked in Champ du Moulin, near the Hôtel de la Truite (Trout Hotel) and starting walking towards the town of Noiraigue along the Areuse river. After walking past the pinkest, best-landscaped power station that we've ever seen, you reach a sign warning you of danger ahead. This, of course, means you're getting to the good part. And sure enough, a gorge and a powerful waterfall are ahead with a stone bridge and steep rocky steps out of some action/

adventure movie.

The walk was primarily in the shade, and with the wind blowing lightly over the river, it was pleasantly cool. In addition to numerous waterfalls (both nature- and man-made), there were lots of gorgeous little flowers, many which neither of us had seen before.

In other news, K's Swiss homebrew has had its first tasting. This batch was a kit recipe, with some minor tweaking. The first batch is a little sweet, but has a nice malt/hop flavor balance, good mouthfeel and nose; definitely better than the Swiss beers we've had so far.

Lessons learned:

1. How to make French accent marks on a Mac. See link.

2. Take heed with cats and windows that pivot out. Minor almost hung himself this weekend. Happily, he was saved by Ken's quick action.

3. The following phrases are nice to know in the Swiss German area: "gruezi" (hello) and "merci vielmal" (thank you). The Swiss German thank you is actually a combination of French and German.

4. Cooking on a gas stove is way better than cooking on an electrical cooktop. Sabayon made over a double boiler takes forever on our electric stove.

5. The French for your semi-annual teeth cleaning is le détartrage (de-scaling).