It was a Saturday and Pedro, Patricia, and I drove to Switzerland collecting Ari at the Zurich airport. We touristed around the Zurich old-town a bit and had lunch in a square near the lake. The food was tasty and the quantity was inversely proportional to the price. We continued to Unterkulm in the afternoon to our accommodation. We had a large schick upstairs apartment with a great view out into the valley and a large terrace to enjoy it on. This was a big step up from the box we lived in during the worst holiday ever.
Ari made some puff pastry savoury yummy things for dinner, which we ate with salad. And then… It was Time for a Boogie. We drove to Kiff in Aarau where Boogie Belgique were playing. The band had been the soundtrack of the summer, accompanying us on our trip to Austria and Slovenia and playing in the Lindau flat during the hot summer evenings, while Pedro and I mooched around shirtless. The band was very good live and it was a nice evening.
I went for a short jog in the hills on Sunday morning leaving the sounds of snoring behind in the apartment. The patches of forest were full of autumn colours and leaves covered the ground as I shuffled along at a pace that would not set any records. We had brunch when I returned at the big table in the living room and then went out to visit an expensive and not so very interesting Swiss castle near a lake – Hallwyl, for future reference.
The highlight of the day was our raclette feast after returning from the disappointing castle. We had an array of tasty morsels to eat with the bubbling stinky Swiss cheese including potatoes, chicken, red pepper, and olives. The quantity of food was quite unlike our meal in Zurich and we required time to digest. We lazed in the big chairs outside on the terrace sipping the last of the Portuguese rosa wine that Pedro had bought to remind him of his home country. The sun was warming and it wasn’t long until it was time for a nap. It rolled into evening and we went off to bed without the need for dinner.
Ari and I went for a short walk on Monday morning. The others headed back home around midday and we went for another walk in the forest in the hills. We had another small raclette mid afternoon that turned out to be a big raclette and then we took the train to Zurich airport and flew to Barcelona. Boogie weekend vorbei.
Tuesday was a public holiday and Ari and I went climbing in the hills near Barcelona. We did six interesting climbs graded between V and V+. The rock had big pockets creating good hand holds and the climbs had a bunch of interesting moves. One route ascended a chimney which we bridged up. From a large ledge the last of the climb was up a face with large comfortable holds. My kind of climbing.
