A Swiss donkey and a black sheep

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A fun and unusual night in Boudry, Switzerland, last month.

Every December this nice man takes his calm donkey around to all the Christmas events in the region.
The kids and the people love it.
I especially loved seeing a donkey again.

One farmer brought a young lamb, which I just HAD to hold.

The donkey led the way for a multi-cultural holiday procession through the cobblestoned medieval old town.
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(Linking to Camera Critters.)
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"In Basel I founded the Jewish State."

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For ABC Wednesday, Z is for Zionism.

While I was volunteering at the monastery in Switzerland, a nun-friend took me to Basel on the train and guided me around the beautiful city for a whole day.
We made it into a kind of Zionist "pilgrimage."
We walked over to the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois, also known in German as Hotel drei Könige, famous since at least 1681.

This is where Theodor Herzl stayed while he chaired the First Zionist Congress in 1897.

Perhaps this balcony is where he stood when the famous photograph was taken of Herzl gazing over the Rhine and into the future, envisioning a future homeland for the Jewish People.

Indeed, the wide river flows right next to the hotel.

The meetings of the First Zionist Congress took place in the ballroom of the Stadtcasino, another famous building in Basel.
(It is closed for now, undergoing renovations.)

It was here that the Basel Declaration was formulated and Hatikva adopted as the Zionist anthem.

On September 3, 1897,  Dr. Theodor Herzl wrote in his journal:

"Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in a word - which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly - it would be this:  At Basel I founded the Jewish State.  If I said this out loud today l would be greeted by universal laughter. In five years perhaps, and certainly in fifty years, everyone will perceive it."
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Up out of the fog, into the sunlight!

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The river flows right next to the Community of Grandchamp, a canal diverts some water through and even under the monastery, and we are also close to Lake Neuchatel.
Having all this water around, the air is saturated with humidity for many months during the gray winter.
Sometimes the nuns just get the urge to drive upward in search of the sun.

And last Sunday we did!
First you go up the Jura Mountains a few hundred meters and enter a dense band of fog.

The band of fog is even worse than our misty greyness down on the plain.

But finally, at about 1,300 meters up, you come out into the bright sunlight!   Yay!

And as the hotel's name promises, at the top you have a view of the spectacular Alps way on the other side of Switzerland!

If you enlarge the photo you see the jagged alpine peaks in the distance and the rounded Jura mountains in the foreground; the white stuff in between is fog.

Lots of beautiful places to hike to.

Just across the cattle guard, one of  the trails ascends.

It was freezing cold windy up there, but look at all the Swiss folks climbing up there!
The ski lift is on top.  But no snow.
It's OK. We'd rather see sun than snow.
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Hot chestnuts!

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I see that December 14 is the newly-created Roast Chestnuts Day.
For me, every time I go to the city of Neuchatel it is roast chestnut day.
For me and many others -- look at the long line of people waiting in the cold to pay several Swiss Francs for a few hundred grams of the nuts!
You can see (especially if you click and enlarge the photo)  the silhouette of the man doing the roasting, while an older woman (his wife?) stands at the window of the kiosk weighing, wrapping them in paper, and selling.

Here is my little purchase.
It's also good as a hand-warmer.  :)
I always start eating on the tram, because the soft nuts can be peeled so easily, AND THEY ARE SO GOOD!
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Listen to the cow bells, on real Swiss cows!

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In Switzerland the cattle herds follow the good weather.
In summer they are taken to progressively higher alpages to live for a while.
Now, with snow on the Jura Mountains, they come down here to graze on the warmer plain. 

Today was the first time I heard the familiar din of cow bells out in the big field (grand champ, in French)!
I walked out from the Community of Grandchamp and into the field, walking carefully along the narrow muddy path in the middle of two fields, being careful not to touch the electric fence. 
I was so happy to see the pretty cows up close!
But how can each one stand wearing (and hearing) a big bell around their neck all their life??

Enjoy seeing and HEARING the videos!

(Linking to Camera Critters.
And for ABC Wednesday, T is for tongues licking a salt-block.)
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Outdoor cafes with blankets

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Today I took the tram (4 Swiss francs, about $4, for a 12-minute ride!) into Neuchatel and walked around the city's medieval old town.

It was plenty cold but still people sat outside the tea house and ate the beautiful pastries. 
Blankets provided on every chair.

Neuchatel is our closest "big" city, with a population of over 34,000.

But to me the best part of the city is its shoreline on Lake Neuchatel. 
Today, far across the lake, the high Alps were shimmering in the sun in their white snow cover! 

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The ALPS appeared today!!

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The glorious Alps were showing this afternoon!!

I've been here in Switzerland exactly two weeks and today was the first time the Alps appeared.
It takes special atmospheric conditions for the mountains to become visible so far away.
Enlarge the photos with a few clicks and feast your eyes!

On our noon break I walked quickly down to the beach to get a good view.
"Quickly" because sometimes they disappear exactly during your 15-minute walk to Lake Neuchatel.

The Community of Grandchamp is on the west side of Lake Neuchatel.
See how far the Alps are?
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Men and their Mercedes

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So after living in a women's monastic community for any length of time (I've been here 12 days now), you start to miss seeing men around. (UPDATE:  Just kidding, kinda. I speak for myself alone; I'm sure the nuns are fine with it.)
This morning, on our desert day, I walked out and into the little village nearby.
The man was unloading his huge black shiny MERCEDES truck and I actually stopped to ask if I might take a picture of it.
He thought I wanted him to pose.

He snapped the cement platot (English?) onto the crane's cables,

and up it went.

The worker waiting to fit it into place on the new house actually walked UNDER it.
Oi.
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3 x 3 = 9 kids!

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On my morning off work here in the contemplative monastic community, I took a short walk into "the world."  In this case, that means the nearby little town.
I couldn't believe this sight: three young women pushing strollers, three kids in a row on each stroller!
They were walking so fast in the crisp air (notice the dusting of snow on the Jura Mountains) that I couldn't catch up to them.
But I did follow them from a discreet distance.

They deposited the children in this nice new school.
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Enlarge the first photo with two separate clicks.  Have you ever seen such a thing?!
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New surroundings!

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The morning after my arrival to the Community in Switzerland it was cold but still partly sunny (today we have cold rain).
So I took a brisk walk along the fast-flowing River Areuse.

A sister friend led on through the fallen leaves.

Where the river flows into Lake Neuchatel we chanced upon a real photographer, with tripod and all.
Maybe he was waiting to see swans.
Or maybe the Scuba diving school divers were about to surface.

New since I was last here nine years ago are these young grapevines.
Some farmers got together and planted one huge vineyard.

This field had a cover crop.

And this is what is known here as the "big field," in French, grand champ.
You can hardly see it, it is so narrow, but between the unsown field and the green field is a path.
It makes a good meditative path where you can be alone and sing or pray aloud.
At the other end is a landing strip and small airport for light planes and gliders.

There on the foothills of the Jura Mountain range is an old and picturesque village (whose name I have forgotten).
You can enlarge the picture. Looks like a castle on the hill.

So these will be my surroundings for the next two months.
Pics of the community coming up in next posts.
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