A, D, Z, C, D...with Halley and Comet: Another two days in Neuchâtel and some things we did.

Wednesday July 18 was the big day for the visit to Alex's old school, Neuchâtel Junior College. Alex had contacted the Toronto office before we left Canada in the hopes that someone might be around who could give us a tour. They set us up with Madame Lyn Perrenoud who had been there way back when Alex attended. She still lives in the area and is now the school's travel coordinator. Some things had changed, others were exactly as they were when Alex was last there. It's a lovely old building with a nice view over the town and lake from the back patio. It was interesting for all of us. Zita seems keen to go. They gave us a loot bag with chocolates.

Also Lyn said no problem we could bring the Duster by and leave it in the small lot, saving us the 25 CHF per day we'd been paying at the parking garage.

Arriving at Neuchâtel Junior College for our tour.

The College from the patio side. Dunc filled in a squirrel hole with gravel
while he waited.

After we left the school we had a quick lunch at the train station. The children did actually branch out here with some rice bowls and things like that. It was quite good. I had a salad of some kind that had soft cheese in it. I also sampled another Swiss beer. Can't say I'm as excited about that as I could be. They have decent beer but they're not really stretching any creative barriers with it.

Dunc got a little bored waiting for the others to finish lunch so he and I wandered through the train station and checked out some inter-city express trains and the like as they pulled in and out. We also went downstairs and checked out the funicular but he decided he didn't want to go in it as it seemed to be entirely underground. And it was too, much like a funicular subway. It only went down one stop towards the lake and then back up again for possibly a total round trip of one kilometer. Clara had no issues with sub-surface funiculars so she and Zita and I hit it up for a joy ride.

On the subway-funicular going down and back up for a little joyride. It

left from under the train station. Dunc didn't like the idea of an underground

funicular so elected to watch from outside.

Three minutes later we were back at the train station and we headed off to visit the Chateau and church.

On our way up to the Chateau, Dunc and Clara
and I noticed this chimney. We wondered if
maybe the ladder was for watering the plants
growing out the top!

Now that we know what a pont dormant is from our stop at La Citadelle
du Chateau d'Oléron, we could point out that's what we were crossing
here to get into the Chateau at Neuchâtel.

Looking out over Neuchâtel from the Chateau.

The church was interesting and I read that the painted ceiling is quite lovely. Unfortunately most of the interior is closed off for renovations so we did not see much. The old Chateau is now the government building for the canton. We wandered through it a bit but it was more interesting from the outside. Inside it seems to have been mostly renovated into standard offices and the like. I have noticed that practicality often trumps history in Neuchâtel. That night we rounded up some bits and pieces from the store and from the fridge and ate at the table in our giant room.

Eating in.

The next day we set off for some sightseeing starting with a trip out to where Alex used to live. We walked down to Place Pury and hopped the 105 bus, just like mommy used to do! Once we got out to Peseux (the old neighbourhood) Alex got us off the bus and heading uphill. We all agreed that she had not exaggerated about the climb. When we got to Rue de Rugin 35 we hung about for a bit admiring the view and surreptitiously checking out the house. There was a small child out on the porch but we didn't see anyone else. Alex was fairly sure any connection to her old family would have been long gone so we moved on.

Mommy used to go this way coming home from school.

The old homestead.

We wandered back down the hill and found a cafe for lunch. We couldn't see the shortcut that Alex used to take heading down hill. I think she said maybe it went from the bottom of the yard where she lived and so wasn't accessible without traipsing through the yard. After lunch we headed further down hill towards the lake and found a pebble beach to hang out on for a while.

Heading down to the shore between the vines.

Hmmm. Not quite as beachy as we'd hoped for...

...which mattered little to Dunc and Clara.

After the beach we wandered along the shore until we came across a tram stop for the trip back into town. It was a nice relaxing afternoon. I found it interesting though that we were a little quieter than on previous travel days. Some of us were a little more lost in thought. I think we already had that feeling that our lovely trip was wrapping up.