Monday 29 July 2013

Via Jacobi - Safe and sound and Tilley pants

A long but very good day with no snags...I am now in Rorschach Switzerland where I will start walking Aug 1st. So I have a couple of days to unwind and do a few touristy things...very helpful lady at tourist info recommended a train trip (small Swiss train) to a village, then walk a ways and perhaps return by boat. I'm here...will try it.

As expected nothing is cheap here and everyone speaks German with a smattering of English...will be interesting for the first week or so.

Good deeds today - one for me and one received 

Noticed a gentlemen leaving a coffee shop in Montreal airport and leaving his wallet at the counter...ran after him (fastest 20 metres ever!)...man was he glad!

Arrived at 10:00 at my Youth Hostel...raining outside and very tired. I asked Volkmar (manager) if I could leave my bag for safekeeping and return at 4:30 when I could check in. He said sure and started to lock my bag in a room...then turned to me and asked if I would be willing to wait half an hour. Fifteen minutes later he told me my room (have luxury of a single room in Rorschach) was  ready. Kind gesture on his part...got myself organized...dried out a bit and slept for a few hours. When I leave he is getting a Canadian lapel pin for sure!

Tilley pants

I invested in a pair of Tilley zip off pants (yeah Canada) for the walk...did you know:

 Zippers at the knees set off airport security check...necessitating two full body scans in a space type capsule in Winnipeg airport (the first one because I couldn't follow the pictures on how to raise my arms...sort of like the pictures on how to scan your credit card in a card reader).

Tilley pants have at last count 8 pockets...kid you not...2 regular front pockets with each of them having a secret pocket (one a Velcro, the other a zipper), 2 Velcro front pockets and 2 Velcro back pockets. If I find more I will let you know.

Electrical adapters

I have an incredible array of various electrical adapters with me...turns out I needed one more. The universal very expensive adaptor purchased at The place that will not be named (associated with automobile clubs) is too big for the Swiss electrical wall sockets. After visiting a few stores I found an additional adapter...so I plug this one in, then the expensive Canadian one, then whatever device I want to charge. There is an extra step if I want to charge many devices as I also have an ultralight power bar (3 sockets and USB)...yeah I know it would be easier if I had left this all behind however it's part of the adventure.

A few pictures from today...there are more in the Via Jacobi folder accessed on right hand side under Camino Flickr pictures.

An ominous start to Rorschach lakefront walk

Standard Rorschach fire hydrant - curved

Rorschach lakefront walk

Downtown Rorschach

As I finish this...sitting at a table at the front desk...manager not there...I find myself as the unofficial greeter to new folks coming in. Three men biking, young woman walking around Lake Constance and a young couple. Difficult to do a good job with my limited German (read hand gestures)

4 comments:

  1. Hi papa!
    I'm happy to hear you arrived safe and sound. I am in Kathmandu right now! I'm going to rest and then the fun begins tomorrow. I'm excited and nervous.
    Hope everything goes well!
    Je t'aime beaucoup!!!
    Unofficial greater?! Colour me impressed!
    I'm sure you look really spiffy in your tilley pants? Oh! Power outage!! Exciting stuff

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  2. Merci Jeanne...super that you are in Kathmandu...you will have a great experience.

    Je t'aime

    Papa

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  3. Hi Guy, hopefully you will not have to go through any more body scans before the 100 days are up. You probably were a great greeter as well. Unfortunately the extent of my german is "Das Auto".

    Greg

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