April, 2017

Road trip!

Last month I wrote that # 1 son Wesley had just shown up to take a road trip across Europe with dad and mom. On day one, we drove to Milan, Italy through the Dolomites which comprises a mountain range in the northern Italian Alps and is a World Heritage Site. (The 132nd WHS that we have visited) Once in Milan, we visited the cathedral (Duomo) there. Here  are 6 fast facts we learned.

Duomo in Milan Italy

• The Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete and is the 2nd largest Catholic church in the world. 
• There are 3,400 statues, more statues on this gothic-style cathedral than any other building in the world. One of the statues was used as the model for the Statue of Liberty. 
• Above the apse (the arched part above the altar) there is a spot marked with a red light bulb. This marks the spot where allegedly one of the nails of Jesus’ crucifixion was placed and is brought down for a few days once a year.  

• You can set your watch by the sundial.

  The entire building is made up of Condoglian marble, a pink-hued white marble,  only legally available for use in church construction. 

  Finally, it was Napoleon who jump-started the final stages of construction in the early 19th century and finished the facade.

Linderhof Palace

Moving on, we drove to Innsbruck, Austria and visited the old town there. The next morning we went on to meet Mandy and Markus across the border in Germany, where we visited Linderhof Palace together. 

 

 

 

While with them, we also went to the top of mount Zugspitze, Germany's tallest mountain. Once at the top, you can see 360 degrees over 400 mountain peeks below in 4 different countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy) We even walked a few feet over to the Austrian side of the peak to have lunch in the restaurant with the view.

 

The video above is but a small segment of the view. In addition there was an ice hotel (a series of igloos) with 8 bedrooms where you can stay overnight, bathrooms, a bar a restaurant and a spa. Everything is made of ice and snow. The walls are carved, the bar, beds are all ice. (Beds are covered with furs) What a kick!

We spent a day in Munich, then left them to drive to the Principality of Liechtenstein and on through Switzerland to the medieval castles of Bellinzona. They also are a WHS, coming in at #133 that we have visited.

The castles of Bellinzona at night

Finally we spent the night at Lake Como in Italy and stopped for lunch in Monaco on our way home.

Malpasset disaster

The recent events in California regarding the near collapse of the Oroville dam and the subsequent evacuation of 200,000 people reminded us of another similar event but with a different outcome.

A sad chapter in the history of our neighbouring town of Fréjus started with the construction of the Malpasset dam in the Reyran valley in 1950. Malpasset is loosely translated in English to "didn't go well", a clear understatement. The local geology was not adequately investigated, and a major fault in the rocks at the dam site was not recognized. 

In 1959, when excessive rains filled the reservoir behind the dam to maximum level for the first time, the caretaker noticed the opening of major cracks in the dam and gave out a warning, but the authorities refused to release water from the dam because of the possibility that it could damage the piers of the freeway bridge which was then under construction downstream. 

The support of the dam then gave way, the dam collapsed and a 40m  (120 foot) high wall of water roared down the valley to our neighbouring town of Fréjus along with 600 ton chunks of concrete the size of houses. The freeway bridge was destroyed together with a village just downstream and the destruction in the valley and in Fréjus was enormous, with 420 people killed + possibly another 100 unregistered workers. Several sections of a Roman aqueduct were washed away as well.

The fact that the Roman engineers buttressed and cross-braced the pillars of the aqueduct, and doubled many of the bridges could have been a warning that the local geology was treacherous for bigger structures.

Speaking of Roman stuff, we were out for the day with friends at a flower show nearby when they took a picture of us there. The point here, is that all over this town of Frejus (founded by Julius Cesar) are remnants of the 26 mile (42Km) Roman aqueduct [behind us] built in the first century and functioned for 450 years. 

Some segments are in parks like this one, some on street corners, back yards, parking lots or wherever. Over Janice's head you can even see a small section that still has its stone covering over the water trough.The construction of the aqueducts is incredible enough but to have calculated (without calculators or computers) the slope over that distance so the water would flow by gravity alone  is staggering.

#33

April is the time of the year we remind ourselves that we are more experienced at this being married thing. At least one of us remembered and it wasn't "she who must be obeyed". The guilty party was reminded when her mother sent us a 'congratulations' email. She then quickly dug through a drawer to find an old card, scratched out the '32 years' and wrote 33. Hmmmm... I am assuming that the reason for the omission was because everyday with me is like an anniversary for her. While not entirely accurate, it's my story and I am definitely sticking to it.

Later in the day, "what's his name" had her pack an overnight bag with the prettiest dress she had and we drove off without her having a clue as to where we were going. We drove to the French version of the Grand Canyon and spent the day at some of the prettiest little villages in France.

Trigance castle

Then, we ended our day at the castle of Trigance where Mr. wonderful had reserved a room for us to spend the night. It is an 11th century medieval castle that opens it's doors to guests a few months out of the year. Dinner was in the dining hall, which was a stone vaulted room with  only candles for lighting, medieval armor and weapons throughout for decorations and out of this world service.

Anniversary libations at the top of the world

Our room

In the morning, I complained to Janice that there was no voluptuous young chambermaid to help me dress. She said that all was not lost as they had provided her with a fool.

While there, we were invited to friends Ian and Lyne's new home just up the road, so we dropped by for a few days to visit. They had just moved in within the past week and were getting ready to have some renovations done. It just doesn't seem fair. I began our project 2 1/2 months ago and they haven't even started. Yet, they will be done before us.

Lyne and Ian at their new digs