Zurich

After I got back from Australia, I was only in Tripoli a couple of days before it was time to fly to Zurich with Dog for his annual rabies shot – it can be done here, but I, and many expats, are concerned about the validity of the Libyan rabies certificate – specifically, about whether such a record is acceptable to the European authorities. If it isn’t, I can’t prove Dog is rabies-vaccinated, so I can’t get him into Europe anymore, so I can’t get him home (Australian quarantine rule being strict and specifying that any animal coming from Libya must spend six months in a more ‘acceptable’ country first). The original plan was to share the cost of flying a European vet here with his European stamp of approval but that didn’t work out, so off to Switzerland it was.

I was concerned that leash-pulling, dog-and-child-adverse Dog would be shown up by all those well-socialised, well-trained European dogs but as it turns out, not only were they worse-behaved than I expected, but Dog was a near-angel for the whole time (aside from the aggressive barking all the way through the Tripoli airport both going and coming – and for people who are supposedly scared of dogs, an awful of Libyans thought it would be a good idea to tap on his cage and stick their faces close to the bars). He was so well-behaved it was like he was angling for a European holiday every year…

So I had a far better and easier time than I expected. I did make the mistake of thinking two-to-four-hour walks in the morning would tire him out, but a kelpie, even an eight-year-old one, isn’t impressed by that – all I did was train him up into peak physical condition and condemn myself to marathon efforts back here in Tripoli.

Zurich itself is nice enough, though I wouldn’t call it a ‘destination city’ like Paris or Venice; it was overcast the entire time and a lot of the various attractions are closed or not running for winter, but I managed to entertain myself and Dog for our week there with things like:

a visit to the museum (located in this palace of a building, which was only built 100 years ago, and had always been a museum),








a city tour by bus (featuring among other things, a view of the largest clockface in Europe – you can’t really tell, but it’s more than 8m across).




















a ferry trip on Lake Zurich

a train trip up the hill to Uetliberg with a lovely view over Zurich and a hike back down with Dog (dogs being allowed on public transport, and Dog proving himself surprisingly amenable to train and tram travel; I didn’t risk the buses with him); no photo of this, got sick of waiting for Blogspot and my dodgy internet connection to come to some sort of agreement.















and a day trip out to Plaffikon for a walk along the pilgrimage route Camino de Santiago to Rapperswil along the longest bridge in Switzerland (Dog did not come on this trip as I was not sure how long the train trip would be and I sensed his goodwill towards train travel beginning to expire and I still needed to get us back to the airport). This trip to Rapperswil was the closest I got to snow.



Also, given how unexpectedly impressed I was by the clock and watch section of the British Museum, I naturally had to go to the Zurich clock and watch museum (where this creepy little fellow was among the amazingly intricate collection).

Any advice, by the way, on whether a Libyan rabies certificate is acceptable to European authorities would be greatly appreciated – Dog was good, but not so good I want to have to take him off to Europe every year…





We’re off to Austria at the end of this week, not back till March.

Tasmania

So I've had the first two of my three jaunts, to Australia and Switzerland; our Austria/Germany holiday is still coming up but I thought I'd do a quick post or two before we leave. I've been back in Tripoli for a few weeks but haven't had internet until this past weekend.

My last week in Australia, I did a whirlwind tour of the island state of Tasmania. This was my first visit there and I was surprised by how very English the weather (it was cold! In an Australian summer!) and the rolling green countryside was, and also by the huge range of agriculture, from nuts to lavender (that’s a photo of the largest lavender farm in the Southern hemisphere*, currently for sale) to poppies (harvested for the active ingredient in painkillers).




I landed in Hobart and saw Port Arthur, the grim convict settlement the same day; the next day we shot up the west coast and did a bit of a hike for the view of Wineglass Bay.






Then across the top via Launceston to Cradle Mountain, Tasmania’s iconic wilderness attraction...







a boat trip up the Gordon river where you can tell the fresh water because it's coloured brown from a local reed...







and a drive south through world heritage areas to the drowned Franklin valleys. About the only spot I didn’t get to was the Huon Valley.




The weather's been pretty nice since I got back but turned nasty just last night and today, with lots of high wind and rain. Makes driving even more fun than usual. Meanwhile, my day was made when I found fresh mushroom at my local store; I had a selfish moment and took all four packs, sorry other mushroom-fans.

* Irrelevantly, but perhaps interestingly for fans of Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series, this phrase is associated for me with Jaime ‘Why, yes, in Book 1, I do throw a small boy out a window to protect my incestuous relationship, but by Book 3 you will like me anyway no matter how hard you try not to’ Lanister and his “she’s worth her weight in sapphires” gambit; I doubt lavender would have same saving effect, somehow.