Dear Friends

Last Sunday we arrived in Heathrow Airport and had some problems adjusting to europeaan ways: no service, bad information, closed shops. However we worked our way through, ended up renting a car and drove up to Stratford-upon-Avon. We thought it was especially exquisit to depart from Kolkata in the morning and having dinner in Oxford in the evening!

We attended this fantastic course organised by Basle University on the Shakespeare plays. We feasted on a number of world-class performances, had various lectures, meetings with actors and speeech-training by the Royal Shekespeare Company voice department. Not bad, eh?

My only serious problem was the considerable drop of temperatures after India, and it was only after having got my stock of warm underwear and Cashmere jumpers that I was really up to follow this course with adequate attention.

Our freetime we used to visit the loveley country-side: it's Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Wordworth all combined. I do love the houseboats cruising on the Avon, the picknicks under the willows, the mediaval little towns and the romantic bridges. It simply looks like a postcard and sometimes I have to pinch myself to be sure this is for real and not just a museum. The prices are quite up to a museum by the way (we don't want it to get to perfect, don't we....)

Tomorrow Anne-Sophie and I will do some more visiting in the area: Warwick Castle, Coventry, possibly the oldest Ironbridge in the world. So we would end on the same historic note as has accompanied us all troughout this trip.

Monday morning I will fly back to my respective appointments in Switzerland and Anne-Sophie is much looking forward to meeting her grand-parents in Frankfurt, Germany. She will travel on to Switzerland a couple of days later.

So we finish this part of the trip with a lot of thankfulness for all the small and big things that worked out so well and that health did not suffer too much.  

August 8 - 15 Basle

The Spalentor: a landmark in Basle

   My house is to the left with the  the yellow blind. In the middle in the background the Spalentor.

My parents: still going strong at age 80 and 91 respectively!