We all came down to Prangins, on the Lake Geneva shore . . .

After our time in the mountains, we enjoyed one of Geneva's other great attractions, the lake. We left Geneva for the small town of Prangins to stay with our great friends from Almaty, the Reeves family. The last time we had seen Ken, Gretchen, Isabel, Olivia and Oscar was when they stayed with us in South Africa for Christmas 2006.

If the Geyrs live in the second biggest house in Geneva, the Reeves live in the second biggest house in Switzerland. The house originally belonged to the couturier of Queen Victoria. It is now owned by 4 siblings, three of whom live with their families in the house. Ken and Gretchen have the middle floor. The house is wonderful with huge rooms, high ceilings, wooden panelling, and its own private dock. It looks like something from a Hitchcock movie, and would be the perfect "pied a terre" for any axe wielding psycho killer.

The village of Prangins is about 30 km from Geneva. and is next to Nyon, the home of the headquarters of FIFA. Thanks to the wonderful Swiss public transport, it is only a 12 minute train ride to the centre of Geneva. In fact the train is quite annoying as you don't even have time for a coffee and a read of your newspaper before you have reached your destination. How Johannesburg could learn from this.

We spent three lazy days swimming in the lake, playing in the grounds of the house (they are too big to be called gardens) and watching the World Cup in the evening. We also had a fun time picking raspberries, and an even better time eating them with cream.

Switzerland is a fascinating country. It is the most devolved democracy I have seen, and therefore important for any Scots who want to talk about devolution or independence. If devolution or independence is about bringing decision making and accountability as close as possible to the people governed, then Switzerland is a great case study. The local communes have large budgets and significant powers, as do the cantons which is the next level of government after that. More importantly it seems they exercise that power in a positive way to bring services and facilities to their area. The federal government is not exactly powerless, but is very much the least important of the three levels of government. Mind, there is a distinctive Swiss mentality which does include a devotion to both following and enforcing rules which would make a German accountant look like a Californian liberal. Tales abound of expats being reported to the police by their neighbours for excess noise, incorrect recycling, flushing toilets too late at night etc. The local commune in Prangins even shuts down electricity for washing machines at certain times of the day. Mind, if that is the cost of living among beautiful mountains in a country with a wonderful public transport system, fabulous sports facilities and a great health service, then maybe it is worth it.

Walking in the Alps

From Monaco, we took the TGV to Lyon and then a regional train to Geneva. In Geneva we stayed with the fabulous Geyr family, our old friends from P&G whom we first got to know in Tashkent.

Jean-Louis and Sandra, and their three boys Nathan, Victor and Morgan, stay in the second biggest house in Geneva. Our children were delighted to have their own rooms, and to be able to do children things like play football, play computer games and fight. Lachlan in particular enjoyed himself as there were other boys to play with who were his own age or older.

After a day spent catching up with various other old friends from P&G, we went to the mountains to do some gentle walking. We drove to Chamonix and took the chairlift up the first part of the walk. The generation gap in the approach to walking was evident from the start when "German sensible" was trumped by "Monaco casual"

After a picnic lunch we walked to the "refuge" where we spent the night. Les Refuges are a very civilised aspect of walking in the Alps.

These are mountain huts which provide dormitory accomodation, meals and drying room facilities - or at least ours did, I am not sure that they all have the full range of facilities. The users of these are primarily hikers and climbers (like those pictured below)

We arrived just as the rain started and soon had a good cards school going, with Morgan celebrating his birthday by winning the big game.

Jean-Louis (when he is not looking at Sandra's cards - that was his story, and he is sticking to it) works for a large Brazilian company and when the news filtered through that Holland had beaten Brazil in the World Cup, his Blackberry went surprisingly quiet.

The next day dawned with beautiful weather and stunning views of Mont Blanc.

We made our way down the mountain to Le Lac Blanc. This small lake is fed by melting snow and is therefore slightly colder than the places we have swum recently - the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Dead Sea etc. However, undeterred the Belgians and Scots (but not the photographer) went for a swim. A variety of styles were employed - the wade-in, the full plunge, the half-and-half - but all were agreed that it was . . . refreshing. Sandra's face says it all!

That evening, back in Geneva we also caught up with another old friend from Tashkent/Istanbul - Tankut Turnaoglu and his wife Berak. Tankut has just been promoted to General Manager and is moving to Singapore. It was also the first time we got to meet his beautiful Fenerbahce supporting daughter Derin Su.

Our final day in Geneva was spent in the always entertaining company of the Forbes family (no photos as the cameras had done overtime in the mountains). It was a fine braai with which to end our stay in Geneva and we are looking forward to seeing Greg, Diane, Alex and Craig in Dollar in August for the return fixture.

La vie en rose in Monaco

It has been a real hardship to spend 5 days in Monaco. The biggest problem has been keeping Morag out of the designer shops. She has taken to clothes shopping like a fish to water, and there are few more expensive places to practice this habit than in Monaco.

Of course we didn't go to Monaco just to feed Morag's addiction. My cousin Liz lives there with her husband Gabriel (sorry Gabriel, this was the best picture of you!), and her two beautiful daughters, Alexia and Claire. It is now 25 years since I played the bagpipes at their wedding in Monaco, 18 years since I became godfather to Alexia, and 14 years since Elspeth and I were last in Monaco, just before leaving for Uzbekistan.

We had originally intended to spend three days in Monaco, and then a couple of days further along the coast. However we had such a great time with Liz and her family that we extended our stay in Monaco to 5 days. We stayed in a small hotel, just up from the casino. Outside the casino there is the most amazing range of luxury cars, but the the children cannot tell the difference between a Fiat and a Ferrari and they were more impressed with the cute little smart cars.

Monaco has changed since I was first here. In 1985 I stayed in a small flat in Fontvielle. The apartment building where I stayed has disappeared and the area now has a stadium and a host of new apartment buildings. Monaco railway station is now underground, or rather under new buildings. And the pier has been extended to allow cruise ships to dock. One thing which hasn't changed is the stunning array of yachts in the harbour.

We went to the wonderful Oceanographic Museum where the children enjoyed the aquarium and seeing fish which they had last seen when diving in the Red Sea. There was also a Damian Hirst exhibition, but the children were not convinced of the artistic value of a dead sheep cut in half (photos not allowed of this for some reason).

The old Balmoral Hotel which used to sit in front of Liz and Gabriel's apartment has been knocked down and there are building problems with the new building which will replace it. The result of all of this is that Liz and Gabriel now have a beautiful view of the harbour from their balcony. We spent several very pleasant evenings relaxing on the balcony with a glass of fine wine in hand. We also spent several afternoons at the swimming pool which you see during the Grand Prix. The water slides were a bit too tame for Lachlan, so he had to relax and take the rays instead

We had a fantastic time in Monaco, with the children getting to know their cousins. A huge "Merci beaucoup" to Liz, Gabriel, Alexia and Claire. And thanks to EasyJet and their Nice-Edinburgh flight, we are looking forward to seeing each other than once every 14 years.

At last, Italy.

Frascati was the Italy I had hoped for but not found in Rome. It is a small town in the hills, at the end of a suburban rail line, 30 minutes from Rome. It has small squares, great restaurants, terracotta roofed houses, and a huge old villa overlooking it all. It is like being back in Dainfern in Jo'burg, but without the electric fences, barbed wire and armed security!

We had intended to do some shopping, but the shops closed at 1.00 pm for a three hour lunch break. Hence instead we took a stroll around town before looking for lunch and for somewhere to watch the crucial Italy vs Slovakia match (crucial in the male sense of the word. I don't think Elspeth would describe it in the same terms).

We found what we had been looking for when we spotted a police car parked outside a small restaurant. Actually the police car should not have been there as it was a pedestrian street, but miraculously the bollards which had been put there to prevent cars going down the street were moved to one side and then put back in place after the car was safely parked.

The restaurant was like a film set from The Sopranos with red checked table cloths, walls lined with wine bottles and a clientele consisting of large families and policemen. We do not speak much Italian and the waiter spoke no English, but we managed to agree that we would take a selection of starters, main courses and desserts. The food was sensational. The pasta was al dente and the sauces were perfect - not too heavy to overwhelm the pasta, but rather complementing the pasta and meat. The wine (Frascati of course) was crisp and chilled, and the desserts were artery clogging. We learned another important piece of Italian dining etiquette when I asked for my coffee to be served with dessert and the waiter almost had a stroke. "Non possible. Must be after dessert".

We watched with interest and increasing amusement as one group of police would leave to be replaced by another. The younger officers looked dashing in their blue uniforms with a scarlet red stripe down the side of the trousers. As the junior officers were succeeded at the tables by more senior colleagues, it became clear that the number of pips on the shoulders had a direct correlation to the strain on the waistband of the trousers. These senior policemen were clearly now relying on mental acuity rather than physical capability to capture their quarry.

We watched the football in Jonathan's Pub, purely for the sake of our brother-in-law. It was such a classy place, it even served Tennents Super. Italy lost 2-3 to Slovakia and deservedly so. There was much emotion in the bar with a rousing rendition of the national anthem, after which initial optimism was replaced by a sense of foreboding as it became clear that the ageing Italian side were struggling to cope with the more youthful Slovaks. When Slovakia went 2-0 up despair turned to anger, then briefly back to hope when Italy scored, and then when Slovakia scored their third, the place just emptied. We are turning out to be World Cup Jonahs. In Serbia we watched Serbia lose to Ghana. In Germany we watched Germany lose to Serbia. In Italy we watched Italy lose to Slovakia. We go to France next, but they do not need our presence in the country to lose their matches. They are doing very well on their own!

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