Schönenwerd

April 29, 2019

An unexpected day

I am starting today’s entry having accomplished nothing except for eating a hearty breakfast in the Hotel Storchen. Last night, as promised, I tucked in my earplugs to avoid Keith’s coughing. Even earplugs were insufficient for a good sleep for me as he had a very restless night, up and down with coughing spells. I feel I am moving quickly towards good health but Keith not so much. When he woke up this morning we decided to stay put, so despite our optimism yesterday about a great ride today, we are enjoying where we are and Keith is working on getting better. Fortunately we could book the room for another night and are simply relaxing at the moment, hoping the sick day will do Keith a lot of good. He is about to take some Tylenol Cold and we will have a leisurely explore of Aarau and then I can carry on while he comes back to the room for a nap.

The view from our room last night. Pretty spectacular.

After a little research and a query at the front desk, we took the train to Aarau, a quick five minute ride. How we envy the European train system. The infrastructure is incredible. On the train we met a young woman pushing a stroller with her beautiful son who took us in hand and guided us to the old town. Aarau was beautiful this morning, with sunshine until about noon. Once the sun disappeared behind the clouds it was cool.

The view on our 100 m walk to the train station. The hotel is perfectly located for this. We went right by the Bally Shoe Museum, but much to my disappointment it is only open weekends. I thought it would be my afternoon activity. I really appreciated the front desk person...he gave us directions but we misinterpreted. The way we were to go was literally a beautiful narrow alley and we were heading for the next street. He came rushing out and pointed us down the alley. It was a gorgeous 30 second walk.

Aarau is a beautiful spot. While we wish Keith felt better we really enjoyed having more time to explore it.

Aarau is charming and its claim to fame is having the most beautiful eaves, called Dachhimmel, in Switzerland. They were astonishing. They date from the 16th century. Aarau is called the town of beautiful gables.

They were all just amazing. It made my neck hurt to think about maintaining them.

After a warming and restorative coffee for me, we decided to hop back on the train together and head back to the hotel. I wanted to go to the museum in Aarau but like the Bally Shoe Museum and many in Europe, the Aarau museum is closed on Mondays. There were charming shops in Aarau in the beautiful old town but window shopping was enough for me. Shopping isn’t my favourite activity so I decided to head back with Keith. He is sound asleep as I write this, which is a good thing. I may just join him in restorative slumber.

Well, I started reading my novel and nodded off so we both had some restorative slumber! We are now back in the room after a delicious dinner in the hotel restaurant followed by a short walk around town. It has been a very relaxing day and we are both hoping it has done Keith some good. He is sure he will be up for the shortish ride to Solothurn tomorrow. The weather forecast is favourable so we will head out in the morning and see how he feels when we get there.

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Steve Miller/GrampiesMother hen here (Dodie) - is Keith coughing up any stuff or just coughing? If he is coughing up gunk check the colour. If yellow, grey or green get to a doctor , it is probably bronchitis at the least and might need antibiotics. Ignoring a chest infection can lead to pneumonia, also known as the old man's friend, for how quickly it can carry off senior citizens. Sorry if I am being a butinski, but it is done out of love and concern.
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4 years ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Steve Miller/GrampiesI appreciate your comments very much Dodie. You have the expertise. Now the cough seems to be improving but the malady is evolving. He is congested and feeling very tired. We are pretty sure it is just a bad cold but have decided to take another day off and take it easy. We are in Solothurn and it is just gorgeous so it certainly isn’t a hardship for me. If need be he can sleep while I explore.
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4 years ago