Month: June 2017

NOTE:  This post is longer than my usual and for that I apologize. It covers 16 days in Switzerland where there was lots to see and experience. Take it a bite at a time if you need to, but some of the pictures are pretty wonderful…

We began our time in Switzerland in Luzern, a charming city situated where the river Reuss flows out of Lake Luzern, a huge lake with the Alps as backdrop.  Not part of the EU, Switzerland has its own currency (the Swiss franc) and is probably the most expensive place we have visited so far.  The river is spanned by a series of pedestrian bridges, two of them wooden, dating from the 14th century and once part of the city’s fortifications.

There are two mountains near Luzern, and we summited both. Our visit to the summit of Pilatus was one of the highlights of our time in Luzern.  We took a boat along Lake Luzern to Alpanchstad – an hour-long trip with a few intermediate stops that took us past some beautiful scenery.

Once off the boat, we rode a cog-wheel train up almost to the top of the 7000 ft mountain.  The short hike to the summit from there was cool (on an 80º day in town), and very scenic.  There were opportunities to look down from almost every side.  One unusual sight was this tiny little church perched alone on a mountain just below the summit. They must have very hardy and dedicated congregants!!

To descend, we opted to take a cable car followed by a long gondola ride to the city of Kriens, and then a 15-minute bus ride back into Luzern.  More great views of the other side of the mountain.

Mount Rigi was a similar round trip – boat to Vitznau, cogwheel train to the top and then cable car back down to Weggis.  Notable was that the train was the first mountain railway in Europe (1871) and was a less steep climb…more ’round the mountain’ with views from many different angles.

An unusual museum experience in Luzern was our visit to the Glacier Garden. Here you can view grounds formed by the grinding of glaciers over centuries, with dramatic ‘potholes’ and interesting fossils.

The guy that discovered this spot in 1872 was trying to construct a wine cellar under his house! The museum adjacent to the glacier garden features interesting displays of how glaciers are formed and how they disappear, charting the several ice ages that impacted this area 20,000 – 10,000 years ago.  A crazy Hall of Mirrors is the final attraction, although it’s unclear what this has to do with glaciers!

Downhill from this museum is a famous Luzern monument depicting a slain lion that represents the Swiss Guards (mercenaries who were killed defending the Louis XVI during the French Revolution). The inscription reads “To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss.”

Our train trip from Luzern to Interlaken was spectacular! The route took us alongside several large and beautiful lakes

and through mountains that were snow-capped with dramatic waterfalls.

Interlaken means ‘between lakes’ and the city straddles the Aare River that connects Lake Brienz and Lake Thun.  It`was the original alpine resort in the 19th century when leisure travel was first popularized and is surrounded by dramatic mountains The Swiss have built a network of trains, gondolas and cable cars to get visitors to the most scenic spots.  These various modes of transport are well coordinated and scenic in themselves (unless you’ve landed in the dead center of a cable car crammed with one of the many tour groups that comprise a large segment of the tourists here…).  Our preference is always the trains.

It took us two tries to get to the top of Schilthorn. On our first day, we took a train to Lauterbrünnen followed by a cable car to Grütschlap, and another train to Mürren.  After a stroll through this ski resort town to the cable car station

we intended to go to the top until we looked at the real-time web cam that showed the mountaintop was completely socked in by clouds.  So instead, we took a cable car to Gimmelwald, a lovely alpine village for which we had a Rick Steves walk to guide us.  We saw charming wooden chalets

and farmers working hard in their hayfields.

And since we were up 1400 meters, we could take advantage of the cooler mountain air. There are waterfalls everywhere, even in the middle of town!

The following day, we awoke early and caught the 8:05 train back to Lauterbrünnen, followed our previous route and made it to the top before the clouds! We had a good view of the three major mountains – Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau – before the clouds rose up from the valley and enshrouded them all.

We took a different route down, stopping at Birg, where we were below the clouds, and then rode a funicular to Allmendhübel, where we had a nice walk through the flower fields

followed by a bowl of hearty soup. As we descended, the train paralleled a rushing river of snow melt that would have challenged the most expert kayaker!

This seems to be a favorite location for paragliders and base jumpers.  We haven’t witnessed any of the latter but the ‘kites bearing passengers’ are everywhere!  Here are a couple coming in to land…

And , of course, we had to have fondue!

Rick even flirted (!?) with the waitress before he knew how much he was going to enjoy the food (which he did!)…
It had been unseasonably hot during our time in Switzerland. Fortunately, we can escape to the mountains or the lakes for some respite.  One day we traveled by train to Thun, at the far end of Lake Thun. We enjoyed exploring this quaint village on foot with the help of a map provided by the local Tourist Information Office.  We saw Thun Castle that contains a five-floor historical exhibit and provides spectacular views of the town, lake and Alps.

As we walked along the river, we noticed a young wetsuit-clad couple with a baby and two surfboards.  They had figured out a clever way to ‘surf’ in the waves created by a dam in the river. We watched mom try it while dad stayed on shore with the baby.  They had fixed a water-ski tow rope to the bridge. Mom then climbed over the fence and down a ladder; dad handed her the surfboard and she swam out to the rope.  She then used it to stabilize herself as she stood up on the board. Then she let go and ‘surfed’ for a few minutes before falling.  She then was carried downriver by the current to another ladder. When she returned, it was dad’s turn…

After a nice riverside lunch, we took a boat the whole length of Lake Thun back to Interlaken.  It was nice and breezy on the lake and provided us with some nice views.  In every town along the route, we saw people swimming in the clear blue waters of the lake and we determined to do that ourselves the following day.

So we took a bus to Neuhaus where we found a private ‘beach’…no sand but a grassy expanse for sunbathing and a tree for shade.  The water was icy cold, but felt wonderful on a blazing hot day.

The day before we left Interlaken, we went back to the mountains for a hike. After getting to Lauterbrünnen, where many things seem to connect, we took a smaller train to Wengen and then a cable car up to Männlichen (7300 ft).

From there we took a (mostly) level 2.5 mile hike along the ridge line to Kleine Scheidegg.

It was beautifully scenic and peaceful and even chilly (!). The wildflowers were incredible as were the views both down the mountain and up.

Our last home base in Switzerland is Biel/Bienne, a bilingual city (the street signs are in both German & French and the locals seem to speak both interchangeably) on one of three connected lakes near Bern.  In our three full days here, we spent one exploring the city, one traveling to Murten and one in Bern.  Biel has a quaint old town that was filled with a ‘family festival’ the day we visited…no extravagant rides, just a person-powered merry-go-round, pony rides, face painting and free popcorn.
   
We took a funicular almost to the top of a mountain above the town – 900 meters…a hill by comparison to where we’ve been recently.  We then hiked about half a mile past many sports complexes to an area called End de Welt (End of the World), where we had an espresso before heading back down.

The second day we took the train to Murten, a small village on another of the three lakes. The ride took us past lush farms and vineyards. Here we are in the foothills of the Jura Mountains (that separate Switzerland from France).  The hillsides, with lake breezes, are apparently ideal for growing Chasselas, a white wine grape that we don’t see often the US because of its small production.
We took a (Rick Steves) guided walk through Murten. It is a beautiful medieval town with some of the best preserved ramparts in Switzerland.

Views across the lake

and of the uniform rooftops were lovely.

On our last day, we trained to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. It is situated on the Aare River.  Most of the buildings are made of locally quarried greenish grey sandstone, giving the city a rather monochromatic tone.

The city is known for its fountains, each of which portrays a different character – some historical and some hysterical, like the Ogre eating (?!) a plump child…

At the entrance to the cathedral, we got to see one more depiction of The Last Judgement, just to keep us on our good behavior as we move on.

A highlight of our walking tour of Bern was a visit to the Einstein Museum.  We spend two hours here and thought that it provided a complete picture of Einstein’s personal life, science and politics.  No audio guide needed because everything was well presented in German, French and English.

When we returned to Biel/Bienne, we had just enough time to get to the Omega Museum.  This small museum presents the history of watchmaking in Switzerland in a very interesting way. The entrance was free and they didn’t even have a gift shop!

So…on Thursday we head to Paris and the next morning, we’ll be winging our way back to the States.  We hope to see many of you while we are there.  And, again, apologies for the length of this post…

 

The location of our Airbnb in Munich is a great one.  We are a block from the Viktualienmarkt, an open air market with a beer garden in the center.  You can buy almost anything here and it’s open every day but Sunday.  We’re very near a tram stop and a bit farther away is an underground station.  We’ve bought multi-day transportation tickets that make it easy to get around.  And, just down the street, is another Eataly, even bigger than the one we found in Florence with a great selection of meats, cheeses, produce and…oh yes…Italian wines.
      

Marienplatz, Munich’s main square is just on the other side of the Vikualienmarkt. Here we found the New Town Hall, that looks older than the Old Town Hall that was rebuilt after WWII. In the tower of the NTH is a Glockenspeil that ‘performs’ three times a day.

When we did our overview walk through Munich, we visited Michaelskirche (St Michael’s Church), an impressive baroque structure with a large barrel vaulted interior, which Rick Steves said makes the acoustics wonderful.  I noted that there was a ‘sung Mass’ scheduled for 9:00 on Sunday and decided to go.  The church was jam-packed…all seats totally full and people standing five or six abreast in every aisle.  Some people had come prepared with their own camp stools!  It was well worth standing for two hours, though, to hear the choir and orchestra perform Gounod’s St Cecelia Mass.  It was on par with the best concerts we’ve heard! But this was not a concert, it was a full Mass with sermon and communion…the works! I agree, the acoustics are fabulous!

(This photo was taken after the Mass when the church was beginning to empty out.  It seemed inappropriate to take pictures during the Mass…)

We rented bikes and spent a half day riding out to Olympic Park on the north edge of the city.  This complex, built for the 1972 Olympics, is impressive.

While there, we came across a memorial to the Israeli athletes (and one German police officer) whose deaths at the hands of Palestinian terrorists marred the games.

From Olympic Park, it was a short ride to BMW Welt (BMW World) and Museum.

This impressive complex showcases the role that the Bavarian Motor Works played in the development of modern transportation and serves as an enormous showroom for the current crop of BMW models with plenty of opportunity to touch and feel the cars…

In keeping with the car theme, on another day we visited the Museum of Transportation (Verkehrszentrum). This branch of the Deutsches Museum focuses on the history of transportation and houses examples of bikes, cars, trains, buses and everything else on wheels you can imagine.

Almost as much fun was watching the little kids outside the museum trying out all sorts of locomotion devices…
        

Rick’s Beaver Creek skiing friend, Alfred Watzinger, met us in town one day and took us on a walking tour that included the lovely Bürgersaalkirche, a two level church that has wonderful frescoes in the upper sanctuary.

Alfred, who has lived in Munich for more than 3 decades told us that he has only recently made time to learn more about the historical buildings in his city.  And he loves showing them to friends who visit.  That evening, we shared a great meal of Weiner Schnitzel with Alfred, his wife Edith and their daughter Stephanie. And later in the week, they invited us to their home for a barbecue in their lovely garden.

It was so nice to get together with friends so far away from our home who would share their home with us!

We rented bikes another day to explore the Englischer Garden, the largest city park on the continent, along the west side of the Isar River.

The guide book said we should expect to see nude sunbathers here but, much to Rick’s disappointment, the only unclothed body in sight was that if a five-year-old boy… There is also a ‘wave’ in the river for surfers, but they were not out during our visit either.

It seemed fitting that our visit to Dachau (concentration camp) was in a drenching rain.  We were part of a tour with a dozen Americans and a very knowledgeable tour guide.

Even though it might have been more pleasant to see this admittedly horrific memorial on a nice sunny day, the fact that we stood in the rain while our guide explained what happened here gave us some small appreciation for the conditions that the unfortunate people who ended up here had to endure for years on end.

This statue of ‘the unknown survivor’ bears a legend that should make us all think…”To remember the dead and warn the living.”

Rick & I have been fans of Reidel wine glasses for a long time. This is the company that has developed a specific glass shape for almost every variety of wine. (I know, we’re nerds and we admit it!) When we discovered that the Reidel Glass Factory in Kufstein, Austria was only an hour south of Munich, we decided that we’d go for a factory tour.

It was a really interesting afternoon.  First we watched the goings on on the factory floor – precise addition of stems and bases to already prepared bowls, and fashioning of a mouth-blown decanter.

Then we walked through a cool multimedia presentation about sensation and taste – there was a gigantic nose in one room and a huge tongue in another!

After this, our guide took us to the Glas Haus (Glass House) built to recall the company’s original factory (1756) in Czechoslovakia and filled with historical displays, and then to the newly constructed museum (that won’t officially open until June 23!) that houses Reidel products from the beginning of the company until today.

Of course, Munich has palaces, and we visited two of them.  Germany’s royal family, the Wittelsbachs,  had an in-town abode now known as the Residenz and a summer place with hunting lodge, the Nymphenberg Palace, just outside the city center.  The Residenz Museum consists of 90(!) palatial rooms, a Treasury and and ornate opera house, the Cuvilliés Theater that was rebuilt after WWI.  Someone had the foresight to dismantle the ornate wooden boxes and store them safely before Munich was bombed!

We saw the Nymphenberg Palace on our first bike ride (out to Olympic Park).

Of course, this account would not be complete without a mention of Munich’s Beer Gardens.  Like all tourists, we ducked into the Hofbräuhaus.  It’s quite a scene!  And there are many beer gardens throughout the city, even two in the Englischer Gardens.  But our favorite was right in our neighborhood in the middle of the Viktualienmarkt.

On Sundays, when most everything else is closed, the locals come out in traditional Bavarian garb to grab a beer, listen to bands, and watch young people dance.

Is this the biggest pretzel you’ve ever seen?!  You need lots of beer to wash this down…

So now we are on to our last three stops (all in Switzerland) before coming back to the States for 5 weeks.  We are doing this segment of our adventure (April-June) all by train.  I wanted to share the picture below to illustrate the comfort of train travel (and no one hassles us when we bring our own wine…).  And, you will note that Rick has brought the beard back!

Well, we are back in the land of the Euro, and the mental conversion is much easier than it was with the Czech Koruna (1Kc = .042USD).  Our Airbnb apartment in Vienna is just outside the Ringstrasse, very close to the old town and its many attractions.  We bought a multi-day transit pass and signed up for CityBike

a free bike system with more than 100 pick-up/drop-off stations around Vienna.  If you use a bike for less than an hour, it’s FREE! And central Vienna is really flat.

As we sought out local food specialities, we discovered Tafelspitz, reputedly the favorite dish of Emperor Franz Joseph.

It’s basically boiled beef, served with a marrow bone, horseradish and apple sauce with sides of fried potato rosti (kind of like hash browns) and creamed spinach.  Rick ordered a special (rib) cut of beef that was much better than mine, but my favorite part of the meal was the broth.  I’ve never had such tasty beef broth!

Of course, we’re checking out the local wines.  Again, the whites are better than the reds.  We had one six-course meal with Austrian wine pairings that gave us a good overview and, with the help of our Airbnb host, we found a really good local wine shop where we could stock up for our home-cooked meals.  Interestingly, the German name for Vienna is ‘Wien,’ while the German word for wine is ‘wein.’
      So I guess a Viennese wine is a Wien Wein!

Rick arranged for us to visit Weingut Mayer, a winery located on the outskirts of the city. Paul Kiefer spent a couple of hours with us.  He drove us out to the vineyards, which are within the city limits of Vienna on the edge of the Vienna Woods, the foothills of the Alps.

He educated us about Gemischter Satz, a field blend of white grapes that is unique to Vienna, and explained the difference between a field blend (various grape varieties grown together in the same plot, harvested and fermented together) and a cuvée (various grapes grown on different plots and then blended after fermentation). He then tasted us through a generous sampling of their Mayer and Rotes Haus wines, including Reisling, Grüner Veltliner, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and, of course Gemischter Satz.

Music is important to Vienna’s history and culture.  After all, many of the most familiar classical composers (Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Strauss) either hailed from or spent time in Vienna. We took a wonderful (though packed) tour of the Opera House, a landmark most of which had to be rebuilt after WWII.
The reconstruction kept the style of the outside (and much of the inside) the same but added in modern acoustics and elevators. The only tickets available during our stay were SROs, so we passed.

We did hear a Strauss waltz playing in the Opera Toilet in the Karlsplatz U-Bahn station, however…

The Vienna Philharmonic is back in town and played their annual free concert at the Schönbrunn Palace (the Habsburg’s summer getaway palace) on Thursday. It looked like a great program and we made plans to go. When I asked for advice about getting there and getting in, our host replied that, to get in, you should be in line by 5pm (the concert started at 8:30) and expect 100,000 people to pack the grass (chairs only for VIPs).  Sadly, we reconsidered and, again, passed.

But we did go back to Schönbrunn the next day and toured the Palace and grounds without the crowds. One of the most interesting buildings housed an incredible collection of royal carriages.  Those Habsburgs really traveled in style!

Of course, the Habsburgs had a residence in town, also.  We toured the Imperial Apartments (no pictures allowed inside…)
and the Treasury, which houses the tableware used for their dinners for thousands!  I’m certainly glad I don’t have to polish all that silver!!

One day, we took the train to Bratislava, adding one more country to our itinerary.

This capital of Slovakia is situated on the Danube and is very picturesque and walkable. We happened into a ‘wine museum’ that contained some old wine tools and vessels, and offered a tasting of some of the worst wine we’ve had so far.  But we did find a lovely Asian restaurant, Sasazu, where we had one of our best recent meals (accompanied by a New Zealand SB…)

St Stephen’s Cathedral is the heart of Vienna, located exactly in the center of the city with a tower that, by Habsburg decree, was the tallest in their entire empire. Its roof is covered with ceramic tiles and the interior is majestic.  But, I know, all these churches must be starting to run together so I’ll share a single gem from this one.  The architect added a self-portrait (actually more of a sculpture) that peers out from the wall on the left side of the nave as if he is checking up on his creation…

In our last couple of days, we visited the Naschmarkt, a multi-block affair that is filled with market stalls, and cafés; and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, a lavish building constructed by the Habsburgs to house their extensive art collection.  The walls are covered, sometimes three huge paintings high, with an impressive collection of Northern European, Italian, Spanish and French art.  But the building is a work of art in itself!

Next stop Munich!