Just returned from a 10 day fun filled European tour. We, Jim and Barbara started September 20 in Zurich, arrived 8am 9/21 and met some fellow travelers and as Ted mentioned the train station was just across the street from the airport, then trained to Luzern and enjoyed the lovely scenery along the way. Checked into the Hotel Waldstaetterhof for a two night stay. I had an address for a quilt shop and asked the hotel clerk for directions and he said it was too far, but we said we were able to walk and he gave us directions but forgot to tell us there was an uphill. Found the shop and bought some Danish and Czech Republic fabric. She had mostly English and American designer fabric @ 24 Francs a metre. Translates to $24 a metre. Needless to say I only bought a quarter metre. Stopped for coffee on the way back. We had dinner that night at the Stadtkeller Swiss Folklore restaurant with a fun show. Lots of yodeling and beer drinking.
9/22 dawned bright and sunny and after a typical European breakfast boarded the ferry to Mt. Pilatus http://www.pilatus.ch/default-n7-sE.html for a beautiful cruise on Lake Luzern. Saw hanggliders, helicopters and various birds and swans, of course. Also had coffee with the manditory chocolate added.
We arrived in Alpensplad for a cog rail trip to the top. At some points the grade was 47% with sunny 70 degree skies. Saw lots of hikers, cows and many hiking trails that were tempting to walk, but we were glad to be on the RR. We had one of our most memorable lunches atop Mt. Piltarus, including a puff pastry and meringue dessert with ice cream. Dad will make this lunch for several of us some time next week.
After lunch we had the opportunity to walk around or up to the peak through caves, ladders which was fun. Dad bought a shirt. Took the cable car down and after a long walk we boarded a city bus back to our hotel. That evening we toured Old Town with Joanne and Nina and had a pretzel sandwich at Hofbrau House.
9/23 Luzern to Interlaken
I'm on the train to Interlaken in the Golden Pass car. Skip has booked us in First Class trains and it is very comfortable. Found our hotel a few blocks from train station Hotel Oberland, www.city-oberland.ch just in time for lunch of bratwurst and sauerkraut, bit salty but good. Boarded the train to Gstaad in the afternoon for a very memorable ride. The Swiss countryside is very beautiful just as a Rick Steve's video suggests. Arriving in Gstaad, a fancy Swiss ski resort with ritzy shops and restaurants, we proceeded to see Swiss brown cows being brought down to pasture for the winter. Quite a sight. Dad has a video. If I figure out how to include it, I will. Bought a small towel and was given a miniature Swiss Army knife as a gift. Quite a surprise when I realized it was in the package which I almost left on the train, but thanks to Skip or someone, who found it under my seat and returned it. Back to the hotel for dinner and rest.
9/24
Second day in Interlaken and some of us will go to Jungfraujoch,11,000 ft. http://www.jungfraubahn.ch/ Top of Europe by train. After lots of train changes we arrived at the top. It is a magnificent structure used for tourists, geological studies, science and research. I was very impressed with the four restaurants, Ice Palace, which we walked through. It was a cloudy day, so we didn't get to see the heights from on top. There is a place for snowtubing, skiing, and general snow fun. We walked through the Ice Palace, which is cut into the glacier, very cold, and hard to breathe. I had to take it very slow. Sent myself a postcard from the Top of Europe. How do all those people get to work every day. On the way down we stopped at a small town and did some shopping and sightseeing. Caught the next train and arrived back in Interlaken to rain and cold weather. Had dinner on our own that evening with Joanne and Nina in an Italian place, very good food.
9/25 Interlaken to Buchs
Today is a day of train travel to Buchs, Switzerland. Four different trains and hauling luggage presents a challenge. We had an hour in Brig so Dad and I went to the Farmers Market in town. Nice hot chocolate and food stands. Dad bought smoked horsemeat, yuk. He liked it. Trekked back down the hill to the train station and arived in Buchs at the Hotel Buchserhof for one night only. Got the word there might be a Volksmarch and we did it. The castle in town was not lighted, but we had a nice walk around the lake, through the neighborhoods and back to the hotel. After dinner, Nina wanted to see the castle, so we trekked back to it. My legs were killing me.
9/26 Buchs to Liechtenstein
Vaduz is just across the river from Buchs and very lovely. We stayed at the Hotel Residence www.residence.li, which is very sleek and comfortable. Toured Vaduz and Treissenburg with a guide which is high atop the mountain with a wonderful view of Liechtenstein. Toured a beautiful church there and the Walsur Museum. Liechtenstein is famous for their postage stamps and has quite a nice postal museum which we toured. Many philatelists come for first day issues. We were able to do a VM and promptly got lost, so just walked an hour or so, bought some roasted chestnubs and went back to the hotel. We had dinner with Joanne and Nina in the room with stuff we had picked up along the way, cheese, beer, kolrabi, smoked sausages, etc.
All along these days we have been collecting chocolate bars and really found them to be much better than Hersheys.
9/27 Garmisch-Partenkirken
Travelling by bus to Garmisch site of the Olympic Winter Games in 1936. They are vying for the next Winter Games, but the farmers don't want it, too much construction using up their farmland. Munich is also in contention. We will stay at the Hotel Brunnthaler. This is close to Oberammagau for those of us going to see the Passion Play. Travelling to Garmisch we stopped in Iglis, Austria for lunch and a volksmarch. Didn't walk, but got a stamp. Don't tell the IVV. Checked into our hotel and some of the group went to Lindorf Castle, but we stayed in town and went shopping. Bought a nice set of walking sticks.
9/28 - Oberammergau - Passion Play
Nearly half of our group went to see the Passion Play .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberammergau Oberammergau is about 30 miles from Garmisch which was another bus ride through very beautiful countryside. We arrived in time for the start at 2:30pm. The play breaks at 5pm. We trekked back to our restaurant for dinner and then to see the finish of the play at 8:00pm It finishes at 11:00pm. Quite an experience. At some points there are 1000 people on stage. It is an open air theatre with very close seating, but comfortable. We had our flashlight and book in English to follow along. A wonderful orchestra performed and the chorus was outstanding. It would have been nice to understand the German to be able to follow along. Some of our group liked the play better 10 years ago, but we liked what we saw. The production was very theatrical at time with Old Testament tableaus. The chorus served as narrator and stood all dressed in white fanned out across the stage. There must have been 100 members or more. The solos were impressive. The cast consists of town members only. To audition for a part you have to live in the town or within a certain radius. You either have to have been born in Oberammergau or have lived there for 25 or more years. After the play, it was back to the bus and Garmisch. We had time for a little more shopping in the morning and then onto Munich.
9/29 - Munich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle
Again we boarded the bus to Munich to see Neuschwanstein Castle, Built by Ludwig II , probably gay, excentric, mad king as homage to Richard Wagner, whom he admired but never got to perform there. We took the trolley up to the castle and walked down. This castle has probably the most outstanding view of the valley of any place I have ever seen. After lunch we then boarded the bus to Munich for Octoberfest in the evening. We stayed at the Marriott which was very comfortable and homey. All 50 of us trekked to the Octoberfest which was near our hotel. There is a midway with all kinds of rides, very scary and very fast, 11 tents, which really are huge buildings housing around 2000 people all singing, drinking, shouting, and eating. No dancing, there isn't any room to move. I drank a litre of beer. We stayed until about 9pm. as I didn't want to be on the streets when all those people left at 10pm.
9/30 - Munich
After a wonderful breakfast, best so far, Dad and I toured Munich on the Circle Bus. A hop-on, hop-off type of tour. It lasted 2 hours and we saw the main sights of Munich. Churches, Marienplatz, with the famous Glockenspiel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathaus-Glockenspiel , Olympic Village, Lowenbrau Brewery, BMW headquarters, and Nymphenburg Palace, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphenburg_Palace
Built as a reward to Maximillion's wife at the birth of their son. (where's mine)
After our tour ended, we then went back to Marienplatz as I found a quilt shop there. Nice shops all along the way so we took our time. Nice quilt shop, bought a few things, then stopped for coffee and donut, really, really, good donut. Also found a farmers market and browsed for an hour or so, since the Glockenspiel didn't ring again until 5pm. I took 4 videos. We liked sightseeisng on our own all afternoon. Very relaxing. After dinner we trekked back to Octoberfest for a look at the Midway and rides, foodstands, souveniers and drinks. Only alcohol drinks served in the Midway. And only beer in the tents. Back to our hotel before all those drunks leave the beer-tents at 10pm.
After a good nights sleep we headed by train to the airport and home. Very nice trip and well worth the time and money. I hope you enjoyed the disc of photos I sent.
