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2019 European Adventure

September - October 2019
It's off to Europe again to learn more about our wonderful world! Read more
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  • Traveler2019 European Adventure
    Day 16

    Oct 5 - Concert at Rastatt Palace

    October 5, 2019 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    We had a late lunch - with another appearance by the white swans.

    Dinner tonight is at 5:30 p.m., rather than at 7:00 p.m. because we are all attending a classical music concert known as a “Scenic Enrichment Event”.

    We traveled about an hour to Rastatt with Rudolf as our guide. His daughter was supposed to be the guide, but she had a date, and when she batted her eyes at him, her father caved and dusted off his English, just for us.

    Schloss Rastatt, also known as Residenzschloss Rastatt, is a Baroque schloss in Rastatt, Germany. The palace and the garden were built between 1700 and 1707 by the Italian architect Domenico Egidio Rossi for Margrave Louis William of Baden-Baden.

    The place is a riot of Baroque architecture cornucopia - over the top hardly describes it - gold and mirrors and tapestries and stucco work - it goes on and on. We were treated to wine and nibbles and a tour of several of the rooms of the palace before the concert. The concert was done by a tenor and a mezzo-soprano, accompanied by a pianist. They sang traditional opera pieces and some more modern selections. It was delightful. A bit of culture during our two-week long floating food, culture and history lesson.    Read more

  • Traveler2019 European Adventure
    Day 17

    Oct 6 - Exploring the Black Forest

    October 6, 2019 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 5 °C

    Today’s adventure found us docked in Breisack (pronounced Bry-zack) in Germany. The day was another cool, overcast one with a forecast of rain. Bundle up and pack an umbrella has become our mantra.

    After breakfast, we went by coach for about an hour to Freiburg. Our guide, Gerlinda, told us about the Baden area that we were passing through. The land here is very fertile because of past volcanic activity. We passed fields of corn (for animal feed and ethanol production), millet, pumpkins, mustard and tobacco. There are a lot of walnut trees in this area so walnut bread and walnut cake are local specialities.

    Our destination was Schauinslandbahn - a cable car that took us high up into the Black Forest. The Black Forest got its name from the Romans who came here 2000 years ago. The forest is so densely wooded, that from a distance, it looks black, not green, and foreboding and menacing. The area is ripe with tales about goblins and dwarfs and gnomes and witches that inhabit the forest. We traveled up through light clouds and mist to the top. Our activity was a 4-km walk - all downhill - on good trails. The valleys are dotted with little farms and villages, and the fields are inhabited by contented-looking cows and sheep and goats.

    We stopped at a little house called Schniederlihof. The house is over 400 years old, and until 1966, belonged to the same family that made its living selling dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt). At that time eight siblings living in the house, all in their 20’s, finally recognized the futility of making a living there. They sold the house and land to the local community and then moved to the local village. The house is now a little museum that showcases the life of Black Forest farmers. The man who tends the museum is a descendant of the original family. We toured the parlour, the bedroom, the kitchen (with Black Forest ham smoking in the attic) and the barn. We were rewarded for our walking efforts with Black Forest Cake and hot tea. We hadn’t actually burned the equivalent number of calories, but when in the Black Forest…….

    Back at the ship, we actually had to wait a while to board. We had been double-bunked with another ship. It was time for it to sail, so our ship had to pull out, wait for the other ship to sail, and then pull back in. There was our captain again, making sure the gangplank was secure. He is definitely a hands-on captain.

    The entertainment for this afternoon was called “Four Hands over 50 Bells”. It was a duo who played tunes, both traditional and modern, on cow bells. It was a delightful, upbeat show. Promptly on cue, we sailed at 4:00 p.m. Next stop - Basel, Switzerland. That will be the sixth country of this cruise.    Read more

  • Traveler2019 European Adventure
    Day 18

    Oct 7 - Vevey

    October 7, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    The noise in the hallways started at 6:00 a.m. as many people had early morning departure arrangements. As a result, we were at breakfast much earlier than we had intended. We said a fond farewell to our favourite waiter, Satria.

    Our departure time was 9:15 a.m. The day was, yes, you guessed it, cool and overcast with a threat of rain. Such is life in Europe in the fall. Our guide for the Switzerland leg of this trip is William, an Aussie who has studied German and poetry and is now working as a tour director. We set off from Basel heading south. The light rain couldn’t take away from the lovely views - hills and green fields of corn and cabbage and contented cows. Finally, to our amazement, the sun came out. We stopped in Guyùre for a pit stop at a complex overlooking Lake Guyùre. That is the best view I’ve ever seen from a pit stop.

    William gave us the shortened version of Switzerland’s history. It has no natural resources, other than its beauty. It has had compulsory military service for hundreds of years and began long ago to rent out its soldiers to other powers who needed extra manpower. That is why the Vatican is protected by the Swiss Guards. (Only Catholic soldiers are assigned there.) Because the country is surrounded by mountains and it’s hard to access, it became a place where the wealthy liked to stash their wealth, and so Switzerland became a banking superpower, and today has a stable, prosperous and high-tech economy.

    Switzerland has four official languages - German, French, Italian and Romansh. We were in the French area much of today - it was nice to be able to decode signs with our rudimentary command of the French language.

    Warning - I’m going to be on superlative overload for this Switzerland leg of our trip. The scenery everywhere is just breathtaking. We arrived around noon in the small town of Vevey located on the north shore of Lake Geneva. It’s famous for three things, other than its idyllic setting. It’s the headquarters for Nestlé; it was the home of Charlie Chaplin for many years; and it’s the home of Lavaux Vineyard Terraces - a World Heritage Site - where winemaking has been in existence since the 11th century. William gave us a short orientation walk and then gave us time to explore and find lunch. We had made a couple of sandwiches at breakfast. We found the local grocery store and got yogurt and chocolate. We sat by the water and soaked up the sun and view. Eventually, we had to tear ourselves away and head to the bus (driven by Ivan, not Ivan the Terrible) and head to the Charlie Chaplin Museum.

    Charlie Chaplin grew up in abject poverty in London, and rose to fame in the era of silent films. His on-screen persona, “The Tramp” is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of film. During the House Un-American Activities hearings of the 1950s, Chaplin was accused of being a Communist sympathizer. He created scandal through his involvement in a paternity suit and his marriages to much younger women. He was forced to leave the United States and settle in Switzerland. He and his wife Oona, daughter of American playwright Eugene O’Neill, lived there and had eight children. He died on Christmas Day, 1977 at the age of 88 and was buried near Vevey.

    The museum showed numerous clips from his many films and showcased items like one of the tramp shoes (the other is on loan for a display in Paris) and his two Oscars. We could have spent a whole day there. There is a documentary out there somewhere about his life - watch it if you can. He was a fascinating man and pioneered many film making techniques. He wrote the song, "Smile" - such a poignant song.

    We had one last stop before getting to our hotel. It was Château de Chillon, an island castle located on the shore of Lake Geneva that was once used as a prison - likely the most picturesque setting for any prison in the world.

    Our hotel in Montreux is the Hotel Fairmont Montreux Palace. It’s an old, elegant place full of marble and beautiful moldings and confusing elevator accesses because it’s built into the side of a hill. William gave us an orientation tour of the town and let us loose for the evening. We found the grocery store (two storey with an moving staircase to accommodate carts and strollers) and got salads, croissants, grapes and milk. We ate dinner by the water as we soaked up the view of the sun setting on Lake Geneva, then strolled along the promenade. There, in the distance, was the Matterhorn. The promenade hugs the edge of the lake and is lined with trees and bushes and flowers, as well as unique sculptures. We have free time tomorrow morning - we’ll be strolling along it again. What a delight. It beat out the Promenade des Anglais in Nice as our favourite promenade.

    With good internet, I booked our train tickets for Friday to go to Mannheim and Monday to go to Paris.

    We are taking a train tomorrow to Château d’Oex. Weather forecast is looking good.

    Will do pictures later. It's been a LONG day!    Read more

  • Traveler2019 European Adventure
    Day 19

    Oct 8 - Train Ride to Château-d'Oex

    October 8, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We both had a great night’s sleep - the beds are extremely comfortable and the linens are gloriously luxurious. The bathroom has a scale in it. Feeling brave, I hopped on. It said, “Low”. I was pretty sure that it was referring to the battery and not my weight. No real damage so far. Better keep walking 6-8 miles a day.

    We ate in the breakfast room with its breathtaking view of Lake Geneva and the Alps. That’s the best morning view we have ever had.

    A little more about Montreux. It’s a traditional resort town on Lake Geneva, nestled between steep hills and the lakeside. It’s known for its temperate climate making visiting in either the summer or the winter enjoyable. The promenade is lined with flowers, sculptures (some weird, some very attractive), Mediterranean trees and grand old buildings from the Belle Epoque era. Music is a huge park of this town. It hosts the Montreux Jazz Festival for two weeks every July - I can’t imagine how busy this sleepy little town becomes then. The parkette across from the hotel has bronze statues of some of the big names of music - Ella Fitzgerald, BB King, Stevie Wonder and more. This town and its beauty has and will continue to lure writers, poets, artists, musicians and those simply looking to escape to the simplicity of nature and all its glorious beauty.

    We actually had free morning time since we didn’t have to rendezvous with William until 11:00 a.m. To wear off some of the effects of the Food Olympics in which we have been competing for the past two weeks and the lovely chocolate croissants at the breakfast bar, we walked a couple of miles through the town this morning. Lots of fabulous window shopping. The prices are in Swiss Francs, so we had to up everything by a third. Clothes, shoes, jewelry, watches, linens - it’s all here and way out of range. Sprinkled along the way were delightful little bakeries and cafés full of tempting treats and lots of hot coffee. Would have loved to spend the morning people watching, but we had a date with a train.

    Our activity for today is a train trip up into the Alps from Montreux to Château-d’Oex (House of the Oxen). Good things come to those who are patient. We had a gloriously sunny, warm day - finally! The train snaked its way up the mountain, switching back and forth to handle the steep elevation. The train was used until about 15 years ago mainly for transportation of goods, but is now almost strictly a tourist attraction. There is a spur line that is called the Chocolate Train Route. Must put a ride on that on my bucket list.

    The scenery we drank in for the next hour was stunning, awe-inspiring, panoramic, idyllic, jaw dropping, memorable. Steep, craggy mountains, Lake Geneva glistening in the sunlight, tiny picture postcard villages, cattle grazing on 60° slopes, deep gorges with streams running through them - we saw it all. It was a trip to remember. My only regret - pictures simply can’t do it justice.

    We arrived a little before 1:00 p.m. in Château-d’Oex which sits an an elevation of about 1000 metres/3300 feet. By comparison, Montreux sits at about 400 metres/1300 feet. It’s a lovely little town of about 3,500 people who work mainly in the tourism industry or the dairy industry. We had lunch at Le Chalet Restaurant. We had the whole place to ourselves - there are 36 of us doing the cruise extension plus William and Ivan. Here, the owners make their own type of Guyère cheese. Right in the restaurant we watched as the cheesemaker patiently stirred the milk in a huge copper pot over an open wood fire. He was using a large whisk which removed the whey (fed to the pigs) from the curd granules. Then he took the curd granules out of the copper pot using a linen cheese cloth. The curds were then pressed into a wheel-shaped mould. It will sit in this mould for 24 hours during which time the mould will be turned five times. Then the cheese will get a salt bath for 24 hours and then be set aside in temperature-controlled cellar to mature for at least six months.

    While watching the cheesemaking process, we feasted on cheese fondue (which would have been totally sufficient), then cured pork, scalloped potatoes and carrots, followed by poached pears and chocolate ice cream, all washed down with local wines. Definitely salad for supper tonight!

    We had some time to enjoy the town and the glorious sunshine before climbing back on the bus to snake our way down the mountain through lots of little villages. The country is trying very hard to support those who live in these villages so that these villages can stay alive and that their vibrancy and charm can be shared with the world.

    We got back to the hotel and headed out shortly afterwards for our standard dinner - salad, croissants (chocolate tonight), grapes, milk and bar chocolate (working our way through the country’s vast selection). We ate on the promenade and watched the sun go down over Lake Geneva. Glorious.

    We are in for the night now. Lots of pictures to sort through and choose for the blog. It’s going to take a while. We are off to Gstaad tomorrow.    Read more

  • Traveler2019 European Adventure
    Day 20

    Oct 9 - Status Update

    October 9, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    Hello Everyone,

    In a 3-hour marathon last night with great internet service, I was able to upload all the pictures for each footprint and to put a caption on each. You will notice that I removed the "pics later" part of the title of the footprints that have been updated - that's basically from Day 9 onwards.

    Hope you have time to go back to previous footprints to enjoy the pictures and captions.

    Off shortly for more exploring of Switzerland. I've added a picture of our route through the country to help you follow along.    Read more

  • Traveler2019 European Adventure
    Day 20

    Oct 9 - Gstaad

    October 9, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Guess what the weather was today? Yes - cool and rainy. Blessedly, we caught sunshine for our two-day stay in Montreux. Our destination today is a little town in the Alps called Gstaad which is in a different canton (like a state or province) than Montreux. William has been incredibly impressed with our attention to departure times. We left four minutes early. Our little tour is running like one of Switzerland's world-renowned watches.

    We drove up through the mountains, snaking back and forth to climb the steep elevation, negotiating hairpin turns and hugging the edge of the mountain. Ivan handled the bus with ease so we didn’t have to send up any prayers to the patron saint of bus drivers, St. Fiacre. For our bravery, we were rewarded with wonderful vistas, despite the rain. Steep cliffs, houses built into the hillsides, steep vineyards, cows and sheep grazing on lush green pastures. At one point, we were actually up above a layer of cloud. Down below, there were incredibly deep crevices with sparkling mountain streams trickling through them. Again, photos just can't do the panoramic views justice.

    In a little town just before Gstaad, we hit an Alpine traffic jam - a herd of cattle being guided through the town to graze on another pasture. William couldn’t have scripted that one any better. I got a video of it to attach to this footprint.

    Gstaad sits at an elevation of 1050 metres/3500 ft. Its soaring mountains and prestigious international boarding schools have long made it a holiday destination for royalty and celebrities. Famous people who live or have lived there include Julie Andrews, Bernie Ecclestone, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and David Niven. Cable cars connect surrounding ski areas with hundreds of kilometers of cross-country skiing and hiking trails. The nearby cable car Glacier 3000 offers nearly year-round skiing.

    The weather teased us, looking as if it might clear as we approached Gstaad, but alas, we lost out in the metrological lottery. The rain was coming down hard and there was quite a wind. William gave us a very quick orientation tour of this pretty town and then left us on our own for an hour. We bailed on walking around any longer and found a little café and had lunch.    Read more

  • Traveler2019 European Adventure
    1
    Day 20

    Oct 9 - Bern

    October 9, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    We then headed towards Bern, working our way down through more little villages. The landscape gradually changed and became flatter. Cows don’t need two different lengths of legs here to be able to graze. As we drove, William gave us short synopses on Switzerland’s educational system, its economic status and its political system. Switzerland developed the International Baccalaureate high school graduation program that is recognized world-wide. And of course, Switzerland is renowned for its banking system and its secret bank accounts. Don’t think I have any accounts here…..

    Tonight we are staying in Bern which is the capital of Switzerland. Geneva was deemed to be too French and Zurich was deemed to be too German, so Bern was chosen as a compromise capital city. This is very similar to what happened in Australia where Melbourne and Sydney were both rejected in favour of the purpose-built capital city of Canberra. In 1983, the historic old town in the centre of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bern has a population of about 140,000. Many of the residents work in federal government type jobs. We drove into the city down embassy row - we waved at the Canadian Embassy.

    Before we got to the hotel, we made one stop - at a bear pit which houses several huge brown bears. “Why??”, you ask? Bern was founded by a nobleman who founded the city and who vowed to name it after the first animal that he encountered on the hunt, which turned out to be a bear. The bear became the heraldic symbol of the city in the 1200s and bears have been kept since the 1400s.

    The hotel we are staying at in Bern is the Hotel Bellevue which is the official guesthouse of the Swiss government. It is located right beside the Swiss Parliament Buildings. Its got a magnificent lounge with a spectacular ceiling (there are a lot of those in Europe) and superb views of the Bernese Alps – always a ‘belle vue’. It’s full of brocade drapes, velvet-covered chairs, polished bronze railings and elegant floral arrangements.

    Our room (alas for just one glorious night) is a suite - with a lovely desk with built-in USB ports, a sofa and an easy chair, a king sized bed (not just two single beds butted up to one another), a separate toilet room, double sinks in the bath/shower room, and a fabulous view of the city and the Aare River. Scenic is spoiling us very badly.

    William took us out for a 45-minute walking tour. We saw the parliament buildings, the Swiss National Bank, the 15th-century astronomical clock, several of the city’s fountains, the house where Einstein lived, the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (Catholic Church), the Münster of Bern (Swiss Reformed Church) and the City Hall. The rain was kicking up again, so William released us to our own devices for dinner.

    We found the local grocery store and picked up salads, pineapple, honey yogurt, milk and chocolate digestive biscuits. One of the reasons we search out grocery stores is that restaurant meals are incredibly expensive in Switzerland. We considered having spaghetti at a little place - each plate would have been $30. Not happening. While we dined Chez Hotel Suite - pretty posh settings for an indoor picnic - we watched a British TV game show that we have endured before just because it’s in English. The housekeeping staff had been in while we were out to turn down the giant bed and to lay little mats on the floor on each side with a pair of slippers for each of us. We have to be on the bus at 9:00 a.m., so there’s not going to be much time for lounging around wearing our Bern slippers.

    Tomorrow we are off to Luzern (Lucerne) and from there to our final Swiss destination of Zurich.    Read more

  • Traveler2019 European Adventure
    Day 21

    Oct 10 - Luzern/Lucerne

    October 10, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    The weather was cool, but with no rain. A good day in the making! With Luzern as our destination, we drove through more of the flat part of Switzerland. We were able to see two of the big peaks of the Alps - Jungfrau and Eiger - in the distance. We drove along with a brilliant blue lake on one side and a soaring mountain on the other side.

    Our first stop was in Brienz. The sun was shining brightly, so there was not one word of complaint about the cool temperatures. William had a morning surprise for us - Linzertort - the same dessert I had tried the day before. William’s father is German, so having Linzertort is a fond memory from William’s childhood. Two beautiful white swans graced us with their presence at the water’s edge.

    We did a quick photo stop at Lungern. What a glorious view of a valley tucked between two mountains and a little village built on the shore of the lake. Picture postcard - again. This is what of the advantages of a formal tour - the tour guide knows all the most panoramic stops.

    Before we went into the downtown of Luzern, we stopped first at the The Lion Monument, or the Lion of Lucerne, a rock relief of a giant dying lion that commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

    Luzern, also known as Lucerne, is located in the German-speaking portion of Switzerland. It sits on the shores of Lake Lucerne and the river Reuss. William gave us a walking tour of this beautiful city. Since the city straddles the Reuss where it drains the lake, it has a number of bridges. The most famous is the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke), a 204 m (669 ft) long wooden covered bridge originally built in 1333, the oldest covered bridge in Europe, although much of it had to be replaced after a fire on 18 August 1993, allegedly caused by a discarded cigarette. Part way across, the bridge runs by the octagonal Water Tower (Wasserturm), a fortification from the 13th century. Inside the bridge are a series of paintings from the 17th century depicting events from Lucerne's history. The Bridge with its Tower is the city's most famous landmark. (Thank you, Wikipedia.)

    Downriver, the Spreuer Bridge (Mill Bridge) zigzags across the Reuss. Constructed in 1408, it features a series of medieval-style 17th-century plague paintings titled Dance of Death. The bridge has a small chapel in the middle that was added in 1568.

    The Lucerne Jesuit Church with its distinctive onion-topped domes was the first large baroque church built in Switzerland north of the Alps. The inside is beautiful - it’s very light and bright with a lot of gold gilding and red marble. The Jesuit order, founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534, were active participants in the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic fight against the birth of Protestantism.

    At lunchtime, we found the local grocery store. We picked up a sandwich which we split, yogurt, milk and a fat pretzel. We travel with a set of cutlery so we can always find something to eat in a grocery store. (Restaurant meals in Switzerland are very, very expensive.) We ate by the water’s edge as we soaked up the sunshine. Afterwards, we strolled around and admired the old-style architecture.

    We had a good giggle as we window-shopped on a street lined with exclusive shops (some guarded by beefy guys with tasers) selling high-end watches. We each picked out a watch that we liked. Each had a 5-figure price tag and that’s in Swiss francs - add another 30% to convert to Canadian dollars! Then we found a store that has a wall of flowing liquid chocolate. They get you from every direction in this city!

    Bus parking is very tightly controlled in the centre of Luzern, so promptly at our appointed rendezvous time, Ivan pulled up, we piled on the bus in record time, and off we went. Our next destination was Zürich, the final stop on this part of our trip.

    I estimate that we went through at least 20 of Switzerland’s almost 500 tunnels during our driving today. Switzerland spends a lot of money on its infrastructure because roads, tunnels, trains and bridges are integral to keeping Switzerland moving.    Read more

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