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Will HessWill Hess
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Will Hess

Will Hess

matkusti 15 maahan. Lue lisää🇺🇸Wisconsin
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    • Will HessMatkaajaSwiss Sabbatical

      Ballenberg Muesum & Rothorn Hike

      15. heinäkuuta 2024, Sveitsi ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

      We started the day catching a series of trains and busses to go to the Ballenberg Outdoor Museum. A particular high point was making our own butter out of cream, perhaps tied with seeing some piggies, cows, and goats. We spent a good amount of time walking about and walking through old farm houses, granaries, and workshops. After a while, Laura started giving me the "I'm hungry" cues, so we found one of the restaurants and had a simple meal of soups/salad/sandwiches, though Caty got the local comfort food of Mac n cheese n applesauce.

      Caty was struggling with the heat and not feeling up for any further activity, and so we decided to split our party once we arrived in Brienz. Laura took her back to the hotel to recuperate and I followed our itinerary by taking the Rothorn bahn, a steam cog railway train, up to the peak of the mountain. As has been the theme this trip, the views along the way were ridiculous, whether looking down at the lake or up at the mountain.

      Lacking my chaperones, the real brains of the group, I made a snap decision when I got to the top of the mountain. I immediately turned around and started to hike the trail back down to halfway point of the mountain, Planalp. The trail was one of the more difficult ones, partly due to the nature of the descent, partly due to the nerves that come with sheer dropoffs on each side of the path, partly because I was racing to catch the last train of the day, and partly due to... aggressive cows.

      I arrived at the station in good spirits, primarily because I hadn't been maimed by a momma cow. Or been zapped by the electric fences and questionably marked bypass gates.

      I beat the last train by a healthy margin, so I sat on a bench and settled in to the panic-inducing thought that they maybe wouldn't let me actually get on the train at the halfway point, or it would just go on by me (fear unfounded). The conductor did give me some trouble, not because of my ticket, but because I needed to show both my ticket and the swiss pass. Tickets validated, I relaxed and enjoyed the view on the steam train back down, and narrowly caught the other trains that took me back to Grindelwald. I rejoined Laura and Caty for dinner at the hotel restaurant.      Lue lisää

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    • Will HessMatkaajaSwiss Sabbatical
      View from the Summit

      Jungfraujoch

      14. heinäkuuta 2024, Sveitsi ⋅ ☁️ 41 °F

      We were out the door by 9 today to catch a series of trains back to Interlocken, and then up to Kleine Scheidegg. From there we took the ride through the tunnels up via the Jungfraubahn. It was a steep climb, and we were glad to have packed some warm clothes. When we reached the top, we were at an elevation of over 4100m. The place was packed with people, so after quickly cramming into the elevator to view the summit, we made our way through the tunnels to get outside ASAP.

      We trudged our way down a snowy trail for a bit, but Caty started to suffer the effects of altitude sickness, so we made our way back to the station and got back on the train down the mountain.

      We hiked a bit more down/back-up a trail to kill some time, seeing an old refuge cabin along the way. Once back up, we took the gondola back to the Grindelwald terminal. We had an excursion planned, but Caty was too tired for it so we walked back to the hotel.

      Since we had unanticipated free time, Laura and I enjoyed an adult beverage or two and then floated in the resorts pool while Caty hung out in the hotel room.

      The rest of the evening was low key, and we had fondue and swiss cuisine for dinner at a restaurant in town.      Lue lisää

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    • Will HessMatkaajaSwiss Sabbatical

      Interlaken Kayaking

      13. heinäkuuta 2024, Sveitsi ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

      We woke up early to get suitcases packed in time for the luggage transport. After breakfast, caty went back to bed while Laura and I went out to check out the Saturday market. The misty rain kept the crowds away, but we each grabbed one of the "quite large" umbrellas for ourselves and kept dry. After taking in all the veggies, flowers, and meat/cheese stands, we jaunted over to the guard towers on the northern side of the city that our tour guide had called out. We entered the Zytturm tower, and climbed up to see the old astronomical clock contained within.

      Afterwards, we collected Caty and boarded our train to Interlocken, which proved to be the most scenic ride yet. The lakes all look pristine, and we spied many waterfalls spilling down from the mountains.

      Once we arrived at the Interlaken train station, we took the path up towards the beach where we had a kayaking tour reserved. We met our guide, West, and the other couple that was going on the tour with us. We got fitted for our life jackets and before we knew it we were pushed off into the water. Since it had been raining really hard for the prior day, the lake was a bit stirred up but it was still Jade in color and cold from the mountain runoff. We spent two hours leisurely paddling along the lake, taking in the sights of the mountains surrounding us.

      Once we made our way back to shore, we took a bus back to the train station, and then hopped back on a train to ride to Grindelwald. We checked into the hotel, and then enjoyed some welcome champagne on the room's balcony. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, where Caty and I shared a meat smorgasbord for two. The wait staff didn't think we had it in us, but we conquered it without too much difficulty.      Lue lisää

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    • Will HessMatkaajaSwiss Sabbatical

      Lucerne City Tour & Mount Stansserhorn

      12. heinäkuuta 2024, Sveitsi ⋅ ☁️ 77 °F

      We started our day with a guided tour of the city. Our guide met us in the hotel lobby and proved to be a charming woman. She took us across several bridges crossing the Reuss (river), which had centuries-old paintings, commissioned by the wealthy ruling class primarily as forms of religious propaganda.
      The Spreuerbrücke's motif was death, with morbid paintings showing how common an occurrence death was in the era. Laura thinks this one gave her nightmares. We also got to hear more about the cross the Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge -- the iconic one lined with flowers), and hear how much of it burned down a few decades ago, losing many of the paintings in the blaze.

      On our walk over to the Jesuitenkirche, our guide gave us a glimpse into Swiss society by explaining their school, tax, military service, religious demographic, and Canton makeup. She dispelled the common outsider belief that Switzerland is a progressive nation, with the example that women only gained the right to vote in the 70s. Good exposure for Caty, though I'm certain Laura and I got more enjoyment out of the conversation. All in all, it was one of the better city tours we've taken.

      After a light lunch we took a bus over to Stans, and then rode the funicular and then cable car 🚡 up the Stansserhorn mountain. We spend about an hour hiking up to the summit, and then down/back-up a more challenging trail. It was a much clearer day than yesterday, even with some periodic light sprinkles of rain, so we had terrific visibility. The view in all directions was nothing short of spectacular. We also enjoyed the sound of cow bells jangling resonating up from various herds located further down the mountain. No luck getting Caty to jodel, unfortunately.

      After we got back to Lucerne, Laura and I braved the rain in search of a pre-dinner cocktail. We shared the hotel's umbrella that was advertised to us as "quite large". Maybe something was lost in translation, as we really had to glom together and still could only keep 80% of ourselves dry. After a martini (which is locally called the American drink, much to the offense of some Canadian customers) and a Moscow Mule, we paid our tab and went back to pick up Caty for dinner.

      Caty will be a guest author covering our fancy dinners... as soon as we can get her to prioritize it...      Lue lisää

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    • Will HessMatkaajaSwiss Sabbatical

      Mount Pilatus

      11. heinäkuuta 2024, Sveitsi ⋅ ⛅ 73 °F

      Today we said our goodbyes to Zurich so that we could continue on to the next leg of our journey in Lucerne.

      Apparently jet leg was, in fact, not done with Laura and me, but caty managed to get a full night's sleep. We powered through and got the sleep that we could, before packing up so that our luggage could be transported to Lucerne.

      After breakfast and a quick workout, we boarded our train for the ~60m ride to Lucerne. We had a big fancy dinner planned for the evening, and so we were determined to "eat like rabbits" until dinner time.

      Since we caught one train earlier than needed, we used the extra time to drop off some a few of our backpacks at the hotel before catching our boat as the first part of the "Golden Pilatus" round trip tour. We stuck to the shady side of the boat to avoid roasting, which made it a pleasant, picturesque 90m ride to our dock at Alpnachstad. We boarded the cable car (originally built in 1889!), which took us up the hillside 7000 feet, at times at nearly a 50° slope.

      We were above the clouds at the summit, which apparently fulfilled one of Caty's childhood dreams of "touching a cloud". Luckily they came in and out, so we were able to see the vistas periodically as we walked a few of the trails along the edge of the mountain.

      We took the gondolas back down the other side of the mountain towards Lucerne, and made our way back to the hotel. On the journey down, we realized that A) our fancy dinner reservation was at a restaurant allll the way across the lake, and B) our luggage transfer was not slated to arrive until sometime between 6-9pm. This was not a good combination of factors.

      Luckily, the restaurant was very accommodating and allowed us to push our reservation back to 8:30, and our luggage arrived closer to 6 than to 9. We scrambled to get changed, and then caught a sunset cruise across the lake to Vitznau. We made it on the boat right before it started to rain, which meant we got to enjoy a rainbow on the waiter when it cleared up and the sun came out.      Lue lisää

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    • Will HessMatkaajaSwiss Sabbatical
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      Dinner at Sens

      11. heinäkuuta 2024, Sveitsi ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

      [Post by Caty]
      To get to the restaurant, we took a little path that was right on Lake Luzern that was surrounded with trees. Restaurant Sens is a little white restaurant that sits on the water. Every plate was beautiful and unique, and the entire time we had a beautiful view of the lake and sunset. The waiters were all very kind, and the experience as a whole was amazing.
      When we were seated, the servers gave us champagne and gave us a welcome snack. It was a puree vegetable paste that was served on a piece of lettuce and had different spices on top.

      The first appetizer was melted, foamed parmesan with a quail egg and mushrooms at the bottom. On top there was truffles. The waiter instructed us to scoop all the way to the bottom so you can taste everything together. With the warm mushrooms and still hot parmesan foam, everything fit perfectly together, which made this my favorite dish.

      The second appitizer was served in mini cones. They were filled with spiced beet, chives, and grated cheese. The cone was a nice crunch, and plate was very unique that just added to the experience.

      The last appitizer was a little tart. Inside was caviar, sliced beans, and a squash puree with flower petals on top as garnish. The tarts were on a plate of moss and leaves, which made the dish extremely pretty.

      The first course was squid with peas, and a coconut sauce. They first brought out the textured bowls that had everything but the squid. They then brought out the squid and placed them in hot rocks to cook them, and then put hot water and put a lid on to steam it. We mixed the squid with the sauce and the other ingredients. This was also another favorite for me, between being able to see part of the meal being cooked in front of us, and how good everything tastes together.

      The second course was a small salad that had brussel sprouts and other greens. They came out with a little pitcher and poured a fermented plantain sauce on the side.

      The third course was their homemade pasta with tomato and mandarin leaf foam. There was a tomato and Campari sauce. Will thought it tasted vaguely like Spaghetti-o sauce, while Mom thought it was one of the best of the night.

      In between the third and fourth courses we were brought out bread with miso butter. This was one of Will's favorite parts of the dinner.
      The fourth courses was pike perch and had two different sauces, potatos, greens and olives. The servers came out and poured an olive, cream, and tomato sauce on the side. The plate was beautiful and very unique.

      The last main course was a bitter salad that had beans, spruce, and they came out with a white sauce that was placed on the side. Then, the waiters came with a jar full of pine cone syrup and they drizzled it over the salad.

      After that, they came out with the pre-dessert, which was ice cream that had a fennel oil and had a green dusting.

      Finally, we had the main dessert. There was a meringue with smoked hay ice cream. There were dried raspberries all around the plate and other fruits in there as well. As a final trick, a waiter came out with a wooden bin of dry ice, and took the flower from our table that was being used as a decoration, and put it in the dry ice. Then he sprinkled the petals over the dish for an extra crunch.

      The dinner was amazing and so was the experience. The view and the location of the restaurant made everything so much better. They never reused a plate, and everything was thought through so well, and I would definitely go again.      Lue lisää

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    • Will HessMatkaajaSwiss Sabbatical

      Zurich Food Tour

      10. heinäkuuta 2024, Sveitsi ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

      It was just the three of us and our guide, Cornélie, who took us to an eclectic sample of restaurants around the Industriequartier. Each place we visited was adjacent and sometimes named/themed after a former powerhouse business. There were 6 stops in total, and by the end we were quite stuffed:

      1. Ribell, located in the 25 Hours Hotel (one of two in the city) . We were served a spread of Italian meats and cheese, sparkling lemonade. The building next door was a A former milk processing plant focused on cheese/yogurt/milk powders, which is now an art school

      2. Kitchen Republic - Passion fruit and Mango Iced tea with a Poke bowl. The iced tea was a hit with the girls. This building formerly housed soap production.

      3. Wurst & Moritz - A currywurst snack house whose name was inspired by an old children's story about Moritz and Max. Both boys were incredibly naughty, and and the end of the story they were tossed into a grinder and turned into sausages, which were eaten by birds. The restaurant continues the story that the birds laid an egg and Moritz came back out. Dunno why max was so unlucky, or why that story makes the swiss want to eat sausages, but they were tasty...

      4. Brauerei Steinfels - A local brewery. We had beer and chicken wings. Hard to get it wrong with that pair.

      5. Ahoi! We walked by a protected building, Schiffbau on the way to our next step, which formerly made large boats of all kinds. The tea shop we stopped at served us breads with roasted pepper or beet based spreads, as well as quiche and pickled fennel and radish. And also some white wine for the adults.

      6. Markthalle - Adjacent to the viadukt, it was an indoor market with a collection of shops reminiscent of an Eataly. We picked up some ice cream for dessert, while our guide explained that many of the businesses and a residence in the area were tied to a foundation supporting individuals with various handicaps.      Lue lisää

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    • Will HessMatkaajaSwiss Sabbatical

      Hiking up Uetliberg

      10. heinäkuuta 2024, Sveitsi ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

      Everyone enjoyed a mega snooze (10hrs 18m according to my watch), which did wonders to fight jet lag and put us on Central European Time. The hotel served an amazing breakfast spread, and we ate our full to prep for the day. There's a good number of Americans around, in for a Taylor Swift concert this evening. They provided our mealtime entertainment, as one of the dads mistook a huge slab of butter for a soft cheese. Laura and I had a hard time keeping it together.

      We took the train up to Uetliberg for some hiking, which only took about 20 minutes. The train system is amazing here, seems like you can get anywhere, everything runs on time, and if you miss a train you won't have to wait long. We took a relatively short path up to Aussichtsturm Uetliberg - Top of Zurich and enjoyed the view of the city from above on the left, and a stunning, cloud laced vista of the countryside on the right. We hiked back down the path, passing the Artilleriebeobachtungsbunker Löwenbräustübli (say that three times fast) and hooking our way back up to the train station to catch the train back to Zurich.

      After a nap, the final step in the fight-off-jetlag plan, we went to the gym and had a light lunch from the Aldi right around the corner from the hotel. We were careful not to overeat before our day's main event, a Zurich city food tour.      Lue lisää

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    • Will HessMatkaajaSwiss Sabbatical
      14

      Arrival in Switzerland

      9. heinäkuuta 2024, Sveitsi ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

      An 11am scheduled departure made for a low-stress morning. I snuck in a run since I'd be spending the next many hours completely stationary, and we completed final preparations / tended to the dogs before their grandparents came to pick them up.

      Laura thoroughly enjoyed watching the fighter planes take off from the airport, while I did my best to ignore the various conversations happening around me from Epic staff flying out to their customers.

      We sprung for premium plus seating for the extra leg room on the flight from Chicago to Zurich, and I traded a woman for the exit row seat for extra-extra leg room. Laura and Caty were a few rows behind me, and sound asleep well before takeoff.

      4,444 miles later (and 7 hours later due to the time zone change), we landed in Zurich. No one got a ton of sleep due to crying babies or a general inability to sleep in all but optimum conditions, but we had to power through until the hotel had a room available. And so we spent the morning walking around Zurich, winding through crisscrossed streets to look into the shops. After wandering aimlessly, we popped open a map to find some landmarks, and meandered over to the opera house, and then down to the Limmat to watch ducks and swans float down the river. We strolled down the boulevard until we encountered a local outdoor market and took in the smells of the flowers and local cheeses being hawked. The jet lag was hitting hard, but luckily a room opened up, so we crashed hard for an afternoon nap.

      After a late lunch, we hopped on the train to the main event for the day -- the Lindt Home of Chocolate. Laura and I both enjoyed the museum portion, but for Caty it was all about the samples. On the walk back to the train I came to regret the pre-flight run as our step count hit levels we only achieve on vacation.

      Dinner was at Zeughauskeller, an old armory converted into a beer hall which featured Wilhelm Tell's arbalest /crossbow on the wall. Caty and I devoured a plate full of sausages, and I knocked back the Haus beer and a dunkel for good measure. We trudged our way back to the hotel, hoping for a long deep sleep.      Lue lisää

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