The Alps - Switzerland and Austria

Switzerland was one of my favorite places yet. Everywhere were mountains. Mountains covered with trees, mountains with massive rock faces, and mountains that soar into the heavens with jagged summits that could pop a balloon if one were to make it up that high without bursting. There wasn’t any need for us to travel on scenic routes because the highways were scenic. They go up, down, across, and often times, through the mountains with tunnels as long as five kilometers every fifteen minutes or so. GPS Jack eventually guided us off the highways onto roads that brought us through picturesque towns nestled in valleys where the sun doesn’t shine until noon because the mountains on both sides are so great. The houses in the towns, for the most part, are huddled together as if to keep warm during the harsh winters. Every town had its fair share of cows all bearing the bells so characteristic of Swiss cattle. I’m not sure which aspect of the farms we recognized first as we approached the towns; the smell of the cow shit or the sound of the bells. Call me crazy but I somewhat enjoy the smell. We continued up, down, across, and through the mountains until we made it to the city of Davos. Even though it isn’t the right season for skiing just yet, it was obvious that Davos was a major resort town. There were multiple gondola stations that go up to the top of the mountains right from the center of the city. Also, the sides of the streets were not only used by people on bicycles but people on custom rollerblades made to resemble skis. They even had their ski poles with them. We tried to find a gondola to take us to the top of a mountain to maybe eat or just enjoy the views but they seemed to all only be open in the winter.

When we left Davos on the road to Austria, we went through the Fluelopass. I might have misspelled that. This is where I climbed the mountain next to the road and took the amazing pictures. As we got closer to the pass and higher in elevation, the mountains had less and less trees on them. They were the nicest colors, basically the colors of thanksgiving. The road itself was at an elevation above 2000 meters and most of the mountains were at least 500-1000 meters taller than that. It was like driving through Franconia Notch in New Hampshire except three times better. After I climbed halfway up one of the mountains next to the parking lot where Papa was, we had a nice meal at the restaurant.

Innsbruck, Austria was our next stop and we made it there around sunset. I didn’t know that the Olympics were held there twice. We didn’t go looking for the Olympic stadiums and such, but we did take a ride into town to walk around and get something to eat. We ended up eating at McDonalds. You’re probably saying, “Why the heck would you do that?”. Well, we hadn’t eaten at one since we started our trip so we wanted to see what they were like in Europe. Also, it was nice to have a meal that wasn’t so expensive. It wasn’t that different. It was right in downtown Innsbruck so there was no drive-through. The dining area was very long and narrow and the ceilings were arched giving it a very old look. There were a few differences on the menu, for instance, they had chicken wings, waffle fries, and a few more flavors of milkshakes than we do in America. The mountains in Austria were no less spectacular but it didn’t seem like there were as many as in Switzerland.

More adventures in the Alps

If the name Davos rings a bell (not a cow bell) it might be because that is the location of the location of the annual World Economic Forum held there at the beginning of the year and attended by dozens, maybe hundreds, of the world's movers and shakers in politics, finance, economics and business. We began to look for the actual site of the forum, a ski resort known as Davos Klosters, but gave up on that to see if we could find a gondola lift that would take us to the top of a local mountain. We found a couple of such lifts but they apparently only operate in winter for skiing. At any rate there were none operating while we were there.


Instead we decided to move on in the alps to seek a place to spend the night, which is how we wound up at La Cascata (The Cascade) in Augio-Rossa, about which Cam has already reported. The hotel has an interesting story attached to it. It is both a hotel and a local cultural center operated by an association, apparently as a non profit foundation. The building was built early in the 20th century by an immigrant from elsewhere. Long after his death the foundation which now supports it raised the funds needed to begin restoring the dilapidated buildings then there. Today it is a very comfortable hotel with modern facilities and a very attractive dining room that doubles as a performance center where a variety of cultural events are held. It's hard to envision how the small population who live in the vicinity can support it. Perhaps the visitors to the area in summer and for skiing in winter contribute to that.


In that region of the Alps Italian is the language spoken, but the woman who seems to operate the place is either English or an Australian/New Zealander. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union and thus the Euro is accepted merely as an alternative to the Swiss Franc which is the official currency. This was to prove a problem the next day when we had a lunch after Cam's climb up the mountain at Fluela Pass.  


The restaurant there didn't take credit cards and we were short about 13 Euros on our bill. Fortunately I also had some U.S. dollars and one of the workers there was willing to exchange dollars for Euros, so we were able to get away without having to wash dishes -- or being arrested.


We continued on from there to Innsbruck and took a room at a hotel near the airport that was under construction or being remodeled. We woke up the next morning to the sound of jackhammers nearby, had breakfast, and headed off for Germany and our next planned stop, Dachau, location of one of the first concentration camps set up by the National Socialists in 1933. More on that later.

A recap and prospectus

Since arriving in Dublin twenty days ago we've traveled through:  Ireland, England, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Monaco, Italy and, today, into Switzerland.  For me this has been a different trip than the one Janet and I took twelve years ago.  We traveled by bus and train, whereas Cam and I have been driving (since Amsterdam) and have racked up something a little more than 4,000 km (2,575 miles), and we have yet to travel through: Austria, Germany and back to the Netherlands.

We have to leave the car in Germany (Dresden) and go to Prague to see Andrej by train, since we aren't allowed to take the car into eastern Europe.  We expect to visit with Andrej for about three days, then return to Dresden for a quick visit to Berlin then the final trek back to Amsterdam.

We were originally going to make the trip back to Dublin for our flight home the way we came -- buses between Amsterdam and London, then London and Dublin, but we can fly from Amsterdam to Dublin for a lot less than the cost of buses, and be there in less than two hours.

Cam has been doing the bulk of the posting to this blog (good for him1) as I was doing the bulk of the driving when we started out.  He has driven some, and done it well, but he isn't actually permitted to since he's under twenty-five, so we've needed to cool that except when it's safe.  We have a plan:  if he gets into an accident, he's to drag me from the passengers seat and put me on the ground on the driver's side, then run around to passenger's side and lay on the ground and moan.

Internet availabilty hasn't been nearly what I expected (or hoped) it would be.  There have been only a couple of places where we were able to find free and unlimited wireless connections, some places where we could a limited amount of free time, and some places where there was no internet at all, wireless or otherwise.  The paid time hasn't been cheap either, €1 for a half-hour or an hour, up to €15 for 24 hours.  We haven't paid for it very often.

Cam wrote a long post tonight that describes our stay at Hyeres in France, our brief stop in Monaco. our stay in Riomaggiore in the Cinque Terre, and our drive into the Swiss Alps, so I needn't add very much to that.

We're just back now from a very nice dinner here at the hotel we chose for tonight's stay in the Swiss alps, a very nice hotel in a most picturesque valley (at an altitude of 3,000 feet) that mirrors the mental picture of the Alps that I already held.

We have each posted a lot of pictures on our Facebook pages.  Cam's are here.  Mine are here.

Hyeres, Monaco, Riomaggore, Swiss Alps

9-29-09

Hello everyone from the CinqueTerre. I woke up early this morning to get a better look at Riomaggore. We arrived around 6:30 last night in the midst of a beautiful Mediterranean sunset. The drive from San Remo, Italy, not far from the border of Monaco, took us a little more than six hours. We probably could have made it a lot sooner if we had taken the autostrade, but who would want to do that when we could take the long, curvy, and slow road along the majestic sea-side cliffs.

On Friday, we arrived in Hyeres Les Palmiers. It was our first stop on the Cote d’Azur. We went out to dinner at an outdoor restaurant in the section of Hyeres called the port. The next morning we walked through le centre-ville in the old part of Hyeres not far from our hotel. Lining the streets were markets selling fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, and fish. The atmosphere was pretty amazing. The streets were packed with mostly locals and we got to see what it was like to live around here. After stopping for a bite to eat at a café, we walked up to the old, old town. It’s built on a steep mountain that must be at least a thousand feet high. Almost at the stop were the Sainte Claire botanical gardens. They were on the property of an old castle mansion with the most beautiful view of the city and sea. After we descended all the way down the mountain we drove over to the port area again and the beaches. The beach we stopped at had tons of wind-surfers and kite-surfers cruising around about 500 feet off shore. Across the road were lagoons with thousands of light pink flamingos.

We left Hyeres on Sunday morning, headed for Monaco. We took the coastal route the entire way which took six or so hours. The pictures on facebook show the amazing views. When we finally got to Monaco we were starving. It took us thirty or so minutes to find parking, then we walked around for another thirty minutes trying to find a place to eat but it was Sunday and almost nothing was open. We finally found a place called “Café Paris” but when we realized that a beer was eight euros we decided just to leave Monaco. So we walked around a little bit, saw what we needed to see, then got back in the car and left.

· We left the Cote d’Azur for the Italian Riviera. The roads and vistas weren’t much different, still very stunning. Everything did seem a little bit older though. The roads seemed a little narrower and we soon got sick of them. Still with nothing in our stomachs we decided to check into a hotel and eat. The first couple of hotels were nice but seemed a little expensive.. about 100 euros for a night.. so we continued our search. One change we noticed was that most of the hotel receptionists in Italy, or atleast the 4-5 we visited, didn’t know any English. We finally found a place in San Remo right along the ocean for a decent price. When we went down to the restaurant we realized that we might have been the only ones staying that night, though. It seemed pretty empty. The hotel was old but nice. It had an indoor and outdoor pool and all the rooms had views but I think it was a hell of a lot nicer when it was built. I couldn’t stop thinking about the mafia while I was in Italy. The music from the Godfather kept playing in my head. I wish I would have had the Godfather soundtrack on my iPod, I would have listened to it.

· The next morning we packed our stuff and were off again. We drove for about four or five hours on the coastal route and realized that we were making horrible time. After we passed through the major city of Genova we hopped on the Autostrade and quickly made it to Riomaggore. What a beautiful little town. It’s nestled into a little cove with huge mountains on both sides. There was only one entrance to the city, and once you entered you had to pay a few euros to park for an hour while you looked for somewhere to stay. We found a place on the second story of an old building which lined the main street. You can tell all the buildings were really old because the stairs to the room were made out of stone. I can’t even really explain how amazing this little town was. If you ever plan on going on a vacation to the Italian Riviera, definitely stay in Riomaggore in the Cinque Terre. I wish we could have stayed longer here and explored the four other villages. It’s truly amazing, one- if not the best place we’ve been so far.

Well, we had planned to stay in Florence tonight, but we decided to get out of Italy and head for the Swiss Alps. We’re in a little town 1000 meters above sea-level in the Italian part. I’m so glad we made the choice we did because it’s spectacular here. The town is called Rossa and it’s in a valley between two massive mountains, both probably 1500 meters in elevation. There is a waterfall cascading down from the top of the rock face on our left and I think I’m going to walk over there now to check it out.

I’m sorry I hadn’t posted in a couple of days but we’ve been very busy. Tomorrow we’ll be in Austria, hopefully staying in a place similar to this because it’s awesome. Ciao! oh and i love you courtney

First Part of France

We’ve been in France for four days now. Our first destination was Omaha beach in Normandy. The American battle cemetery was staggering and very moving. There was a free exhibit inside the visitor’s center that provided a very detailed portrayal of the preparations, assault, and the subsequent liberation of France. The whole exhibit was very well done. When we got outside we followed the path to the cemetery and memorial. The landscaping was incredible and it’s clear that they spared no expense to honor the brave men who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the people here. We spent maybe an hour and a half at the cemetery then made the short drive down to St. Laurent sur Mer on Omaha beach where we found a little hotel and restaurant to spend the night at. We settled in and then ate. I had the steak au poivre. After dinner, we went for a walk along the beach. The sun was setting and it was downright beautiful. The low tide allowed us to imagine the horrific seen on D-Day sixty-five years ago. The cliffs along the beach now have summer cottages scattered along them but we thought we could make out areas where bunkers may have been. There was one house with a trail leading up to the top of the embankment. The house looked vacant so I walked through the gate and looked for the trail. As soon as I got close though, a couple of donkey’s got spooked. This made me spooked so I decided not to go any further. I don’t know if the beach is more crowded during the summer but there was no one there. Throughout our hour or so long walk I could count the number of cars that drove by on one hand. It was surprising because it’s a very nice area. It was basically a ghost town though.

The next morning we packed our things and left for le Mont-St.-Michel. On the way we stopped at a boulangerie and bought a baguette, a croissant, and a chocolate filled croissant. It only came out to like three euros and we decided we weren’t going to spend twenty euros on breakfast anymore while we were in France. Buying a baguette is the way to go except it makes a mess of our car. Going to Mont-st-Michel was my idea, Papa had never heard of it before. I had seen pictures of it before in French class and was interested by it because there are only certain times you can go there. The road leading out to it is only accessible during low tide. Fortunately for us, it was low tide when we got there. Le mont and the abbey sitting on the top of it was an amazing site to see. We walked all the way to the top, relaxed for like ten minutes then made our way back down.

Papa let me drive which was exciting. I drove all the way to Poitiers, about five and a half hours, where we checked into a hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Our Itinerary

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Belgium

We finally arrived at Bruno’s house around 6:30 or 7:00. He was there with Romeo and Romeo’s son Bruno. Neither of them spoke English so this was my first test. They could understand what I wanted to say but it was really hard for me to understand what they were saying, which is to be expected I guess. I’m sure if I were to stay there for two weeks I would improve a lot. We sat down and had a few drinks and Bruno showed me pictures of when my mom was living there with him and Irene. For some reason I was overcome with emotion. I think it was because I was in the same place with the same people that my mother was in when she was a few years younger than I am now. It was just a very emotional thing for me I guess. I was sort of embarrassed after. We went down the street to a restaurant and had Les Moules (the mussels) in a Vin Blanc sauce. Tres delicieux. After a few hours around the language I was actually able to understand okay and my speaking was somewhat tolerable. I thought I did pretty well for not practicing since May.

Now we are at Xavier’s house. We arrived last night after stopping in Bastogne to visit the war memorial. Xavier didn’t even know we were coming so he already plans to go to a concert with his girlfriend Stephanie. He set up beds for us and told us to make ourselves at home. They have a kitten named Ziggy that I played with for most of the night. One thing I noticed about Belgium are the slugs! The slugs here are huge, I don’t know what makes them so big or what they do but they’re huge. I couldn’t resist the temptation to pour a little salt on some. Cruel but..they’re just slugs, right? This morning we took a ride to Luxembourg with Xavier because he took the day off from work. We also picked up a GPS because we needed one badly. Having to stop and ask for directions or trying to find directions online and not being able to print them out is just too time consuming. If we are going to be able to complete this implausible trek around Europe we will need a GPS. Xavier is making us pasta for lunch and then I believe we will be on our way. Heading for Normandy.