Just a quick post to let everyone know that we made it home after a short delay in London and some time spent in customs. Once I get some time I will post up more pictures from our trip. Stay tuned
Day 14 – CERN
We certainly left the best for last!!!! The reason Shawn chose Switzerland for his trip was to visit CERN. CERN is the European organization for Nuclear Research, which houses the world’s largest particle accelerator. If you wish to tour CERN you need to apply well in advance of coming, I booked in January and I was still holding my breath that we would get in during our two weeks. My advice would be to book the CERN tour before the airline tickets are bought. We arrived early to register and look around. The tour is over two hours long and that doesn’t include the globe and the microcosm exhibit, and of course the gift store. As CERN is currently in operation, the tour doesn’t include traveling underground to see the inner workings, however we were able to see two fabulous video presentations, one in 3d, plus a guided tour which included a stop at the control center for the Atlas experiment. OMG it was amazing, the sheer enormity of the whole center is mind blowing. The thought that under your feet in a 27 km tube, where two beams of light are being sent at 99.999999999999% of the speed of light to collide, so that scientists can study the resulting data. Out of 1 billion proton collisions a second, they only study 200 “interesting” collisions from any one second. Out of many interesting facts, CERN also developed the world wide web in 1989ish. As you can see, I was more than a little impressed and “penny” actually learned a lot.
Day 13 – The United Nations
Another great sunny day as we left Fribourg to travel to Geneva. When we first arrived almost two weeks ago, we wandered around Geneva but didn’t have the time to tour the UN, so we planned to do that before flying home. The UN is a little ways from downtown but it was a wonderful walk along Lake Geneva. The tour was at two so we wanted to find out where we were suppose to be before the time. To get into the grounds we had to go through a metal detector, show our passports and one member of the group had to have their picture taken for a ID badge. Then it was on to meet your tour group. The tour was just about an hour and was very interesting, we saw both the old and the new building. Unfortunately due to security issues the grounds are no longer open to the public, however we were able to take a couple of pictures through the windows. After the tour we walked back downtown and took the train back to the airport to find our hotel for the night.
Day 12 – Fribourg, Broc and SSA
Today we awoke to a symphony of Sunday church bells in the town of Fribourg. Sundays can be a bit challenging when touring in Switzerland. Probably not so much of a problem if you are in the Alps or a bigger city but in the smaller area most everything shuts down. So it was a great day to sleep in and get caught up on our blog posts. Once we got our act together we walked up town in search of something for breakfast. We didn’t have much luck so ended up at the train station for lunch. Then we took the funicular down to old town and wandered around there but being Sunday there really was nothing open. So we decided to jump on a train to travel to Gruyeres to see the cheese factory and then on to Broc and the chocolate factory. On our way on the train we were reading the book and found out that by the time we got to Gruyeres we would have missed the demonstration however if we went to Broc first we would be in time for the chocolate demo. So we quickly switched our plans in mid stride. Arrive in Broc at the factory and stood in line to get in, just when it was our time we noticed that it was over an hour wait for the tour, which we already knew was only an video, so on to plan “b” or back to plan “a”. So we quickly bought our weight in chocolate and went for the train. This is where the plan went a little bit side ways – we waited for the train, it didn’t come when it was suppose to, so we waited for the next one – again it didn’t shown up when the schedule said so we decided to walk up the hill from the factory to the village and surely we would have better luck. Nope, not the case, so after two hours, I decided it was time for “Sue’s Sunday adventures” (SSA) since all these towns are close together we just needed to walk to the next town which was a small transportation hub and we would surely get a train there. So off we went walking on the trails which are all along the highways. One should mention that at times the signs here can be a little confusing. So after about 15 minutes we came across a sign which indicated that we were going the opposite direction than the last sign so it was time for a new strategy. So on to plan “c” take the hiking trail to the town. So off we went, the sign said it would take 1.25 hours. It was a great trail more like a logging road through the woods. At times we had to assure ourselves that we were on the right track and sure enough in about 45 minutes we were in the town and had enough time for a beer before the train arrived.
Day 11 – Martigny
After a little bit of a sleep in we hauled our suitcase down to the train station. Without the use of internet for couple of days not only were we unable to post our adventure we were not sure where we were going to stay for the next couple of days. Why Martigny you might ask, well not only is it in wine country it is where the St. Bernard museum is. Yeah you might have guessed. The museum had a 20 minute video about the area and dog narrated by Cherry the St. Bernard, however the video is in French. Then it was into the kennel area where there are up to nine dogs a day which come here from the kennel. The kennel area had lovely large kennels which are open to the outside where the dogs can go out and lie on the grass. The big boy we met was actually a english speaking as he had been born in the states and send over when he was young. Then after meeting him we went through the museum part which was very well done. If it hadn’t been later in the afternoon we could have travelled to the kennel to meet the other 20 dogs and puppies. Probably a good thing we didn’t have time or Renegade might have had a new buddy. After the museum we walked over to the amphitheatre, then we stopped for a drink in the square and did some people watching.
Day 10 – Matterhorn
View from our balcony
After a two and a half hour train ride we arrived at Zermatt and the Matterhorn. The town is a car free area and everyone gets around by walking or in electric golf cart like vehicles. Since we were not sure of where our hotel was and we were aware it was about 10 minutes from the train station we voted to take a taxi. Small as these vehicles are and how narrow the streets are, the drivers can still scare the daylights out of you. Maybe when we leave we will walk back down. As we travelled up to our hotel we were getting closer and closer to the famous mountain. The Hotel Bijou and our room’s balcony has an unobstructed view of the Matterhorn. All the books wrote about the mystical draw and it certainly is true. One of the things you have to do while in Zermatt is travel to the top. There are no cable cars on the Matterhorn which is at 14,690 feet but you can get up on the Klien Matterhorn which is at a height of 12,530 feet. So off we went, to get to the top you have to take four cable cars, but the top certainly doesn’t disappoint. The top was like being at the top of the world, beautiful clear blue skies with the peaks covered in white snow. Unforgettable!!!!
Later in the day we wandered the streets of Zermatt down to the train station to travel down to the next town Tasch in hunt of some goats which I saw on the trip up. You might be asking what is so special about a goat, well anyone who knows me, knows that I have an affinity for any animals, and these guys are black and white. So we arrive in Tasch at approx 26 degree temp to go goat hunting, if it hadn’t been for their bells we might not have found them. They were lying in the shade of the trees and only one was walking around. We walked through a field to get a closer look, and to our surprise they were as curious of us as we were of them. Soon they were all running toward the fence, babies in tow. Yeah another excellent day, and the day just kept getting better. Since we won the lottery with the view off our deck we decided to pick up a picnic lunch and have supper on our deck. What a great way to end a perfect day.
Day 9 – Lauterbrunnen
Woke up this morning early to a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky. We quickly got up to make the cable car to the top of the Schilthorn for breakfast. To get to the top, you have to take the cable car to the town of Murren then walk through the small town to the next cable car to brig, quick switch then on to the top. The top of the Schilthorn there is an observation deck, gift shop and solar powered revolving restaurant. We went for breakfast that to our surprise also included champagne and all you can eat any type of breakfast food you could wish for. The views from the top were amazing, from 2970 m. You could see for miles from the snowy top to the green and lakes at the bottom. On the way down we stopped in the town of Murren and did some shopping. Even though this is actually their off season there was still enough shops open for us the help out the economy. On the way down, we were extremely lucky to see some wildlife, a Steinbock which is a species of a wild goat. Once down on the valley floor it was back to reality with laundry, then on to our next stop, the Matterhorn. Hopefully our luck will hold and we will be able to see the world’s most recognized mountain.
Day 8 – Zurich, the Rain and Shopping
Well I guess it was inevitable that the rain was going to find us at some point. Today was the day. We traveled into Zurich to see what was there, even though the guide books don’t really talk about much but shopping. Being the optimist we under estimated the down pour we were greeted with once exiting the train station in Zurich. Not to be put off, onward we went. Interesting city, for the little part we saw of it. Mainly very expensive shops and a few site seeing opportunities sprinkled in between. Shawn was on the hunt for watches so we made our way down the street, however once we decided that even if we dropped a zero we still couldn’t afford to walk in the door, it was time to go. We headed back to Luzern as we had seen some very nice watches, that required a second look. How does the saying go…once you take the genie out of the bottle it’s impossible to put him back!!!!!
Day 7 – Bern, Luzern and Lauterbrunnen
Ok so we figured it out, apparently it’s busy season for Zurich, Luzern and Bern is just a gov’t town and we all know what that is about. So we got up in the morning, still raining but not as hard as the night before. By the time we had breakfast, the rain had stopped and we were off site seeing. On our way to site seeing, Shawn was in to looking at watches. “Send more money Shawn is into buying watches”. After the purchase, we toured around the beautiful parliament building on our way to the BarenPark (bear park). The cities local mascot is the bear. Bern built a new bear facility in 2009, along the river and it has green areas and water for them to swim in. Although we only saw three bears, it appears there are four. After seeing the sites, it was lunch on the train and a short hour ride into Luzern. Rain gone, sun out it was on to some serious shopping, I mean site seeing. Lol. Luzern with it’s wooden bridges, small streets and monuments is a great place to stroll around. Spend the better part of the day there then it was on the Lauterbrunnen. This is the central affordable place we found to base out of for a couple of days. Although, it is relatively close to everywhere it takes a little longer by train due to the elevation. Lauterbrunnen is at approx 2600 ft and is absolutely beautiful.
Day 6 – New Country
Day 6 saw us in a new country and yes more importantly a new stamp in our passport. We got up in the morning and although we were not really ready to leave Appenzell the clouds were rolling in so we thought it was time to get out of dodge. So off we went to Liechtenstein, which is a small country that borders Switzerland to the east. To get there we needed to take both the trains and then transfer to the bus. Both Shawn and I agree that the trains are easier to sort through than the buses. However, we finally got there. We left our luggage at the train station and headed in for the day. The sun was out and we strolled around this small country and even found the energy to climb the hill to see the palace. This palace is not open to visit as the King and Queen live there. So we wandered up and took a picture of the grounds while the gate was open. The gardener was moving about. After we had seen all the sites it was on to Bern for the night. This is where our weather gods ran out of steam. When we arrived in Bern it was raining quite heavy and we had to find a hotel for a night or two. Lesson number one – don’t try to stay in a the capital during the week, expensive and no real availability. A very nice lady at our first hotel attempted to help us out in finding a hotel for the night. Then it was on to rainy site seeing and an early night to try to find out what was going on the as were having such a hard time finding accommodations in Zurich, Luzern or Bern.
