Culture

A night of coughing was counteracted by a big breakfast and we were on our way to explore the old town of Innsbruck in the day light. We took in the museum with its golden roof, the Swarovski crystals, the Imperial gardens (giant chess, bright yellow seats and a water

fountain in the playground) and some strudel before hopping in the car and driving to Salzburg.

Keen to get started on the 'culcha' we booked ourselves in for a night of Mozart and 18th century food. The synchronicity of the violinists in the string quintet, the clarity of the singers voices and the ambience of the room in a restaurant that had been serving continuously since 810 (AD not AM) made for a special night.

Switzerland - Liechtenstein - Tunnels

Today we said goodbye to Switzerland with a few parting shots and ended up in Innsbruck, Austria. On the way we passed through Leichtenstein.

Leichtenstein was first on the radar as it is a tiny country in Europe. Researching what was there we found that the capital Vaduz had a castle, and our destination fate was sealed. We had some difficulty parking, as all spots were reserved for shoppers and in the end took a punt, after which we realised it was Saturday and those particular shops were closed anyway. Our accidental touristing magic had kicked in again and we were lucky to find a beach volleyball satellite tour (which is international competition but not at the top level). We sat in the sun enjoying the athleticism and pump up music, looking forward to our own tournament in 2 weeks time. I was lucky to have Lee on hand to answer some of my questions about technique and to take his predictions on the winner of the three semis we watched. Leaving the volleyball was not easy for us and outshone the castle and main town.
The people we spoke to had excellent English and I will remember them all being well dressed as a high end designer shop was having a 70% off sale.

I don't know what Swiss government rules are, but as soon as we were over the border, houses were made out of substances other than wood. It was incredibly scenic, to the point where we had to be specific when we said, "Wow, look at that!" as otherwise the response would be, "Which bit?" . Our first impression of Austria wasn't as scenic as Switzerland as we travelled inside tunnels for most of the motorway.
The longest we have been in so far was 16km. We were quite excited to hear our first song in German today. We've had the radio on each time we drive and mostly it's like listening to a classic rock station with an announcer we can't understand. Our impression of Austrian
architecture was not helped by our suburban entry into Innsbruck, which appeared to be blocks on blocks of 70s high rise flats.

We were staying in a hotel run by an Austrian couple, which had an authentic family feel. The hotel was halfway up the mountain overlooking the city. We had dinner there, which for me was Tiroler Groestel (boiled beef and potatoes, fried, and a fried egg on top). It
was a bit salty, but balanced by sauerkraut. Our wallets left dinner feeling much heavier than any outing in Switzerland.

Again our accidental touristing worked out for us as we headed into the old town and discovered a summer street festival with performers before heading home to bed (woohoo Saturday night!).

Hiking in the Alps

Plan A for yesterday was a mountain hike, which we did today instead. We realised that you could come to the Alps and not actually do any walking. There are cable cars, gondolas, trains and lifts. We wouldn't accept that kind of behaviour from ourselves and set out to prove it today.

We set off from Grindelwald .. And took a gondola up the first 500m to Bort (1570m).. From there though we hiked up the remaining 695m to the lake Bachalpsee (2265m). What I find hard to believe about these mountains are the wide variety and volume of wildflowers on display. We reached the top with plenty of sweat lost, photos of cows and a tinge of disappointment. What we hadn't realised on our first day was that the picture perfect, postcard weather was not permanent and that the pictures in the brochures are quite hard to replicate when the mountain is covered in cloud, the valleys are in part shadow and the mist is rolling in.

The journey down was sped up as for one leg we took an 800m flying fox. It was still a successful day as after 7 hours of walking, our legs did feel a little jellied. We were able to: justify that it's about the journey not just the destination; use human power to reach great heights; get our training in for the day; feel satisfaction in accomplishment; spend money on dinner instead of gondolas; and take in the mountain air.

Plan B, just as good as Plan A

Today we woke up to rain. Actually, more like storm. Seemed like an ideal time to revert to Plan B, Trunnelbach and Gruyeres.

Trunnelbach showcases ten waterfalls that flow down inside the mountain. There were multiple vantage points to view the thundering 20,000 litres a minute of glacier melt. Surprisingly, 16 degrees felt fairly warm after being sprayed from the falls inside the caves. A
couple of the vantage points let us get up close to the water, close enough to get nicely soaked (and cause Lee to hit Karen while running away from the splash) Our new tripod (yes, we bought one) is getting a full workout.

We got back in the car to warm up, dry off and drive over a mountain pass to the French speaking part of Switzerland and the 16th century town of Gruyeres. Here Lee broke his non-dairy diet with a vengeance, first item on the menu was raclette. This is where a hunk of the local cheese is melted bit by bit under a grill and applied to potatoes. The same cheese can be served as fondue: melted in a big pot and picked up with bread on a fork. Karen was pleased with herself that when she spoke French to the waitress, she didn't seem to notice we weren't French until Lee spoke.

Gruyeres is a picturesque town in a mountain valley. The old town is situated on a hill, has a medieval castle and is circled by a defensive wall. The castle housed eleven counts before the last one had to sell to his creditors.

The old town is home to 170 people and I don't think I would want to be one of them given the work involved to stay in theme nor would I appreciate the million tourists each year.

The drive back to the hostel was uneventful as we again took in the wooden houses with flower boxes or colourful shutters, the rolling green of the valleys covered in sheds and houses, and the strong smell of sheep and cow poo.

Tomorrow, back to fine weather and Plan A, The Mountain.

Love Lee and Karen

Lucky

There must be thousands of tourists in the Swiss Alps daily, even just in Interlaken, and yet the feeling I get from the mountains is peace. Somehow it is impossible to feel stressed when you're already feeling awed by the mountains, breathing in the fresh air and hearing, well, nothing really, it's quiet.

Here, unlike Horst where the tourists all spoke German, there is a real mix of people of all ethnicities and languages - enclosed areas like cable cars provide a nice (although biased) sample of the population for this observation.
 

Today we made our way up the Schilthorn, which has one of the best views of the three monks, a view that is commonly associated with Swiss products. The journey started from Stechelberg at 900m. This is in the lush, green valley with giant mountains either side and log sheds and houses next to the winding river which appears white from the rushing.
Heading up past a cliff waterfall on the way, Gimmelwald is the first cable car stop: 1367m, 22 degrees Celsius. There are a couple of places to stay at this level, but it's a fairly quick stop as the next cable car is weighted with the first. A couple of para-gliders got off with their giant packs at the next stop, Murren: 1638m, 21 degrees Celsius. This area was still really lush, but harder to farm, as evidenced by the truck on a giant lean in a tiny field (about the size of a big Australian house block). The next cable car ride took a bit longer and took us up more than 1000m - Birg: 2677m, 12 degrees Celsius. The transition over this leg was from green farming land to mossy cliff faces. It's around this point that it really sinks in how hard it would have been to build in the first place. On the way up I had thought this was it, but no, one more cable car up to the summit - Schilthorn: 2970m, 11 degrees Celsius. At this level there are still odd patches of snow, but mostly it is a dark-coloured slate with some very hardy alpine flowers. At the very top is a viewing platform as well as a 360 degree view rotating restaurant. We were lucky to have a crisp, clear day and London had prepared me well, as it was warm enough in the sun in my skirt. The view was just spectacular. Having seen little kids walking up we decided that we would be ok to walk the leg back to Birg which is recommended to take 1h. We took 2 due to frequent camera stoppages. I'm glad we took that route as it resulted in our best shots.

We made it back in time for the last cable car of the day back to the bottom of the mountain. We finished off the day with a self-cooked pasta, some photo catchup and planning for tomorrow.

We had moments throughout the day where we realised and reminded ourselves just how lucky we are - to be here, to be with each other, to be fit and healthy, to afford to visit Switzerland, to both have the inclination to be here.. The list goes on.

Cows, car and crackers

Waking up to mist over the mountain before the sun rose, just magic.

Then waking up again after the sun has risen above the mountain, showing as a massive ball through the mist, priceless. I'm being slowed down by a cold, so it was a late breakfast before we made our way up the mountain in a cable car.

The pure magnitude of the mountain was breath-taking on the way up and once at the top, it was doubly so. Standing on the top of a mountain, wild flowers everywhere, tingeing the fresh mountain air with scent, the sun shining in the blue, blue sky, the gentle, albeit out of tune clanging of the cow bells, the mist rolling in, outcrops of white stone amongst the luscious, green grass - it would have been hard to get any more scenic. We made our way down to the cows via the difficult route (note to self, when Lee chooses the direction, put the camera away - you'll need both hands).

We came back to our hotel for another delicious meal before setting off for Interlaken. We spent a fair amount of time in the car today, with a few minor detours. The interesting part was that we were able to see the next step in the silage process. After cutting, the next step appears tone drying the grass out. This involves either turning it over with a spreader/rake behind a tractor, or by hand with a pitch fork. Once done it can start to be raked together. By hand it was with a wide rake that was bent toward the person at the end. Both of these manual steps appeared to be done by women and children today. Mechanically, it was tractors or small ride-ons that basically rake the width into a canvas barrier at one end to bring the spread clumps back into clean lines. The clean lines are then picked up by a conveyor(?) front-end that packs it into a following trailer. I found the whole process fascinating - as you can probably tell.

We went from scenery that was hilly with either grazing or being processed for silage, to the same hills covered in trees, to a mix of corn and pasture in the flat valley, then we were either in a tunnel through the side of the mountain or next to a lake (at least that was my impression when I was awake). All the way along there were wood houses with stereotype curtains in the window and masses of red and pink flowers in window boxes. There was at least one house where I don't know how they could see out the window through the flowers! There was one farm where I was really tempted to stop - selling butter by the side of the road!

We reached Interlaken an hour later than scheduled to catch up with Fabrice. We had met Fab and Alice in Melbourne, where Fab became well known for his ability to drink beer. Since then Lee has played with the Swiss frisbee team Wizards at 2 Paganello tournaments thanks to Fab and Alice who now live in Geneva. Today was Swiss national day, and more importantly, Fab's birthday. We celebrated with a BBQ on the Thun lake shore with a full spread of Swiss produce, as we watched the sun go down. The tradition of Swiss national day is to let off fireworks by the lake. At our BBQ spot what we viewed was more INTO the lake than over the lake. We arrived at our hostel in Inseltwald (just along the lake from Interlaken) in time to watch the traditionally-dressed band and lantern-bearing children progress along the main street followed by the official fireworks on the lake. It's now 11:30pm, and there are still keen beans letting off their fireworks all the way along the water. What a fun way to start our holiday!

On our way to Switzerland

Our journey started at 3am, while there were still revelers at the Clapham Grand across the road. Our driver accelerated and decelerated (speed cameras) like he was collecting points in a Mario game. There were no major dramas with our flight to Memingen (Ryanair's idea of Munich) and car pickup, and we were soon on the road south ("righty tighty, lefty loosey, right hand side of the road..").

Our first destination was Neuschwanstein, the castle that inspired the Disney logo. A tramp up the mountain to the front door and even further to an overlooking bridge soon got the blood pumping. Apparently 6000 people visit per day in the summer. There were definitely a lot of people.

From there, we made our way across to Appenzell where we are staying the night. On the way I was really surprised to see heaps of corn growing. There were also heaps of cyclists - don't they know mountains are hilly? Even more frequent than the corn and Lycra clad cyclists were the people cutting grass for silage. They were everywhere! Tractors with mowers on the front, tractors with slashers on the back and I had to feel sorry for the one-man-band mowers that were only 3ft wide [altough since then we have seen a man with a scythe! 3/8/11]. Of course then there were the tractors sweeping it into long piles and at the other end of the scale - people with rakes.

Everything was so green - it was amazing to believe it is summer. We have found out from our friendly waiter here tonight that it is the first time the sun has shone in weeks. We are actually staying in a small village, neighbouring Appenzell named Horst where we can hear the clanging of the out of tune cow bells and are across the road from the quarterly bonging of the local church bells. We have just finished an amazing dinner, for me, veal with the local potato gratin (for want of the actual name) followed by warm berries and ice-cream. Just delicious. Next on the agenda - jacuzzi - followed by the long-awaited bed. 3 hours sleep makes enthusiastic touristing difficult.

Overall, a successful day, travelling through Germany, Austria and now in Switzerland.