A family send off

August 26, 2010. Zurich Airport

Hi all,
I had a wonderful Swiss family send off, I rode the train back yesterday to my friend Christian's house, near the airport in Winterthur. Christian and his lovely wife Christina invited me to Christian's parents house for dinner. Peter and Sonja served a marvelous dinner, and of course Peter had me "try" some of the local wines. What a wonderful send off for an amazing trip to Switzerland. Thank you so much Kunzi's!!

Well I had many wonderful experiences in this beautiful country. Switzerland is small in size but huge in beauty and friendships.

Bye all

-Bill

Avenches - Aventicum, the Roman Swiss region Capitol

Hi all, August 24, 2010

I'm in Avenches, a small village in northern Switzerland. Although a small village today, Avenches was once an impressive Roman Capitol city. Marcus Aurelus was here, (see gold bust picture) For a small country village they have an incredible Roman Museum, a remaining theatre and arena. They use the arena today for music concerts.
I also visited Murten and Fribourg, also towns with amazing old city to walk through.

My last day tomorrow, this has been an incredible trip. Put Switzerland on your list of European countries to visit!

Yours in travel, Bill

From Cheese to Chocolate

August 23, 2010

Hi all, well the rain got me again, but everything here is beautifully green, wonder why?
I was going to hike from cheese factory to chocolate factory, but rain made me take the trains instead. Note the tasting room in the chocolate factory..like a kid in a candy shop, and all free..I pigged out on chocolate. :)

The town of Gruyeres nearby is a beautiful city, topped off with a medieval castle.
Met Tom from Seattle, fellow senior hiker and solo traveller. We are both doing the "youth" hostel circuit.
Tomorrow it's on to northern Switz, more French-Swiss country. It,s been fun surviving in 3 languages here.

-Bill

Vinyards in Lavaux region Switzerland, - World Heritage Site

Chateau de Chillion, Montreux Switzerland

South Switzerland

Guess you gotta ask

Hi all, now to catch up. I'm in a pedestrian only plaza in Lausanne, along Lake Leman. It's free WiFi in several plazas here. It's Sunday, everything is dead, the Swiss all stay home today, what a concept. Now to catch up. August 18, decided to head for Bern the capital of Switzerland to run from the rain. Spent a nice day here, visited the parliament building and an inside tour of their congress. Two "states" or cantons still vote by a show of hands! And representatives all are part time, that way they stay close to the people and issues..nice.
Escaped from Bern on the 19th heading down to Pontresina, bikers heaven..you got that blog.
After two great days hiking in Lower Engadine area, took a long train ride across the country west to Montreux. Am staying here as a base to visit, the World Heritage site vinyards of Lavaux. Amazing steep hills of grape vinyards over looking the lake. Pictures to follow. Here is a shot of the clock tower in Bern.
Trip going well, will send more pictures, hey tell the story. :)

-Bill

Trithithth

Bill, you must do it!

August 19
Hi all, I finally got wifi, at a Starbucks no less, in Vevey..more on that later. Escaped the rain by heading south to Pontresina, after nice stay in Bern. Pontresina is hikers and Mt bikers heaven. Got two hikes in, note this photo, Diavolezzi. Two merging glaciers. On an earlier hike I met Ivan the Russian hiker, he said about Diavolezzi "Bill, you must do it" boy was Ivan right, a hike up the peak of Mt Pers and what a view!!! Sure beats Mission Trails. :)

Got to run to catch a train, more later today

-Bill

This is a Youth Hostel

Swiss youth hostels are amazing, actually the average staying is 50.
Great places at great rates

Ciao!!

The Alps

Hi all, well the weather didn't clear, no hiking so had to buy a ticket to get above the clouds. Went up the famous Schilthorn where 007-Her Majesty's Secret Service was shot. And here it is, got above the clouds - you see the big three here, left to right the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. An amazing site, wish I could hike under them. Stayed in the little town of Gimmelwald, incredible hostel, beer bar and the best food in town. Beautiful little village high up on the mountain. Will try again tomorrow to get a hike in, but if not on to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Bern has an old city, wrapped around by a river, it's a World Heritage Site.
-Bill

Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland

Hi all, yes now I really am in the Alps!
The weather is turning, I'm finally going to get a hike in!
Will be back with you with some pictures.

-Bill

August 15 - Bettmeralp

Ok, now I'm in the Alps!
-Bill

Bellinzona - Locarno - Lugano

Hi again all, August 13 - 15, 2010

Got a chance to visit 3 beautiful southern Swiss cities, deep in Italian zone (Chao!)
Bellinzona (meaning war zone), has World Heritage site medieval castles, 3 of them. It's in a deep valley, on a High knowl, perfect for a defensive castle. Built back in medieval times it became the site of many battles between the Germanic tribes in the north and the Italians in the south. Also played a role in WWW II.
Locarno has a film festival each year at this time, tried to catch the last day but got rained out!
Here we go again, no hikes...but getting touring in. Lugano also, a wonderful city on the lake.
Saturday morning caught the Sat morning market, an impressive street fair, cheeses, veggies, crafts.

Tomorrow head for the REAL alps, hope to hike by a glacier....

Yours in travel
Bill

Luzern - Rain, Rain Go Away

August 11-12, Luzern

Hi all,

Well no hiking today, rain all day. Decided to go to the Transportation museum. Amazing place, again the Swiss know how to do museums. Where else do you have a commercial airliner and a cutaway of a steam engine. Fun museum ( I guess for engineers) But very kid friendly, they ride all over the museum in scooters. Tomorrow, will head to south Switzerland in the Italian portion of Switzerland. This will be a challenge, 4 different languages. Do I say Guten tag, Bonjourno, or Bonjour!

Luzern is a beautiful city, and changes very little over the years. I was here in 1964, in my college days. I compared a picture I took then of the river edge near the old water tower bridge, no noticeable change. :). Try that in Southern California !

Catch you down South - Arrivaderchi

- Bill

Appenzeller Town

August 11 - Train to St. Gallen

August 11, St. Gallen, Switzerland

Hi all,
Well I find myself catching up on the blog. Several days of busy traveling and difficulty finding Wi-Fi..here we go:

The main train station in Zurich is one of the largest in Europe. Lot's going on here, check out the arrival/departure board! The Swiss have this system down, all trains amazingly on time. Boards tell you exactly when train will arrive. Makes it easy. Went east out to St. Gallen, small city with a World Heritage site Monastery and Library. Look at pic of the Library, delicately carved shelves, floor. Ancient books many medieval and some dating back to 300BC. Then went to Apenzeller town, cute little country town with it's own, conservative culture. Here the town votes in the main square by a show of hands!!

On to Luzern tomorrow, hope weather holds up.
-Bill

Arrival Zurich

Hi all, well I arrived in Zurich. What a surprisingly great flight. Much to my surprise, had a great meal on board American Airlines..shades of the good old flying days. Got to the airport, and dove into the incredible Swiss transportation system, beautiful new trains and trams ,timing all down to the minute, well marked, and very frequent.
It's a beautiful city, with a swollen river running through the middle of town, picturesque and quite alive. Note many tree lined streets, with flags flying high above.
I stayed the night with a fellow backpacker friend I met in Chile in 2003, Cristian and his wife Cristina were wonderful hosts, it was a fun evening.
I'm off to St. Galen then to Lucern today, will try to get in my first hike tomorrow high above the city.
Yours in travel
Bill

Arrival Zurich

Off to Switzerland

Hi Friends and Family!

I'm off again to see another part of this amazing world while I still can. This year it’s Switzerland. The central focus for this trip is hiking. I’ve always wanted to hike the Swiss Alps, that’s the goal. Check one more off of the “Bucket List.” I’ll fly into Zurich, and circle around the country staying in Switzerland the whole trip. There is much to see. Switzerland is a beautiful, scenic country with a remarkable transportation system to get you around. Another 5 World Heritage sites are on my list. Medieval castles, views of Glaciers, lakes, snow topped Alpine mountains all connected by one of the world’s best train systems. Zurich, St. Gallen, Luzern, Interlaken, Locarno, Lugano, St. Moritz, Montreux, and nearly a dozen classic Swiss Alps hikes are on my list. Let’s see how many I can catch.

I'll try to post to the blog including some pictures every couple of days. Check back and travel with me! Click on the posted pictures for a larger view. Past weekly postings can be found in the "archives" here on the blog along with some postings from my prior trips.

We’ll see you on the road!! If you can drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you:

You can email me at: doubleucubed@mac.com

Yours in Travel,

Bill