Switzerland 2015 -Part II

Swiss Part II
Dear Family and Friends,
The journey of the grey nomads continues.
May 24
Breakfast is included at this hotel which is unusual. The usual European breakfast of
meat, cheese, bread, yoghurt and granola. At the table next to us was a couple from
Germany and his parents. He was Chinese and his wife was German. They shared an
office where he did Chinese medicine and she did hypnosis. He said they could help
with most any problem. We had a really good visit with them before we each had to
leave. The skies are a little more clear this morning so we did see some of the mountain
tops which are like looking at lots and lots of the Tetons. Once again this train station
only had a ticket machine but it did take the credit card. We thought we were getting the
half fare but that is not what we got. Luckily we only bought to Visp. The conductor
made some notes in his machine but said we would have to get it resolved in Visp at the
station. The Visp agent was very pleasant about the whole thing. She noted the
mistake and we bought our tickets to Martigny and got 3 francs in change.
The ride to Martigny is not very long and was only about 30 minutes. Good thing we
were watching the station names or we would not have gotten off. The temperature here
is much warmer. We don’t even need our coats. We took a city bus to the hotel. The bus
stop is very close to the hotel. This should be great. Today is Sunday and a holiday,
WhitSunday. So no one is at the desk. They did have a sign and a key for us at the
desk. The ladies were still cleaning the room but they finished ours quickly so we could
get in. We decided to walk to town for lunch which may not have been the best idea. We
walked at least half a mile and didn’t find a grocery or a restaurant that was open. We
finally came to about three eateries that were open and very busy. We sat down but
were not waited on very quickly. We ordered ribs, pizza and Cokes. Once again the
pizza was not up to Flying Pie standards. The ribs on the other hand were really good
and included a salad and French fries. We had to request a doggie bag for the leftover
ribs. When we got the bill we found out those Cokes were 7 francs each and we didn’t
get refills. The price of fun just keeps going up.
From here we walked to the St Bernard museum where they tell the story of the dog
breed and raise some of the dogs. Unfortunately all of the signage was in French. That
is because we are in the French speaking part of Switzerland. The dogs are pretty but
lazy. Some are short haired and some are long haired. No puppies today however. The
good news was that our half fare rail passes got us in free. The foundation was named
after a single dog that saved at least 40 lives.
Right next door are the remains of a Roman amphitheater. They have been restored
somewhat at least. We decided they still hold some kind of events there. Wooden seats
are all around the arena and they are numbered. There were also remains of a Roman
bath. The Romans sure got around.
On the way back to the hotel we went to the bus stop to check out the departure times
for tomorrow morning. We ate the leftover spare ribs and cooked rosti in the room. That
is a potato and cheese dish common here. This was a packaged one so it was probably
not as good as a home cooked one. But it was still good.
May 25
We got up somewhat earlier to catch the city bus to the train station for a day trip to
Chamonix Mont Blanc in France. We checked the times the day before so we would be
sure to have the correct time. A local person came to the bus station as well. The travel
time came and went and still no bus. The local then said that today was a holiday. Well
if you look at the holiday schedule there is no bus for a couple of hours at least. We
later learned the holiday was WhitMonday. It is celebrated in France and the southern
portion of Switzerland. He had to get to the train to get to work, so off he went. Now the
bus station is at least a 25 minute walk away for us. We have hardly seen a taxi since
we arrived in the country let alone in this town. So we had to walk too.
About 25 minutes later we arrived at the train station. Thankfully the weather
cooperated with no wind or rain. We headed to the ticket office only to find out that it
was closed for the holiday. Well that is a fine how do you do. We went to the closest
ticket machine. This presented the next problem. Chamonix was not one of the choices.
Now we know there is a Mont Blanc Express train that takes you there. So we found a
young man who spoke English. He tried to help. Well perhaps you can only buy tickets
to the last station in Switzerland and then you must buy the rest when you get to
France. So that is what we did. Now the track number is 50. We can only see about 8
tracks. Well this is another problem. The young guy then says that track is around the
corner on one side. They also have a track 40 for the St Bernard Express. Well this is
certainly all confusing for those of us who don’t know. We did find the train. They have
their own ticket office but of course no one was in it. Before long we were on our way.
The train is not all that long, but we never saw a conductor to check tickets.
We stopped once and then began the steep climb up the mountain. The town is quickly
a miniature. Small villages are scattered all over the mountain sides. The hills are alive
with the sound of music if that is what you consider cow and sheep bells. Wrong song
however because that took place in Austria. We should be looking for Heidi. She must
be here somewhere.
We are thoroughly enjoying the scenery when we come to the last town on our ticket.
Still no conductor and the train didn’t stop, so we planned to just play dumb. At the next
town however the train did stop and we all had to get off this train and on the other train.
The trains connection to the power is different in France than in Switzerland. Hence the
different train. A few stops later we arrived in Chamonix Mont Blanc. Well this is a tourist
town for sure. This is a huge ski town and there is lots and lots of housing. Most of it is
closed because this is the off season.
A gondola runs to the “Top of the World” from here. Mont Blanc is the tallest peak in
Europe. Well the French think so anyway. We started walking from the train station
toward the gondola lines. We came to the bakery street. Oh the goodies in the window!
Pastries and tarts of all kinds. We stopped at one of the bakeries and bought
sandwiches for lunch. They had so many to choose from. One nice thing was the prices
here are cheaper than Switzerland even though we are in a resort. The gondola ticket
office was at the end of the street and for a mere 59 euros you got a round trip ticket on
the gondola and a round trip ticket on the glacier train. You get a small discount for
seniors. In a few minutes we are on our way up. Quite a few people are stuffed into the
car and we could not believe it but there were folks there from Boise and Nampa. Now
that is proof that the world is getting smaller.
The ride up was nice and smooth with little to no swaying. We could see to the bottom
of the valley which is a long way down. The mountain quickly becomes steep and rocky.
A lot of snow remains. We got to the top and got out onto the observation area. We had
about 2 minutes before the fog set in. It was too thick to see anything. We waited
through a couple of down gondola rides but it didn’t clear. You are not actually on the top
of the mountain but you are near the top. We bought post cards and stamps so we
could get those mailed then we got on the ride down. While the car was loading we
could see several para-sailers below us with the sails laid out ready to go. Then all at
once one of them would take off. How they could see anything is amazing.
We talked with a British snowboarder who comes up here every weekend. His snow
board splits in half so he can use it to help climb up the mountain. Then it snaps back
together to glide down the mountain. He says today is not clear enough so he is going
home. This was the end of his season.
We asked about a market but the answer was probably not open due to the holiday. So
the next option is to find and get on the glacier train. We did find it behind the main train
station. They have their own tracks and station. This is a cog railway so it can climb up
the mountain. Well it did just that. The first and only stop took us to the bottom of a
glacier. It had been quite large at one time, but it has been receding. The glacier on
Montt Blanc was more impressive. The railway itself was the result of an engineering
challenge..
We didn’t have much time before the train left for Martigny but we hoped to find a
grocery store. We headed down the main street. Oh my the people and high end shops
and eateries. This is one of the places to see and be seen. We did find a grocery store
and bought a few things. We learned that although Switzerland sells hard boiled eggs,
France does not.
Back in the train station they now had a ticket agent. We bought tickets to be legal for
the French leg of our journey. Those you had to validate before leaving the station. Back
on the train and back to the hotel. The local bus is running this time so we didn’t have to
walk back. Connie tried for quite some time to purchase tickets for the chocolate train
online but could never seem to get it done. We blamed the web site, not Connie.
May 26
The holidays are over and the city bus is back on normal schedule. We got to the train
station where today the office is open. We bought tickets to Montreux which is on Lake
Geneva and then asked about tickets for the chocolate train. That agent didn’t know
much about that train but she found it and was able to sell us the tickets. After she
figured it out she seemed rather excited.
We are soon off on another beautiful ride through Switzerland. Every train has incredible
views. We arrived in Montreux right on time. This is a bigger station with lots of tracks.
Once outside the station we can see that the layout and architecture is different. Could
have something to do with the lake and surrounding mountains. We headed in the
direction of the hotel. If you are waiting at a cross walk cars are quick to stop. They
must have a big fine or something. When we got to the gap in the buildings we could
choose to go down stairs or ride an elevator to the lake level. Well that does not take
long to decide in favor of the elevator. The bag boy likes “lifts”. The hotel is about a
block further along the road. The shops are full of souvenirs and Swiss watches. Our
room is on the lake side of the building and at the very top. They are in the process of
remodeling the hotel. Our room has been freshly painted but the room number is just
taped to the door.
One of the city buses picks up just across the street and goes to the Chateau de
Chillon. Chateau is the French word for castle. This one sits on a small rock island just
off the edge of the lake. That gave it a natural moat. The castle was started in the 1100s
and just kept getting improved to its current size. It now covers the entire island.
Someone spent a lot of money getting it restored from about 1920-1950. It now looks in
great condition. One man in particular did lots of research and worked on the
restoration. That became his life’s work. The entrance fee was free with the Swiss pass
but we did buy an audio tour. The recording says the tour takes about 1.5 hours. The
narration, flyer and extra comment in the rooms gave almost an overload of information.
If you get your timing correct you can get between the various tour groups going
through. Before we finished the rain started coming down quite hard. Needless to say
that put a bit of a damper on things especially since we were about to tour the outside
areas. Luckily it didn’t last too long. While we were waiting we saw a man with the cutest
little dog. Come to find out it is a King Charles Spaniel. The rain did quit but we decided
to eat lunch by the castle on a seat under the covered walk way.
We took the bus back to the hotel and then walked to the convenience store near the
train station. As we were debating which thing to get for dinner the clerk marked several
salads for a 50% discount. Well we decided that was a good idea. We bought two of
those and some breakfast items. We walked back near the boat dock and sat under a
cover by the lake. Oh how beautiful that was. On the way back we stopped for a fancy
pastry for dessert. Great day.
May 27
Today is our day on the chocolate train. This is one of those tourist things that you can
do on your own but what the heck. The train is made up of old restored rail cars. The
train travels to the town of Broc where they make Callier chocolate and then to Gruyere
where they make cheese. Shortly after the train departs we are served coffee and a
chocolate croissant. Well you can have other drinks. That was most tasty. The
conductor’s sister is visiting from San Diego and she is in our car. When we get to Broc,
it is a very short walk to the chocolate factory. You can begin to smell the chocolate. The
place is fairly crowded with tourists. They want us to go through in small groups which is
controlled by handing out MP3 type players with recordings in the appropriate language.
Amazing how many people cannot follow directions. Several groups tried to get one or
more other persons in the group without a device. That must be frustrating for the
employees. Once you get started you quickly see why they control the size of the
groups. We passed through a series of rooms that told the history of chocolate in almost
Disney fashion. The rooms were not all that big so crowd size was important. After the
history you entered a room where they talked and you could sample and feel some of
the products that go into the chocolate. You could point your device at a box and you
would hear about that product or the person involved in the process. Then we saw how
some of the chocolates were cut, coated and wrapped. A robot selected only those that
were correct to be wrapped. At the end of the line we got to sample some. Oh my that
was good. You could eat as many as you wanted. Then we learned how to properly eat
chocolate. The next to the last stop was the sampling room. Here they had the various
kinds they make. Once again you could have as much as you wanted. I could just see
kids trying to fill their pockets. By the way milk chocolate is the most popular overall.
Our favorite was the caramel filled dark chocolate. The last stop of course was the sales
room. They certainly had lots of choices. We could hardly believe how much people
were buying. We helped the economy but did not break the bank.
Now to board a bus to Gruyere village. That is not far but mostly up hill. We were given
about 3 hours to have lunch, tour the castle and wander around. The village is
supposedly of medieval vintage. We didn’t think it looked all that interesting. The village
is too small to have a grocery store so unless you brought your lunch you had to go to a
restaurant. We had an individual pizza and calzone. They were about 20 francs each.
We still had time so off to the castle. We thought this one was better than the one from
yesterday. It is smaller but better decorated. Then it was on the bus to the cheese
factory.
They gave each of us a sample of the Gruyere cheese at three different ages. Then
everyone got a hand held device with the story in your language of choice. The story
was told by a cow named Cherry. Did you know that cows can talk? We did not see any
cheese being made. It was all on video. We did see the manufacturing area however.
We also saw the large storage room where the cheese sits to age. Quite the process
overall. Most of it was computer controlled with a fair amount of robotics.
We walked back to the train for the ride back. We stopped at the convenience store
again for items to have for supper. We used our little hot plate and cooked in the room.
May 28
Today we are off to Gilderwald. We start with one of the panoramic trains called the
Golden Pass. That came to an end so the next part was on an express train. That got us
to Interlaken where we changed to a regional train. Oh my another beautiful trip. When
we arrived in town we are surrounded by steep mountains. Most still have some snow
on the tops. The sky is mostly clear so the views are incredible. The Bernhof hotel
where we stayed is very close to the train station which is nice. This is obviously a big
ski resort. When we looked out the window of our room we counted 15 para-sailers.
They just kept coming. Oh that was fun to watch.
We took a walk around at least some of the town. Most of the shops are either
souvenirs or ski equipment. A very large number of tourists here are Japanese. They
even have a Japanese tourist bureau. Now we know why the hotel had a ban on
cooking in the rooms. Lots of the Asians want to cook noodles and then they cause
accidents.
The houses here are what we expected in Swiss mountains. The upper portion is
wooden with balconies. Along the balconies are flower boxes full of flowers. Most of
which are red geraniums. They usually have wood stacked along a wall. All of the wood
is the same size and length so the stacks are perfect. Most houses have a garden with
no weeds and nice straight rows. We found a grocery store and bought food for the
evening and lunch for tomorrow. We also found the tourist office which is not in the best
of locations. We found out about going up the mountain and then went to the train
station to buy the tickets. They are 184 francs for round trip tickets for the two of us.
That is at half price.
May 29
Today has some high clouds but the afternoon has a chance of showers so we took one
of the earlier trains on the trip to top of Europe. This portion of the trip is on a cog
railway that is quite steep. We are soon above the tree line and in snow. The trip up
takes about 1.5 hours. The last 45 minutes or so were all in a tunnel that took sixteen
years to construct through one mountain and up to the next one. The train station at the
end is the highest station in Europe. About half way up we had to change trains. Another
train line comes from another town and they meet here. Then they still send two trains
up the mountain but one is just for tour groups.
Boy is this a tourist trap or what. They have lots of activities for people to do. You can go
out on the snow and sled or just walk on it. They have an ice palace where they have
carved figures out of ice. They have shops for souvenirs, watches, and chocolate. There
are at least three restaurants. They do have one out door platform that you can walk out
on and see all around. The valley is on one side far below. One of the glaciers is on the
opposite side. The sledders are just below. Mountains are on the other sides.
Surprisingly the temperature is not all that cold. Well at least we didn’t think so. The
Indians may have felt differently. We did find a bench inside where we ate our sack
lunch and watched people.
Then it was back down the hill. We stopped at the train station and bought the tickets for
tomorrow. Of course the usual grocery stop was part of the day.
May 30
Now we are traveling to Brunnen on Lake Lucerne. Of course the trip is beautiful. Our
hotel called Hotel Eden Au Lac is further from the train station so we figured out how to
get us closer with one of the buses. Our room is one of the largest we have had and it
has a kitchenette. We have a balcony overlooking the lake that has two chairs and a
small table. The boat dock is less than a block away. We headed there to check out
some options. Well we ended up taking the boat to Lucerne and then the train back. The
boat criss crosses the lake stopping at several stops. So many pretty places. Several of
the places have boat garages. You drive the boat in and then lift it out of the water. We
can see lots of other boats similar to this one connecting towns all along the lake. Lake
Lucerne is quite large so there are lots of communities along its shores.
We had an option to walk around Lucerne or head back. We chose to head back. We
stopped at the grocery store on the way and bought food we could cook in the room.
Amazing on some of the prices. A bottle of Dr. Pepper is 2.35 francs while the store
brand drink similar to Squirt is 0.65 francs for 1.5 liters. We ate on the balcony and were
entertained briefly by someone playing a big long Swiss horn.
May 31
Breakfast is included with this room but it is in a different building. We took our bags and
left them in the lobby while we went up for breakfast. Oh my they had a whole other
room for the Japanese tour group. Then it was off to the train station to buy tickets to
Sargans which is located near the Liechtenstein border. Well today is Sunday so that
means the ticket office is closed. Oh that means the ticket machine and this route has
several changes. Well we got the tickets and several towns are listed on the ticket. That
must be the places we change trains. We still have about 15 minutes until the first train
leaves and it is on track 5. Off we go. We only have two stops until the first change. That
change went just fine. The next train had the right name on it. When we got to that town
we got off but as it turns out we should have stayed on for one more stop. Luckily the
conductor helped us out and got us back on the train. At the next town it looked like we
would have a 45 minute wait but we talked to a railroad employee who looked it up and
found us another route. We arrived in Sargans earlier than expected. Now we must take
a bus to Vaduz Liechtenstein.
The bus stop is next to the train. On Sundays the bus only runs once an hour. We talked
with a programmer from London who was trying to get there also. We made friends with
Karin who is also waiting for the bus. She was very helpful. She looked up the stop for
our hotel and invited us to a music event later that day. She will be singing at the event.
We checked into the hotel and ate lunch. We took the bus part way to the event and
then walked up hill to event. On the way we met Anette and her dog. We spent at least
15 minutes talking to her. Turns out her husband is Basque so we had a little extra in
common,
We got to the event which was somewhat like an open house promoting the facility. One
of the servers talked to us about the event. We said we had come to hear the singer but
we still got drinks. Karin was most surprised that we showed up. Eventually they
brought around a French pizza like thing. The crust is extremely thin. The sauce is not
red and it has semi raw bacon. On our way out we met the pizza maker and his helper.
They use a special dough that is very thin and has no yeast. Then they add sour cream
with a little salt and pepper. Next is white cheddar cheese and finally the toppings. He
used lots of thin sliced onions and chopped bacon. Actually it was quite good. Just don’t
eat the burnt parts of the crust.
Enjoy,
Rob & Connie…