http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Switzerland , South-West en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:23:52 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:23:52 +0000 As we've seen I found the spring hatmaking course at Ballenberg to be superb. This summer at home in western New York State I located a farmer who was growing an ideal stand of winter rye. In mid July before the seed heads filled I got permission to harvest enough straw to stock my greenhousestudio for hatmaking over winter. The greenhouse lends itself well to plaiting as I've configured it http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Interlaken/blog-460490.html The TGV train ride from Gare De Lyon of Paris to Geneva is a beautiful one...It goes thru fields forests lakes and mountains...It was a smooth and pleasurable ride...I arrived in Geneva at 230 pm and met my cousin S at the Station...She took me to the UN headquarters where I took a tour of the Palace of Nations...It was a very interesting and informative one hour tour...Geneva is a beautiful s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Geneva/blog-453692.html ndli is sowit und ich cha min erschtusch itrag machu z judihuidasch wirkli genial ich hoffu jetz d lit chnn mir nachr comments schribu susch bringt mr d dr blog nit gad so selli vill.bu ha jetz fasch z ganz material afa vrchu eifach d rchnig und so. z visum fehlt mr nu abr hoffu i das klapp nu irgend swnn.hoffu scho dass alls gt chunt. will jaaa d is eifach z ga al http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Sion/blog-453076.html A little background for how I ended up in Switzerland picking grapesOne sunny afternoon at CanDo4Kids back in Adelaide my CEO Paul asked me where Irsquod be at the end of September. To my reply of ldquofloating around somewhere in Europerdquo he said ldquoHow would you like to do some paid work in one of the most beautiful places in the worldrdquo As it turns out Paulrsquos partner http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Lake-Geneva/blog-447607.html Day One Geneva to MilanBut now we're in Italy....and I can't yet speak Italian...frustration againWe started this trip with a late taxi but that has been the only problem...and we still got to the airport in plenty of time...Everyone we dealt with has been extra nice from the United ticket agent to the train conductors. We've had no one bother us or ask us for anything Not even one taxi driv http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Geneva/blog-446977.html Managed a solid six hours of boarding which is a good effort considering the size of the mountains.. Hard on the old legs. Had a go on the half pipe and im pretty sure i have a brocken arm and maybe a few brocken ribs..nah abit of rr and it should be sweet Also played the how many asian tourists you can spray when they fall over game lucky for me a whole Asian tour group was on the mountain go http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Zermatt/blog-445212.html J'ai eu l'immense plaisir de recevoir ma bonne amie Antje son copain Florian et sa soeur Lisa directement venus de Bremen en Allemagne dans ma ville d'adoption pour 5 jours Comme ils taient trois et que j'habite un minuscule studio je n'ai pas pu leur offrir le gte mais je leur avais rserv une chambre prive dans une auberge de jeunesse et je leur ai servi de guide pour la semaine. Antj http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Lake-Geneva/blog-444978.html It was snowing really heavily in the village yesterday which was the coolest thing ever i felt like a three year old kid when you first see snow. But today it has completely cleared up. The Matterhorn is closed because of the strong winds on the the peak around 46kph. So because of the visibilty I went hiking with two other Australians Matt and Andrew also staying at the Matterhorn Hostel. We http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Zermatt/blog-444925.html The Matterhorn is still closed. The wind isnt as strong as yesterday but the temperature at the peak is minus fifteen degrees. Instead of going to Interlaken I am going to stay here until I am able to snowboard this stupid mountain. The train to Interlaken is a budget crunching 80Franks so its probably a good idea i dont go. I also found out that with Eurail one country isnt one day you can go a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Zermatt/blog-444919.html From Shell So while we are having a pretty long holiday..... we were very focused on only visiting Italy France and Stephen in Europe so that we wouldn't spread ourselves too thinly.So imagine our surprise when we spent four hours viewing the most stunning Swiss countryside yesterday albeit at 150kph. It all started with our combined wish to travel via train from France to Italy and resu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Lausanne/blog-444158.html Last night we had dinner at a pizza place up the hill from our hotel in the ski village and on the way home down a dark alleywaythat was a shortcutwe passed a house above the road where we could hear a spa pool bubbling away and some low voices talking.With our muscles from the climb up Mt Hochfluh still recovering we would have traded anything to have had 15 minutes in that spa pool to help the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Matterhorn/blog-441300.html It was only when we got out of bed this morning that we discovered just how stiff our legs and muscles were after yesterdays hike up Mount Hochfluh.However we have a drive ahead of us today that will take us over another alpine pass and thankfully that will probably mean that we will be spending a good part of the day in RR.D S were up early and had breakfast on the table for us.Di said she was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/blog-441083.html Weekend in Geneva was fantastic. The beautiful autumn weather has arrived. Below is an oped I wrote for the hometown newspaper. The elderly French woman looked at me before saying a word to the class and asked to the sole American in the cosmopolitan class of students what is your country's healthcare system This was the day after yet another proclamation about the state of our nation' http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Geneva/blog-440368.html I am actually back in Frnace now having just returned from our 3 day stint in Switzerland. Let me just say WOW. Switzerland is the most beautiful place by far. I made up their motto Keep It Green Keep It Clean. They Recycle everything etc. and there is no rubbish anywhere and its just wow... green and lush. Before i get to that though i shall retrace my past week since Nice the first im in Nice http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Lauterbrunnen/blog-439431.html Comme je suis en perptuelle recherche de nouveaux dfis j'ai dcid en ce magnifique mois de septembre de faire mes cours de plonge sousmarine afin d'obtenir ma certification PADI Open water me donnant droit de plonger partout dans le monde jusqu' 18 mtres de profondeur 54 pieds.Je me suis lance dans ce projet avec avec ma fidle compatriote Agathe et ma copine bretonne Marianne. a fait http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Lake-Geneva/blog-436786.html Life in Lausanne has so far turned out to be pretty sweet.First off for those of you who don't know Lausanne is a small city on the shore of Lake Geneva and is the capital of the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is in the French speaking sector Romandy and is round about the 4th largest city in the country. I am attending the University of Lausanne's HEC business school.Lausanne is built http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Lausanne/blog-436401.html I have recently returned from a fantastic week at Equilibrium Verbier a new Mountain Health Retreat in the beautiful Swiss AlpsThe week entailed a daily hikes morning and evening yoga sessions a daily massage and absolutely delicious and healthy foodThe staff were fantastic. Really professional and helpful. The week was tough but i acheived great results i lost 7lbs reduced my blood pres http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Verbier/blog-433297.html I'm hangin it Switzerland st the moment in the beautiful city of interlaken. Its a bit touristy but surrounded by crazy mountains and lakes and theres a few chill hostels. Since I last wrote I went through Belgium Luxemburg and France. It took me a long day of hitching to get from Brussels to Nancy in France. Met a few cool people most of whom I couldnt really hold a conversation with my mini http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Interlaken/blog-431090.html Hi Freundemorgn gehts los habe heute alles gepackt und es kommt so einiges zusammen wenn man in ein anderes Land zieht. Gestern hatten wir noch einen herrlichen Abend zusammen und dafr wollte ich mich bedanken es war einzigartig und wunderbar. Ich wnsch euch die ich nun zurcklasse Gottes Segen und gutes Gelingen bis wir uns wieder sehen und ihr mir alles erzhlen knnt.Liebe Gre bis baldBe http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/blog-430191.html Yesterday we ventured over to Interlaken once again this time to take the Jungfraubahn up to Jungfrau mountain the highest peak in Europe. Jungfrau is part of the three sister mountains Jungfrau Monch and Eiger. The peaks are known as the Bernese Oberland and were among the first highaltitude mountains in the Swiss Alps upon which man ever set foot. Monch is the highest of the peaks ... http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Wengen/blog-429904.html