Blogs from North-East, Switzerland, Europe - page 12

By the time I decided to make a trip to Switzerland my friend Richie and I had already decided to go to Munich for Oktoberfest. It's the spring of 2011 and Oktoberfest is at the end of September. I want to add something onto this trip to Munich though. It will only be my second time in Europe, having just been to Greece in 2008, and I want to add another country to my list. Having always wanted to go to the home country of my tennis Idol, Roger Federer (for more reasons than just that's where he's from), Switzerland seemed like the obvious choice. The Alps. The cheese. The chocolate. The nuetrelness. And so close to Munich. Richie was interested in going to Switzerland too, so we booked our flights from DC to Zurich then ... read more

Our flight arrived into Basel last night and we caught the train directly from the airport terminal to Basel's main train station, directly across the street from Hotel Victoria. Hotel was nice, comfortable bed. Quick sleep, breakfast at McDonald's next door, then caught the train to Zurich. Our hotel, the St. Gotthard, was just one block from the train station so we ran over, dropped off the luggage, then ran back to the station and caught the train to Frauenfeld where Nicolas and Sylvia met us. Short drive to their little cottage on a couple hectares of land, surrounding a little lake full of fish and freshwater lobsters! It was a beautiful location and we had a lot of fun catching up with Nick and Sylvia, eating lobsters, drinking wine from Nick's vineyard, eating fondue, and ... read more

Appenzell had some big clouds hanging about 100 feet over my head, and it was raining. I wished it wasn't raining, but it was my last day, so I made the best of it. You know how you sometimes feel like you're walking around with your head in the clouds? I really was. My little hotel was in a convenient location, so I walked a few blocks into town. Many of the buildings had the traditional painting on them, and most have shutters. This area of Switzerland is so close to Germany, so the style of architecture is very similar to what I saw in Bavaria. Many of the businesses have an ornate metal insignia that hangs perpendicular to their entrance door. It depicts the store's type of business. This comes from long ago when many ... read more

I was so tired that I slept 12 hours Saturday night! I was ready for a long day of train travel from Italy into the northeast corner of Switzerland. Lori served yogurt and a local type of fruitcake for breakfast, and then she gave me a ride to the station (it was sprinkling a little). On my trip yesterday, I rode a panoramic train from Chur to Tirano, but as I returned I booked a regular Swiss train that runs on the same tracks. It was an overcast day, and many of the mountain tops were in the clouds. It gave a totally different look to the scenes I saw yesterday in the sunlight. The last six cars of the train were packed with tour groups who had reserved an entire car. I had the front ... read more

Hi Everyone We have been away from Zug for 2 days,going to the mountains to a place called Andermatt which is a ski resort ,and on the way we passed the Gothard tunnel,which was in the news few years Ago There was a truck on fire,I think there were a few deaths. Most of Andermatt has been bought by a rich Arabian,and He is updating the ski resort,we had a gorgous spacious apartment ,and our views from our rooms were magnificant. Snowy mountains Our friends friends. Own it who live in the UK.had a lovely meal at the Hotel Zur Sonne that night All we seem to do is travel, eat, and more travel and eating the food here is divine. On the way home we went to Grindelwald,to see the Eiger Mountain it was amazing, ... read more