Blogs from North-East, Switzerland, Europe - page 6

Yesterday was spent with our Swiss friends Bruno and Gertrud at Konstanz. We spent time looking at some of the historic landmarks in Konstanz and hearing the associated stories. Our first stop was at the fountain on Markstatte which had interesting bronze models surrounding it like a rabbit with huge ears, an eight legged horse and a many headed peacock. Bruno did not know the interpretation of the symbols. The main part of the fountain is obviously earlier than these symbolic objects. Our next visit was to the Munster which is mainly gothic with some very impressive wood carved doors and also wood and stone inside. We were looking for a grave of John Hus who had transgressed by being a threat to the church and been burnt alive for his efforts in 1415. It was ... read more

After a farewell to our hosts at Hermeshof, we left Titisee and immediately took the wrong turning off a round about and ended up going the wrong way. It was impossible to turn around as the traffic was so heavy so we nearly ended up back in Hinterzarten. The rest of the trip to Konstanz was uneventful apart from some unexpected showers. We hadn't had any wet for two weeks so it was strange for it to be cooler. But, only temporarily. Marc picked us up in Konstanz with Sophia and we drove back to Langwiesen along the Rhine often seeing the bike trail that we'd be following on Monday. It doesn't look as if it's going to be too taxing energy wise. Arriving back in Langwiesen we greeted our lovely niece again and had lunch ... read more

We took the long haul from Auckland with no stopover on Emirates Airlines A380 from Auckland/Dubai/Zurich. Amazingly, we were wandering through Dubai Airport and someone called out my name. It was Heather and Doug from New Plymouth on their way to Sweden! Apart from that the trip was the usual - endure the trip and get it over and done with. One point of note is that Dubai had a population of 30,000 in the 1930's and now has 4 million. That is some growth!! Not for this Kiwi though - very modern, very busy, very hot and very sandy. On the Dubai to Zurich stretch we flew over Iran which showed some spectacular geology with outstanding examples of layered and folded rocks in the landforms.From flying height you could virtually see that the land had ... read more

Today's itinerary consisted of a lot of driving again, but in this case the driving was also the sightseeing. I drove north from Bolzano over the Brenner Pass to Innsbruck, Austria where I turned left and drove on to Switzerland. The entire journey involved driving past snow-capped Alpine peaks. My head was swiveling as I looked at the magnificent views (see photo) and I only wish I could have pulled over more often to take pictures. At one point we were detoured off the motorway (freeway) and I had to drive 20 miles or so on back roads. I got up high enough that there was snow on the ground and the views were wonderful (see photo with my car in the foreground). Eventually I made it to Switzerland and I stopped to take a picture ... read more

Zurich! Last big stop of my Europe trip. I've traveled to Zurich a number of times in the last 9 years for work and many times traveling around together the area or around during Zurich. This trip brought me mixed emotions. My aunt and uncle live in Zurich, which gave me a good reason to add a stop in Zurich. I hadn't intended on going to any places I'd been before but the free lodging, free laundry, option to see family and option to see some old colleagues one last time felt like a good reason to go. Oh yeah and also the option to leave luggage while I traveled around in Europe on trains :) So yes convenience was a HUGE reason!!! I was so happy to see my family in Zurich as well as ... read more