Patience Pays Off

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Back to Geneva

The reason for our trip to Europe was that I had a standards meeting in Geneva. Geneva is the home of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as well as over 200 other international organizations like the Red Cross, UN, and WHO. Considered the most expensive city in Europe, the place has loads of people on expense accounts so it's hard to get by cheaply. I was on the company dime, so we spared no expense and had some great meals and good times. I even ate dinner with Sir Arthur - my companion that went to my first Mardi Gras parade with me and saw the Saints advance to the Super Bowl in this post (http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/blog-471199.html). A couple of my co-workers Anoop and Dave joined us for this Indian dinner as well. Geneva was fun, but I worked most of the time until Friday evening.

Lake Geneva is a beautiful Alpine lake and there was a surprising amount of wildlife right in the city. From multiple varieties of ducks to large swans, the birds swim in crystal clear Lake Geneva that was only a few blocks from our hotel. Grace and I went out on one pier and watched multiple nesting swans. The pier had several branches for ships to park on and swans had made nests at each of these branches. People stood just a few feet from the swans as they would stand up over their clutch of eggs and rotate the eggs with their beaks as their long necks bent in a twisted circle all the way under the their bodies. Little children were within a couple feet of the swans and one of them could easily attack the kids. Swans can break a grown man's arm with their necks, so I'm glad that we didn't see any of that.

Shepherd for a day

I love the mountains more than the cities, so we headed up to the Interlaken area in the heart of Switzerland on Saturday after my work week was complete. We made our way up to Grindlewald which is at the base of the three famous mountains of Eiger (Ogre), Monch (Monk) and Jungfrau (Virgin). From Grindlewald, trains and trams ascend the mountain towards these peaks and actually go right through the peaks in tunnels until the train emerges from its rock hole at the highest train station in Europe. From there, you can look down over the largest glacier in Europe.

The trains are expensive unless you buy a 6-day pass for $200USD that let's you use all the chairlifts, buses, trains and trams in the area. We were only staying for 3 days though, so we didn't buy the pass. The weather was also pretty mixed up, so we didn't want to pay $100 to go up the mountain and be caught in the middle of a cloud. We decided to take a bus ride up to a mountain pass for $20 and hike back down. Even though our packs were stuffed, we didn't have waterproof shoes or pants, so we pressed our luck.

At the pass, there were several pilots flying their remote control gliders on the nice updraft. I tried to capture the grandeur of the mountains that hid in a veil of clouds for the next two days. The pilots became miniscule as we hiked away from them and the mountains continued to rise as we made our way down the mountain. Soon we walked up to some shacks where the farmers make cheese in summer when the cows are grazing high up on the mountains. We were about an hour into our hike when the clouds rolled in and started dumping on us. The rain only lasted 15 minutes, but my tennis shoes were soaking wet and my pants and underwear were slightly soaked. It was time for drastic action. I got Grace's approval to ask for help by sticking my thumb out.

There wasn't much traffic on the one lane road, but 10 minutes later Johann picked us up. He told us that he could give us a ride most of the way down the mountain, but he was in the middle of moving his 6 sheep to another pasture. We could wait in the truck if we liked, walk down, or help him move the sheep. I chose the last option while Grace rode in the car with his girlfriend Rita. We met up up with Rita a few minutes later as was having a difficult time herding the sheep because some cows where scaring them off the road. I shooed the cows away and Johann took over herding the sheep. A good sheep dog would have been handy, but all Johann had was me.

The sheep were pretty tired because they had spent the winter confined near Johann's house. One old ewe was panting and didn't want to go up the mountain. Johann could coerce some of the other sheep with a handful of treats, but the old ewe couldn't keep up. I yelled at her and slapped her on the backside to get her up the mountain. She'd move along fairly quickly, and then slow down again. I kept on her tail though and kept her going. Other sheep would veer off the wrong path. It wasn't easy being a shepherd for a day.

I noticed that they'd just been sheered and asked Johann how much he got for the wool. He said he just threw it away because it wasn't worth the trouble. So I asked if he raised them to eat and he said that they didn't eat them either. Johann went on to explain that the sheep were like their pets and it was just a hobby. He said it was difficult for farmers these days. While a farmer could live off of 6 cows 20 years ago, they needed 15 cows to get by nowadays. The government was subsidizing farmers, but family farming is a dying art now in Switzerland too.

He told me how he's a mountain guide now and the season is just starting. One of his upcoming jobs is to guide for the American TV show the Amazing Race. He said that the remaining contestants were going to walk right up to a hole in the ground and have to rappel down a 400' rope to the cave bottom. If you watch the Amazing race, let me know if you see this episode.

Johan's father was also a mountain guide and he grew up in the moutains with his father learning the trade. Johann worked several years at the high-alpine restaurant that his family owns. The restaurant can only be reached by a tram ride and a few hour hike. The restaurant can seat up to 100 people and he has the sheep tend the grass around the property. I was surprised that the sheep could make it up that trail, but Johann assured me that after a few weeks in the new pasture, they'd climb right up the trail.

We had a nice conversation with Johann and Rita on the ride back to our hotel - Naturfreundhaus = Friends of Nature House. He was a very friendly man and it was fun talking with him and herding his sheep for the day.

Patience Pays Off

The weather got a little worse the next day and it was still cloudy on our final day when we got on the train heading towards Zurich the day before the flight. On the train down, we met an old American photographer who said he'd been coming to the area for 30 years. He said it's too bad that we didn't see the mountains well because of the clouds. As we descended towards Interlaken, the clouds began to clear and the old man suggested that we get off the train and go up another valley where we'd see lots of waterfalls and possibly the Eiger if it cleared more. We took his advice and soon we'd stuffed our luggage in some lockers and were hiking through a village with waterfalls pouring down from the cliffs.

While I was setting up my tripod for a shot, several Ford Mustangs, a corvette and a Viper roared by. We caught up to them later and found out that a car collector leads several tours in his fleet of cars. They started in England, got on a ferry and were going through the mountains of Switzerland, Monaco, Italy and France. They were travelling over 300 miles per day and staying in 4 star hotels over 10 days for only 1,500 pounds (~$2,000US). He said they had to pay fuel costs which were another few hundred pounds, but I could see my brother Chris and Cheri winding through the alps in the new Mustangs that look like Chris's classic 1970 Mach I. They only use new cars on the tours and you can find these tours pretty easily at sites like this: http://www.fb5k.com/tours/

The weather was clearing and we walked the valley floor among waterfalls that poured into the glaciated valleys in a similar manner to Yosemite. By 2:00 the weather had cleared even more, so we took a tram up to Murren. Murren is an alpine village that doesn't have any roads up to it - just trains and trams. The views were stunning and I finally got to strain my neck from looking up at the glaciers perched on top of the spiring peaks of Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. The clouds never totally lifted and most of the pictures didn't show the peaks very well, but at least I got a good view of these massive peaks that I fell in love with.

If I go back again, I'd stay in these pedestrian only villages where I could hike for days and eat lots of fondue. The houses in the mountains were stunning and I took a few pictures of their gardens that were in beautiful bloom.

Next time, I'll tell you about our new RV spot that looks over the ocean in California. From my office window right now, I can see kids and dogs running on the beach and listen to the waves crashing endlessly. Life just keeps getting better.

Cheers,
Scott

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Photos

Johann's Pastures
Here's some explanation about where Johanns going to take his sheep - up a cliff like Tarzan.