How was that trip?

So yesterday we started off, catching a train headed for the state of Schwyz in Switzerland.

Stopping along the way, first in Neuchatel where we had a lovely walk in the Spring sunshine along the lake, then on to Bern where we decided to have a delicious lunch in one of the many just as lovely restaurants near the Federal buildings.

In the afternoon traveled along several lakes, stopping at whim for coffee in one of them before arriving at our goal of the city of Schwyz for the night.

A cocktail on an open terrace, a stroll around the Old town, a great meal in a colorful restaurant we then went to bed in a delightful hotel and slept the sleep of the just.

This morning, a lovely breakfast then we went to the Forum of Swiss History – our main goal – to see the charter from 1291 that was the beginnings of today’s Confederation of Helvetican states – better known as Switzerland.

Lunch along the lake of Lucern, in Brunnen, better known to locals as the Vierwaldstättersee or the Lake of the 4 Cantons,

Then it was time to catch yet another train: we traveled with what is known as “day cards” both days. This allowed us to go where we wanted, when we wanted, staying as short or as long as we wanted. Even to backtrack or take side trips. Highly recommended!

This time and just because we could, we went through the alps instead of around and returned via an entirely different canton and scenery. The cherry on the cake was having cocktails in the dining car – antipasti with Prosecco.

What was the occasion, who the guest? One of my dear friends had a special birthday last fall and this was what I gave her as a present. We duly researched, settled on a date (about half-way to the next birthday) and were really excited.

However, what I have just described was a virtual trip in my dreams as, due to Covid-19 we were not able to undertake it at this time.

When we do finally get to, I am sure that it will be even better than what I imagined!

Train to somewhere…

Train to nowhere – travelling for me is often simply going with the flow. And that can be metaphorically or physically given that we certainly have enough rivers and lakes.

I bought myself 20 “day” cards on the Swiss train system for my birthday last year and am really enjoying the joys of “getting up and going” when the mood hits.

Last Saturday I finally made it to Basel (have been saying that I would for several months now, but something – or rather several someones – more interesting came up and I never managed.)

Dame Helvetia overlooking the Rhine in Basel

View of the alps from above the Bern train station Jan 11, 2020

Tuesday I accompanied my younger son on the day out, which I had given him as a Christmas present: a gloriously sunny day, we left at 8 a.m. and returned at 8 p.m. having spent only about 2 and a half hours on foot in all that time. So beautiful that we kept doing loops. Original goal – Lucerne – where I showed him some of the sites and where we ate in Tibits, the new vegetarian restaurant chain that has taken over most of the major train stations. It was so lovely that instead of back-tracking we did a loop to Interlaken so managed to see many of the famous mountain peaks all in one day. Were happily tired but still had a last bite in our local restaurant to round off the day.

Welcome to Lucerne

The old wooden bridge in Lucerne

The lakes on the loop from Lucerne to Interlaken

The same view of the alps from above the Bern train station Jan 14, 2020

I’ve lost the knack….

For plane travel.

Due to I don’t-know-what I realized halfway through 2018 that I had not taken any flights – so decided to make it a no-fly year. Worked out just fine and this year was set to be the same until a friend’s youngest son and his wife (civil wedding last year) maintained their church wedding in Portugal.  Due to lack of time and the distances involved - a road trip would have been at least 15 hours under the best of circumstance – for a longer trip I booked my flight way back in March. For the privilege of coming back on a Sunday I coughed up serious money on a line that is known for its cheap rates. Still worth it to be there, but to not have to take two weeks.

At the last minute whilst checking in, I noticed that they had what they call a “hands free” option available so purchased that on the outgoing flight. This meant that I simply dropped off my cabin luggage in a priority lane and was free to wander the airport without having to drag it along and open up everything going through security. A big bonus was being able to still take out my usual larger hand sack so that I had reading material, my small purse, etc. A very good deal in my eyes.

That worked wonderfully well. I did not purchase it however for the return trip and for the first time in my life actually ended up leaving something in the security check bins. Actually two things: shortly after leaving security with my luggage I realized that my cell phone was not in my pocket – yikes I had thrown it in the bin at the last minute knowing that they would make me go back if I didn’t and totally forgot to take it out (probably under my purse at that point and I was wrapped up in the wonder of a bin line that not only had separate slots for every bin, but also had an automatic stacking process at both ends. No more bins piling up, running into each other and the like).  Big “oops” moment that.

I immediately back-tracked and enquired of the custom’s official on that line – ouf – he had seen it and taken it out of the bin before it went under the counter. All I had to do was open it, put in the pin code to prove it was mine – and it was – mine again that is.

I walked away only to realize the first time I saw my reflection in a mirror that I had also left a scarf. Sigh. Just not used to plane travel any more. Still the loss might have been much greater and I can chalk this lack of attention up to three late nights with more food in three days than I would normally eat in a month.

Great friends, great wedding, more than enough partying.

I’ll excuse myself for the lack of the traveling knack this time.

My camera has seen better days... still didn't want to loose it.

Stress-free travel or…

When it all goes right.

The title is usually an oxymoron as for most of us, myself included, plane travel especially that involving changes and long routes is usually a series of mini problems if not downright disasters, so imagine my shock when this time it all went fine. I am tempted to add – for once in my life – but I am sure that it is simply that the disastrous trips make for better stories and linger longer in our memories.

There was certainly the potential for an interesting story when I inadvertently booked my flights via a well-known web-site instead of directly with the airline (still a mystery to me as to how I managed that without realizing).  This meant that I needed to obtain seats and a meal by logging in to the airline’s site, but it was fine – obviously interfaces are getting much better!

I picked a seat on the aisle next to the last row and do to experience – and not any religious and/or cultural affiliation chose the Asian vegetarian special meal.

So the day of departure duly came closer and thoughts as to how to get to the airport for a 6:55 flight loomed. When I heard that one of my dear friends whom I have also taken early to the airport would be needing a similar arrangement later this year I proposed a swap: her taking me for my taking her. Agreed that 4:30 a.m. would be best. The night before I gave it some more thought and decided that 5 a.m. would do as I had already printed my boarding cards so only needed to drop off my suitcase.

After a seamless ride and entertaining conversation (I would say scintillating, but given the hour perhaps not), I walked into the check-in area only to find that a huge group had just entered the baggage drop line ahead of me. Then I noticed that one agent was free on the
end so I went in the "wrong" way and got my suitcase on before the group got anywhere near. Security - a very slight snafu when a young woman ahead of me had to basically unload her suitcase, but hey a minute more - no big deal. I was through by the time that we should have arrived! First potential problems avoided. Had time to write several e-mails before I boarded the flight for the first leg of my journey.

Arrived in Frankfurt to flurries of “snow”. Predicted but also a potential source of trouble. On the other hand I was not stressed and had two hours to shop – didn’t buy anything, but at least this time I also managed to stay in transit and not have to go through passport control or security.

Boarded the transatlantic portion easily only to find that my seat was actually the last row, but on this charmed trip that turned out to be a blessing as well: there was enough room to incline the seat about 15 cm. – enough to be comfortable and even better as it was the bulkhead that I was leaning back on I could do so whenever I wished!  Also the passenger in the window seat, although pleasant, kept to herself and slept most of the way, and we had the seat in between us empty – rather unheard of these days.

My meals were delivered early as “special diet” and much more attractive than the usual choices: do they ever change the menus?

We arrived at destination only 5 minutes late, my luggage was amongst the first out and as I had even slept a couple of hours it was truly the easiest flight in my recent history.

Nothing like that of one of my favorite bloggers:

http://johnpavlovitz.com/2017/04/20/hell-will-be-an-airport-a-layover-story/

May my whole trip remain on this plain of beatitude.

My aircraft for the transatlantic

7 hours … across Switzerland and into Germany

Or the train from Geneva to Munich.

Due to the higher terrorist level in Geneva and the fact that the last time I tried to take a train to Germany I ended up turning around and coming back once I had done the 3 hours to Zurich, this time I decided to put more than the usual luck on my side. R took me to the train station early enough so that I could have an extra hour in Zurich just in case.

Of course having taken all those precautions, both trains went off without a hitch. Not only, but arriving in Munich I went out the correct door, got a taxi within seconds and was across town in my hotel in time for the 18:00 briefing ! Ran into the tour guide just leaving my room key in an envelope with my name (spelled correctly even – that’s once in a row) on it at the reception desk, so I was able to reconfirm the time as well as where the briefing was being held.

Although inside a train all day was able to get a few pictures out the windows once I had left the fog of Geneva, Fribourg, Neuchatel, Olten and Solothurn behind.

Now it’s on to Christmas markets galore with a childhood friend and her husband, first here in Munich, secondly on our cruise down the Danube from Nuremburg, Germany to Vienna, Austria.

Just a slight note of caution : in the fancy hotels wifi is paying, on the boat we may be out of range so the blogs of this particular trip may be a wee bit out of sync and slow in being posted.

Never mind, rest assured that fun will be had, photos will be taken and news will arrive albeit perhaps at a slower pace than usual.

sun through the fog looking down from the Geneva train station

double and sometimes triple suns through the windows

The Swaroski tree in the Zurich train station

Niki de Saint Phalle's "protective angel" sculpture in the Zurich train station

Into Lindau

Out from Lindau

Along the lake and the border

close up of the square rainbow in the picture above

On the road again…

And again and again and again

I’m a traveler – up for most any trip from a few hours to a few weeks (try to avoid entire months, but have done the odd 7-week trip).

It must have started when my parents moved from the state of Washington to Southern California when I was just 9 months old. Followed a few years where the “only” trips were camping ones for summer holidays, but oh the places I have camped in!

Then there was the car trip across the country (California to Washington D.C.) when I was ten: first along the Southern states, return across the Northern ones.

As a just-barely-teenager the family moved to Hawaii for three years – our summer holidays were limited to the nearest islands.

My young adult life involved two years in a boarding school in Northern California with mostly short flights to return home for holidays, but there were also the band tours and summer jobs as camp counselor in the mountains, then my first year of university back in Southern California.

I had just turned 19 when I began to seriously travel: a year abroad flying to New York then a student boat across the Atlantic to Le Havre in France. Christmas vacations, weekends, Easter vacations – all used to explore first Austria then Italy (never mind the pre-school trip through France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland before landing just outside of Geneva Switzerland).

After that initial introduction to Europe I have lost count of the number of trips and countries.

I have traveled by “Plane, Train and Automobile” (remember the movie?) as well as ship, boat, canoe, tram, bus, hot air balloon, cable car and (one memorable excursion )camels.

I have traveled solo; with first my husband (South America was one of those 7-week sagas) then with husband and children (another 7-week was from New York to Alaska with several other trips in between); with a close friend (many of those – so many adventures) or two as well as in a group. All trips, all modes of transportation, all types of lodging (under the stars in nothing but a sleeping bag, tents, lodges, motels, hotels – of all standards – luxury lodgings, even B and Bs though I have yet to explore AirBnB), each have their own advantages, disadvantages, discomforts and charms.

They are however all, without exception, an experience!

Today I traveled to Zurich to join my cousin, taking the train (bless my community for having “day cards” – anywhere in Switzerland for one day at a very reasonable price).

It was another great experience as I enjoyed lunch in the dining car, views first of the lake, then of the plateau between the alps, more rivers and finally a big city. All that in just three hours and in great comfort!

my train today

typical train station - this one is Lausanne

Along the Lac Léman

Lavaux vineyards

tracks along the way

a u-shaped river

Zurich train station and Niki de Phalle's "Angel"

Rear of the Zurich train station

So on to yet another adventure in my life. I always enjoy being “on the road”.

“Into the unknown” – A travelogue or...

Off to “who knows where”.

This year has been dedicated (by me, myself and I) as one of spontaneity so when a friend decided that the weather was good – "let’s go" – I thought: why not?

Through France, turn right into Switzerland, through a valley very similar to that of my childhood (Salinas Valley, CA), up the mountain pass and here we are on the Simplon Pass:

Although only the beginning of April, at 2’000 meters the snow is already very much in the distance, the sun shining its last rays on the top peaks.

sun on the vineyards in the valley

Bridge spanning the valley after Brig: the old Napoleon one is just beyond it.

Last rays of sun near the Simplon Pass

On the way I learned that we were headed for Itlay - first stop the Simplon Pass at 2'005 meters and overnight in Simplon Dorf (the village of Simplon for those who don't want to have to used a translator: the next few blogs are going to be full of pitfalls for those who only speak English as I will be using German, French and Italian names and expressions).

 

Dinner of a typical Swiss croûte au fromage (cheese crusts just doesn’t quite cut it as far as delicious sounding), but the discovery of the evening was the old leather-bound book containing the records of clients begun back in 1910!  I was astonished as to how many Americans had gotten that far, groups, individuals, then there were the quick drawings from some who had used the Fletschhorn Hotel as a base for training. All in all amazing.

Le livre des étrangers (book of foreigners)

Started in 1910 some of the first visitors were from the USA

Many groups stopped here either for a meal or to sleep.

 The saga will continue over several blogs.

30 hours of which 11 hours of train or…

On the road again.

The name of my blog surely gives it away: Views from Everywhere.

I love to travel, but even I have been known to cram in perhaps a wee bit too much.

Seated on my first train yesterday morning, headed towards Southern France (thanks S for being at home!) I realized that once I got here out of 30 hours I would have spent 11 of them on one train or the other.  Leaving St.Gallen the day before around noon, arriving in Argelès-sur-Mer at 18:00, I have also covered just under 1’000 kilometers.

Below a few scenes – through dirty train windows – of the trip in between Geneva and Argelès-sur-Mer.

Rhone river outside of Bellegarde, France

ruin on the outskirts of Bellegarde

Lyon, France the "crayon"

a mountain-top village along the way

Sète France

Towards the Mediterranean

Harbor entry

Along the Mediterranean

Along the Mediterranean, Spanish mountains

C's fish soup - a great welcome!

the alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions

Voyages, voyages, voyages

Rhythme de trains,

Rimes de la vie.

Le paysage défile

De l’autre côté des vitres.

Dedans, ma vie reste

En suspens -

Le temps d’un voyage

Clouds across the plains,

Scudding to the rhythm

Of the train.

Outside life is submissive

To the inside’s quiet.

Did I write the above during my train ride to Toulouse this spring, or during my train ride to

Argelès-sur-Mer at the end of the summer, or even on the train ride to Paris at the beginning

Of the summer ? I don’t remember, but every trip has similar elements.

Today’s no different (except perhaps in scenery and the architecture of the buildings) from yesterdays,

not tomorrows.

Never met a one that I didn’t enjoy and every discovery (even to places visited in the past) is a slightly

Different voyage.

The world is so much smaller than it used to be:

In one 24-hour period I woke up in my small French-speaking village; went to an international airport and had more typically French fare for breakfast; flew an hour into the middle, flat part of Germany; had “Butterbrötchen” a sandwich, for lunch followed by another under-an-hour flight to a port city where I proceeded to enjoy the local beer offerings.

Dinner was in an Iranian restaurant amongst Persians who had all attended the German school in Teheran. Playing on the TV in the background was the World Cup Switzerland against France.

What will tomorrow bring ?

Remember “the road less traveled?”

We took it!

I woke up this morning with a yen for Chinese (it had been a couple of months) and knowing my house mates propensity to fall in with any and all restaurant plans that I might have, mid-morning I said “how do you feel about Chinese?”. The answer – no hesitation, no pause – a resounding “yes… when I woke up this morning…”.

We asked R., but he had too much writing to do so shortly before noon we got on the road.

Now this particular restaurant lies across the border in neighboring France and for several years has always created a challenge in accessing it, which is probably why we have taken to trying it on Sunday instead of during the work week.

They are building – or rather enlarging, rebuilding and in short totally messing up the whole thing – the main road that goes past this particular Chinese buffet restaurant. Normally a 15-minute drive, it had changed into 20 minutes (shoot past it a couple of miles and turn left then left to get back on the opposite side for an off ramp); then finally 25 (no left hand turn so all the way to the next town then a u turn on the roundabout). However, at some point on one of the return trips, we had discovered another small village, which made the road shorter, so we tried to memorize (with a notable lack of success) the return path in hopes of finding it going the other way.

After a couple of trials several months apart, I thought that just perhaps I could re-trace it.

First weird thing – we had to check several times our memories and my calendar to make sure that we were Sunday as I have never – and I mean never – seen as much traffic on a Sunday as there was today and it wasn’t just one road, but everyone that we took!

Secondly – managed to actually exit properly at the round about (first time I recall there being any signs whatsoever as to the village that we needed to cross).

Ah, but then it all fell apart: roadblock in the middle of the village due to the yearly “vide grenier” (literally an emptying out of one’s attic), At that point it had been far enough from the round about that I wasn’t willing to re-trace my steps, so off we went, first ending up in the school parking lot, then traveling farther up the mountain turning right a couple of times hoping to be beyond the fair: no such luck.

Another left hand turn, yet further up the mountain and finally a long, very narrow and winding road (actually I would describe more as a paved path), which actually went through and we found ourselves back in a neighborhood that I recognized, albeit there also the road had changed.

It was a beautiful day, the scenery and views overlooking the lake gorgeous, even the back of the Salève was interesting: of course this was the one out of a hundred times that I had no camera in the car!

Arriving at the restaurant we were almost afraid that we would find it closed, but Lady Luck after having led us a merry chase smiled upon us and we enjoyed our made-even-more-delicious-for-the-trial-endured Chinese buffet.

As Jerry Seinfeld put it “Sometimes, the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason”!

Road to Nowhere

On the road…

So many combinations

In the past six weeks I have been “on the road” many ways: alone in my car driving

to the mountains; flying across the Atlantic (and half the world) to attend a family wedding; driving a rental car, accompanied by my younger son and his girlfriend; as a passenger in my sister’s or brother-in-law’s cars; as a passenger in a rental car with other family members; and now again as a passenger in a private car on our way to attend another wedding (thank goodness for housemates who can keep the fort).

As I don’t often get to be driven, I can thoroughly enjoy the possibility of reading,

blogging, correcting manuscripts – the privileges of a passenger. Never mind the often very interesting discussions as well as being able to pay more attention to the passing scenery: taking pictures whilst driving being an activity that is highly frowned upon.

Hmmm… in another life I could be tempted by being rich and having a chauffeur-driven car!

 

near Wawona, CA

Highway 120

Odometer at one point in a trip

Sonora Pass