Zurich

WILDERSWILL TO ZURICH 26 JULY 2014

Packed up after breakfast.  Said goodbye to the lovely and talented Gabi, and Fritz drove us to the Station at Interlaken.  Caught the train that was going through Bern to Berlin.  Had 10 minutes there to change trains for one to Zurich.  Took some time to find the platform but got there just in time to board the dining room car.  This was a small section of the lower part of a two storey carriage.  It had a couple of chairs and a serving station, which meant that Brian had to take our cases upstairs and then down again when we got to Zurich.  He says he is definitely going to get a much smaller case for any future travelling.  I guess that means that he won't be bringing the lap top next time, and that we will have to be travelling to somewhere where only light weight clothing is required.

It rained the whole day, and when we got to Zurich, we started looking for the Hotel in the rain.  Brian eventually  left me looking after the cases in a street which we later discovered is in the red light area and went to see if he could find it.  But he got lost and had difficulty in eventually finding me.  I couldn't believe that after about 45 minutes he still had not found the hotel.  He had asked several people, but none of them knew where it was.  I sent him into a hotel opposite where I had been waiting with the bags, and would you believe, it was next door!  It is on at the point of a triangle where two streets running in the same direction meet, and the name of the hotel is covered by a tree.

After checking in, we donned rain coats and walked for about three hours.  We went back to the station to check out about checking the cases in for the flight home on Tuesday night, only to find that we can't do it in advance.  However, we can leave the cases at the hotel, which is good because the flight doesn't leave until 9.30 pm.

Zurich is a very nice city.  The old town is a network of narrow streets and lane ways where you come upon lots of bars, cafés etc.  The shops are interesting, and the shoe shops of which there appear to be hundreds are to die for. 

  I told Brian I was going to buy these for Diane, but he said that they would cost more than the limit on our credit cards!

 Took photos of the Churches.  It seems as though all of them have a clock on their towers.  As Brian keeps telling me what else could you expect from the people who invented time pieces.

 

We walked down both sides of the river and had coffee at the Rathaus Coffee Bar. 

Back to the Hotel for a rest and then out to a Spanish Restaurant for tapas for dinner.

ANOTHER WET DAY IN ZURICH - SUNDAY 27 JULY

Had breakfast at the hotel.  Went for a walk in the opposite direction to yesterday, then got back into the old town where I took the photos of the shoes.  Found ourselves in another red light area - I told Brian that he seems to have a penchant for these areas.  After getting back to the old town we went into the Fraumunster Church and the Grossemunster Cathedral as well.   Both have some very impressive stained glass windows and impressive organ pipes.  The music they produce must be pretty impressive as well because both churches have summer programs of organ music, thankfully for Brian not until August.

We are staying in the  Hotel du Theatre which was originally known as the Theater am Central.  According to the booklet in our room it was the dream of the current owners' father an architect named Giovanni Zamboni. 

"His idea was to build a hotel which integrated art  in its very construction, with sculptures at the entrance and on the facade - a hotel with tales in its own theatre.  In 1951 he built the Hotel with a theatre hall...In the late 1950s cinema became more and more successful and threatened the existence of many a small theatre.  A  screen was erected in the theatre hall of the Theater am Central in 1959, giving birth to the cinema alba, today the art house alba where tales have continued to be spun in the form of serious studio films."

The plays that were performed included works by French, German, and English authors.  the English authors I recognised are two by Noel Coward, Private Lives and Quadrille,  Candida by George Bernard Shaw, A woman of no Importance by Oscar Wilde, Victoria by Somerset Maugham.

The building was thoroughly renovated around 2009 and the aim was to "reanimate with tales to be heard and pictures to be seen".  According to the current owner, Livia Brotschi-Zamboni, the result is a modern hotel in a building steeped in history.  A video artist, Ruth Baettig used props and pictures from the theatre archives and the ones in our room 403, are all from Coward's play, Quadrille.  I don't know that play but am very familiar with Private Lives, so if you ever come to Zurich Robert, you will have to reserve one of the rooms ending in 10.  I.e. 110, 210, 310, or 410.

Had dinner late this afternoon in a very nice Italian Restaurant.  The weather has improved over the day, it is still grey, but has not rained since about lunch time.  We are planning to go to Lucern tomorrow so hope it continues to improve.  Everyone says Lucern is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.

Trip to the "Top of Europe"

25 July 2014

Well today turned out the best for the past few days so we headed off up the Alps by train.

First I must add a pic of Mary's that I forgot to add yesterday. Close where we are staying is a small herd of dairy cows - all wearing the necessary bells around their necks. Mary managed to get a pic of them early in the morning whilst still in their byre.

A further correction is due for Wednesday night when we went to a free concert in the village where the performers were the South Tyne Wind Band from Newcastle in the UK.

But today was hectic with crowds of tourists and heaps of groups all dutifully following their leaders. Orderly queueing - that great British tradition - has no place in the German and Chinese cultures. The one with sharpest and most powerful elbows gets the seat on the train. Here are a small selection of pics from the Jungfrau at some 4000 metres -

Trips from Wilderswil

Sunday, 20 July, 2014

Today was cloudy with rain threatening so we decided to take a trip to Thun by boat - from Interlaken West to Thun on Thunersee (Lake Thun). The lake was calm and the trip was fine although the rain started just as we arrived. So lunch under cover seemed a good idea except everyone else had the same idea. We settled on a plate of antipasto and watched the rain ease.

Here's a view of the Alps from the boat.

     
Once the rain stopped we had an easy walk around town and checked out the castle and the sluice gates which we assumed were for flood mitigation.

We returned to Interlaken West by train (quicker than the boat trip). Yesterday (Saturday) after our trip up Schynige Platte we had caught the train back to Interlaken East and walked back along the River (Aare) to Interlaken West. This way we were able to go via the old town of Unterseen. It was here that Mary took a pic of this classic hotel.

 

Monday, 21 July 2014

More rain overnight but cleared by the time we had eaten breakfast.  We decided to take another boat trip but this time to Brienz on Brienzersee (Lake Brienz). Today the boat was a paddle boat and the drive mechanism was able to be seen from a lookdown inside the boat. Just before landing in Brienze we saw the Giessbach Falls and above the Grand Hotel Geissbach (no not the Grand Budapest Hotel). Once we had landed in Brienz we decided to take the bus to the Ballenberg open air museum. However, it turned out to be either a fast hour's walk from east to west or a very slow five to six hours visiting most of the village buildings and craft events. 

For those interested this link will be useful:-

Ballenberg Open Air Museum 


We elected instead to have lunch at the Restaurant Ballenberg and had a huge serving of Bratwurst with hash brown and onion gravy - certainly enough to see us through to tomorrow's breakfast! The only pic here is this one of a distant waterfall above Lake Brienz

Tuesday, 22 July 2014


The weather was still cloudy and it had rained during the night so once more decided against any mountain trips. Instead we decided to do the Waterfall Walk along the side of Lake Brienz which we had seen from the boat. We again caught the boat (not the paddle boat this time) but this time alighted at the village of Istelwald and took the lower lakeside track toward Geissbach Falls. Here is the bridge crossing the falls just before splashing into the lake -

We then walked up to the Grand Hotel Geissbach and found the upper track back to Istelwald. Here are some pics of the hotel and views of the falls at higher points -

 
























Wednesday, 23 July, 2014


Weather still cloudy but at least fine. Picked up an easy walk from 'Walking Switzerland' number 8007 Grosse Scheidegg to First (see Blog under 'Maps and Walks'). This involved a train to Grindelwald and then a bus onto Grosse Scheidegg where the walk started at the hotel. The walk was on a narrow roadway but very little motor traffic. It was well graded until we got to the stage leading up to First so we plumped for  the next stop down at Schreckfeld and stopped for lunch at the restaurant - more delicious sausage with proper chips (French fries) and beer and cider. After lunch we did consider albeit very briefly walking back down to Grindelwald (only two hours) but chose, for the sake of experience, a ride down on the gondola service.

Here are some views of Eiger and shots from the gondola on the way down.

 

The downward track is seen below



Back in Grindelwald we caught the train back to Wilderswil and filled in a gap of our stay in Wilderswil - a walk around the old village. The main attraction is a wooden bridge built in 1738 leading to the church. This bridge was nearly destroyed in 2005 by the River Lutschine in spate. This prompted the expensive piece of investment in the form of a powered lifting system where, in the case of high levels for the river, the bridged could be raised above the destructive force of the flood waters.

Thursday, 24 July 2014


A virtual rest day today as the weather had been wild during the night with lots of thunder storms producing heavy rain. However, the sun came out by midday and it looks promising for a trip to Jungfrau tomorrow - fingers crossed.

Relaxing in Wilderswil

Saturday, 19 July 2014  SCHYNIGE PLATTE

OUR FIRST CLOSE UP VIEW OF THE ALPS.

Fritz and Gabi are the owners of Gafri Chalet.  They used to manage the Baren Hotel in Wilderswil and built this B&B about three years ago.  There are photos of it in the Accommodation section on the web.  We have a lovely big room with a comfortable lounge, a writing desk, table and chair plus an en suite bathroom with everything included.  There was a welcome bowl of fruit plus chocolates, and an invitation to collect a Swiss Souvenir Cowbell at a shop in Interlaken - haven't done that yet, but the fruit is disappearing and the chocolates were gone very quickly!

Staying here when we arrived were an English couple who have been coming to this area for years for their holidays.  Penny and Martin are their names and they together with Fritz have given us lots of information about what to do and see here.  They all recommended that we take the opportunity to go to Schynige Platte on the train from Wilderswild on a fine day and Saturday was a beautiful sunny day - the only drawback was that it was about 30 degrees!

Following their advice we got an early start and arrived at the Station around 10.00 am - there were lots of people milling around, but the railway people were well organised and there were about six cog and rack trains operating.  There was also one being operated by a steam engine, but we didn't get to see that until we got to the top.

It takes two hours to get to the Platte and the views on the way up and down are fantastic.  Brian took some photos in an attempt to show how steep it is, but it is really difficult to do so successfully.  


 















In the brochure there is a code which indicates the environment through which the train travels and there is one that the railway employees have called the "ooh ah" tunnel.  As you emerge this is the view you get, and yes there were lots of ooh ahs in our train as well.

 


Schreckhorn, Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau are the peaks you can see. 

 
This is taken from a viewpoint which forms part of the walk around the Alpine Botanical Garden.  Brian was looking at the possibilities of using some of the plants in Canberra.

In the foreground you can just make him out sitting under the conifer in the right hand corner.  When he tried to take some photos he discovered that the camera was full.  So while he deleted them, I walked up further and took more photos on the phone.

We wandered around the top for a while, but didn't do any long walks.  It was just too hot.  We checked out the hotel and sat under a shady umbrella and listened to two men in traditional costume play the alpine horns.  There was a lady with a dog near us and the dog didn't like the sound of the horn at all.  

Brian took more photos on the way down:

 
 Went to the Baren Hotel for dinner that night.  Good meal and not too expensive.
 

Heading South to Switzerland

FRIDAY, 11 JULY 2014 SEAHOUSES TO NEWCASTLE

Did our final packing and clean up at Seahouses and got to Newcastle about lunchtime.  Left our luggage at the Hotel and returned the car to the Hertz depot in Newcastle. We were lucky that a man who knew what he was doing was on duty. There had been an odd entry in the account and when we got there the Newcastle computer system was down. The man we dealt with rang the accounts section in Middlesex and talked the person on the other end of the line through the issue. 

That gave the Newcastle man the information he needed to explain it to Brian. He could not understand why it had happened the way it did, but Brian and he agreed that the end result was okay. Brian of course went on to me about the new way that business is conducted these days - my response was that he sounds like my parents when the world around them was changing - but of course that is no answer or consolation to Brian.

After checking into the hotel we had lunch at a little coffee shop, then I had some retail therapy while Brian went walking around the river. Met up in time for a drink and back to he Hotel for dinner.

SATURDAY, 12 JULY 2014. NEWCASTLE TO AMSTERDAM

Had breakfast at a small cafe near the hotel. Walked around for a while in the city and then down along the river before retreating to the Wetherspoons Hotel on the river bank where we discovered the woo woo cocktails. Got a shady spot - it was not as a Queensland summer - and started a game of scrabble. At 2.45 we caught the double decker bus to the North Shields port to board the ferry for Amsterdam. Everything went smoothly. Found our cabin, settled in and went on a tour of discovery. There were some very nice lounges and we spent most of our time in the Commodore lounge. Had a booking for the buffet dinner which was the usual smorgasbord, but okay, then finished the scrabble game. Brian is happy about it again - he has won the last three games. It has been a long time coming though! 

Transfer from the ferry to the bus went smoothly and we arrived at Amsterdam Central Station about 11.00. The owner of the B&B had given us the tram no. But with our heavy cases and the crowds of people, we decided to take a taxi. The response of the driver was that it was not worth us taking a taxi as it was not far to walk. It was actually quite a long way but we have done more uncomfortable walks with luggage so it wasn't too bad. I think the driver didn't like the look of our cases. They are heavier than we usually have with us. Brian had the notebook in his which makes it even heavier.

We had arrived before check in time, but we stored the bags at the house, were given the entrance code for the front door and headed off for a beer. We couldn't get over how busy Amsterdam is now. It is nearly 20 years since we were there last. Brian puts it down to the sex and drugs that are so freely available there. 

Our room was delightful. In the photo it is the one at the top of the house with the flowers on the balcony. It covered the whole floor with a giant bed - we've found that you get either a double bed or what we would call the equivalent of two three quarter singles pushed together to form something I think is slightly wider than our king sized beds. It has a large shower in a good sized bathroom which is very modern with a square washbasin, and two armchairs plus a dining room table and four chairs. There were no cooking facilities, but we bought antipasto and wine so we were very comfortable. 

The only intimidating thing was the entrance stairway. It goes almost straight up and is even worse than the stairs at Danielle Cox's house! Breakfast was served in the room below ours and Martjin (Martin) the owner told us that he looked after the flowers on the bridge as well as the ones on his balcony. The local authority help out by providing the pots, but he has to pay for and look after the flowers.

 












The two tiny creatures huddle together at the top of the stairs are Martin's miniature Pinzer dogs.


MONDAY 13 JULY 2014


 After the usual continental breakfast prepared by Martjin we headed of to the Rijks Museum. Last time we were in Amsterdam it was closed for a huge make over. It is now a much larger building and most of the Rembrandts etc. that we could not see then are now on display. It is a truly impressive collection and the new parts of the building are very modern. They are still working on the gardens which can be viewed through huge windows at the lower level. 

We had a bit of a discussion about some of the labels. One of my pet hates with art galleries is that they are very elitist in their approach to the general public. Usually you get the name of the artist, the material used, and the date the institution collected it and whether that institution purchased it or whether it was donated. If donated, the name of the donor is added. 

The objective of other museums is to help to educate the visitors about the items in the collection and to put them in some historical, or social context. One of my favourite art exhibitions that did this was one I saw about 4 years ago at the Queensland Gallery. The exhibition was the work of two artists who were married. Fox was the main painter and very famous for some of his works, his wife, named Carrick was more of an impressionist, and when he died she ensured that his work was appreciated and displayed. What I liked most was that the curators had gone to the trouble to explain the different approach each took to their work and also gave social context information about where the paintings were created and in general the lives of the two people involved. At the Rijks Museum at the moment they have an exhibition entitled Art is Therapy. The two curators who created it want to provoke the visitor into "rethinking some crucial assumptions about what a visit to the museum is for." I found their labels provocative and interesting. Brian found them patronising. I know that most of the designers and curators I worked with would have hated the labels. They are typed on plain bright yellow paper and are stuck on in a temporary fashion under some fantastic and famous works of art. One Museum Director I know would have said that the content is too didactic and the designers I worked with would be horrified. They would describe the as "post it notes". I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the exhibition was being discussed!

Some of the issues raised were how do we distinguish good painting? Is it only because someone else has decided that it is good. Why can't we just enjoy looking at the painting and enjoying it for what it is rather than because someone else has said it is good. What does looking at a painting tell you about the time when it was created e.g. Middle class paintings of poor peasants etc. 


I only took a couple of photos in the Museum - one of a statue of St Ursula for Therese because that was the name of the secondary school she went to. Saint Urusla's College, Kingsgrove (SUCKS) to the students. 

The label reads :

St Ursula and her maidens. According to the legend Princess Ursula and her retinue of 11,000 women were murdered by Huns near Cologne. This statue depicts her as a well to do woman dressed in the latest fashion of the Renaissance. Some of her companions seek protection under her cloak.

TUESDAY 14 JULY 2014.  AMSTERDAM TO BERN

Packed everything again.  Left our cases at the house and Martin arranged for a taxi to come to pick us up at 7.30 pm.  We went to Vondel Park where there is a community art exhibition.  We didn't understand them all, but they appear to be about the environment.  Vondel Park is a large park and very popular for walking and riding bicycles.  So we wandered and took lots of photos.  Then went looking for somewhere for lunch, then pack to the park where we played Scrabble until it was time to get back to pick up the bags.

 

Tulip Island where you can have high tea.

Only Two Stars Dianne you'll have to improve

 















 














There are lots of parking stations for bicycles
 in Amsterdam. 


Everything went smoothly with the transfer from the house to the railway station, but it was a bit of a shock when we got onto the train to discover how small the space was.  We thought that we could store our bags in the bicycle compartment but the guard said that was not a good idea as during the night the staff on the train changed and they could remove them.  With a bit of fiddling around we managed to put one case under the bed and stack the other under the wash basin.  The train left at 8.30 pm so there was not a lot of daylight left, so we ended up going to bed fairly early.  Brian had the top bunk.  We were awake about 5.00 and the guard bought us breakfast at 6.00, then we arrived in Basel at 6.45 am.

 This was the first shop window we saw at Basle Railway Station.  Eat your heart out all you chocaholics.









Had coffee at the station, got some money from the ATM, and when the Railway information office opened at 8.00 am, we activated our Swiss Rail card and waited for the train to Bern.  The Swiss trains are always on time apparently and once you understand the system they are easy to follow.  Ours are second class tickets, but they have signs on the platform which tell you where the first and second class carriages will be when the train pulls into the platform.  I seem to remember that there was a similar system in Germany when we were there.

Arrived in Bern around lunch time, and walked to the Hotel National - it was about 15 mins walk but by the time we arrived in Bern summer had arrived with a vengence.  It was 30 degrees and very very humid, and at the time of writing it has remained pretty much the same.

As check in time was around three, we left our luggage at the hotel and explored the old town of Bern.  It looked to us to be about the same size as Canberra - appropriate as they are both the capital cities in their respective countries.  We had a look at the Parliamentary building but didn't go inside, and just did the tourist thing for most of the time we were there.

 Walked around the botanic gardens, but were not impressed.  However, it was interesting to see that they have a section devoted to Australian and New Zealand plants. 


 

 Aare River, with old Bern in background.  The National Hotel.  Our room was on the top floor which I seem to have cut off in the photo, but it had a balcony without flowers.

THURSDAY 16 JULY, 2014.

Caught the tram out to Gurten following the recommendation of one of the owners of the Hotel.  Were astounded when we got there because there were hundreds of young people around the bottom of the funicular railway that is reportedly the fastest in Europe.  They had signs saying they wanted tickets, and we thought that the railway must have been a really big attraction, but it turned out that there is a Rock Festival being held there at the weekend.  We looked way out of place with all the youngsters carrying their camping gear.  The organisation looked pretty good and I took a few photos of things that appealled to me.






Your next car Therese?

   

 The Sleeping Zone, and the Minibar was giving out apple juice.



 

The Hotel at the top of the funicular, and the funicular from the deck.


 FRIDAY 17 JULY 2014.  BERN TO WILDERSWIL VIA INTERLAKEN.

Another easy transfer.  Tram to the station, and caught the train to Interlaken.  Switzerland is really beautiful and as you can see from the photos we arrived to beautiful blue skies and sunshine even it it does feel as though we are in the middle of a Queensland summer!  At Interlaken Station we caught a bus to Wilderswil, rang Fritz and he picked us up at the bus stop and brought us to the lovely chalet he and his wife own in this small village at the foot of the Swiss Alps.  From our front balcony we can look up to the Eiger Mountain - absolutely fantastic.

 From our balcony, and on a walk down to the village.