Your Switzerland Knowledge

Swiss True and False Test 

Which of the following are not true about Switzerland?

      Has the most chocolate in the world?

      Is romantic?

      Has a seamless transportation system of postal buses, trains, cable cars and gondolas?

      Has internet at 8000 feet?

      Has friendly service in restaurants?

      The glaciers are not melting?

       There is cable car to the top of Eiger Mountain arriving at 12000 feet?

       Swiss make their own wine?

       Cows go on summer holiday up the mountains to 5-6000 feet & fresh cheese is made                       there?

       Cow bells cause cow hearing impairment?

        Cows are taken downhill on cable cars?

         James Bond was filmed on Eiger Mountain? 

         Most hotels have air conditioning? 

         Fondue is made of emmental and gruyere cheese? 

          Is the only country that has a square flag?

          Has four official languages?

          Nescafe was invented in Switzerland?

           Has one of the lowest crime rates in the world?

          The Swiss franc is the official currency?

          Teachers are paid highly?

           Half the population have guns?

           World wide internet was invented here in 1989?

           The beer here is better than their wine?

      
        

Day #6: Stored Memories and New Memories Neuchatel and Zurich

Day #6 Stored Memories and New Memories ~ Neuchatel Junior College and Zurich

It is raining today so a good day to travel, although we are sad to be completing this hiking trip and I realize I would like to hike for another week as there are so many more places to explore. We go down 2 cable cars, take one bus and 3-4 train switches through Interlochen, Bern and eventually arrive in Neuchatel. The Swiss train system seems seamless, totally organized, always on time, and clean. In fact the country as a whole seems incredibly clean with no advertising signage, or garbage on streets and with neat and clean houses. 

Carolyn at 18 & still attractive to cows!

I have mixed feelings about being in Neuchatel after 50 years. When I was 18 I lived here and went to a Canadian Junior College for a year. It was a transformative year introducing me to the joys of travel, new cultures and interesting friends. First I take Anna to see the school and then walk up the steep hill to the house where I stayed with 2 other students who are still close friends.  Things look different now from my stored memories and of course things have changed, although the hill is still as steep as I remember. I am not sure I have found the right house or at least it looks different than I remembered. We walk through the old town and have mushroom and goat cheese crepes for lunch. A cozy thing to do on a rainy day. 

In fact, we have crepes again for dinner ~ this time sausage and spinage and cheese and for desert apple, almond and vanilla crepes. We decide it is perfectly okay to have crepes for lunch and dinner (and perhaps breakfast) and wonder why we don’t have crepe places in Seattle. We stay at the Beaulac Hotel situated on Lake Neufchatel with a view but sadly no balcony.

The next morning it is not raining and we decide rather than going to the cheese or clock museums we will take a train to Noirargue to hike in the Gorges de L’Areuse. I think we are already missing our hiking adventures in the Alps.  

This hiking is a very different terrain as it is a deep and narrow gorge with ferns, heavily forested, a rushing glacier stream and beautiful butterflies ~ it seems almost Jurassic-like. I imagine a dinosaur jumping out.  It also has some similarity to Washington hikes so perhaps this event is preparing me for coming home and reminding me of the wonderful hiking in our own state. Of course we stop for our lunch of guess what??? 

Returning from our hike we walk along the edge of Neuchatel Lake and find a place to swim. As our hotel has no balcony we have our pre dinner drinks and cheese by the lake.

The next morning is sunny and beautiful and we walk in the other direction along Neuchatel Lake and end our Neufchatel visit with the way we started our trip in Lucerne with cappuccino and croissants on a deck and an amazing view.







Zurich

Up the funicular to the train station straight to Zurich (90 minutes) and then on a tram to our hotel. This lovely small hotel Hotel Florhof was chosen by Anna and I immediately love it. Still no air conditioning and the hotel is very hot but beautiful with very helpful staff. We have lunch on the patio and then walk in the old town of Zurich which abounds with old churches, cobblestone walk ways and small stores and restaurants. We head along the river and find a place we can swim. Here most of the women are topless and it seems that most women if not topless have 2-piece suits regardless of their age. I feel rather old fashioned in my full piece swimsuit and wonder why no one is worried about skin cancer as they seem very focused on their tans.  We have a  relaxed afternoon wandering about, and I know I will miss this special, unscheduled time with my daughter.  Of course our evening includes an Aperol Spritz in an outside café sitting next to an ancient fountain in the old town. I miss the cow symphony and am still wondering if putting a small water fountain in my back yard can replace the cow symphony. I have absolutely loved Switzerland and it has exceeded my expectations and resulted in wonderful new memories to add to my teenager memories.

Returning Home



Anna and I go to the airport where she will fly to Italy for a mountain biking trip with Zach in the Dolomites while I return home.  We have had a great trip and I have enjoyed our one-on-one time immensely. I can't wait to tell John all about it.  When the taxi drops me off,  John surprises me by waiting for me by sitting in the driveway (in his slippers of course) with a welcome smile and barbecue dinner all ready to serve. It is always nice to be missed and then to experience the joy of reuniting and appreciating each other once again. Moreover, Seattle is sunny and our deck has a wonderful view of the Olympic mountains. Where is the Aperol spritzer? 

Day #5: Traveling and Mapping via I-phone ~ Wengen to Murren

Day #5 Traveling and Mapping via I-phone
 Wengen to Murren (Friday, Saturday)

On this morning we take the train to Lauterbrunnen, pack up our back packs from the co-op with a fresh baguette, wine and beer. We walk to a waterfall and hike to the top. I accidentally lean over the railing dropping our fresh baguette into the falls! Well at least it wasn't my camera or the wine! Since our lunches are important cultural events for us, we trudge back to the co-op to buy more bread. (see if you can find the wine in picture below?) 

We hike across a beautiful valley to the 2^ndTrummelbach falls that is entirely inside a mountain. There are 10 stages to this falls inside the mountain and it produces 22,000 liters of water per second. Since this is another incredibly hot day going inside this mountain is like going under a cold shower and cools us off.  How lovely! The water comes from 19 glaciers and is the only falls inside a mountain in the world that is accessible to people. 

Leaving here we continue hiking through a beautiful valley surrounded 360 degrees with mountains. I love it because there is no elevation and while it is hot we are not at a high elevation so I am not compelled to grunt.  We sit by the glacier stream to cool off and enjoy another lunch masterpiece. 

Glacier Stream 

Beautiful Valley

Main Course

Meringues and Dinosaurs for Courage for Dessert

We hike to another cable car, passing more cows and listening to bell symphonies. I wonder if I could use this soundtrack at night to help me get back to sleep in Seattle because it does have a meditative effect. To my surprise at the side of the valley field is a quaint Swiss home with a vending machine offering fresh mountain cheese and wine! The Swiss seem to have everything covered for the essentials of hiking.

Taking a bus and 2 cable cars back up the mountain we arrive in Murren a mountain village at 5,374 feet which cannot be reached by public road. It has a population of 450 people and was the principal location for the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.  We reach the Alpenruh hotel where we will stay for 2 nights; however, we find our luggage has not arrived. We believe the efficient Swiss will find us so we set out to explore this quaint town and find a place for a cappuccino and beer. 










It begins to rain .. our first rain of the trip. Back later at the hotel our luggage has arrived and the hotel manager leaves us a gift of a bottle of wine.  Naturally our dinner is preceded by wine and cheese on our room balcony that has a view to die for.  Perhaps I will stay here forever. 

Anna on our hotel room balcony

View from our room deck right side 

View from hotel room left side

Even though it is raining, we have dinner on the hotel deck and order cheese fondue. Yes more cheese! We like that the temperature is cooler, especially as none of our hotels have had air conditioning. 

The next day it is nice to relax and not have to check out of our hotel with bags ready to go by 8:30. Nor do we have any gondolas, cable cars, ski lifts, buses or train deadlines.  We lounge with coffee in bed and have another amazing breakfast. 







 We have some more strenuous climbing up to the Mountain View trail but since it is cloudy, not so hot and part of the way is through forests, I notice I am grunting less and nibbling blueberries. Nonetheless the cows seem to go up faster than me and seem frustrated with my slowness.  Reaching the ridge we have beautiful mountain views of Eiger, Moncho, and Jungfrau peaks, and the glaciers.

Some of the cows here actually seem to follow us on the trails. The forests here remind us of Washington State. 

We find a bench with an amazing view for a lunch. At this point our lunches have progressed to including wine and beer! 








We are back at our hotel by 3 pm and it begins to rain again. Perfect timing. We have hiked 7.3 miles, 4-5 hours , 1995 elevation gain, average 39 minutes a mile and 22, 320 steps.  It feels cozy in our room and we toast each other with Prosecco on the deck and talk to John via Skype. 

Our dinner out this night includes crepes made of spinage and cheese followed by a sugar crepe. Why do I talk about food so much? Food seems to taste so much better after hiking?  We watch a you-tube on people trying to save the melting glaciers by covering them with plastic sheets.

Anna’s Mapping

I am sure I couldn’t have done this trip without Anna’s expert guiding skills. She had downloaded Swiss maps and is incredibly conversant with reading these detailed maps of where trails go, the level of ascension, the possible cut off routes and where and when we might catch a bus or train or cable car. I am so impressed with her organization and confidence and how she researches possible hikes. She typically presents me with 3 options and the pros and cons in terms of level of altitude ascension vs. views vs. time line and number of miles. I know I slow down her pace but she is patient with my slower progress. I have trouble making these choice decisions at times as I want her to be satisfied and don’t want to let her down. I also find my brain thinks I can do more than my body is capable of.  She pushes me to make up my mind and I often vacillate with indecision. I have an epiphany towards the end of the trip that it probably doesn’t make any difference what choice I make, that every hike is an amazing adventure and beautiful in a unique way, especially because I have Anna's company. She also is a model for me and provides consultation in how to use the I-phone to google trips involving postal buses, trains, gondolas, cable cars and finding hotels and to make Instagram stories without making me feel completely inept.   I wonder how I used to travel with ease without I-phones! On this last hiking day I realize I am no longer taking my hair brush in my backpack and comfortable wearing my 5-days old dirty shorts. Next time I won't take so much stuff!

"The hills are alive with the sound of music..."