Neuschwanstein Castle & Bavarian Landscapes

October 9, 2012 by lauren

After a full day of beer drinking at Oktoberfest on Friday, we had opted to get out of Munich and do a little sightseeing on Saturday. This was both a good and bad idea. The good was that it prevented us from signing up for another day of beer drinking. The bad was that we had to get up early and navigate how to get to the little village we’d selected, all whilst suffering from a bout of cocktail fever.

Nevertheless, we boarded the correct train at the München Hauptbahnhof towards Fussen. We marveled at the hoards of people coming in that day for Oktoberfest.

Our train. Direction Fussen.

Revelers, coming in from their villages, ready for the day. You’ll see some good examples of traditional German dress here.

Lederhosen and party hats. Don’t these guys look like they are 16?

Notice the crates of beer they’d brought with them to consume on the train.

The scene made us glad we weren’t on those trains coming into Munich. There wasn’t a seat to be had! Our train was busy, yet seats were available. We enjoyed the peaceful two hour ride through the Bavarian countryside.

Taking the train through Bavaria

We got off at Fussen and took a cab into the nearby village of Hohenschwanau. Towering above the town was the Schloss Hohenschwanau. This19th Century castle was built by Maximillian II of Bavaria. It is more famous nowadays for being the childhood home of King Ludwig II who built Neuschwanstein castle, the castle that Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty castle was modeled after.

View from town of Hohenschwanau

View from above of Hohenschwanau and the tiny village

Ludwig II built Neuschwanstein a stone’s leap away from his parent’s house, funded from his own fortune. He built the castle as a tribute to Richard Wagner, the composer. He wanted to make it feel like one of Wagner’s pieces had come to life in the castle, to make it a reality. That, and he fancied living in the Middle Ages. The castle helped bring these fantasies to life, creating a retreat which resembled Middle Age living, far outside the city of Munich.

Neuschwanstein castle

Sadly, King Ludwig II never was able to live inside his castle. He was deposed of his throne due to mental incapacity and building stopped. Only about one-third of the rooms were finished. Shortly after, he died mysteriously in the shallow waters of a nearby lake. There is speculation about the medical prognosis due to the sudden and unexplained nature of his death. Some think that there was a conspiracy to take his crown. Only the shallow waters know, I suppose.

We were able to tour the castle because Olga had pre-arranged tickets. For those interested, I’d recommend her approach: buying tickets in advance. You can only tour the castle with a reservation on one of the official tours. When we arrived to pick up our reserved tickets, the wait was 4 1/2 hours to get a tour for those who had not.

Walking up to Neuschwanstein

The inside rooms that we saw were miraculous – amazing detail. Ludwig was very creative in weaving the stories of Wagner’s operas into the artwork, carvings, and castle floors.

We weren’t able to take photos inside, but this photo is courtesy of wikipedia.

Ludwig even thought to construct a man-made cave that lead from his bedroom to his dressing room, to mimic a scene of a cave in one of the operas. Olga mentioned this was the “original man cave” which drew a lot of chuckles from some of the guys on the tour.

Image courtesy of wikipedia

After the tour, we took a lovely walk through the fall foliage and stood on Marienbrücke, Mary’s bridge, to take pictures. The bridge is a 15 minute walk from the castle. If you end up not being able to tour the castle, we would still recommend getting the vantage point from Mary’s bridge. It was pretty awesome.

Mary’s bridge is the little white horizontal line in the center of the photo. Sorry our point-and-shoot camera isn’t the best at focusing.

This shaky little bridge made me a bit nervous, especially after looking down!

Heidi, Olga, Gabe and me on Mary’s Bridge.

We followed our experience by drinking some King Ludwig beer at the little restaurant Bräustübert, underneath the castles. As we’d hiked a mile on a steep uphill, had a tour, and made a stop at the bridge, all within lunch hour, we really were ready for some delicious German food. We all got some form of sausage or schnitzel which did the job of satiating our hungry bellies, along with the delicious beer.

My schnitzel and weissbeir. A good lunch.

Sugarloaf Mountain

September 27, 2012 by lauren

Another stop on our Rio list was Sugarloaf Mountain, or Pão de Açúcar, in Portuguese. Sugarloaf is named from the way that it resembles the pile of sugar, as sugar trading was a big livelihood in Brazil.

Sugarloaf, as viewed from the beach near downtown Rio

We had heard it was an interesting outing. We practically had to beg our tour guide to take us as she said the view was better from Corovado mountain, where we saw Christ the Redeemer.

Making the cable car journey to Sugarloaf

That view from Christ The Redeemer was higher up, but I wouldn’t say it was better. Because Rio was surrounded in a dense haze most of our trip, we thought the panoramas from Sugarloaf provided for better perspective of the beaches, city and landscape.

Checking out the gorgeous Rio coastine from the top of Sugarloaf

Our guide wasn’t so hot at taking photos. I had to delete 5 where she chopped our heads off. But this one you can somewhat see the background!

Rock climbing is popular, but for those less adventurous, there is a cable car that runs every 20 minutes.

Descending back into town. The beach in the distant left is Copacabana, where we were staying. Downtown Rio is in the right top.

Christ the Redeemer

September 25, 2012 by lauren

As long as I can remember, I have thought it would be magnificent to see the monument of Christ the Redeemer.

I think my first notion that it existed came from the disaster movies. You know when they show scenes from across the world, showing special monuments and cities collapsing?

Check out a clip of the film 2012 here, to see if you recognize it:

Built for the 100 year anniversary of Brazil’s independence, the Christ monument came from the Catholic Circle of Rio. It was funded by Brazilian donations and designed by a French sculptor. They selected the Corovado mountain for its view over the city.

The photography I have seen of the monument is so peaceful and serene. With sun setting over him, the enormous mountain, and the immense city, it certainly gives you a feeling that he is protecting the metropolis.

It is no wonder that this special monument and place was selected to be one of the seven new wonders of the world.

Image courtesy of filmapia.com

Image courtesy of 7wonders.org

He is visible from a large part of Rio de Janeiro itself. As you drive along, you can see him on the Corovado mountain, from most vantage points.

We were able to see The Christ at many times driving in Rio, even with the haze

And beyond getting an ants view, we had the chance to visit the monument while in Rio. We took a furnicular train up the mountain which was neat as it took us through the Tijuca rainforest. It was our first time in a rainforest, so that was cool in itself.

Tijuca rainforest, Rio

Two of the 1500 favelas, or slums, covering Rio’s hills

After 25 minutes and 2,310 feet (704 m), we reached the summit. 250 stairs or an elevator then take you to the Christ’s feet.

Up close with The Christ monument

It was pretty miraculous. The views and the sheer size of The Christ was breathtaking.

View of the bay from Christ the Redeemer monument

I only wish we were able to get the views from behind him to witness the same perspective of him holding the city as the photo above. Our guide said these were done from a helicopter. Oh well. Next time.

Anyhow, I am thankful for the chance to go see this beautiful monument and part of our world.

Exploring Crete – Krista, Lato, and more

August 12, 2012 by lauren

It is hard to believe that snow still exists on Crete until mid-July (it just melted 20 days before our arrival), but that is the elevation on part of the island! While visting Crete, we wanted to visit some of its mountainous region.

Mountain village of Kritsa

Kritsa was not too far from where we were staying in Eastern Crete. During Medieval times, it was the largest town in Crete, however, now is a small village with 2200 residents. It still looks like time hasn’t passed when you walk on its streets:

Gabe was a bit too tall for this door

Wait….which address is this?

Streets of Kritsa

Hot day in Kritsa

Nearby Kritsa is the archeological site of Lato. It was the most powerful town during Dorian towns with two acropolis. It was destroyed in 2^nd Century BC.

It always amazes us how freely Greece (and Europe for that matter!) allows visitors. There was no entry, no guards, to visit this incredible site. We could freely walk all over the pre-Christ dated ruins.

Archeological site of Lato

View of the ocean from Lato

After Lato, we meandered through the mountainous roads back to the highway and to old town Hersonissos. An old colleague of mine’s family originated from this area and many of them still live there today. We tried to visit their restaurant in the charming old town square, but didn’t know it was closed for lunch.

Me in front of Georgio’s

Old and new, we had a nice day exploring Crete.

Diversity in Landscape

July 28, 2012 by lauren

I wanted to share the diverse beauty of the South of France. We drove through many regions to get to our destination of Provence, including Le Drôme and The Haute Alpes.

The slideshow includes a glimpse of some of the images I took from our car’s window that weren’t included in other posts:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I know that road trips sometimes get old, but this beauty always makes it a bit easier to enjoy being in the car!

The disappearing act….Mont Blanc

July 16, 2012 by lauren

One of my favorite pastimes is taking photos of Mont Blanc from Geneva. It only shows 10% of the time so because of the cloud cover.

Here are a few of the times that I have “captured” it:

Taken in October 2011 at a photo group session at Château de Penthes

Taken while painting the left bank. You have to look hard to spot it.

Taken from the window of my foot surgeons exam office, March 2012. Now I know where my money is going…the view!

Taken on a train around Nyon in June 2012

Taken from a train near Versoix Switzerland in June 2012

My best photo yet…taken from a boat outside Nyon in June 2012

After I got the last boat photo, I think I’ll retire for awhile at Mt Blanc photo hunting. My conclusion is it is much easier to capture this magnificent mountain from the Nyon area as there is a more direct & clear view.

Clouds Don’t Ruin The Golden Pass

July 5, 2012 by lauren

When E-dawg was here, it rained a lot. I tried to brainstorm ideas for activities in the clouds and rain and one we considered was a scenic train. However, I wasn’t sure how this would be. On one hand, you don’t have to get wet at all in order to see the magnificent Swiss countryside. On the other hand, would the rain ruin the view & visibility?

I Googled it, but didn’t get much information. Luckily, when we took the Golden Pass, the sun came out for E-dawg and I. Unfortunately, I never found out the answer.

Twin & Solid knew they wanted to take a scenic train, so I recommended we take The Golden Pass back from Lauterbrunnen, since Gabe had to return earlier to Geneva to get back to work. That way, we could take our time going back and stop in towns that looked intriguing. However, the forecast was dreary. Rain was predicted in every town we were to pass through. The scenic trains aren’t cheap, so I posed it as an option to them that we could all ride back with Gabe if they preferred. The downside would be a 5am departure to go back in the car with him vs. a relaxing and leisurely wake-up.

They decided to roll the dice on the weather. And, remarkably, we had a great day. So, for those traveling on Golden Pass, worried about the weather, I’d recommend you just go for it.

Here is a recap of our journey, starting from Lauterbrunnen–>Interlacken Ost–>Spiez–>Zweissimen–>Montreux–>Geneva:

Lauterbrunnen valley. Not promising.

Thunersee….still ominous

Solid admiring the view after Zweisimen

Twin checking out the view before our stop in Château D’Oex

Clouds over Lake Geneva, but still pretty

Wow. The cloud cover showcases varying blues in Lake Geneva. Maybe the clouds were a good thing after all?

The overcast Golden Pass train ended up being one of our guest’s favorite days.

Natural Beauty in the Bernese Oberland

July 3, 2012 by lauren

Bernese Oberland is a region surrounding Switzerland’s capital, Bern. It is a large region, and in my personal opinion, contains some of Switzerland’s most beautiful landscapes. Although, I’ll admit, its hard to find parts of Switzerland that aren’t breathtaking.

As we were driving, we pulled over to find this valley.

Approaching Interlacken on the way from Luzern

One of my new favorite Swiss photos.

Loving the beauty of Bernese Oberland

It was a great warm-up view for us as we continued on through Interlacken, and into the Lauterbrunnen Valley to park our car. From there, we took a little train up to Wengen, where we planned to spend the night at 1400m.

Lauterbrunnen Valley and its waterfall

Wengen, like other car-free towns we stayed in…. Saas-Fee, Zermatt, and Murren, was peaceful without the roar of motors. A ten minute walk had us at Hotel Edelweiss. The little chalet was family run and we couldn’t have felt more welcome. A very pleasant gentleman personally walked us to our rooms to make sure all was okay.

Hotel Edelweiss in Wengen – we’d highly recommend it

After checking in, Mom ran into a lady whose job it was to prepare fresh bouquets for the hotel. She had gathered Edelweiss as well as some florals from her personal garden to prepare the tables for the evening dinner service and the next day’s breakfast. It’s all about the personal touch, isn’t it?

View from our balcony at Hotel Edelweiss

While relaxing on our terrace, Gabe & I did some quick research into what to do in Wengen. We found a few spots that were well recommended and then headed to meet Twin & Solid.

Checking out the view

Our second trip to Bernese Oberland. Last time was in the distant mountain, in Murren.

Twin and Solid on their first Bernese adventure

The first recommendation, Hotel Caprice, didn’t disappoint. We enjoyed beers and wine with this view in the background:

Drinks on the terrace at Hotel Caprice

After a few rounds, we headed to Hotel Bernerhof for some traditional Bernese fare. Gabe and I ordered raclette so that they could get a taste. Twin ordered veal sausage & rosti, another famous mountain dish. Solid went with spaghetti. The waiter was super hard working guy, running the entire place single-handedly. We really enjoyed our meal there.

We are convinced that the folks in Wengen are some of the nicest we’ve met.

Who couldn’t enjoy life with a view like this?

Dusk falls on Jungfrau

The Swiss Watch Blog: Gratitude Friday: Travel (our adventures in Murren with T)

The Swiss Watch Blog: Rostigraben

The Swiss Watch Blog: Famous Swiss Foods – Cheese

Luzern: Switzerland’s Loveliest City

July 2, 2012 by lauren

We hadn’t been to Luzern yet, but have had it on our list the entire time we’ve lived in Switzerland. I almost got to go for Carnival with my girlfriends but when my surgery got moved to an earlier date, it fell through.

However, I knew I’d get a chance to reschedule a visit when Twin was to visit. Because my mom loves flowers, I knew she’d goo-goo- gaga over the lovely flower bridge in Luzern. I was right.

First glimpse of the wooden flower bridge

Checking out the bridge

Historical stories than pan the entire bridge

Exploring the waterfront of Luzern

After walking around awhile, we settled at Rathaus Brauerei

Rathaus Brauerei

Solid & Gabe had local beers and Twin & I had some local red wine. We got seats right on the water so ended up staying for awhile and ordering traditional Swiss German dishes – bratwursts, pretzels, frites, and some filet de perche since we were on the water. After dinner, we took a stroll through old town.

Lovely waterfront

Clock tower

Old town – beautiful squares and buildings

Loved the detail on some of the buildings….quintessential Swiss

My map showed a cool view if we ascended so we kept going.

The old city ramparts

Panoramic view of Luzern from the ramparts

After walking the ramparts, we descended to the other old bridge.

The old bridge

The water flow in the river was so powerful. The poor swans had to work hard not to be swept away!

We learned that Luzern has to control the water flow to keep nearby lakefront towns from flooding. In the Spring, as alpine melt rushes the lake, they must really take heed of the flow. As summer progresses, the control can be tweaked to keep lake levels up.

Checking out the river / dam system that Luzern uses to control Alpine water flow

The next day we set a meet-up time of 1pm, so everyone could have free time. Twin & Solid visited The Lion Monument dedicated to the Swiss mercenaries protecting the French king.

Luzern Lion Monument – Image courtesy of Walkaboutphil.com

Gabe & I opted for a old-fashioned Lake Lucerne cruise to fill our morning.

Boat ride around Luzern’s lakes

Boats on Luzern’s beautiful lakes

Sailboats on the lake

We left for Interlacken very content from our awesome experience in this lovely Swiss city.

Lake Geneva Nautical Adventures

June 30, 2012 by lauren

On Twin & Solid’s second day in town, we took a boat trip around Lake Geneva. There are multiple options for boat trips. Since Twin is a flower lover, we selected the medieval village of Yvoire.

Image courtesy of CGN.ch

Geneva boats are operated by the CGN. On their website, you can see the possibilities. Our particular boat left Mt. Blanc at 10:15, stopping in Versoix, Coppet, and Nyon before crossing the lake to the French side and anchoring in Yvoire at noon. Full fare ride to Yvoire costs about 40 CHF, but you can use your half-fare card to get a reduction.

Lake Geneva CGN boat – a few are classical steamboats like this one

Pulling away from Geneva

Approaching Nyon, Switzerland

Docking in Yvoire, France

Enjoying the flowers

Pretty window box

We had authentic French lake cuisine: filets de perche

We caught the 4:20pm boat back to Geneva. It is the only option in the Springtime, and our visit was the last day of the Spring schedule. During the summer, there are more options for coming and going as the tourist traffic picks up.

On the way home, we had stunning views of Mt. Blanc. It is only visible a small percentage of time, so we were lucky to get the view we did:

Mt. Blanc looks surreal in the summer….it never loses its snow

It was a lovely day with the CGN!

The Swiss Watch Blog: Monday Funday in Lausanne and Evian

The Swiss Watch Blog: Route Blanche and the Mt Blanc Tunnel

The Swiss Watch Blog: Yvoire, France

The Swiss Watch Blog

Our adventures & anecdotes living in Geneva Switzerland

Category Archives: Alps & Other Big Mountains