Hi All
Thanks once again for all the responses from the last update. We didn't think that many people had the time to, or were reading the sagas we send. It was great to hear from you and to catch up with what is going on with you and yours. Love it!
It has been another full on week, but unfortunately there were a few days that we both could have done without, but then - that's just how it goes. So here is what transpired.
As we had promised ourselves, we took the train trip back to Zurich one afternoon to get a taste of evening life in the big smoke. It was a warm balmy evening that allowed us to wander about the lake, canals, back streets and the shops along the main Bahnhof Strasse.
Phil's need to get some retail therapy took hold and she said "I'm off. See ya later". We later met down at the ferry docking area of Zurichsee with Phil toting a couple of bags of goodies and her urges sustained somewhat. We have still five months left in Europe so she didn't over do it on the purchases which was a relief!
At 7.00pm that evening a bell from the nearby Catholic church started tolling the hour. Not to be outdone, the Reformation church bell started, then it was a free for all as every bell in the city decided to jump on the band wagon. They were all bonging, dinging and donging away for all they were worth. The noise was unbelievable. This went on for 15 minutes without a break. When it stopped it seemed like deathly silence until ones ears became attuned once again to the sounds of the city. Phil thought it was probably the ringing in of the beginning of Palm Sunday. What ever it was, it was very impressive indeed.
As the sun went down and the city lights took over, it was great wandering about the narrow cobbled streets, with a "wonder what's around this corner" attitude to exploring the old part of the town. And I mean old! One of the narrow section was to be walked on over grating so you could see what was underneath. In this case, the remains of a Roman bath dating back about 2,000 years. Absolutely fascinating! Looking down into the history of the city where the Romans, after a hard day subjugating the Helvetic Celtic tribes of the area could have a good scrub up before the orgy.
We had a great day out and by the time we got back "home" we were stuffed after clocking up quite a few kilometres of urban trekking. Only problem was that Phil was starting to feel a bit off. Her legs were becoming very itchy and swollen and something was amiss. She had a rash and couldn't stop sneezing. Next day she was bed bound for most of the day feeling like she had swallowed a fox bait, still sneezing and the rash looking nasty. She spent most of the time asleep or scratching. Later in the day she got up for a meal, but faded soon after she took an antihistamine to try to relieve the rash symptoms. Just hope it isn't an allergy to CATS! That could be an issue seeing as we have another 2 weeks to share with our 4 furry friends.
While this was going on, Volker let Phil sleep by disappearing up into the hills nearby for a wander for a couple of hours. When we arrived here a month ago, the forest areas were mainly bare trees resembling sticks, apart from the ever green conifers. Two weeks, later buds were appearing on the sticks and now the sticks were beginning to be covered in the most brilliant greenest of green leaves which mantled the forest. Absolutely beautiful. The forest floor was dappled from the sun rays streaming through the trees highlighting the carpet of last seasons fall. The browns and ambers of the carpet of dead leaves were interspersed with purple, white, mauve and yellow flowers as well as the cones of the fir trees scattered about, giving the whole forest such a surreal blend of colour. Beautiful!
Next day Phil was firing on all six again. Whatever her malaise was has now gone and she was a born again Phil. So much so we decided to head back out to Appenzell - again (see last blog re whiskey tasting). This time via 2nd class public transport though, not the luxury of Jean Daniels merc. So along with packet of sandwiches, winding our way up into the hills through the tunnels and along the valleys for a relaxing and beautiful trip toward the snow covered peaks that surrounded the lovely town of Appenzell.
This is an amazing place. The place burnt down back in the 1600's and was rebuilt in traditional style of the 1300-1400's and has kept this architecture to the present day. The narrow winding cobbled streets, the style of houses and their traditions which have survived for hundreds of years make this place one of Switzerland's major heritage sites. Wandering about amongst it all is like a 600 year step back in time.
Over a coffee we read the usual tourist brochures and got our bearings. One thing that made us sit up and take notice was the traditional style of the The Open Air Parliament which is voted in each year since 1403. It still happens now! The voting is done by the good burghers being elected by a show of hands by the people in the town square. Can you imaging THAT in Australia! People would be putting up two hands or moving about putting up their hands again. Others would bring cardboard cut out hands while others would hold their babies hands up. This method also begs the question - who does the scrutiny and the counting and how do they maintain any semblance of accuracy or honesty. But these people have been doing it for 600 years, so I guess it works. Just amazing!
The other major site of significance is the brewery. For 8.50 Swiss Francs (about $10 Aud) you get to taste their products. After an audio tour of the making of beer, sampling the various smells associated with different types etc it created a build up to the sampling - as one must. We were very lucky, as when we arrived, the tasting time was over, but it must have been a slack day or something as we were given the OK to head to the tasting room along with a lovely young lady who could speak English to guide us through the intricacies of 38 specialised beers and 7 single malt whiskeys for a personal tasting session.
Now their sort of tasting is not like a winery in Oz where you get a few drops in a plastic cup. This is crack a bottle and get into it - and you get to finish it off if you want. As mentioned, they have 38 different beers to taste.! Then there were the 7 malt whiskies. Handing us a pamphlet which indicated one would be very pissed if one tried every one of them, we started with a Zitronen-Panache' which is beer infused with lemon. Very nice and refreshing after a wander about the town. The next was the Vollmon (Full-Moon) bier. Seeing as it WAS the full moon that night we just HAD to try that. Next up was a "beer that is used for health reasons as it is made from herbs and spices (including Hemp which adds to the attraction) that promote well being. "OK - better have 2 of those". By this stage it was "What the hell", so we celebrated this milestone with a Hell Bier. After that it was onto a Dunkle Bier which had more alcohol than most bottles of wine and tasted of chocolate.
We were slowing up by this stage, but the lovely lass wanted to practice her English so much so and was taken with Phil's Scottish accent, she decided to let us taste some whiskey on the house. Just what we needed - not! Out comes a bottle of very smokey / preaty single malt which had just won the 2013 European Whisky of the Year and a bottle of Single Malt mixed with cream to finish off the proceedings. This lass was happy to let us sample without paying as she had found a kindred whiskey soul in Phil. Usually costs 3.5 francs a taste.
She wanted us to try more, but enough was enough. We were both glowing like a lighthouse on a headland and by now Phil was giving the lovely lass her life story and her take on travelling the world which somehow got mixed up with Whiskey from the West Coast of Scotland. It was time to make for the door. The kindly lass showed us where it was as we were totally lost and we wobbled our way out feeling very satisfied with life in general.
Outside, we decided to try to exchange wobbly boots for hiking boots to walk off some of the excess. After 10 minutes Phil headed back to a museum displaying traditional women's clothing which she finally found via a very circuitous route without the use of a guide dog, while Volker went on for a bit longer dodging trees which kept leaping out in front of him.
Not sure what was going on, but the healthy beer was not working? I think I may have picked up the same bait Phil had yesterday or the mini bier fest was having an effect, but what ever it was, it was down hill from there on. The train ride back was not good. By the time we got back home it was bad indeed. Off to bed early with a splitting headache, aches and pains all over feeling like I had hit one of the leaping trees and very seedy indeed.
This went on all the next day and part of the following and it was his turn to spend a day in bed trying to recuperate for the next adventure. Even tried a "healthy beer" late in the day, but it didn't work. Felt a bit ripped off. Healthy beer - yeah right!
When all was good again, we had an early start and 8 train changes later which we won't bore you with, we arrived at the highest railway station in Europe - 3454 metres above sea level and into the centre of the awesome Swiss Alps. The actual peak is 4107 metres. The trip up to the top is about 90 minutes from the drop off point on a winding track, up to the snow line, then to the ski fields then it gets serious with the last bit at a very steep angle. If the cogs on the cog wheel were to shit themselves…… doesn't bare thinking about!
There are 3 stops on this final leg allowing passengers to get out, adjust to the altitude, check out the sweeping mountain scenery from strategically placed enclosed viewing areas, have a pee, a fag and a fart or whatever. On the way up we passed a cog wheel train coming down and most of the passengers were asleep. Is it THAT boring up there? Were they serving free beer at the top and everyone had a skin full? What was going on? Watch this space!
The station and associated restaurants, viewing areas, shops and other infrastructure associated with the place are just amazing. How did they build all of THIS way up THERE?? The logistics are mind boggling. Things like - how do they empty the toilets? (OK - so that's what happens when you have worked as a Park Ranger! It's certainly not all glamour.)
On arrival, one must get their Jungfrau Railways Passport stamped, then the 1st thing that hits you is the altitude causing a euphoric light head and lethargic limbs that don't want to behave themselves despite being sober. Stepping outside the centrally heated balmy 25 degrees everything, the shock to the system is breathtaking. OMG as they say on Facebook and Twitter. Temperature was at -4 with added wind chill factor at -12 degrees. Fortunately we had come prepared with all the right gear unlike some Japanese ladies wearing fashionably irrelevant shorts, stockings and other lightweight gear more in line with a Gold Coast holiday, not the current location. Quick happy snap and gone in a quivering mess. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???
Then there was the mountains. Can I say a FB / Twitter OMG again without sounding too pretentious? It was just as breathtaking the second time around. This was mountain scenery that just flabbergasted ones senses if they happen to come from relatively flat South Australia. WOW! I won't bang on about it, but needless to say were were very impressed with it all.
As we had train schedules to consider, we decided not to look at all the man made attractions. We took an alternative route to a nearby village of Grindelwald lower down, that Phil used to frequent as a ski bunny in the early 80's. Now - back to the train full of sleeping passengers encountered earlier on. The same thing happened on our train. Within 10 minutes of leaving, well over half of the passengers were asleep including Phil. It was amazing. I guess it was a combination of freezing temperatures, high altitude, the warmth of the train, the over excitement of the scenery etc that sent people into happy land. What ever it was, it was so noticeable.
The small town of Grindelwald was one of those Swiss picture postcard places that everyone sees, except that this one was the real deal. The place is surrounded by towering snow capped mountains that just blows you away with the "in your face" impact. The biggest disappointment of the day was leaving. Now That was hard to do. Think we may keep an eye out for future house sits in this area.
But leave we did and thanks to a sterling job done by navigator Phil, we arrived back "home" at about 10.30pm totally stuffed. Phil needs a big pat on the back for her diligence to duty. The trip up and back required 15 separate train and bus transfers and we got everyone on time, to the right place and stress free. What an effort! If it was left up to me, we would still be trying to get to our 1st transfer.
We are starting to think about life after Wald / Switzerland now that we are getting toward the end of this stint. We booked a Eurail ticket to allow us to head down into Italy, Austria, France, ending up in Paris with Phil's sister and brother-in law, until we head to the UK to start our next sit. Nothing is set in concrete yet, but names like Innsbruck, Milano, Lake Como, Glorenza, Biarritz, Outer Mongolia, the North Pole etc are being pursued on the map, so who knows where we will end up.
Check out the pics on Switzerland Week 5 gallery and a short vid - Jungfraujoch Photo Bomb if you get the time.
OK - Frohe Ostern (Happy Easter)! Hope you all have a great time with friends and family and that the Easter Bunny is very generous to you. Over here it is an Easter Hare, which is only reasonable to assume he / she will have bigger eggs to deliver. Hopefully!
Best wishes and lotsa love.
Philomena & Volker
