Switzerland October 1998

Friday October 9, 1998 Lucerne

Arrived Zurich at ~ 7:30 AM after a 7 ¾ hour flight from Chicago . We caught a train to Zurich Hbf and it turned out that the train was heading to Lucerne , so we didn’t even need to switch. We got to Lucerne before 10 AM , only a 50 minute train ride from Zurich . Found our hotel Zum Weissen Kreuz without a problem. We are just off of the waterfront on a side street. The room is adequate, furnishings could use some updating. We are using our vouchers so we don’t have to pay anything, the room rate says 179 SF. The Chapel Bridge is less than a block away. The weather was clearing so we decided to take a boat cruise on Lake Lucerne (aka Vierwaldersee). We took a 2 hour ride to Alpnachstad where we took a cog rail train to Mt Pilatus. It is the steepest cog train in the world with a 48% grade. We wandered around the top for an hour or so, and then took the gondola down. At the first stop we saw an alpine run, where you could ride sleds down a winding track. We decided to do it and had a lot of fun. The run was pretty long and at the end, they pull you back up to the top backwards, but it’s a straight run. The gondola took us to Kriens where we caught a bus back to Lucerne . We checked out the Old Town a bit, and then decided to to the Wilden Mann Hotel’s Stubli for dinner (Bahnhofstrasse 30). Neil had schnitzel and I had veal medallions. Food was very good but expensive (32SF for an entrée 1.4 SF=$1). After dinner we walked across the river and around Old Town .

Saturday October 10, 1998

Slept in till 8:30 , then we took a boat to the Swiss Transportation Museum . Cost 36SF for the two of us to get in. pricey for what we saw. Nice display of trains, watched the 360 degree Swiss panorama. We found a small mall with a large Co-op supermarket. Bought some snacks and sodas and a hairdryer! The dryer was only 15 SF, reduced from 39 SF. I thought it would be a smart purchase since we’ll be back in Europe next year and Neil’s parents will be here in April. Then I don’t have to bring a converter (except for the curling iron and razor. We checked out some shops this afternoon. I got a cute pair of socks with Edelweiss on them. We walked over the covered bridge to the funicular for the Chateau Gutsch. Paid 2 SF for the ride up, looked around a bit, and then took the path down. There was a farmer’s market this morning on both sides of the river, many beautiful flowers and nice vegetables. We walked to the lion monument carved into the rock. It was much more impressive than I had expected. It was pretty cool. We went to the Hotel Des Alpes for dinner, had some decent schnitzel. We are going to get up early tomorrow so we can catch the 7:54 train to Interlaken .

  10/11/98 Gimmelwald

We took the Brunig Bahn from Lucerne to Interlaken Ost, got in around 9:15 . Caught the 10:32 to Lauterbrunnen where we took the postal bus to Stechelberg Schilthorn, where we caught the gondola to Gimmelwald. We found that our Swiss Pass covers us all the way to Murren. Found Pension Gimmelwald easily, just a minute walk from the gondola. We got our room and headed up to the Schilthorn. We were very excited when we first arrived in Interlaken because the TV cameras at the top of the Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn showed clear weather. With our Swiss pass the round trip fare from Murren to the Schilthorn was only 43SF! The view from the Schilthorn was great, we could see the Monch, Eiger, and Jungfrau . We had lunch at Piz Gloria, prices weren’t too bad. I had Gulaschsuppe, Neil had sausage and hashbrowns, and we both had mineral water for 40 SF. Food and drinks are very expensive in Switzerland . On the way down we checked out Murren, the more resorty town above Gimmelwald. Found an open bakery and had some apfelstrudel. We walked down to Gimmelwald on the paved path, passed by Walter’s – it appeared to be closed. Saw lots of goats and cows. They have bells which you can hear in the distance. There’s not much to do at all in Gimmelwald so we took the gondola down to Stechelberg and the postal bus back to Lauterbrunnen. We then took the funicular back up to Murren. The train ride along the top was very scenic, great views of the Monch, Eiger, and Jungfrau . Took about 15 minutes to walk from the train to the gondola station. Ate dinner downstairs at the pension, all the tables were full so we sat by a couple from SanDiego. Not a whole heck of a lot to do at the Pension so we’re going to be around 9:00 . It is raining, but we hope it’ll clear so we can go to the Jungfraujoch tomorrow.

10/12/98 Jungfraujoch

The alarm went off at 6:00 , since it was still set from the day before. Neil got up and looked out and the sky was still dark but you could see the stars and moon – it was perfectly clear! We caught the 6:30 gondola and took the early bird train to the Jungfraujoch. It was 83 SF each from Wengen with our discount  due to the Swiss Pass. When we got to the top it was clear, but windy. It had snowed the night before so the snow was really blowing. Only one of the observation decks was open at the Sphinx, the others were closed due to the wind. We weren’t able to walk out to the glacier, ski, or do the dog sled either. The Aletsch glacier was incredible, it stretches all the way to the Rhone River . We left the Jungfraujoch at noon . From Kleine Scheidigg we walked ½ hour down to Wengenalp where we took the train the rest of the way down to Wengen. It was a nice easy walk with incredible views. Wengen is more of a resort town than Murren. We then took the train to Interlaken and looked around a bit. We decided to take the train to Grindelwald where we ate dinner at the Hirschen, the town is nice but caters to the Japanese as does Interlaken . We caught a train to Zweilutschinen and then to Lauterbrunnen. Unfortunately, the postal bus didn’t come at 9:05PM like we had expected, so we’d have to wait till 10:05 to catch the bus. Neil decided we should start walking, got about to the edge of Lauterbrunnen where is was another 45 minutes to Trummelbach falls, so we turned around, plus it was raining and we didn’t want the bus to pass us by. Sat for about 20 minutes back at the bus stop when a car stopped and asked us if we knew where the gondola was to Murren. We said we did and asked for a ride. Two Americans in their early-mid 20’s (Sarah and Mark). Turns out they were staying at the Pension Gimmelwald too. Came back and had a beer, got to bed ~ 11:30 our latest night yet!

10/13/98 Gimmelwald

We woke up to sun and a beautiful day. Had some of the locally made yogurt for breakfast. We hiked down to Stechelberg this morning, took 1 ½ hours. There was a cattle show there so we saw a lot of cows going through the town. We walked almost to Trummelbach Falls , caught a postal bus the stop before and rode for maybe ¼ mile. Went to Trummelbach Falls and then to Lauterbrunnen, decided to skip the cattle show in Murren since the weather was still clear. Decided to go to Kandgersteg to see the Oeschinnensee. Left Lauterbrunnen at 2:05 and got there at 3:26 . Walked 15 minutes to the chair lift to the top. We then walked 20 minutes to the lake. The view was incredible, the sheer rock face against the water, snow capped mountain. Caught the 5:30 train back and got the 7:30 gondola to Gimmelwald. The Swiss transportation is incredible, all the connections work perfectly. Took the gondola to Murren where we ate at the Alpenruh. Neil had wonderful grilled veal and I had stroganoff that was good. I was able to get a ½ portion. The plan for tomorrow is to leave here at 7:30 , we’ll catch the Panoramic Express in Interlaken at 8:33 to Lausanne . We decided to skip a night in Kandersteg and add a night in Lausanne . Hopefully, we’ll be able to stay at the Minotel where we have a reservation for the next night. We paid our bill tonight and Nicole gave us food to take with us for breakfast. I have a jar of Esther’s yogurt to eat before we go since it’s in a glass container.

Thoughts on Gimmelwald:

Pension Gimmelwald

90SF double room, nice showers down the hall

Avoid room 7, noise from restaurant/bar and smokey, try to get third floor room

Creaky, rustic place

Owners very nice, good food

Great location, just up from gondola, next to mountain hostel

Closed Oct.18-Dec.25 and in April for a few weeks

Gondola is closed for 3 weeks in November for maintenance, alternate route is funicular to Murren, then the train, then special bus that runs to Gimmelwald when gondola is out of service.

View across valley is incredible, full frontal of the Jungfrau

When we return we will probably stay in Murren, not much to do in Gimmelwald.

Swiss Pass covers gondola to Murren and Gimmelwald and trains to Wengen and Grindelwald. Also funicular and train to Murren. Lauterbrunnen would be a decent place to stay, transportation hub, they also have a hostel. Get up early and check weather if planning on going to top of mountains.

Price with Swiss Pass

Murren->Schilthorn 43SF RT

Wengen->Jungfraujoch 83SF (earliest train special)

Chair lift to Oeschinnensee 17SF RT

10/14/98 Lausanne

Left Gimmelwald this morning for Lausanne , got on the slow train in Spiez to Zweisimmen so we missed our connection for the Panoramic Express. We spent 12 SF yesterday for the reservations for the train. Oh well, caught a later train to Montreaux and then Lausanne . We are staying at the Minotel Alagare, one block lower than the train station and only ½ block down. There is a self service laundry across the street from our hotel, so we’ll probably do laundry since it is so convenient. Visited the cathedral this afternoon and then took the Metro to Ouchy, the area along Lake Geneva . We relaxed in our room for a while, watched CNN and other programs in English. For dinner we went back to Ouchy and had crepes at a creperie. Tomorrow we’ll go to the Chateau Chillon on the other side of Montreaux. We may also visit the Olympic Museum, as the IOC is headquartered here.

10/15/98

We visited Chateau Chillon this morning. It has constantly been inhabited since the 11^th Century. The castle has undergone many changes throughout the centuries, but is still in excellent condition. We walked 45 minutes to Montreaux from the Chateau, passed by the youth hostel at Territet which looked quite nice. Right below the train station in a newly refurbished building and ~100 meters from the lake. Regional trains stop at the Territet station. We took the train back to Lausanne from Montreaux and ate lunch at the Placette Dept. Store. They had an excellent reasonably (for Switz.) priced buffet. The dining area was nice and there was even a small band playing. I bought a Michel Jordi watch Swiss ethno watch after lunch. It is by a Swiss designer and has cows around the face, edelweiss on the band – very cute! Next we went to the Olympic Museum, they had displays of the history of the games and even athlete’s equipment. They had Eric Heyden’s skates form the 1980 Olympics when he won 5 gold medals. We did laundry across from our hotel, 8SF to wash and 8SF to dry. The washers work quite differently than at home, so Neil and I wondered if we were doing it correctly. It all turned out fine. For dinner we went to the Manora buffet just up from the Metro station. Neil had good schnitzel and I had a tasty stir-fry, including beverages and desert our bill was 35 SF. We are going to try to find more buffets the rest of our trip, they seem to be where the locals eat.

10/16/98 Zermatt

The track for our train to Birg train changed, luckily we caught it at the last minute. We were able to catch a train from Brig direct to Zermatt , arrived before noon and found our hotel. We are staying at the Hotel Butterfly, part of the Best Western chain. It is actually the nicest hotel we’ve stayed in yet and still has European atmosphere. Our room is large with a balcony. It was again clear weather so we took the Gonergrat Bahn to the Gonergrat. It’s a cog rail that goes up to 3100 meters. This year is the 100^th anniversary, so our tickets were a special price for the month of October, only 57SF for both of us round trip! Usual fare is 63SF per person. Great views from the top, we ate lunch and sat outside on the terrace, it was warm in the sun. We hiked down to Zermatt from the next to the last stop before Zermatt . We ended up on the far end of town and walked back though lots of shops. We stopped at the cemetery and saw the graves of many who died climbing the Matterhorn and other mountain peaks in the area. Had dinner at one of the hotel’s, the booth was really neat and secluded. Food was good, not great. Picked up some beer earlier at Co-op, Neil and I played some terrible pool in the billiards room of our hotel while drinking beer.

10/17/98 Zermatt day 2

Had my best night's sleep yet. We stopped at the TI and decided to hike up to Furri, the first stop on the Kleine Matterhorn gondola line. Took us an hour and a half. Stop at the Riccola display along the way. They had a quiz to identify the herbs used in their cough drops, so we did that. The winner gets a week trip in Zermatt . From Furri we took the gondola to the Kleine Matterhorn. Round trip for both of us was 52SF. It was our most impressive gondola ride yet. The last portion was close to a vertical ascent. The Kleine Matterhorn is at 12,500 feet. It has the highest skiing in Europe and is open all year round. We also had great views of the glacier up there. We took an elevator up to look out the terrace. It was very windy and cold. We walked to the opposite end of the gondola station to see where the skiers start from. From there, one is able to ski to Italy . Again it was very windy and some of the skiers were really getting blown around. We got off again at Furri on the way down, hiked to a lake and then down to Zermatt . On the way down we saw a lot of sheep and even a baby ewe that looked like it was just born. We picked up some food at Coop for our train ride tomorrow. Called 2 hotels in St Moritz and both are closed.  Lonely Planet lists one at the station, so we'll try that when we get there. We went to the Hotel Derby for supper. Didn't realize their staff was all Italian until after we ordered. We both ordered wienerschnitzel, which was good, but I probably would've ordered something Italian instead.

Zermatt overview:

Hotel Butterfly: rooms are great, we used voucher from Swiss travel. TV, balcony, nice decor.

Gonergrat:full fare 63SF, 100 anniversary special & swiss pass~28.5SF(full 35SF)

uses different cog than others.

Kleine Matterhornbahn:full fare ~60SF roundtrip from Zermatt , from Furri with swiss pass ~27.5SF

steep ascent, excellent view of glacier, best gondola we've been on for view, lots of skiers.

Take elevator to terrace, end opposite of gondola is where ski run starts.

From the lobby at the Hotel Butterfly in Zermatt .

Heaven:

is where the police are British

the cooks are French

the mechanics are German

the lovers Italian

and it's all organized by the Swiss

Hell:

is where the cooks are British

the mechanics are French

the lovers are the Swiss >

the Police German

and it's all organized by the Italians

10/18/98 Zermatt to St Moritz , Glacier Express, wait let's go to Chur instead.

Took the 10:18 Glacier Express from Zermatt . We were disappointed with the car. We had expected something fancier giving the reputation of it. In Brig, 2 kids and their mother got on in our car. The girl was a real brat, and her mother did nothing to discipline or control her. That got annoying real fast. She was swinging from the luggage racks, whining, rolling of the floor, etc. Midway into the trip, Neil & I decided to go to Chur instead. Looking at the maps and guidebooks we decided it was a good idea. The day was foggy and rainy and we couldn't see outside more that 20 feet or so. It would normally be spectacular scenery. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and the same. We were going to stay in St Moritz for the night and go to Soglio near the Italian border. Instead we went to Chur and saved 2 hours on the train to St Moritz today, and 2 hours back towards Appenzell later. We got into Chur around 4:00 , happy with our choice to end our train ride 2 hours early. We are staying at the Romantik Hotel Stern. Found it in Karen Brown's guide. We have a nice room for 180SF. The pillows are huge and so are the comforters. We ate in the restaurant and Neil had excellent veal & beef & pork medallions. It was called the "Chur's Councilman's dinner". By the way, one of the best meals Neil's ever had. I had the 4 course dinner featuring stroganoff & chocolate mousse for desert. The meal too 2 1/2 hours but was excellent. Tomorrow we'll head to Appenzell, but we may detour to Liechtenstein enroute. Neil & I walked around Chur before dinner. It has a quaint old town feel with narrow lanes and fountains. We stopped in the cathedral which goes back to 1150. Beautiful stained glass windows. The town is refreshing after being in super touristy Zermatt . As Neil said, there aren't postcard racks all over the place.

10/19/98 Appenzell

Left Chur this morning in the rain. Decided to take the train to Buchs, from there it is only a 20 minute bus ride to Vaduz , the capital of Liechenstein. We got our passports stamped at the tourist office for 2SF. Checked out their postage stamp museum(that took maybe 3 minutes), and caught a bus back to Buchs. All in all stayed 20 minutes in Lichenstein....  Continued by train on to St Gallen where we caught a local(slow) train to Appenzell. Decided to splurge and stay at the Romantik Hotel Santis on the main square. We figured since the weather was bad, we'd spend more on the room, since we'd be spending more time in it. Appenzell is a cute town with narrow lanes, fountains, and neat painted buildings. Our room is quite dark & morn, we would have preferred a more atmospheric room. We had dinner at the hotels restaurant. It was excellent! Neil & I had the rack of lamb for 2. Delicious. We also had apple fritters for desert that were great. Interesting note, the couple next to us brought their dog, a german shepherd into the restaurant. It sat underneath the table for 2 hours without a problem at all. The weather tomorrow should be clear, we saw stars in the sky when we went out for a walk after dinner. We are going to stay somewhere cheaper tomorrow, either in Appenzell or in Ebenalp, which we'll need to take a cable car to get to.

Romantik Hotel Santis

Room 18SF(cheapest)

higher depending on size

staff excellent

restaurant excellent

We kind of laughed that  we have thrown our budget approach out the window the last few days.

10/20/98 Appenzell to Bern

Woke up to rain in Appenzell, decided to take it slow and see how the weather turned out. It looked like it was clearing so we decided to go to Ebenalp. We brought our packs along thinking we may stay at the Bergalp Aesher GastHaus, one of Rick's recommendations. We took the train to Wasseraun and then the gondola up to Ebenalp. Our swiss pass saved 50% on the gondola. Round trip for both of us was 22SF. We hiked down to the Aesher Gast Haus, 12 minutes from the station, part of the hike was thru a cave. The Aescher is perched on the side of the cliff. It looked like it would be a great place to stay in the summer. We hiked back up to the lift station, it was getting cloudy & started to snow a little. We were glad we left our bags at the lift and decided not to stay at Bergalp. With the weather bad and no one staying there besides us, we would have been very bored. We had lunch at the BergAlp & decided after looking at the guidebook to take the train to Bern .  We were able to catch an Intercity train in Gossau that got us to Bern by 5:15 . Checked into the Goldener Schluzel on Rathausgasse, about 10 minutes from the station. We have a decent room with WC. Not sure what the price is, I think about ~130SF. It was in both Rick Steves and Lonely Planet. We went to the Kunst Museum before dinner. They have a large display of Paul Klee. I enjoyed the paintings by Albert Anker. They reminded my of Renoir. For dinner we went to the Manora buffet. Dinner, sodas, & desert for 33SF. We went to an organ concert at the Franzosiche Kirche near our hotel tonight. It was very nice. 15SF each. Neil got to watch Planes, Trains, & Automobiles in French tonight.

10/21/98

After breakfast we walked through the old town of Bern to the bear pits. They had 5 large brown bears in a zoo-like display pit. We walked up Kramgasse to Einstein's house where he lived for 7 years. It was interesting. We also saw the clock tower play. We checked out of our hotel and caught a train to Zurich . Waiting for our train toe schafthausen, we got tasty weisswurts for a vendor in the market. Got to schaufthausen and decided to go to Stein am Rhein instead. Saw the Rheinfels from the train-very impressive. The hotel we planned on staying was closed. They opened at 4:00 though. We walked around town for over an hours. The town is really cute with painted buildings, flower boxes, and bay windows. We decided to spend 2 nights here and use it as our homebase to explore the area along the Rhein. The hotel Rheinfels is very nice, we have a room on the top floor with a view of the Rhein. The restaurant is closed on wednesday at the hotel, so we decided to go to Schaufthausen for dinner. Unfortunately, the department store buffets and the Manora all closed at 6:00 . We ended up getting pizza at an Italian place. It was cooked in a wood burning oven so that was neat. While waiting for the train back to Stein Am Rhein, we bought a beer at the kiosk at the train station. Drank it on the platform. Neil got a kick out of it, because at home you can't have open intoxicants in public places like that. We walked back the 10 minutes back from the station to our hotel. The hotel was so very dark that we though we were the only ones staying here. I did hear someone else come in a little bit ago though. Neil found a cigar shop in Stein, bought a few Montecristo Cuban cigars for Mike.

10/22/98 Stein Am Rhein

Took the train back to Schaufthausen, got there around 9:30 . the sun wasn't high enough though to burn off the mist from the Rheinfells, so it was kind of foggy. We walked to the Schloss(castle), where there is a youth hostel and a stairway leading down to the viewing platform. We paid the 1SF to go down. We were unbelievably close to the falls. On one of the platforms the falls were rushing below us. We walked along the river path and crossed to the other side and walked to the restaurant/viewing areas. From there were able to get a boat for 5.50SF each to take us to the center of the falls. It was pretty cool! We walked back to the top after the falls and caught the bus back to Schaufthausen. We ate at the Manora for lunch and then took the train to Krenzlinger. The area between the station and the german border wasn't very nice. On the train right before we got to Krenzlinger we saw what appeared to be a illegal alien compound. It was fenced and had barbed wire on top. Inside were adults and children who appeared to be of middle-eastern descent. We crossed the border to Constance and found the pedestrian zone. Not the nicest german town I've been to. We did find a toy store with a large amount of Steiff and Beanie babies. None of the brand new beanies though. Headed back to Stein Am Rhein, checked out the lithograph shop and got Neil some echinacea at the apothecary. Ate dinner at our hotels restaurant. Neil had excellent grilled veal medallions and I had zander fillets.

10/23/98 to Zurich

 Left a foggy Stein Am Rhein this morning en route to Zurich . Stopped at Winterthur . We went to the Museum Oska Reinhart am Stadtgarten. Saw some German, Swiss, & Austrian art. We wanted to go to sammlung Oskar Reinhart am Romerholz, the collection is housed in his former residence. The brochure said it was closed for remodeling until the end of 1998. That collection has Monet, Manet, & Renoirs. Oh well. We ate lunch at the EPA, wasn't too great. It was cheaper than the Manora, however. We headed to Zurich , ended up staying at the Hotel Leonhard Zurich, just over the banhofbrocke from the trainstation. We have a double room with WC for 175SF. The beds are comfortable and have nice down comforters. We have a room overlooking the river. The street below is somewhat noisy, mainly cars zipping by. We confirmed our flight at the swissair office at the railstation. Inquired about buying tickets to the airport tomorrow, then man at the ticket window said they are only good for 2 hours. So we'll buy them tomorrow. They are only 5.40SF each. We walked down Bahnhofstrasse, looked at the window displays of all the expensive shops. We went to the Kunstmuseum. Saw works by VanGogh, Monet, and Anker. Stopped at a pharmacy and got Neil some nasal spray for the flight tomorrow. We tried to find a place recommended by Lonely Plant for dinner. Couldn't find it so we ended up at a very quaint Bier Halle. Izur Krone. Not far from the Parade Platz. A swiss couple sat at our table with us. We ended up talking with them and had a very nice conversation. they were in their 50's and live on the outskirts of Zurich . We talked about crime, Switzerland , drug companies. It was very interesting. We found out that the fences in "camp" we saw yesterday was not for deportation, but actually people legally coming into the country and fleeing war(Kosovo for example). The Bier Halle was very quaint and had murals on the walls and ceilings. Later we went to the Bier Hall just down from our hotel the H Salzburger's, a typical beer hall band playing polkas. It was fun. More expensive than we had expected because they charged a 5SF cover. Their large beers 1/2 liter were 6.60SF.

  10/24/98 Flight home