The Swiss Alps

Gruezi Mitenand from Switzerland!

Switzerland was a destination where we weren't really sure what to expect but just knew  that we wanted to see the Swiss Alps.  We did a little research and decided on the town of Interlaken as it provided easy access to the Bernese Oberland region.  Since we were planning last minute as most everything has been during this portion of the trip, we had trouble finding accommodations within the town.  We found a wonderful holiday apartment just up the valley from the small town of Interlaken, above the even smaller town of Wilderswill, in the even smaller village of Gsteigweiler.  We think this was truly meant to be.  Over the next few days, Switzerland would become one of our favorite stops on our trip and we know that's a strong statement!

Gsteigweiler was exactly what we wanted our Swiss experience to be.  We stayed in a furnished studio apartment built within a portion of an 800 year old chalet that has been in the owner's family for over 300 years!  (Remodeled a few times we're sure!) We almost didn't believe the owner until she brought out the local history books.  The view of the mountains and meadows from our front porch was priceless and we spent many hours sitting and enjoying homemade nutmeg lattes and of course some Swiss chocolate!  We got pretty good at using the Keurig Nespresso machine in our kitchen.  Who needs Starbucks anyway?

Front of the old chalet.

Rear of the chalet where we lived for 5 days.

Our quaint studio apartment with lofted bedroom.

View from our front porch at sunset.

These water fountains provided pure untreated water from the glaciers.

From the train station in Wilderswil below the town below Gsteigwiler.

Posing for the picture!  We woke up to these bells clanging EARLY in the morning!

Now that's a pretty pile of firewood.  The locals are VERY meticulous with this.

Yes, Christine made this great Nutmeg Latte!

Some of the most memorable stays on our trip have been because of the hosts in the smaller accommodations.  It would be a great blog post to describe a few of them and maybe we'll do that in the future.  As a representative example of the diverse people we've met, Marilyn, half of the couple that owns the chalet in Gsteigwiler, is native Cuban, lived in Albuquerque NM for a while, and now lives in Switzerland with her Swiss husband who is a somewhat famous piano player and their three adorable kids.  She was kind enough to pick us up from the Interlaken train station when we arrived from Paris around midnight, well after trains had stopped running near their village.  She continued to provide for everything we needed and also provided for some very interesting conversation with her mixed Spanish-English-Swiss German languages but we would always manage to get each others ideas across!  She was truly a special person and we will never forget her.

Switzerland was colder than any other area we have visited so far (ok except for a walk on a glacier in New Zealand!) and we have to admit it was kind of nice to get a bit bundled when we went out.  We spent one afternoon wandering around Interlaken, eating Swiss cheese fondue for lunch, and playing a few games of pool in a local bar because it started to rain.

The church and garden in the center of downtown Interlaken

Train passing through Wilderswil from Interlaken towards Lauterbrunnen and the highlands.

We took a short train ride to the village of Brienz and enjoyed a lovely stroll by the beautiful lake, a visit to an old church at the top of a hill, and sitting on a bench staring off across the lake into the Alps beyond, all while wondering how in the world have been so fortunate.  Numerous times on this trip we have asked each other "How is this our life right now?"  Sometimes it really is hard to believe and we are so extremely grateful that we worked hard, took a leap of faith, did something a little nuts, and made this dream a reality.  As we approach the final weeks of this adventure we are reassured every day that it was the right decision for us and one that we will never regret.

Postcard perfection on Lake Brienzersee!

Doesn't get much better than these cool chairs.

Church overlooking Lake Brienz and the village.

We wanted to get further up into the Alps so we boarded a train bound for Murren with a stop in Lauterbrunnen on the way.  To get there we took a train to a cable car to another train.  Just traveling in all of Switzerland’s different types of trains, funiculars, cable cars, and busses is an experience in itself.  Needless to say after all that travel we reached an area with exactly what we wanted.  In Lauterbrunnen we hiked up to the base of a cliff to the underside of a waterfall.  We were certainly feeling the altitude while making the climb but it was all worth it once we got there.  Wes enjoyed a bratwurst in Lauterbrunnen and let's just say that on the way back to Gsteigweiler we got off the train to get another one, but sadly they were closed for the day.

Path leading up to the waterfall.

Lauterbrunnen is known as the valley of 72 waterfalls.

View over Lauterbrunnen from behind the waterfall.

Wes and his bratwurst!  Snappy Sausage Satisfaction!

While in Murren we were planning to board a funicular train to the Schilthorn.  Unfortunately the peak was socked in with clouds for the day so the trip to the top would have been worthless.  This was a bummer but we made the best of it and found a bench in the perfect spot to enjoy the stunningly beautiful scenery, a couple apples, and of course more Swiss chocolate.  We sat there for almost two hours before deciding to walk a trail halfway back down to Lauterbrunnen and then caught the cable car back down. On our walk we stumbled onto a dairy with a small cheese stand and bought some fresh cheese.  Talk about buying local...cows in back, creamery in a barn, cheese aging in the basement, attendant selling out of the front of the barn.  And of course it was wonderful!  This was a day we will NEVER forget.

Now that's high and boy was it moving fast.

Sound of Music, anyone?! (yes we know that was Austria)  RICOLA maybe?!

There are no words and pictures just can't capture it...

We only had to try for this picture like 10 times!  The camera kept falling off the rock.

Cheesy goodness from the local cows.

We don't generate much video content while traveling and usually just rely on still pictures to tell the story.  That said, while sitting on that picture perfect bench, this may have happened...

We really hope to return to this area and see even more of Switzerland if we are lucky.  While Switzerland was beautiful and we weren't quite ready to leave the beautiful scenery and welcoming people, we couldn't wait to begin our time in Italy!

The end of the line in Murren.

Paris - The City of Lights

 Paris

Yes, that's a real photo Wes took! Paris!

Paris has been a big milestone for us since we left in January.  We have referred to it in scheduling as “before Paris or “after Paris” but weren’t really sure what would happen when we were actually there.  Discovering the high prices of hotels during the time we were there led us to looking for alternative accommodation and boy are we glad we did!  We rented a wonderful holiday apartment in the 3rd arrondissement and it was the perfect base for exploring the city.  It also offered us a nice sense of home, a kitchen for some meals to ourselves, and laundry!  It even included a five floor climb to access it which made us feel even more at home!  We weren’t sure if we had committed to a longer stay than we needed but at the end of the week we felt as if we could have stayed a month!

Small but thoroughly thought out kitchen.  And that induction cook top boils water like we've never seen!

This apartment screamed IKEA.

Pull out sofa that once we pulled out we never put it back, and actually more comfy than a lot of hotel beds.

Exercise for the day!  Reminded us of Astoria.

Paris was the first stop in a while that weather was not totally in our favor.  We had some rainy mornings and evenings but we didn’t let that stop us and for the most part the clouds parted ways when we left the apartment.  We explored a good part of the city but also ensured that we kept time to ourselves for just relaxing in parks, making a couple of nice dinners at home, walking around the Eiffel Tower at night, etc. 


The first day we arrived in Paris we did our usual thing, we set out for a walk.  What we didn’t necessarily set out to do was a nine hour walk but that’s what happened.  We walked through Le Marais to the Louvre and admired the GINORMOUS building, through the Tuileries Gardens, down the Champs-Elysees, and finally reached the Arc de Triomphe.  We had spotted the Arc from the Louvre Pyramid plaza and decided to set our sights for it.  We didn’t realize how huge it was so standing at the Louvre looking at it, it didn’t seem all that far.  Well, about two hours later (and some park benches along the way) we finally arrived but boy was it worth it!  It was inspiring and beautiful.

Love-locks on Pont des Arts bridge.  Parisians are quite annoyed by this apparently!

The stunning Louvre museum and entrance hall pyramid from the outside.

Arc de Triomphe!  To get to it you have to walk under the street because the traffic circle is so insane.

We chose to climb the Eiffel Tower by stairs to avoid the two hour long line for the elevator and really enjoyed the view from the “second floor” as its called.  It is still 380 feet above the street so the view is amazing!  We were satisfied with this view, and it was beginning to rain, so we avoided another wait for the elevator to the very top since we weren't going to be able to see much with the clouds blowing in anyway.  Seeing Paris from this perspective is certainly one of the highlights of our trip.  We would return to the tower and its surrounding parks and plazas three more times during our stay because we just couldn’t get enough.

Looking down the Champ de Mars toward Ecole Militaire and Montparnasse beyond.

View across the Seine and Pont d'Lena toward the Place du Trocadero and Fountains of Warsaw.

There is nothing quite like the Eiffel Tower lit up at night!

We ran into a couple from Buffalo and took pics for each other.

 One of our other favorite highlights in Paris was a visit to the Opera House, or Palais Garnier.  It was quite extravagant and extremely beautiful.  There were costumes on display from different ballets and operas and some illustrated history of the building and the works that are produced there.  We were able to watch a bit of rehearsal and scene changes from inside one of the grand tier boxes which was quite neat!  (sadly no pictures allowed)

Stunning! They don't build venues like this anymore.  And this is just a reception room off the lobby!

One morning we took the metro to Montmatre to see the Sacre Coeur and views over Paris.  On our walk up the hill we stopped in a bakery (of course!) and ate what we think was the best croissant of our whole visit to France.  It was an almond croissant and it was right out of the oven.  Our mouths our watering right now just thinking about it!  The view over Paris from this area was absolutely stunning.  What we were not expecting were the thousands of other people enjoying the view with us.  Luckily, this didn’t detract from the experience and we enjoyed some relaxing time on the stairs staring out over the city.

Sacre Coeur Basilica.

Panoramic view over all of Paris.

We took a day trip to the Palace and Gardens of Versailles and while we thoroughly enjoyed walking around the expansive gardens, our palace experience was somewhat of a let down.  Let us preface this by saying that when we first arrived, we opted to visit the gardens first to avoid the two hour wait in the sun to enter the palace.  By the time we had visited the gardens we only had to wait about ten minutes to enter the palace which was great!  What was not great were the crowds that were still inside from earlier in the day so every room and hallway was PACKED!!  On our entire trip we have not seen this many tourists snapping photos in one place.  So we quickly (or as quickly as we could move) walked through the different rooms saw what we could and got the heck out of there!  The even more fun part came when we returned to the train station to catch the train back into Paris and realized that we neglected to buy our return tickets before we left the train station in the morning.  (something we were both intending to do)  So, there we were, with a now closed palace full of other tourists waiting to buy our train tickets...come on, we know better than that.  So, an hour and a half later we finally had tickets and boarded a train bound for Paris.  Needless to say that evening we cooked dinner at home because we couldn’t stand the thought of being around people for another second.  Our travel advise for someone visiting Versailles in tourist high season would be this...  Unless you are a serious French history buff or have never seen any other landmark palatial home anywhere else in the world, buy the significantly cheaper ticket to just visit the gardens, see the Palace from the outside and some of the most beautiful landscaping you’ve ever seen, and catch a train back to Paris BEFORE THE PALACE CLOSES.  So, Versailles didn’t turn out exactly as we hoped but what can you do...you win some you lose some! 

What...doesn't your backyard look like this?

AAAHHH! Get us outta here!

Definitely fewer people out than in!

Cool sculpture in one of the fountain gardens...also how we felt inside the palace.

The Louvre!  Of course we went because it’s Paris and who doesn’t visit the Louvre?  But, we’ve already had the conversation about us realizing that we aren’t necessarily museum people and that same held true for the Louvre.  We created our own express two hour highlights tour and enjoyed every minute that we were in there....then we were ready for another pastry!

Tuileries Gardens in front of the Louvre.

Over the masses is the Mona Lisa.  We did get up close, then quickly moved on to quieter parts of the Louvre.

We really enjoyed figuring out the Paris metro system and got quite adept at using it to move around the city.  They are not air conditioned like the subway in NYC which can make it a little smelly but many trains are able to run without a conductor which is pretty cool.  The Paris Metro is one of several city transit systems that we’ve used that have modernized with real-time train arrival and departure information.  Get with it NYC!! 

Arts Et Metiers station lined in polished copper

Now for the stuff you really want to hear about...or at least we really want to talk about, the FOOD!  As we mentioned, we enjoyed a few dinners in the comforts of our own apartment which mostly included pasta, fresh baguettes, amazing (and cheap!) cheese, dates (one our new favs), nuts, salami, cured hams, cherries, grapes, and wine.  While we really enjoyed these evenings we also spent a few nights eating in traditional French restaurants.  Some of the more memorable dishes were Auvergne sausage with aligot (Wiki link here but just think half cheese half mashed potatoes), grilled lamb with pesto ratatouille and pine nuts, and roast duck breast with grilled plantains.  We enjoyed a wide variety of pastries like elephant ears the size of our head, elephant ear sandwich with nutella inside (amazing!), macaroons, meringue, chocolate croissants, almond croissants, oh and more croissants!  A common lunch in France is a baguette filled with various ingredients and eaten on the go.  We enjoyed a few of these, our favorite being filled with chicken, lettuce, goat cheese, gorgonzola, walnuts, and raisins.  Needless to say France was a culinary dream for us and boy did it live up to our expectations!

We were sad to leave our little apartment in Paris but we couldn’t wait to see what Switzerland and the Bernese Oberland had in store for us.  So we boarded another TGV train and headed for Interlaken!

Notre Dame Cathedral from the park behind.

We stumbled onto a free weekly Jazz concert in the park!

We walked in on a free organ concert while checking out this beautiful church.  Saint Eustache near Les Halles.

Inside Notre Dame Cathedral.  Pictures don't do this or many other churches justice.

One more pic before we go!