Category: Switzerland

Dove gray and drippy skies could not stop us.  It’s a stay-at-home weekend but I wanted at least a walk in the woods.  So we headed into our forest.  The colors this fall have amazed us.  Such a mixed variety of trees and shrubs means nearly every day brings a change.  We’ve been watching the transformations for 2 months and it’s not over.

We kept heading uphill until there was no more up to be had.  Then we circled (by mistake) the top.  As we found our path homeward, we heard it.  Across a valley from the next hillside:  a gently played alpenhorn.  With its quiet music accompanying us, we made our way down. It was like a gnome-home, fairy-forest landscape with the perfect Swiss soundtrack.

Just for contrast, as we passed a shop near our apartment, we heard Hank Williams singing “Move It On Over”.  Such a small world.

Jon had another all-day rehearsal on Saturday, so I spent the time window shopping.  It quickly became obvious that, once familiar with stores and watching for sales, one could find affordable clothes if one lived here permanently.  Though tempted by a few sightings, remembering our difficulty packing held me back from buying.  By the way, so far men’s clothing in Bern is looking very traditional and bland while women’s clothes have more style than I ever see in America.

Determined not to waste a day off in Switzerland, for Sunday I planned a day trip to Fribourg.  Jon was pretty tired, but with a little encouragement, agreed to go.  Fribourg was not quite as attractive a town as their tourism site describes (which is usually the case), but we enjoyed wandering its old streets.

The cathedral has a very unimposing front, more so since the plaster is crumbling. Inside, however, the stained glass windows were exceptional, designed and made mostly by Polish artist Józef Mehoffer (1869-1946)  in the late 1890’s to early 1900’s.

We visited three churches in 1.5 blocks:  St. Nicholas Cathedral, Eglise des Cordeliers and  Basilique de Notre Dame.

As we exited the third, it started to rain so we ducked into Espace Jean Tinguely et Niki de Saint Phalle.  The museum is tiny and Tinguely’s works, while vaguely interesting, held no sense of ‘art’ for us.  We have seen other ‘recycled-junk’ art which seemed truly artistic, but we found his work boring.

Just up the street from the Tinguely (and offered at a discount if you buy admission to the two museums together) is the Art & History Museum.  Initially it seemed somewhat small and with a rather typical assortment of mostly religious pieces.  As we explored, we were taken deeper and deeper into rooms some of which were apparently part of the foundation of some large fortress or castle from the look of the walls.

We had planned to cap our day with seeing “Skyfall” in Bern.  It started at 8:15 so between the rain and early sunset, we had plenty of time for a leisurely dinner in Fribourg.   Prepared now to pay exorbitant prices for average food, I was nonetheless stunned with the poor quality at the restaurant we happened to choose:  food so tasteless and difficult to swallow that I ate almost none of it.  This by someone who usually ‘licks the plate clean’ to avoid food waste.

With the food so bad, we didn’t linger and were back in Bern early enough to try dessert at a place we know.  They however were having a food fest that was closed to the public.  So we ‘settled’ for chocolates from a train station store and headed on.

In November and December Bern puts on a free outdoor light and music show called “Rendez-vous Bundesplatz”, using the Federal Building, where Parliament meets, as the backdrop.  This night we saw it for the second time and enjoyed it just as much as the first time.

We thought we were still early for the movie, but in Switzerland movie theaters have you pick your seats when you buy your tickets.  With some people buying tickets online, we ended up in the third row from the front.  Still, popcorn satisfied my hunger and though the film was long, it was fun to be in a dry theater, in comfortable seats, watching a new movie in English.

Side note:  I had an exceptionally miserable cold–undoubtedly contracted at one of the parties last week–and with the stress of extra rehearsals and performances and a very long day on Sunday, Jon spent much of this week in bed with a cold.  We are thinking with rain forecast this coming Saturday and Sunday, this may be a complete resting weekend.  Whoever says you can’t have too much fun hasn’t had a 55^th birthday.

3 parties this week:  I guess we are making friends.  Last Sunday to celebrate a co-worker’s birthday, we were invited to an “Apéro”.   This was a new word for us, from French, meaning “aperitif”.  It was like a 1950’s cocktail party: snacks and drinks, plus a carrot cake for the B’day.  Jon had to arrive late due to a Sunday rehearsal, so I had a chance to listen in on some German conversation.  As it was Swiss German, I only caught a few words.

Next, we gave a dinner party Wednesday to spotlight Jon’s orange wine.  Another Autodesk employee had been in the USA and stayed a month at our house, so we asked him to bring back a bottle.  The dinner received many compliments and everyone was gracious about the wine-tasting.

Last night was the 2^nd of Jon’s performances in Bern singing the Durufle Requiem at the French church.

Afterwards, a group of the singers headed out for wine and pizza in Bärenplatz.  The conversation at our end of the table was nearly all in English, but it was still a pleasure to hang out with a few locals.  It had started snowing in the afternoon and when we left the restaurant, we were surprised to see snow had started to collect.  By the time we were walking home from the tram, it was deepening on some bushes.

More surprise today as it has continued coming down, soft and wet and fluffy, all day.  We couldn’t resist heading up into our forest, a fairyland of drooping snow-laden branches.

Another one-day holiday:  Jon had rehearsal on Sunday, so we had only Saturday for touring.  Jon’s request:  once around the lake, any lake.

Lake Neuchatel—did it, Bodensee—did it.  Lake Geneva—too big.   Lake Zurich or Lake Lucerne or Lake Zug—all possible.  Further research turned up Rapperswil on Lake Zurich is the “City of Roses”, which bloom into October.  Decision:  Get there before they’re all gone.  And we did.

On the train to Zurich we met a wonderful couple:  Pieter and Anna.  Both are teachers:  he of German, she of music.  Great conversation, very open.  They told me from their time in America (lived there for 9 months) that Americans generally are helpful:  when asking directions or just looking a little lost, people often went out of their way to help.  I have always felt “helpful”, it seems natural to me to offer to help people and I enjoy it when I can, but I hadn’t thought of it as an American trait.  They consider it a good thing.  While in general I agree, I couldn’t help thinking Americans go a little far, sticking ourselves in before we understand what’s going on.

Our bike route quickly left the city and headed into countryside, taking us up high onto a ridge.  We had hoped for views of the lake, but fog covered the water, so we looked out on a field of white puffs.

After conquering miles of uphill, we were nearly flew back down to the lake on steep roads.  Then we crossed the land bridge into Rapperswil.

One of the rose gardens in Rapperswil is specially planted for the blind, with varieties that are strongly scented.  Although it’s getting cold here, many of the roses were still blooming and we went sniffing from rose to rose .

By the time we had seen the castle (exterior only) and the church (also exterior only, as a wedding was in progress) and smelled all the roses, we were 5 hours into our day and worried that we might not make it back to Zurich before dark so we headed out.

Missing a turn at one point brought us onto a two-lane highway instead of the signed route.  But there was a bike lane, it was wonderfully flat, and there were few stoplights, so we took it all the way back to Zurich.  Such a change from the morning!  We zoomed along at 25+ kph.  Made it back with time to dawdle in Zurich, which meant apple strudel with vanilla sauce eaten lakeside.  Train home, fell asleep on the couch.  AAAHHH!

Fall is here in full force.  It starts in the mountains and seeps down into the valleys.  Saturday we walked to the Gumligen train station under twinkling stars.  The trip to Zermatt takes 2.5 hours and we wanted to spend as much time there as possible.  On arriving, however, we were so cold we ducked into a café and had a 2^nd breakfast instead of getting onto the trail.

Stoked on eggs and croissants, we found our way to the Sunnegga Express.  We didn’t know exactly what to expect: gondola, funicular, train?  True to Swiss custom, they have hollowed out a tunnel through rock from Zermatt to a spot on the Unterrothorn (every hill has a name), 600 meters higher up.  The entire ride is through rock! http://www.funimag.com/suisse/sunnegga01.htm

From Sunnegga we followed a trail, climbing another 300 meters to the Stellinsee, then gradually down to the Grinjisee and the Gruensee. (See means lake.)  Almost always the Matterhorn was in view.

Our timing was perfect:  the masses of larch are golden right now at that altitude.  At times when a breeze came up, we were even ‘snowed’ on by tiny larch needles.

I usually prefer biking to hiking because the view changes faster.  This day I was continuously entertained.  Every few steps, the perspective changed.  The variety of landscape within the 17 km we hiked was amazing.  Fall colors, lake reflections, soft-seeming snow-covered glaciers and the ground gray rubble where they’ve retreated, the sheer magnitude of solid rock jutting skyward:  it’s all jaw-dropping!

This was not one of our more glamorous European excursions.  Weather was iffy.  As the weekend neared, predictions held for rain Sunday, but maybe not Saturday.  On Friday, with Jon working at home, we watched the beautiful blue sky and wished for retirement.  Next best thing:  Autodesk believes in flextime.  With his deadline Sunday night, we opted to take off late Friday to get a few hours of good weather biking before the rains came and return early enough Sunday for him to finish.

In part this was a shake-down cruise for our latest acquisitions:  Ortlieb front panniers and a handlebar rack to hold some of our camping gear .  With a bit of last-minute hurrying, we took off for Burgdorf where we knew there was a campsite which was on the way to our goal: Baden.

A light 32 km later we’re setting up camp.  The campsite’s website had said they were open until Oct. 30.  When we arrived, signs said they were closing Oct. 13.  Another weekend and we would have been hotelling it again.  But, no problem today.

Down in a valley, cliffs to both sides, next to the river…campers will know:  the rainfly was soaked by morning and nothing could dry before leaving.  No problem: we wouldn’t need the tent again because we were staying at a Schlaf-im-Stroh, “Sleep in the Straw”.  Some farmers supplement their income and give city folk a chance to semi-rough it, by renting out empty barn space.

The day remained cool, the clouds kept at bay, the 64 km went well.  Except that final hill to the farm with what would have been a great view of the Alps were the sky clear (and the nuclear power plant not in the center of the landscape!).  A little bit of walking the bike and we were welcomed to the Family Kaeser’s Gugenhof.  Well, I knew it would be rustic.  Didn’t mind the earthy smells.  There was a tarp over the hay, so that made it a bit neater.  BUT the bathroom facilities were definitely less clean, less well-kept, smellier than I would have guessed permissible (these places are supposed to be checked by an organization).  Well, no real problem.  Until the mosquitoes showed up.  We had spread out our gear to let things dry overnight, but we ended up setting up the tent, on top of the hay, to keep out the bugs.  So, no problem.  Well, then there was that one cow.  The rest all seemed to sleep.  Maybe this gal was having bad dreams.  Her bell, with an oddly regular beat, rang into the night.

We heard the rain pour down in the night and prayed it was passing through early.  No such luck.  But still no problem.  We had wanted to test our new set-up for rain-tightness.  The day varied from mist to solid rain, but we felt fine and carried on.  Troopers, you know.

Reached Lenzburg where we had thought to visit the local castle museum, but well, it was raining, castles are always up steep hills, where would we stow the gear if we went in…so we skipped it.

On to Baden.  A few minutes in old town, some nice quiche for lunch, and off to the train station.  A little cold, rather damp, but no problem.

Until we couldn’t find the ramp to get us to the right platform because when I bought the tickets they had forgotten things were changed due to construction.  By the time it was all straightened out, we had to wait an extra hour for the next train.  No real problem.  They had a nice enclosed set of benches on the platform and we could rest a bit while waiting.

Home again, home again.  Bern looked so good.  Sun was peeking through the clouds, the Kirchenfeld Bridge was now open for traffic (it had been closed off for construction until this weekend) so we didn’t have to take the long way home.  No problem.

And then it happened.  The front tire caught in a tram track when we turned at a large intersection.  One second, all is well.  The next, we’re on our sides on the asphalt.  We’re okay.  Bruised, bloodied and a little twisted.  But we, and the bike, are okay.  We think the bike did so well because it’s made to come apart, so while the force of the fall might have broken another bike, ours just twisted where it was intended to.  We straightened everything out, sat at a bus stop to let the shock wear off a bit.  And now we’re at home, camp gear spread everywhere, Jon finishing his work, me telling you our story.

Last Saturday it rained.  And it was cold.  All day.  Sunday was overcast.  And cold.  All day.  Today, Monday, more clouds, more cold.  Depressing.  Not just for today, but in anticipation.  Fall has begun.  Oh, there will be a few more sunny good-biking days before the year is through.  But maple leaves are reddening, oak leaves yellowing, plums and apples ripening. Winter is coming.

Itinerary:  a week-long trip to Scandinavia: Stockholm—Helsinki—Turku—Stockholm

Saturday we arrive at Arlanda Airport on the best day of the year:  Arlanda is having an open house so buses between the airport and Stockholm city center are free!  Easily finding the Queen’s Hotel, we were delighted to find our friend James had already left us a message.  He joined us at the hotel and walked with us around downtown and then drove us out to his island, Little Essingen.

Sunday we toured the amazing Vasa Museum www.vasamuseet.se, dedicated to one of the world’s biggest flops.  The Vasa was a Royal War Ship, intended to aid in the Thirty Years War, completed in 1628 and sunk 20 minutes after launching.  Ships this large (47.70m×11.20m×4.75m) with 2 cannon decks were fairly new.  The king, Gustavus Adolphus Vasa, wanted to awe enemies and allies alike so he ordered the dimensions, fittings, and decorations accordingly.  One of his innovations was to have the cannon (then made individually from one-use-only molds) more precisely alike so they would take the same size cannonballs.  This meant the top deck of cannon were as large as the 2^nd deck and heavier than on other ships.  This and a few other details (slightly too narrow, loose ballast) left the ship unsteady.  The Vasa’s sister ship, the Applet was only 1.5m wider, but that was enough to provide the stability which the Vasa lacked.

Next we visited the Nordic Museum.  We especially liked learning about the Sami, the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia.

We then had a lovely visit with friends James and Lissy and their darling girls, Angelina and Emily. Afterward we enjoyed strolling the island they live on. Stockholm sits entirely on islands.

Monday we saw the Stockholm Cathedral  (Sankt Nikolai Kyrka), the German Church (Tyska Kyrkan), and the modest fall version of the changing of the guard, but failed to tour the Royal Palace itself, because beginning this week the palace closed on Mondays.  Many tourist places in Scandinavia reduce hours and days open or close entirely as the weather cools.  Speaking of which, the weather was fairly reasonable for us:  cool and often overcast, but rain for the most part was rare and light for our vacation week.

The German Church in Stockholm

Monday evening we boarded the Silja Symphony, overnight ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki.  A 13-story cruise monster, with restaurants, shops, bars, and disco.  I had booked the cheapest cabin, which turned out to be below the 2 car decks.  “Sleeping with the bilge rats” was Jon’s phrase.  But our waking hours were spent roaming the ship and watching the islands of the Swedish archipelago float by.

In Helsinki we spent our day walking, following a self-guided tour from the web. Having the GPS with us we learned later that we had walked 23 km!  The lake in the middle of the city provides lots of lovely long views as you go around.

When the sea is not frozen most of the Finnish fleet of ice-breakers is moored at Helsinki’s north port.

In 1809 Russia took Finland from Sweden. Czar Alexander moved the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki in 1812 to reduce Swedish influence in Finland and bring the capital closer to St. Petersburg.  The downtown core, Senate Square, was rebuilt in neoclassical style to resemble St. Petersburg, with the Lutheran Helsinki Cathedral dominating one side. Like most Protestant churches the interior is plain.

Topping a rocky hill is the Eastern Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral, with an unusual interior.

We made our way around Töölönlahti, the lake in the center of the city, warmed ourselves in the free Botanical Garden, but were too late to go inside the Winter Garden.

We usually enjoy the medieval, Renaissance, or Baroque architecture of Europe’s old cities, but Helsinki also has a neighborhood of apartment buildings constructed in Jugendstil (Art Deco) which we thought lovely (for apartment complexes!).

In Europe there is everywhere modern mixed with ancient.  In Helsinki they are trying to build a reputation as a design center.  So while there is plenty of the usual ‘concrete box’ modern (mostly apartments and office buildings), they are attempting to add new public buildings with some flair.
Nonetheless the one truly depressing hotel on this trip was in Helsinki.  It sounded like it had ‘character’ and fit with our nautical theme as it was  a sailor’s hotel.  Low cost and good location could not make up for peeling ceiling paint and negligible mattresses.  Although I can say the employees were as jolly as any other Finns we saw!

Wednesday we took a train to Turku. Founded in the 13^th cen., it’s the oldest city in Finland. Until the Russians moved the capital (taking not only government but university, botanical garden, etc.), it was the most populous. It retains some of its importance as a port (3 million people pass through each year) and is now the 3^rdlargest urban area in Finland. It also still has a strong connection to Sweden: over 5% of the population still claims Swedish as their mother-tongue. Just 15 years after the capital was moved to Helsinki, a fire destroyed most of Turku.

We found our hotel, the Bridgettine Convent Guest House, as pristine perfect as one could imagine, a pleasant contrast to my Helsinki choice.  Then we went over to the Sibelius Museum www.sibeliusmuseum.abo.fi  There we heard Tanel Joamets taneljoamets.edicypages.com/, a phenomenal Estonian pianist, in an all-Debussy concert.  As an encore, he asked the audience to name a theme which he would compose to on the spot.  Someone called out “concrete and glass”.  He thought a moment. He played.  I was awed.  I could easily hear the theme.

Thursday we toured the castle, had lunch at a café built to house the Daphne (a sailboat made famous by Swedish-Finland author Goran Schildt), and visited the Forum Marinum www.forum-marinum.fi, an ultra-complete shipping museum.

Friday was perhaps the highlight of our entire trip because we rented bikes.  We rode out to the island of Ruissalo where there is marvelous botanical garden.  They were selling grapes they had grown in the greenhouses.  Remember:  this is Finland!!  After the botanical garden we rode out to the end of the island and wandered about the rocky shore.

Friday night was another ferry crossing.  To our dismay this trip was worse than the first, partially because Friday is party night so the ferry was crowded with young people, out to get drunk and/or laid (kinda fun to watch though!).  There were ship-wide announcements at least to midnight and a harsh wake-up alarm at 5:05 a.m. (the ship docks at 6:10 and has a short turn-around).  And since the ride was shorter (leaving at 8:15 p.m.), we saw no great scenery.

Saturday, our last full day, started badly with the early alarm, but after a lovely hour walk in the rain with our suitcases, our arrival at Malardrottningholm Yacht Hotel was perfect: they checked our room and despite the early hour, it was ready so we could register and leave our luggage there. They also said we could partake of the buffet breakfast. We even napped a bit before leaving for the century-old steamboat ferry to Drottningholm Palace. After a tour and lunch, we ferried back to the yacht, had dinner on board, and slept well.

Sunday was to be a just-get-to-the-airport day, but we had learned the city hall would be open for tours at 10 a.m.  And we were glad we chose to add this.  The building is very elaborate and magnificently decorated.  It is the venue for the Nobel Prize banquet.

Our neighbors from Vendola, Val and Dennis, stayed a few days with us on their way to family visits in Sardinia and England.  Flying into Zurich, they stayed overnight to see the city, then came down to Bern for 3 days: one for the Alps, one for Bern, and one for the Golden Pass and Chillon.

We spent Saturday with them on their tour of Bern.  Unfortunately, Jon had to leave the Bern tour early for a rehearsal, but that night Jon made sure we gave them a “real Swiss dinner”, that is, raclette.

Sunday was Jon’s first performance in Switzerland, at the Stadtkirche in Thun.  We went down early and visited the Thun Schloss.

Often in Switzerland we have seen rooftop gardens.   This example is a tire shop, as seen from the tower of the Thun Schloss.

The Stadtkirche, the church where Jon performed, was a  short walk from the castle.  The event was part of Bach Week in Thun.

A ride to Solothurn tripped our odometer to 0, meaning we have ridden 1,000 km on the tandem since our arrival in Switzerland.  “Solothurn is regarded as the finest Baroque town in Switzerland, where Italian grandeur is combined with French charm and German practicality“, according to a Swiss tourism site.  Unfortunately for us, the magnificent St. Urs Cathedral filled with “wonderful Baroque stuccos“ is closed for renovation.  If we hear they get the work done on time (it’s supposed to be finished this year), perhaps we‘ll ride over there again to see it.

But we enjoyed the lovely streets, interesting towers, remains of ancient town walls, and the tiny (and free) Stein Museum, displaying chunks of Roman-era carvings and an interesting (to us remodelers) interactive display showing how different tools are used in stone-carving.

Getting there was a little less fun than usual.  Saturday started with rain which continued almost until our arrival. A respite allowed us to see the town without getting drenched (packing ultra-light led us to neglect bringing an umbrella or hats).  Seeking food at the inconvenient hour of 5:30pm, we were able to find a restaurant which would serve us from the “short menu“, that is between lunch and dinner.  The odd part was that the food was as plentiful as a full dinner, but our entrees cost about half their evening price!  I couldn’t resist ordering the “Kase Brot Entlebucher“ just to find out whether this fancy sounding dish was really just grilled cheese.   It was, sort of:  if the cheese is melted on top of the fat chunk of bread and spreads all over the plate, and it’s topped by grilled mushrooms, fresh pear slices and a gravy-like sauce.  Not bad for cheese bread!

Our hotel was also a pleasant surprise.  We had booked at the boxy-looking Ramada, only because it was a bit cheaper than what else we could find available.  While pretty atrocious from the outside, it was quite classy inside, a major step up from the B&B in Yverdon.  We skipped their 25CHF/person breakfast, in favor of picking up yogourt and fruit at the local grocery the night before; otherwise, the price would have topped the rest of Solothurn’s choices.