Being a diary of our trip to Switzerland and Germany (with stops in France and Luxembourg) during August 2002.
Aug 6.
We flew all night, Austin to Chicago to London to Geneva, and it was pretty uneventful. We were held up in Chicago because they had to go through the cargo looking for the checked luggage of a no-show passenger. On the transatlantic leg, I took the sleeping pill called Sonata and actually slept for a while, but awoke about 2:30 Austin time. We were close to England, so didn’t get back to sleep. Got in at 9:30 - Brit efficiency was immediately evident - no gate, no stairs, a giant pain. Once out of the plane we sat around until 1 PM and flew to Geneva. David met an interesting young lady on the plane – a rich girl from New York who was visiting her old Swiss boarding school. Geneva was cloudy and rainy when we arrived. I wish I had brought a jacket. Wd checked into our room at Ramada park. Tidy, but real small - most amazingly there are no drawers or real closet space. All over Europe we saw their fire escape signs which just cracked David up – here’s why. Heading to dinner we met an old crystallographer friend from Minnesota, Len Banasack and his wife Joyce. We all went downtown on the bus (2.20 CHF one way!) had had a nice, but pricey dinner. I had spaghetti carbonara and wine - about 25 CHF = $17. It was good though. We went back to the hotel, showered and were ready for a good nights sleep.
I registered at meeting, and met some old friends like Charley Carter, Paula, Howard, Alex McPherson etc. I attended a couple of good sessions and talks. Meantime, the boy borrowed a bike and explored the city as only a young, strong person can. Here is pic of him, taken by some stranger, at Rousseau’s statue.
In the evening David and I went downtown for supper. We walked around the old city including the University district. It is a very lush and civilized area; we particularly loved the chess games in the park. Then we walked back over the river and along the Lake front where the Festival of Geneva was taking place. Kind of ugly really. In one part of town we saw a fancy lakeside restaurants with all kinds of Saudis sitting around in their sheets. The sidewalk was double parked with Mercedes. The menus were in Arabic too. I later learned Prince Faud was town with over 300 of his retinue. He has a palace on the lake but this is the first time he's used it. For supper we ate at an outdoor bistro; I had a club sandwich and David a personal pizza. These items, of modest quality at best, cost about $11 each. We return on the #10 bus, our standby, which runs from the center of the city, past our hotel, and on to the airport. I washed out a couple pair of socks – just in case.
We got up early on a beautiful day. We have a big breakfast on the hotel package and loaded up with food for the day (ha ha). We went to the airport and adjoining train station and got two return tickets for a scenic train ride into the Alps (he total was 166 CHF, about $124 - second class). The train was really nice and unbelievably smooth on the welded tracks; here is the boy looking good. We went along the lake, past Lusanne and on to Montreux. This place is so beautiful you just have to see it to believe it. The Alps rise right up out of the lake and the town is wedged in along the shore. It is a very high tone place too. We waited for our connecting train by walking along the lake front park. Here we are just before we went for some dessert crepes for a snack at an out-door eatery. Then we caught a " Panoramic" train up into the Alps to the town of Chateau d' Eox; here is a last view of Montreux as we climbed away. The ride was very pretty and the sky was clear and the temperature was great, about 68 –72 even up at Chateau d’Eox. We walked around town a while. Later, David took a ski lift system up the mountain to hike around; here is shot from the tram. He then climbed higher and got this picture of the town in the valley below. Meantime, motivated by my totally rational fear of height, I walked around town to a lovely old church, build originally around 1500. It is on a hill in town and afforded a fabulous view of the town, the surrounding mountains, and Alpine meadows. When David returned we had a nice late lunch at an outdoor restaurant. I had sliced beef and wine and David had lobster bisque and beer. We then caught the train back to Montreux and then back to the Geneva airport. We got a bit hungry and went to Pizza Hut for supper about 9:30. A medium pizza costs $20 in this town. We then got a good nights sleep, being mighty beat.
Boy am I glad we went to the mountains yesterday. Today is overcast, cool, and threatening. I got up way before the boy, about 8 o'clock, did my usual exercises and went to breakfast with Alex McPherson. I went to the conference and got my hotel booking cleared up so we can check out Saturday and check back in on Wed evening -after we get back from Germany. I heard several good talks and then went home for lunch and looked around a local mall. Here are some prices in Swiss-ville. Gas is 1.3 CHF/liter (about $4/gallon), at McDonalds a quarter pounder meal deal is 10 CHF (about $7.50) and a little regular cheeseburger is 3.50 (about $2.80) - which is what I ate because I am sick of this screw-job. I also saw Dockers slacks at 95CHF ($70) and an Alabama sweatshirt (with hood) for 115 CHF ($80). The cost of living seems to be 2 to 3 times what it is in the U.S. Back in the room I used the hair dryer to finally dry my socks. In the evening David led me to a supermarket where we shopped for supper. We got rolls, cream cheese, keifer, and plums. It was about 1/3 cost of a normal Geneva supper and was quite good.
Aug 10.
Today we head to Germany. It is raining and quite dark out when we rose. We went down for a full breakfast, took a quick email check, then finished packing and caught the shuttle bus to the airport car rental place. We got a brand new Peugeot (David picking up the rental tab) and headed out.
On the road there is a light rain, but it actually gives the landscape a very interesting look and mood; we both like it. The road is very fine and the road signs and markings are so clear we have no trouble all the way into Germany really. The French landscape is beautiful. This area is hilly, maybe even a bit mountainous, but not extreme. Nearly every valley has a picturesque town in it with a prominent church steeple in the center. We tend to drive about 130 KM/hr (about 80). There are a lot of caravans (little house trailers) on the road going slow and we pass some other cars, but a lot of folks pass us too, even though the road is wet and there is intermittent rain. We stop for lunch at a stop north of the Lyon cutoff and before Dijon. Prices here are like Switzerland. A bowl of spaghetti Bolognese is 6.60 euros (nearly $7)! I take over the driving and push us on through Nancy. Just before Nancy we stopped for the toll, 29 euros, but I guess it was worth it - it was some fine road. David takes over and the rain starts up hard. We hit a bad traffic jam just before Metz and it is slow going all the way to Luxemburg. At the Luxemburg border the rain stops; it is still overcast but some sun beams through on occasion. We love the look of the green, gentle, land. A lot of forests (recent growth) and , again, pretty towns and villages in nearly every valley. We rip across Luxemburg at pretty high speed and jumped off German highway 44 into Trier. This is the oldest city in Germany, built by the Romans beginning in 180 AD. It was a major Roman mint, and even a temporary capitol of the Empire. It has three or four landmarks on the World preservation list.
We have no good map of this old windy town, but we head to the “zentrum” and there are signs for our Hotel Aulmann. It is on the second (European = third US) floor of a modern building. We have a very nice room - very modern. We have to park the car in a "stacking" garage; parking is at a premium here. After a brief rest we wander over to the central square. It is a very charming mix of new with old. There is no disguising the ancient plaza though, as it undulates toward divergent, winding streets. Prices here are about 1/2 of those in Switzerland. We can't figure out any restaurant menus and eat at a very discreet McDonalds. For comparison, a cheeseburger here is 1.30 euros (<1/2 of Geneva price). It rains while we eat and people scramble out of the square for cover. When we are done though, the rain quits. We walk over to the ancient Roman Porta Nigra (Black gate) and also scope out the 5th century cathedral - the first bishop church in all Germany. We plan to go in tomorrow and look around - I hope the weather clears up. Back in our tidy room I take a quick shower and as I sit to write my log, a gentle rain is falling. This has been a very good day with my boy. Although this is a first class hotel, it has no AC, so we keep the windows open. It is warm up here on the second excited floor, even though it is cool outside. With the windows open I am aware of center city street noise and don't sleep very well. Ah well.
We slept late, and went to a nice bakery for breakfast; excellent food and reasonably priced. It is 9:30 but still overcast and cool. Here in mid-August most people are out in light jackets! David wears a light sweater all day, and I have long sleeves and wear a sweater until noon! His land is literally cool.
After breakfast we walked over to the Porta Nigra and went in to see the thing. It is a very impressive structure and is the north gate into the old walled Roman city; here is a view from the structure. Next we went to the Info office and got some guide books. We went to the Cathedral, originally built in about 4th century, and still containing a lot of the original core structure; mass was being celebrated when we entered. Then we walked behind the cathedral and over to the giant Basilika, built for the Emperor Constantine when Trier was a seat of the western Roman Empire. This is a truly impressive span, 90' wide and over 200' long and no flying buttresses! Here is an inside picture; the facility is currently used as a general Protestant church. Outside was a wonderful formal garden. It was after noon and we were hungry, so we went to a nearby restaurant and each had a half of a roasted chicken and a beer. It was only 14 euros for both of us - a great change from Geneva.
After lunch we went to the old eastern wall of the city and then over to the giant Imperial Baths. This massive structure has the usual Roman bath structure, with a caldarium, tepidarium, and frigidarium, together with cleansing rooms and steam rooms etc.. After that we moved on to the Roman Amphitheatre. Again, this is most impressive, with seating for 20,000 fans. That’s a lot of blood thirsty folks to watch gladiators duel to the death or prisoners be torn apart by wild beasts, but I don't want to sound judgmental; I only know gladiating ain’t for me.
By now our legs were pretty tired, but we went to the Lands museum, which contains an amazing collection of Roman treasures. We got English guide phones, which were useful since there were no other English narratives in the exhibits. This is also true is Switzerland and I don’t understand why any museum expecting an international clientele would not put up English signs. It’s not just for us special precious Americans, but many people who speak minor languages, like Czech, speak English which is sort of the de facto international language. Anyway, the exhibit of mosaics was superb, and they have hundreds from the old Roman homes.
Even more impressive was the Roman money exhibit. Trier had been a giant trading center and a mint. Thousands of gold and silver coins were struck here for use all over the empire. When Frankish barbarians over-ran the place, the Romans hid several hordes of coins that were discovered only comparatively recently. One gold horde, found during excavation of the baths, revealed over 2000 gold coins, and is still the largest gold coin horde ever found (did you like the little single coin inset I put there?) A boatload of silver coins, denarius’s, was found in the nearby Rhine. These coins are particularly interesting because the royal images reflect an uninterrupted record of Roman trends in dress and style over hundreds of years. The museum also had a wonderful model of the Roman city of Trier at its height of power in about 360. It was a wonderful treat to see - the folks who made it must feel a great sense of accomplishment. We were so tired we could not see much more, but we hardly scratched the surface of all the Museum had to offer. We went back to the room and rested for a couple of hours. We then went out and had pizza for dinner and planned for tomorrow as well.
It rained gently in the night and we awake to a cool gray rain. Great. No wonder Europeans immigrated to America - they wanted to get a bit of sun. I understand better now why they all pack off for Spain and the south of France when they get a chance. However, this is just the western edge of a storm that is currently flooding eastern Europe, including Prague where my sister Pat and her family are on a bicycle trip.
We ate breakfast at the same bakery as yesterday and then walked to the Roman bridge. The pilings are the original Roman ones, from the 3rd century or so. We walked back to our hotel and checked out. I drove to the gas station and tanked up with 52 liters ($50!). It is prices like this that inspired the Swatchcar, like this one in Trier.
We then drove along the Mosel on route b53. It was very lovely, with steep banks covered with vines and dental-white towns and villages; the grapes aren’t ready to harvest yet. The weather today is quite variable, generally gray, but some sun, some light rain and some quite heavy. We hoped to get to Cochem, but the going is a lot slower than we anticipated. We decide to stop in Zell, a pretty town on the south bank of the Mosel. We parked about 2 Km south of the real down town, but had a nice walk into town – here is the boy. In the lovely town we found a restaurant with outdoor tables where we had a wonderful lunch. Weiner schnitzel, salad, and a local Riesling wine. (It was a much better deal than Swissville, but again it hit 24 euros and I am feeling a little bit cross about the never relenting costs.) While we had lunch, sun to the south gave way to a light rain, but we were snug and dry under the big awning.
After lunch, about 3:30, we head more inland to make better time. We climb a high bluff into the Hunsruch region. The land up here is quite different from the valley below. Wheat is grown everywhere instead of grapes and the land is more rolling, almost like the Midwest. There is a big German armor base here and we see lots of road signs about tanks and see military vehicles. We got a bit turned around crossing the autobahn to get to the Rhine, but after a side trip we get back on the road to Bacharach. It winds around through deep forest and then descends pretty steeply to the Rhine River valley.
The road passes through Bacharach-Steeg, where our rooms are, so we stop and check in. The Hotel bei der Post is OK, but it is clearly a second class establishment. We walk about 1 KM into Bacharach, find the boat dock from which the Rhine tours leave, and then explore the lovely old town. We found some the names around here a little amusing - see if you can guess why. Later we have a very fine dinner at a small hotel run by a wonderful lady who spoke excellent English; she learned by reading books and watching movies I gathered. We had sauerbraten, dumplings, salad, soup, a local Riesling wine, and apelstrudel dessert. The bill is, again, 27 euros and I leave the 3 euro change as a tip. We then walk back to the hotel in Steeg, which is , of course, uphill away from the river. I take a shower in the prefab, molded-plastic bath module. My window is on the main street so I hope it is not too noisy. We shall see how this plays out. I need to say a word about duvets. Every place we have stayed has them. They are fine, I'm sure in the depth of winter in an unheated room, but in summer they are way too hot. In Geneva, the room had a blanket which I used instead. In Trier I asked for an extra sheet to sleep under, but here I had to strip the cover off the duvet and use it as a sheet. What are these people thinking?
I didn't sleep well. I needed air from the open window so there was road noise and the church bells tolled every quarter hour - I guess the locals get used to it but it was annoying to me. Road work started about 6:45, but I was awake anyway. At 7 AM the church bells pealed for a solid 5 minutes. It’s little wonder I have no time for organized religion. The bells also awoke the boy so we went down for a good and filling breakfast. We were ready to role by 8:45, but the boat didn't leave until 10:10, so David went to climb the grape covered hillside outside the hotel.
When he returned from his expedition, we drove down to the park in Bacharach. Incidentally, the name of this town stems from Roman times - you can see the connection to wine in the resemblance to the name of the wine god, Bacchus. We got two return (that is European for “round trip”) tickets to the Lorelei rock up in St. Goar. The Rhine is an impressive river. It is wider than we anticipated and it moves a lot of water. The boat was splendid, immaculate and well run; here’s the inside. We had a nice cruise upriver, seeing many ruined castles, lovely towns, and ancient city walls. There is an especially impressive castle at Oberweisse. The big deal is the Loreley rock, where, according to legend, ancient river mariners were lured to their deaths by the enchanting song of a golden haired maiden. We found it a tad underwhelming. We stayed on the boat when it got to St. Goar, and came straight back to Bacharach.
We then drove along the Rhine on highway 9 all the way to Koblenz and took a bridge across to the other side of the Rhine. We went south to the town of Braubach. We had another wonderful lunch; I had spaghetti carbonara, some scrumptious rolls and herb butter, and a local Braubauch Riesling- very fine. After this relaxing experience we drove to the big castle of Marksburg. This is the only intact Rhine castle - it was never captured or destroyed by anyone. As this view shows, it has a commanding position over the river. Construction was begun around 1280 and it grew in stages up through the 15th century or so. We had a very interesting tour in English of the castle. This picture in the royal family bedroom shows the thickness of the walls. They also had a royal crapper that dropped the royal discharge into the moat. With no wool or cotton, this region depended on spinning and weaving flax for cloth. In fact, this may have been one of the most common tasks for ladies of the time - here is a flax loom. Needless to say, no castle is complete without military gear, or the usual instruments of torture. This weaving is an instruction manual, in case the local boys forgot what they were doing.
When the tour was finished, David bought a marvelous Biblical page manuscript from 1280, written on velum (390 euros – a major purchase). It is very handsome with unusually fine lettering (must have been a compulsive monk) and I think he chose extremely well. (If I wasn't so in hock for this whole jaunt, I might have been tempted to acquire such a wonderful memento myself.) David will always remember how he came by this treasure - a trip with his Dad - and it will only increase in financial value as well. What a great conversation piece. Hurray for the boy.
Then we drove back along the Rhine to our temporary home in Bacharach-Steeg. That night we ordered what we hoped would be a light supper, some sandwiches, but they turned out to be awful, fat Heinei sausage meat. We added some cheese to the bread, ate the tomatoes, and had some decent wine and called it a day.
Neither of us slept particularly well, and I felt tired all day. We had a decent breakfast, packed the car and headed back to Switzerland. David drove the whole way - he is strong like bull. Actually, I think he was having a great time drive our fairly potent Peugeot sporty car like a mad-man along the various autobahn stretches. We got on in Bingen, down the Rhine, and traveled to Karlsruhe, then down to Frieburg. The landscape along this route is very lovely. The day was clear and warm, about 70° F, and all was right with the world (other than a fair bit of work on the autobahn and ensuing traffic foul-ups). I was surprised by the amount of corn being grown here. In fact, the place generally reminded me of the mid-west, only a little more rolling. As we got well into south Germany, say around Frieburg, we entered into the Black Forest area. It was pretty dense mixed forest with some conifers. The land is hilly, like foothill mountains, as we approach the Swiss border. We stopped for lunch at the south end of Germany, in Weiss am Rhine, because we knew prices would double or triple when we crossed the border! Anyway, we had yet another great lunch of a real salad, Weiner schnitzel and pom frits and David had a chocolate shake.
As we sailed past the Swiss border the guard didn't even get up. I guess we looked like locals, and we headed across Switzerland. Again, the country side is very beautiful. In some places the grass is so green it seems unnatural. I took a few pics, but they will never tell the true story of those colors. We entered Switzerland near Basel, then made our way along highways 3 and 2 and then 1 toward Bern. The land here is still flat, although some mountains can be seen in the distance. The grass is really green here too. We then head toward Lausanne. The stretch of road along Lac de Neuchatel is achingly beautiful. It is like a dream world conception of what one's environment should look like. A gorgeous lake, nearby mountains, rolling green fields, lovely little towns, cows in the field. Truly fine. Lausanne, where we were earlier by train, is on the north end of Lake Geneva. From there we rocketed into Geneva in order to dump the car before 4 PM brought extra charges; we made it by 10 minutes. I had previously gasses up, for $30 dollars, near Karlsruhe, but now in Geneva it cost me another $36 to fill the tank before we turned in the car. All told we drove just over 1000 MILES in our little jaunt (1532 Km by the odometer). I think David enjoyed the trip, and I know I did too. The boy is a terrific traveling companion.
Back in Geneva we got the shuttle to the Ramada, and got checked back in - this time to room 708. We immediately checked our email, and missed comic strips on the web, to set the world right. About 6 we walk to the Migros supermarket to get rolls, cheese, fruit, yogurt and chocolate for dinner. We plan to stay up later tonight, and tomorrow, to lessen the sting of the west-ward flight home. Try to get a little closer to Austin time.
Got up about 8 - not late enough to be terribly helpful for my time switch, but better than 6! David slept later, to about 9:30 after staying up later than I did (about 2 AM). Anyway, I confirmed our flights home, than David and I took off for the day. It was very nice, clear and about 75 or so. We visited the cathedral of St. Peter, a medieval era church that was taken over by protestants back in Calvinist days. The interior of the church still bears most of its Catholic heritage, including the organ, but there is no alter and a prominent pulpit – it also has Calvin’s comfy chair.
After seeing the cathedral, we went to the Museum of art and history and saw some interesting exhibits. The display of armor and weapons appealed to us guys. Even more interesting was the archeology of Switzerland from the Neolithic through bronze age lake-people culture. You’ve seen those renderings of ancient folk living on stilted huts! There was also a fascinating series of exhibits dealing with ancient mid-east cultures, including a display about cuneiform and hieroglyphics and how the symbols were interpreted. We had a nice lunch about 2. Another half chicken, potatoes, salad, and wine. It ran about $9 a head, but by Swiss standards, this is actually reasonable. We strolled back down to the lake for one last look – here we are at the Fountain. I showed the guy who snapped this pic the results of his handywork on the digital screen. He was very excited by the “camera numerique” – what will they think of next!.
We stopped at the store, cleaned out most of our wog money, and got supper fixin’s. I hope to stay awake until at least 12 or 1, and sleep late so as to make tomorrow’s long day as easy as possible.
A day from hell, but we got home!
