der Schweiz

(by Peter Hoskin)

Sorry for the delay on this post.. perhaps you have already seen some photos on facebook, but I want to take a few minutes to give you some background stories :)

I went to Switzerland two weekends ago for four days with my four great pals: Jae, Brendan, Chris, and Stefan. Chris is also an engineering student from Waterloo working at Eurocopter and Stefan is his German "twin" and we got to know him during last fall term at school. For this trip, Chris did the planning of what cities we would see and which hostels we would stay at. Here's a map of our adventure:

This was the weekend of February 9th and 10th. I took the Friday and Monday off to make it a four day weekend so that we could see all we wanted to see. So, I left home on Thursday after work and met Jae and Chris in Donauwörth and then we found Stefan and Brendan. That night we didn't do much, and tried to get to sleep early since it was going to be an early morning.

On Friday we were on the road by 5 am in our sweet BMW. The driving was a slow at the start because it had snowed about 15 cm in the night and not all the roads were plowed. We drove south and crossed into Austria and then shortly after, into Switzerland and drove to our first stop: Zurich. At the train station we found a map of the downtown area and some Swiss Franks at the exchange desk. The map included a suggested route to walk around the city which we followed roughly. We saw some old buildings and churches and went up the tower at one of them it had a nice view. We also walked down one of the main streets and did some window shopping, some of the watches were really expensive, in the ball park of 150 grand! We went in some chocolate shops and bought some really expensive macaroons called Luxemburgerli. These are famous treats from the company Confiserie Sprüngli in Zurich. They were pretty good but not maybe worth what Jae and I paid. We walked back to the car and headed to Lucerne for the evening.

We arrived in Lucerne in early evening and dropped our stuff at the Jugendherberge Luzern, our accommodations for the night. We met an Australian named Paul, a journalist staying at the same hostel. He was very friendly so we asked if he wanted to join us for supper. We found an Italian restaurant and had some pizza and pasta.

Aside: Just a bit of background, the reason we went to Switzerland this weekend was because of the carnival/festival that was going on. It is called "Fasching" and it's a Roman Catholic carnival celebrated in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It runs for about a week, and involves everyone dressing in costumes and celebrating in the streets with music and events (usually late into the night). I've been told that something similar is Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

So this is where our trip became a little more of an adventure. While we were at the restaurant, Paul asked the waitress what we should do that night to take in some of the carnival, and somehow we got invited to hang out with her and her friend Tania before going to the old town. So we met up with them, but by the time we went down to the town everything had finished. It was pretty cold, maybe that's why it finished earlier than predicted. It was pretty late so Jae and I decided to head back to the hostel, and the others went to experience some of the Swiss night life. I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow, nothing like a 23 hour day. The others didn't get back till 5 ish for a 25 hour day!

We planned to sleep in on Saturday but we had to check out by 10:00 so it wasn't much. Breakfast was included and it was pretty decent, cereal, fresh bread, and juice were good. Then we walked back to downtown Lucerne for some sightseeing. Because of the Fasching festival, many people were in costumes and there were bands walking around playing music. Check out these costumes!

We walked and walked and walked. We even met a girl who had red Canada mittens, but she was Swiss. Then we left Lucerne and took the road to Interlaken for supper, but stopped at Brienz for some pics along the way. This was our attempted timed-photo to have everyone jumping.. it didn't quite work out, but the view is nice!

Then we moved on to the small town of Lauterbrunnen where we found our hostel, the Hotel Jungfrau.  This town is in a valley between two mountain ridges and is a popular destination for skiers, tourists and hikers. Here's a picture of the hotel, the cliff in the background is actually a huge waterfall.

We woke up at 6 on Sunday and started the trek up one of the mountains, but not on foot... There was a gondola, a train, another gondola, and another gondola before we reached the summit of Schilthorn! It. Was. Cold. -20 Celsius plus wind chill at the peak but the weather was fantastic. Not a cloud in the sky and we could see for hundreds of kilometres. We had a buffet breakfast at this rotating restaurant and then took some unparalleled pics from the observation deck.  (btw, the breakfast had waffles with REAL Canadian Maple Syrup!! I was so happy, I hadn't had any in over a month!)

We watched an info video and saw a bit of the James Bond movie that featured the building at the top of the mountain. We stayed up for a few hours of the morning, bought some postcards and then headed back down. The pictures we took can barely describe the view we had from up there at 2970m, you'll have to go to find out :)
This pic to the right is of us showing of our Canadian pride!




In the halfway-up-village of Mürren we did some hiking and then said goodbye to Brendan who had to be back for work on Monday. The four of us remaining continued hiking and hiking and getting sunburned. The weather was fantastic, and by mid afternoon we had worked up a sweat and had to teak a break...

We went to a place called Hotel Bellevue for supper, and I had some authentic cheese fondue. It wasn't really what I expected since there was a strong white wine taste but it was a true Swiss experience. Then we had an hour before the train came so Jae "borrowed" a sled and we took turns sliding down a small hill on it.

This type of sled is quite popular in this area of Europe, and there were a lot of people (even grown-ups without kids!) sledding down the mountain. We caught the train back to the valley and there was talk of some après ski, but were too tired to go to the one bar in Lauterbrunnen.

On Monday morning we took the 100 year old train to the town of Wengen (the other side of the valley) to do some more hiking. The view was stunning, the trails were steep and there was so much snow!

And yes, I did jump off the path and land in a pile of snow... but props to Jae Han for taking this photo, well done. At lunch, I bought a loaf of bread and we went back down the mountain. We got back in the Beamer and headed back home to Germany.

Good trip :)

More than once during this trip we said that "next time" we have to do this and that. So the plan is to come back for the "next time." Actually, we talked about planning two next times, one in the winter and one in the summer. In the winter we want to go skiing or at least go sledging on the mountain. In the summer there is mountain biking and some hiking trails that aren't open in winter. But not this term, we have learned that the Schweiz is very expensive. Overall, I think the trip was worth it and I would recommend each place we went!

P.S. thanks for reading all the way to the end :)

If you order a London Fog in London, do you ask for a Fog?

So it has been a really long time since I have posted anything here, but in the promise to not miss anything, I am going to do a brief recap of London.

The adventure started with a brief 8 hour flight across the pond with my best buddy Pete. We met up at the airport, said goodbye to our families, and headed through security. I took my first few pictures in the airport and they are below!

This is a picture of my carry-on luggage. Why did I bring so much stuff!?

And of course, traveling like a Tough Mudder.

This is Pete and I in the airport, preparing for our flight!

We jumped on the plane and quick 8 hours, several movies and a quick nap later, we were in London!

This is Pete and I at Gatwick airport in London just after our flight! We were pretty tired, but definitely hyped up on adrenaline for our adventure!

One of the first things we noticed was the markings on the road - Look Right - since cars drive on the left side of the road. I guess so many tourists have been hit by cars because they weren't looking the right way that they decided to put markings on the road! Pete and I both thought this was hilarious.





This was a pretty neat art exhibit-type thing outside the Heathrow Airport - all Christmas themed, and pretty nice for an airport.

 



 

 

This was our room for the two days. High-class travel if I do say so myself!

 

The National Gallery - free when we went! There were some really cool paintings, but all-in-all I found it underwhelming. The massive frescoes were incredibly impressive however, but most of the paintings seemed to have more historic value than artistic.

 

This is a view from the Nation Gallery facing the large Christmas tree that is donated by Norway to England every year for their help in WWII. The moment in the background is also shown again further down.

 

This was some fancy gate we saw on our journey towards Westminster. It has some deep historical value, but I couldn't tell you for the life of me what that is.

 

London at night is pretty beautiful, I must say!

 

This is probably the best picture I have of Big Ben. I must admit, I thought it was taller, but it is much wider than I thought it would be. Pete and I both agreed that it would have been incredibly impressive in its day, but with skyscrapers being so common in major cities now, it is not as impressive as a large building as it used to be. However, the detail in the stonework, and the history of the building, put it near the top of my list of cool buildings.

This is a picture of a double-decker bus! They are actually everywhere in London!

 

This is a good picture of Peter with the London Eye. Keep in mind we are probably 150m back from it in this picture, and even still we couldn't fit it all in the picture.

 

I promised Pete I wouldn't put this picture up, but it is priceless. Nice one Peter, nice one. I am definitely showing this at your wedding.

 

Big Ben and Parliament!

 

This is a statue of Abe Lincoln. I know - I was thinking that too - why is there a statue of Abraham Lincoln in London? Well, I guess he was an influential person, and his influence did affect England in a lot of ways, but I wouldn't have put up a statue for that. Who knows - maybe he was secretly British.

 

Westminster Abbey at night!

 

The front of Westminster Abbey.

 

All of the pictures above were taken on or before New Years Eve. We managed to get a great spot on one of the bridges right next to the London Eye to watch the fireworks. It was definitely one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. Spending New Years in a foreign city is something I would recommend to everyone, because it really challenges you to make the following year the best one yet. Starting off the year with a bang (literally) was incredible, and doing it with one of my best buds was pretty great too! Sadly, I did not get any pictures of the fireworks (I was too busy watching), so you will just have to look it up on YouTube. Maybe you will see us!

The next day we did some traveling 

 

Her Majesty was a little busy this afternoon, so we passed on the tea invitation she gave us. Maybe next time we're in London?

 

Pete defacing British Public Property.

 

These gates were all around the Promenade next to Buckingham Palace, and laced with gold making them quite beautiful in the (rare) sunshine.

 

This is a guard holding a semi-automatic gun. British police take protecting the monarch seriously.

 

This is a building near Piccadilly Circus that I thought was really neat. It is right next to the building in the picture below, and combines a really interesting combination of classic and modern architecture in adjacent buildings. Piccadilly is full of this kind of thing - bringing old and new influences together - and is a really great place to just wander and get lost around.

 

The classic English Telephone booth!

 

Mind the gap.

 

So this picture, and a lot of the following ones, are from our little excursion to Emirates Stadium - home of my favourite British team, Arsenal - and I can safely say this was one of the highlights of my trip. Having watched Arsenal in their prime of 2003-2004, going to Emirates Stadium was a dream come true. We didn't manage to get inside because it was closed for the holidays, but just simply being around the stadium, you can feel the history. Located in a rather working-class area of London, the Gunners as they are known, are the working man's team. I like to think they represent the importance of hard work and community being in the area they are in, and though they are in a serious pothole right now, they have been home to some of the most dazzling football the world has ever seen. Their legacy goes on, and hopefully the glory days will come back some time soon, but I can say that I was there, and that is enough for me. Thanks Pete for taking all the pictures!

 

This was in Kings Cross Station, and is a pretty cool exhibit that the train station has put together. We would have gotten a classic Platform 9 and 3/4 picture, but the line-up was outrageous.

 

This is King's Cross Station - beautiful architecture and a Harry Potter Shop to boot!

 

And this is where the magic happened. Abbey Roads Studio - where the Beatles recorded and mastered arguably one of the best albums of all time. In my opinion, no single studio album has ever changed the world as much as Abbey Road did. It put the Beatles into an entirely different category of superstar, turned 4 simple musicians into international icons, and arguably, cemented their place in history forever. We were lucky enough to visit, and from a recommendation of my favourite uncle, we traveled a fair amount to get here - but it was totally worth it. It was unfortunately very busy with people trying to take the traditional Abbey Roads photo with their own touch on it, but we managed to get some great photos anyways. We even signed the gate. Who knows - maybe in 20 years you we can go back and see our signatures still there.

 

The Thames at night from one of the lookout docks.

 

Waterloo Station! Waterloo is a famous section of London that our beloved city was named after, and eventually the university we both attend, so getting a picture with the subway sign was a must.

 

The first London beer I tried - it was decent, but ultimately, underwhelming. It was local which was great, but unfortunately didn't pack all that much of a punch.

 

This is the Royal Opera House that we happened to stumble across on our way getting lost trying to find the Transportation Museum. It is a really interesting building that has several kinds of architecture all conjoined into one big complex. We didn't get the chance to go inside, and for anyone who has ever boughten an opera ticket you can probably guess why, but the view from the outside was still pretty good.

This is just outside the Transport museum and is a massive outdoor mall sort of thing. There were some cool street vendors and a few musicians, but it was nothing special I think.

The transport museum was pretty interesting - lots to see and some great history. Some of the old trains were fascinating! We even went on an old double-decker bus, which was definitely not tall enough for Peter or myself.

This was in the film museum that just happened to be nearby (and free!) so we took a look inside. It was rather small and not terribly comprehensive, but had some cool stuff inside!

Back into the heart of the city, we travelled towards Westminster to catch the boat tour to take us up to the Tower Bridge. The ride was pretty spectacular, and seeing London from the river is something I would highly recommend!

The next building is the Tate Modern - Peter's favourite part of London (not actually) - which houses the modern art gallery. It is apparently a world-renown art gallery with some of the most amazing modern art you will find anywhere. I guess I am just not all that artsy, because it was highly disappointing. Some of the art was... well... an experience to say the least...

 

 

 

This was in the London Tower exhibition. There were some amazing sculptures of people's heads. Go figure.

 

Now the following pictures are from the HMS Belfast. The HMS Belfast is a WWII warship that survived and is now permanently parked in the Thames near the Tower Bridge. It was a really cool exhibition, and probably the best view of the city you are going to get. If you get the chance, and don't hate WWII history, this exhibit will blow you away. I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and it was awesome to see how tight and narrow all the hallways and walkways are in a battleship, and how hard everyone has to work in order to make the ship functional. The view from the front of the boat is one of the highlights of my trip, without a doubt, and many a picture was taken.

 

I may upload more London photos later, but I think that is probably enough for now.

 

Until next time,

 

Cheerio!

 

- Brendan and Peter