Thursday, June 17, 2010

Today we left our zimmer early before the hosts were up. They did not offer breakfast this morning so we opted to eat our good old cereal along the Tunnersee beside the ducks. Since it was damp and looked like rain we drove north to Wattenwil area where we found our ;sleep in the straw; accommodation for one night - a very large house/barn combination that will house not only the Kunzi family but a seperate apartment for Oma, a zimmer as well as astraw mow and large dining room beneath.
Out of town we found several flat paths so we biked out through the countryside for several hours came back to our car and ate lunch then out on the bikes again for several hours.
It was back up the winding roadway again to our straw farm where we met M&P who will be with us for 2 weeks as we tour Switzerland.

UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE INABLE TO ATTACH ANY PICTURES UNTIL WE FIND A WIFI THAT WE CAN ACCESS. THE SWISS SEEM VERY TIGHT ABOUT THE USE OF COMPUTERS TO ACCESS E-MAILS . EVERY TIME WE TURN AROUND WE HAVE TO PUT IN ANOTHER CFR. HOPEFULLY WE WILL BE ABLE TO GET BETTER ACCESS SOON.

Caught in the middle 2 times

We set the GPS for the Thunersee (Lake Thun) today and headed south around Bern on the A1 autobahn. Somewhere in Thun we parked the car and bikes and walked downtown to find Information for biking the Thunersee. Further around the east side of the lake we found the bike path and headed for Thun city along the water's edge. At one point we came upon a beautiful castle with many gardens meticulously manicured - we walked our bikes through here to take in the beauty - coarse Jean enjoyed this part a lot. It started to spritz about an hour into our ride so we headed back to the car and ate lunch in the car while it rained. It didn't look like it was about to end anytime soon so we headed further south to the city of Interlaken where we knew there was shelter.
Just a short distance south we found a Zimmer for the night - we have learned to start looking early in the day so we are not left to sleep on the street.
We had been to Interelaken before and knew our way around even though there have been a number of traffic changes in the last 8 years. Found the same Internet Cafe we had used in '02 and shopped for a few necessities in other stores before driving around the west side of the lake on up to Einigen where we encountered our first "caught in the middle". First we noticed people standing along both sides the side of the street and a policeman on each intersection then the crowds became heavier. Soon we were ordered to the side of the road and shut the car off - it would be a while we were told. Come to find out it was the running of the Tour de Schweiss - THE bike tour of Switzerland. Got some choice pics of it since we were first in line to be stopped.
Our second "caught in the middle" was further along near the city of Thun - we noticed the traffic stopped - then moving very very slowly. Seems there was some major soccer win and the whole city was downtown right where we needed to go. Our apologies Mark for not keeping up with the sports news. By the time we reached the city centre they were blocking traffic, waving flags and weaving through the cars getting everyone to join in the celebration. Thanks to GPS she got us around it all and we headed back to our Zimmer about 90 later than planned and glad to get out of that mess.
We are looking forward to meeting M&P tomorrow around noon to share the next 2 weeks with them - should be lots of fun.

Mother told me there would be days like this!

We crossed into CH yesterday and stayed in the little town of Schwarzenwald last night but had no internet connection except at McDonald this morning and I forgot to check my gmail there. We are now at Hotel Alponte in Wangen for tonight.

It's a long story but we started looking for Zimmers around noon today on our treck across Switzerland to meet cousins M.&P. - went through seemed like dozens of little towns but could find none. With no luck by 4pm, we got back on the Autobahn and started to drive west south hoping we would see signs for accommodations along the way, like we have in Canada and USA - NEINE / NIT / NONE. FINALLY off across the fields we spyed this hotel- it's about 20 min NE of BERN, CH. Expensive, we have not lived high on the hog lately so decided to splurge tonight.

We did manage to squeeze in about an hour of bike riding along the Bodensee today just before our hunt began. That was very pleasant. It was cloudy and there was a haze out over the lake but the fresh air was refreshing.

So that's the short story and hardly any pictures today so will include some from earlier. Actually the one of the church is in the town square in Schwarzenburg where the cows come home to drink - so they say - have not seen that yet.

Settled in Schwarzenberg

Monday, June 14, 2010

Last night we heard someone blowing the Alphorn numerous times down below somewhere. It was used in days gone by to call cattle back home for milking. Co-incidentally we noticed on the menu for the restaurant/zimmer next door (not serving until after 8pm as normal) that they were advertising veal cutlet as their special - hope the calf we heard bawling was not the one “called home” for the night’s special.
Today we drove the back roads on our way west toward Bodensee (Lake Constance). It was slow going in places - we crossed over at least 3 passes with the road winding round and switching back and up and up we went. Then the same thing back down again. At one point we were relying heavily on the GPS to get us to the next town but we had to turn back when the road went from a nice 2 lane to a single lane with the weeds scratching the car on one side and a drop off on the other - then to a cow path - actually it was labeled as a “wanderweg” (walking path) at that point. By then we were 2 ½ km into it so had to turn around carefully and retrace our path. So sorry that Jean was on the low side for the return and I’m CERTAIN she does not want to go there again. At times GPS served us well but today for some reason she was way off. Our final destination was Schwarzenburg a small town high up in the Alps where we had stayed in 2002. It is a unique town where the nearby farmers drive the cows to the centre of town in the morning for a drink of water from the fountain. Not sure why except that on our walk tonight we saw several hollowed-out-log drinking troughs for cattle to drink at but only a trickle of water was coming from the spouts. Or maybe they give better milk from town water?? Farmers are coming and going right through town with everything from hay rakes to full loads for manure. We drove to the zimmer where we had stayed in 2002 and planned to stay there again but there was no answer at the door so we drove around and found another one a short walk from town centre called “Zimmer Mit Du” - translated “Room for/with you” - a beautiful view out our balcony door across the valley and up the mountains on the other side scattered with farms. We can hear the cow bells from the distant hillsides - from our room. Should be good sleep tonight.

Can you believe it ??

We are sitting on the 3rd floor balcony high up in the Alps in the small willage of Reith. And we are still cold wearing a shirt and sweater and a jacket - what a complete change from yesterday in Vienna.
We headed west today not having any particular destination in mind - well that is not entirely true - we did want to visit the small village of Gmunden near here and stay for the night. It is also on a high flat plateau renowned for it's 3 working farms open to the public where you pay a fee and stroll around at will. Never did find the booth where we could pay and never did find a zimmer for the night so we kept driving. Ended up here at a farm/house/zimmer in the village of Reith. The calves are bawling for feed as I type. We went for a walk from one end of the village to the other thinking we might find something to eat. Went into the one restaurant that was open and asked for a salad - no food until later - not even coffee - they typically eat here after 8pm - guess after the chores are done. We did have a beautiful view down over the valley below with farms and things as tiny dots but in no time the fog rolled in and it started to rain. That's when it turned cold and very damp. Just a few serious hikers passing through town tonight otherwise it is quiet. There must be a whole lot more excitement somewhere - the 5th short train just rolled slowly past - very strange you can hear it coming for a long time and going down the tracts as well - guess the fog does that.

June 12 pictures

Hot in Vienna

Today happened to be the hottest day so far for us. The thermometer on our little Twingo read 32 C outside which if I can calculate correctly is about 94 F. We asked about staying at our zimmer for one additional night but it had already been rented out to other guests so we drove east a few km along the Danube and found a neat little zimmer operated by a sweet 80 year old lady - who looks like she milks the cows and cooks the meals and chops the wood and we did see here cutting the few patches of grass with an electric lawn mower. It is “in town” high up on the hillside right beside the RR tracks - a short 3 car train just chugged by. Boy they make use of every square inch of property. Part of their house is built under the roadway and right next to a major drain that runs down from them there mountains. It is thundering and lightning right now with buckets of rain hitting the windows. We are upstairs and it is hot so hopefully it will stop soon so we can open the windows.
We secured the zimmer this morning in the town of Schwallenbach then drove down river until we were approximately 16 km from Vienna. The last part looked like it was close to the Vienna Woods where we wanted to bike. We found the woods but they were too steep and no paths/trails that we found so we rode instead along the river toward Vienna. It is the capital city and largest city in Austria so you can imagine it is very spread out. Along the stretch where we biked was partly an industrial section with a few working class homes. During May they had almost constant rain and the Danube must have reached 15 feet above normal for many homeowners had flood junk setting out at the curb and they were in various stages of repairing the damage.
The city centre or Zentrum of Vienna was another 3 km but we just could not do it in this heat and besides we were warned to go into Zentrum only by train or bus and certainly not by car. We can say we rode along the Danube into Vienna even though we did not hit the Zentrum.
On the way back we found a MacDonalds and had a good old McChicken with fries and a good coffee.
We had planned to walk “around town” - but the rain sure put a damper on that idea.
Hey kids this dinosaur crossed the road right in front of us - we had to stop. Later they found some of his bones here.