Switzerland

Day 8

We took a day light train journey of 8 hours from Vienna to Zurich & it proved to be a knockout day, the panorama became more & more breathtaking as we progressed throughout our journey, this is one of those rare occurrences where the picture postcards do not do the scenery justice. To cap it all of on two occasions we sighted wild deer in forest clearings by the rail line.
First impressions of the city of Zurich are underwhelming after what we experienced in Vienna.
Dinner was also underwhelming with what the restaurant described as the Swiss equivalent to a Pizza with a Flambé, the Italians have nothing to worry about.



Day 9

In the morning we took a tour to the Rhine Falls which we very much enjoyed.
On the way to the Falls we took a diversion through a quaint Swiss Village with all of the houses built in traditional Swiss style & decorated with geranium flower pots on their balconies, it was very picturesque.
The Rhine Falls themselves were awesome, not for their height but for the volume of water, I have some good photos & video of the falls.
Today Zurich has come pretty much to a stop as they celebrate what they call a “Techno Parade” which is huge event with over 650,000 participants, where they dress outlandishly, which is designed to shock & we were not disappointed. But unfortunately it did not stop there with illicit drugs a major problem for the authorities, we went to view the parade but left at 4pm as it was already starting to become out of control with men making a show of themselves urinating in public, both men & women drinking spirits such as Vodka straight from the bottle & showing the effects of it, it was all heading to an ugly night with alcohol abuse big time as so many people were hell bent on getting as drunk as they could as quickly as they could, signs of aggression were becoming more & more apparent & we sighted both police & ambulance people involved in drug incidents.
Dinner was OK the local red wine was excellent, we went to a Pub that was close by to our Hotel because of the uproar with the Parade.
Throughout the night there were non stop sirens going with the Police, Ambulance & Fire trucks going non stop.

Day 10

We decided to go for along walk first thing in the morning down to Lake Zurich & stopped off at a Starbucks for breakfast. It was a sorry sight, broken glass everywhere, people asleep in the streets & on chairs & there was the stench of urine everywhere, I reckon they will think long & hard before having another similar parade to this one.
To get out to of the city we went on a tour that took us to the outer suburbs in the hills surrounding Zurich & there was some serious wealth here e.g. .Roger Federer.
Zurich claims to have more Billionaires living in their city than any where else in the world. I can also testify that it is the most expensive city for living expenses I have come across.
I would hate to have travelled here when the $Aust was devalued in times gone by.

Day 11
We travelled through the small country of Liechtenstein (population 60,000) on the way to St Moritz & stopped of there for lunch. Liechtenstein is a well known haven for tax avoidance & this would seem to be its only reason for existence.
Upon leaving Liechenstein we started to climb the Rhine Valley & this area is considered by some to be the most beautiful mountain area in the world, we have to agree with them it was simply breathtaking, if we thought the scenery we saw on the train from Vienna to Zurich was good this has to be seen to be believed, fortunately I have some good photographs & video to show which I cannot adequately describe.
St Moritz is described as being the playground for the rich & famous, it is a classy place & I can understand why you need to be rich as it makes Paris/Florence look cheap when it comes to shopping.

Day 12
We descended from St Moritz to the shores of Lake Como on route to Lugano. Once again we experienced similar fantastic scenery to that which we did yesterday upon our descent.
The change in temperature is dramatic between St Moritz, 8 degrees celsius & Lugano 25 degrees celsius.
We found Lugano to be a nice comfortable town, ideally situated on Lake Lugano with neat parks & gardens with a shady walkway around the lake with many nice restaurants to choose from.
Dinner was sensational, we found first of all a nice open air bar in the main Piazza (town square) for a pre-dinner drink which they not only served good beer & wine but the nibbles with a cross section of wonderful pates was spot on. The Italian restaurant was well frequented by the local people & we came to understand why, the house wine they served was brilliant, the ravioli with the home made sausage was absolutely fantastic.

Day 13
On the way to the mountain resort of Zermatt we stopped of at Lake Como & visited Isola Bella a small island which was taken up by an historical well preserved mansion that was built in 1650 with magnificent gardens, we enjoyed our time there very much.
Upon arriving in Zernatt we were somewhat overwhelmed by the size & population of this resort area but can understand now that we can see for ourselves all that this region has to offer with all of the Nordic sports & endless walking tracks through this beautiful scenic area which once again I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Day 14
What a day, we took the mountain train to Gorenergrat which is in the foothills or should I say mountains at the base of the famous Matterhorn, it was an incredible sight, we were blessed to be there on a bright sunny day to enable us to view the Matterhorn in all its glory. This area has applied to become one of the 7 wonders of the world in 2011, they have got my vote, we had a fantastic morning up there but did find it taxing because of the high altitude.
In the afternoon we travelled to the Gruyere area which is a typical picture postcard rural area & visited the historic town of Gruyere which reminded us very much of the old villages we visited in Provence 3 years ago,

Day 15
We spent the morning in the capital city of Switzerland, Berne. We were unaware of the history of this region city of which they have accurate records dating back until the 11th century, we spent the morning exploring the ancient part of the City which we found very interesting.
After a brief stopover in Interlaken for lunch we travelled onto the Trummelbach falls in the Liaterbrunnen Valley. This proved to be an incredible experience as we were able to walk inside the water fall through which 20,000 litres or 20 tonnes passed through the rocks every second. I have never experienced anything of such force ever.
We got into Lucerne late in the afternoon & after a long day had a very enjoyable typical Swiss dinner at a local pub on the tourist map of home made sausages & rosti accompanied by excellent draft beer & Swiss wine which we are taking a fancy to.

Day 16
After a good nights sleep we travelled on the oldest log wheel train to the to the summit of Mount Rigi, this area is often referred to as “Heidi’ land, it was but yet another of the most picturesque areas of Switzerland that we have all seen in the movies/tv travel shows & picture post cards. For a change of scenery we descended from the mountain on the Cable Car which provide us with an incredible sight of the complete valley surrounding Lucerne.
We spent the afternoon walking around Lucerne which we found to be a typical historic European city with plenty of charm in a beautiful setting on the shores of the lake. However, we found the rural areas of Switzerland to be what we enjoyed most, we came here with high expectations & as such could have easily been disappointed but we found the sights to be even better than we had expected.

Day 17
Today we travelled from Lucerne to Zurich & then to Naples in Italy via the Swiss Alps & Italian Lake district by train. It sure beats the socks of flying, you arrive & board the train 5 minutes before departure, sit back in great seats with all the leg room you would ever want & view the magnificent scenery from this area in ultimate comfort. We booked a table in the Dining Carriage, enjoyed an excellent lunch with a glass of Vino & took in the sights of Lake Como through a panoramic window, this is as about as good as it gets.
We arrived in Naples in good shape & as soon as we jumped into our cab it brought home to us what a chaotic dirty city, full of undesirables this place is, the contrast from the sophistication & cleanliness from our travels so far is dramatic. However apart from all of these negatives this is the place where the Pizza was born & we verified they still make the best Pizzas anywhere, they are out of this world, also Italy stands alone for Coffee, for a whole $1.50 (compared with $6 at Zurich railway station) I had the best coffee you could imagine.

Vienna

Day 6

We started the day with a 4 hour guided tour of the city & it took us from one major historic building to another, what the tour did for us was to reinforce the perceived notions that we had that this city caters for those who have an appreciation for the arts, history & classical music.

The highlight of our tour was a visit to Schonbrunn Palace, we spent only 2 hours there, for anybody who is planning a visit here I suggest you allow a full day.
Not only is it large (bigger than Buckingham Palace) the manicured gardens would cover more than 100 acres, they commenced building it in 1680 & completed it in 1745 , the place is full of priceless artifacts & artwork , the history of the residents of that time up until 1918 played a major part in molding world events.

During the afternoon we went to a conducted tour of the Vienna Opera House, unfortunately the interior was largely destructed by a bomb during the 2nd world war but they have painstakingly restored it to its original beautiful condition. The tour was only a little over an hour but it was superbly done as we got to sit in the Emperors box, as well as going backstage to see all of the workings that go on in changing sets from one concert to another.

We decided that we could not leave Vienna without attending a concert which we did at the Imperial Palace, with a 40 piece orchestra with performances from Baritone & Soprano singers it proved to be a terrific concert, we enjoyed it far more than we originally thought that we would.

On the way to the concert we had to walk through the major tourist area & thought we would once again partake of the local cuisine which did not work out as the first restaurant thought they were doing us a favour in allowing us to dine there & after 10 minutes with waiters walking around with their noses in the air & ignoring us we returned the compliment by walking out & leaving the Maitre de with his mouth wide open that we would do such a thing. The next restaurant also proved to be a problem, after asking for a table in a non smoking section, we found there was no such area as the stench of cigarettes was throughout the entire room, once again we got up & left.
For a city that prides itself on its fine culture, it is difficult to understand why they are so tolerant of smoking in public places.
Third time lucky we came across a small Italian restaurant which served great Calamari & Pasta; we had a nice dinner with once again some very good local wine which set us up for the concert.

Day 7

This morning we went to the famous Spanish Riding School which is where they both train the specially bred Lipizzaner horses & perform at the historic Hofburg Palace. The establishment the riding school goes back to the 17th century. The stables, facilities, saddlery & horses are magnificent.
In preparing the horses they take a long term view, they are not broken in until they are 4, they then spend another 5-6 years in training before they are ready to perform & are retired at approximately 25, the average life span is 32 which is very old for horses.
We had a traditional Austrian workers lunch, a Bratwurst Sausage with wholesome Rye brown bread accompanied by Mustard standing up at a counter in the main thoroughfare in the main street. They make good sausages.
As we had not ventured outside of Vienna we decided to take a cruise up the Danube in the afternoon.
This proved to be a good choice as we got to see the outer suburbs of the city with new (post 2nd world war) developments in the hills, this area has some similarities with the Dandenong’s in Melbourne.
The Danube is a huge river approx 500 metres wide & the colour of the water is similar to the Yarra. It carries a lot of traffic with many long narrow cruise ships berthed at different docks. The nicest feature in our eyes was the prolific amount of parkland surrounding the river complimented by numerous restaurants on the banks.
For dinner we went to arguably Vienna's best restaurant “Steireck”, it is located in one of the City’s 850 public parks & is a superb modern restaurant, the ambiance was apparent from the moment we were greeted at the entrance, the decor was exceptional & the presentation of the meals was something else eg. we were offered over 20 home made breads/rolls to select from to accompany our meal.
Different shaped & designed cutlery & crockery were served for each course.
There were over 60 wonderful cheeses to choose from on the cheese trolley.
Apart from the small tastings of Snails, Truffles & Crayfish we were served to loosen up our taste buds with compliments from the Chef we chose the degustation menu of 5 courses which was absolutely fabulous with the standout dishes being the Venison & Cherries for dessert. We were given small cards with all the ingredients used in our dishes if anybody wants a copy when we get home.
The only hiccup was with our original drink order when the beer they served was not quite cold enough, but as soon as I pointed that out the service became exceptional.
It was a memorable dinner not only for the quality of the dining but what happened about half way through our dinner. Here we were in an euphoric mood enchanted by our surroundings & exceptional dining when all of a sudden we heard a loud “ bark “from the table directly behind us, it was a bloody dog, people had actually brought their dog with them to this the most sophisticated restaurant you will ever find. It did not end there, when the owner took the dog outside temporarily for what I assume was a toilet break it disturbed a second dog which also let out with a loud bark, unbelievable!

However we leave Vienna with fond memories, we found it to be a grand city, very sophisticated with a culture of excellence, if the Arts, Classical music and History are your bag, this is the city for you to visit.