Summer Days in Switzerland

[spindrift]

I've just returned from spending 10 days in Switzerland. The weather was perfect during my visit. Cloudless, sunny days had temperatures ranging from 32 degrees to 36 degrees which encouraged us to have long days out. I was staying in the hills outside St. Gallen, Eastern Switzerland and our first outing was by train to Lucerne, two or more hours away. When tourists visit Lucerne they inevitably go up to the top of the Rigi mountain that, at 1,790m, offers a panoramic view of 150kms over Swiss mountains, lakes and towns.

From the town of Goldau we took this little train up to the top of the Rigi.








As soon as we reached the summit clouds materialized out of nowhere so we had limited, and misty, views








We had lunch at the Kulm hotel before starting our walk down the mountain.





At a certain point, on our way down the mountain, we got tired and hopped on a train!

Vitznau was the end of the line. We waited for the ferry to take us to Lucerne.

[happytraveller]

[spindrift]

Vitznau is a small, quiet and pretty town on the shores of Lake Lucerne. A ferry from here to Lucerne takes about an hour. I was thrilled that we went close to the lake side and were able to see lots of villas, hotels and villages on the banks. Here is a link you'll enjoy reading: www.myswitzerland.com/en/infra.cfm/rkey/782

There are seagulls on the lakes in Switzerland and, like everything else, even the waters are clean.....

When we passed this Vitznau hotel I thought it would be an ideal choice for honeymooners!

But the boat moves on .....



to be continued

[lola]

Gorgeous, spindrift. Thanks.

[imec]

Oh, I love the Swiss Alps and haven't been for so many years. This was a great "fix" until I can return. Thanks Spindrift!

[bixaorellana]

Ohhhhhh, Spindrift ~~ delightful! I love the way you took us up, then back down the mountain.

The very first "big" book I read by myself was Heidi, which greatly affected me (I began drinking my milk out of a bowl, instead of a glass). I would imagine myself up on the high pastures. This is even more beautiful than what I imagined.

[Deleted]

I've never been to Switzerland, nice photos, Spindrift.

The first thing that comes to mind, is that; it looks very similar to around here!

[spindrift]

Thanks, Lola....
Imec - there's a lot more to come. I spent a day walking down from the top of a mountain in the Santis alps.

Bixa - Especially whilst walking in the Santis range I thought of Heidi. As you will see, I passed lots of little Heidi huts! and outside one of them I was able to buy a glass of creamy fresh milk straight from the cows on the alp. It tasted so deliciously different from packaged commercial milk.

Deyana - it's interesting that some of the Swiss scenery looks like Canada.

[lagatta]

Spindrift, a beautiful region of Québec that somewhat resembles your Swiss pictures is the Charlevoix downstream (and thus northeast of) Québec City. The high hills or low mountains aren't as impressive as the truly high Alps though - what is beautiful about Charlevoix is the high hills overlooking the St. Lawrence, which is very wide at that point. There are also nice old villages (old by North American standards, of course) where you can see the Norman and other northwestern French architecture as adapeted to the New World setting.

I love the little red train. And the pretty cows, of course. Bixa, I should try to find Heidi (in German, of course) as I enjoyed it as a child as well.

[spindrift]

Having left Vitznau behind I had an hour to enjoy the scenery on our way to Lucerne.

A sister-ship passed us

Finally, Lucerne hove into view.







We tied up and disembarked.

I spent some time photographing this ancient bridge

We wandered around deciding where to have wine and a plate of cheeses and meats....

And at last settled for a table by the quayside.

then headed over the new bridge to the train station to return home.



that was day one. To be continued.

[spindrift]

Lagatta - I am particularly intereted in the St. Lawrence river and Quebec. I have been told that my father ran away from his home in Bristol when he was only 14 yrs old to stowaway on a ship sailing to Canada. He reached the St. Lawrence river and never forgot it.

[Deleted]

When I decided that I wanted to move to Europe to live my adult life, my first choice was Switzerland. Unfortunately, that was a little too complicated with incorrect passports, so I followed the easy route and settled on Paris (sigh).

But I have always been certain that I would have loved it in Switzerland, and I try to go there as often as possible. Damn, that's not really true, because I have an extremely nice free apartment at my disposal whenever I want to go to Zürich (a close friend moves in with his girlfriend nearby whenever I want to come), but unfortunately 1) Zürich does not appeal to me as a destination even though it is really nice and 2) obviously I must follow whatever agenda my friends have concocted when I go there, although I would prefer to be able to wander free and at random, even though my command of German is rather ridiculous.

Anyway, your photos are wonderful, Spindrift, and that is exactly what I want to see when I go to Switzerland!

[spindrift]

I understand your wish to live in Switzerland. I feel the same way myself. I don't know the French-speaking part of the country but for thirty years I've annually visited the country around Scaffhausen, Stein am Rhine and St. Gallen with side visits to other towns, Zermatt for skiing, Interlaken and the Tessin. Although I fly into Zurich I know nothing of the city. Underneath Zurich airport is a marvellous train station from where I am whisked in an hour to St. Gallen which is almost on the Austrian border. I do not speak German or Swiss German but know enough words to be able to order in restaurants. Indeed, my friends have suggested that I move in with them for 2/3months to enable me to learn the language and join in with their family. This would be fun. However I fancy that Swiss German grates on my ear quite unlike any other language

[spindrift]

The next day is sunny and hot. The painter continues to paint our house

and the dog looks on!

To give you an idea of the surrounding countryside here are views from the house







The neighbouring farmer comes up to cut our meadow grass to make hay

[spindrift]

The hay dries quickly and two days later it's ready for storing in the barn



The farmer has his best friend in the tractor and it's a case of 'love me love my dog!'




that evening as the sun sets

we enjoy our simple supper on a west-facing terrace

[Deleted]

This is the place where I have to say that a Swiss table (in spite of the reputation of the Swiss) never seems to be as well organized as a French table.

[spindrift]

Ahhhh! Fair enough - but the Swiss eat their main meal at midday....this was our snack at 7pm

[auntieannie]

who cares, K? ;D

Beautiful pictures, Spindrift. totally understand your remark about swissgerman not being the softest of languages Funnily enough, if I try to speak German these days, I hear a strong swiss accent in my voice. Oberwalliser has to be the worst dialect.

[spindrift]

Annie - I'm glad you're seeing my holiday thread and you'll be able to pick up that I love your country -

To continue - the local newspaper informed us that there was a competition at Rorschach on Lake Constance where artists from all over Europe were submitting designs made out of sand.

On the lakeside at Rorschach







Here is the entry that won the first prize. It represents Procreation - a man and woman who are embracing are leaning on a round sphere that represents a female egg (ovum) within which is a foetus...and all around the egg are sperms and would-be babies....



to be continued

[bazfaz]

Brilliant, Spindrift. Thank you so much for taking the time to post all those pix of your visit. It is gorgeous. We normally go to Switzerland in August to visit friends (ateach52 of TT and TTR). Alas, we had to cancewl our visit this year because of house moving. Your illustrated diary just shows what we missed.

[spindrift]

More sand sculptures....




















And after viewing these tormented sculptures, you'll be happy to know that I'll be going up to the top of Hoher Kasten mountain tomorrow by cable car and walking down for 4 hours!

to be continued

[bixaorellana]

Spindrift, you take such remarkably good pictures! This is all so much fun to look at, but I absolutely love the haying sequence.

The sand scultures are mind-boggling. Any idea what holds them together? The one of the pig family actually has an opening in it!

That Swiss bread looks so bread-y, so good.

[lagatta]

This looks utterly wonderful. I've only briefly been to French-speaking Switzerland but now I have German-speaking friends in Basel. They do speak standard German to me though - if they aren't speaking French, Engslish or Italian.

spindrift, quite a few Europeans stoes away or stayed on in Québec after the Second World War. Some of the best "Continental" restaurants were opened by Italians who served a menu based on both Italian and French food.

You might think that Québec (City) would be of no interest to those familiar with la vieille France, but the views are spectacular.

[Deleted]

I believe that I have read that some sand sculptures are held together by hairspray.

[Deleted]

(I think it's past somebody's bedtime)
Brilliant,generous photos spindrift! Feel like I was there. Love the shots of the ferry ride,that gorgeous ancient bridge. How old might that be.?The idea of adorning a bridge with flowers,I've never seen before,just gorgeous.
I can understand why you would want to spend more time there. Ten days just seems like such a tease. I would just be settling in.
What a beautiful country,everything so clean and clear and crisp.
Thank you for taking the time to share all of this with us.

[happytraveller]

Spindrift, it seems you need to plan your stays in Switzerland a few days longer in the future... and come and visit me so I can introduce you to the beautiful Canton Bern and plus, we are so close to the french speaking part, I could show you around there too (My parents own a small holiday house at the lakeside of Lake Neuchâtel so we could plan to stay there and explore the lake area and the Jura mountains )

Annie, I looove Walliser Tiitsch !

[palesa]

WOW!! These are awesome, thank you for sharing Spindrift. I think I am falling in love with Switzerland.

[happytraveller]

Hehehe... I hope so Palesa !

[spindrift]

I am so happy that everyone is enjoying my pics.

Happy I'll take you up on your invitation!

I always tell my Swiss gf that she lives in Paradise. England being so overcrowded and impossible these days, I am constantly surprised to find that in Switzerland there are no queues in the post office, not a lot of traffic on the motorways, no queues at supermarket checkouts, an unhurried way of life, polite people, easy access to surrounding countries such as Germany, Austria, France and Italy, everything clean, food invariably deliciious, local wines so good there is no need to spend a lot of money, transport system second to none, trains sparkling clean and comfortable...and so on.....

K2 - so they use hairspray on the sculptures....?

Bixa - that old bridge at Lucerne is very famous. It dates back to the 15th century as far as I remember...perhaps before that. It has ancient paintings inside the arches of the roof. Some of them were destroyed by fire but most are still visible. I can't think why I didn't take pictures of them...perhaps I thought my gf was getting fed up with me constantly taking pictures and lagging behind!

[happytraveller]

"easy access to surrounding countries such as Germany, Austria, France and Italy"
Probably what I enjoy the most about living in Switzerland