Codex of Ultimate Wisdom

Project Europe I – Day 11

31 May 2010 – Interlaken – Liechtenstein – Schwangau

Today is driving day!

Woke up to a little sunshine and some blue skies. Why must the weather always turn better the day we are leaving? We got out of bed changed and took a stroll to the local Europcar centre at Interlaken to collect our car for our trip into Deutschland.

We booked an Audi A4, but when we got there, the guy told us we have been given an upgrade! We now have the Mercedes E200 BlueEFFICIENCY. It comes with a built in navigation system which means we pay lesser then what we booked it for. Great news again. That makes me really excited. The guy walked me through the systems and how to operate the navigation system and we were off. As this is the first time I’m driving a left hand drive car and on the right side of the road, it took a bit of time for me to get used to it.

We drove back and parked behind our hotel and went for breakfast in the hotel at about 0830. After we are done with breakfast, we went to a souvenir shop just next to our hotel where the PiG bought some magnets and a pair of socks for her dad. After that, we got back to our room to pick up our luggages and proceeded to check out.

Off we went, headed towards Liechtenstein at about 1000. We took a scenic route through Brienz and the mountain roads of Lungern where we stopped and took some pictures of the scenary around. Progress was slow as the road was windy and we stopped a bit for our pictures. After passing Lungern, we headed towards Luzerne, went by Alpnachstad where the Pilatus Cogwheel railway station was. It brought back great memories of our stay at Mt Pilatus.    

With Luzerne behind us, we headed towards Zurich and made a right turn towards Zug and Eastern Switzerland. We crossed the border to Liechtenstein at about 1300, and parked at the city centre of Vaduz at 1316. We parked at a building called First next to the Liechtenstein Museum. Took us a while to figure out the parking ticketing machine. They require us to key in the parking lot number into the machine then it will issue us the ticket but we do not need to display the ticket on the dashboard. Don’t know how they enforce the parking. Seems to me it’s based on a honesty system.

Upon exiting the carpark, we saw that this place is filled with tourists! There were many souvenir shop and watch shops around, just like the main street at Interlaken. We walked around looking for somewhere to have lunch and finally settled for Restaurant Adler where the PiG had her last Rosti meal with veal sausage. I had some crème of carrot and garlic soup and a grilled salmon steak. The food was very decent and price was alright at about CHF70.

After lunch, we decided to check out the town centre a bit, did some souvenir shopping and headed to the tourist information centre. There, we saw a line of tourists queuing up to have their passports stamped for CHF3. As there are no borders between Liechtenstein and Switzerland, this is the only place immigration stamp collectors can get their passports stamped! We asked for some directions to see the Vaduz Castle and were told we cannot enter the castle, can only see from the outside. The lady at the tourist information gave us the driving directions and off we went.

Schloss Vaduz from robotech on Vimeo.

As we were approaching the castle, it started to rain and after we parked and started walking to the viewpoints, it started to pour heavily. We decided to return to our car and give this a miss. Next time maybe. We left Vaduz at about 1530 and headed North towards Deutschland. 

Mercedes E200 on the Autobahn from robotech on Vimeo.

The drive up north is easy. The roads are smooth and not much traffic. We passed through Austria for a short distance or maybe 3mins… before entering into Deutschland. Upon hitting the Autobahns, I can see that the travelling speeds of the cars are faster. Finally, its time to unleash the Mercedes! It was great driving on the Autobahn with no speed limits. At some stage of the journey, we reached 200+ kmh with 217kmh being the maximum. At that speed, the car still feels stable and willing to go! This car is really made for the Autobahn.

 

217kmh from robotech on Vimeo.

  

We finally reached our Hotel, Hotel Alpenstuben situated at the famous Neuschwanstein Castle at about 1715. Checked in was a breeze and we had a room with a view of the Neuschwanstein Castle! After settling down, we took a walk around town and check out the tourist information centre.

After that, we had dinner in our hotel, Hotel Alpenstuben. I had pork knuckle and a König Ludwig Dunkel while the PiG had goulash soup and grilled pork with a Paulaner Draft. Overall, dinner was good and one of the cheapest we have had, at EUR34.

 

After dinner, we retired to our room to rest. Tomorrow we will visit the castles! Below is the  google map route of the trip from Interlaken to Füssen.

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Project Europe I – Day 10

30 May 2010 – Interlaken

Today is rainy day!

We woke up at 8am to a really misty wet morning. We had our breakfast and was planning to catch the 9.35am train but the rain was pretty heavy so we took our time and went out at 10.15am to catch the 10.35am.

Today we decided to head out to Schilthorn (2971m). We took the train to Lauterbrunnen, followed by a cable car to Grutschalp, and then a train to Mürren – a mountain village at 1650m, facing the famous 3 (Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau), and is regarded as the highest altitude ski resort in the Bernese Oberland. the base station for connecting ride to Schilthorn. Mürren is the base station for heading to Schilthorn.

We had to walk 5-10 mins to the cable car station. Mürren seemed like a dead town with only a few tourists walking around. All the shops were closed perhaps it was a Sunday, but the hotels seem largely vacant too, maybe the town is still in winter hibernation mode. Was still a nice walk to the station, away from the crowds of tourists, passing by all the Swiss houses, and flowers dotting the way.   

When we reached the cable car station, the next ride was only scheduled for 11.40am. So we walked around and checked out the souvenir shop.  

When the gate is opened, we headed towards to gantry with our Jungfrau pass expecting to gain entry. Unfortunately we were told that the Shilthorn is operated by another operator and our Jungfrau pass was not valid for Shilthorn. It cost us CHF53 per pax for the ticket to Shilthorn. We looked at their webcam TV and decided to give this a miss since it’s raining and everything up there seems to be misty.

Instead we settled for lunch at the restaurant at the cable car station. We ordered a pork rib and lasagna. Wanted some rosti but it was not in their menu. The food was not bad and priced normal. Didn’t seem over-priced by Swiss standards.

After lunch, we decided to head towards Männlichen which our pass gave us free access. We took the cable car back to Lauterbrunnen then, the train to Wengen, and connected via the cable car to Mannlichen at 2230m tall. When we reached Mannlichen, the wind was strong and it was cold! We headed straight towards the restaurant to take shelter and have some drinks. David ordered some coffee and liquer which actually tasted really good! Coffee should be made this way and I would drink it more often. I had some ovalmaltine that was actually just like Milo / hot chocolate dilute style. It actually came in the form of a cup of milk, and a sachet of ovaltine powder. 

We headed out at about 3.30pm, and the wind was more manageable. All round, we could see the mountains hugging Mannlichen, and it’s a pity the weather was a letdown and lots of mist floating around. If it was a clear day, it would have been beautiful with the big 3 providing the backdrop to the greens and villages at the valley down below.

We took our shots and didn’t linger much longer due to the cold weather. Decided to take the cableway towards Grindelwald. It was a 30-minutes ride to Grindelwald. Grindelwald was really a fairytale-like town with traditional houses scattered around the valley, flowers everywhere and the ringing of the cowbells. Glad we came by this way one more time.

The cable car station was a distance from the train station. So we had the chance to walk around the village again, stopping every now and then for our shots of flowers, houses and the beautiful scenery.

We reached the train station 20 minutes before the 5.49pm train. David spotted some people carrying the coop plastic bags so we had a feeling Coop was actually opened here! We checked it out and yes! Coop is open! We stock up another bottle of wine, some cheese and crackers. Also found our Vanilla Kirsch Nestle ice-cream cup! It only costs CHF2.80 here, versus CHF4 at the First restaurant yesterday.    

Decided that we will miss the 5.49pm train and take the 6.19 train instead. We bought our cups of ice-cream and finished it. Checked out some more souvenir shops as well. We boarded the train at 5.40pm, to reach Interlaken OST at 6.54pm.

When we reached Interlaken, the rain was heavy. We headed back to the hotel room, before heading out for dinner.

Today’s our last dinner in Switzerland. So we decided to have our Rosti with veal in mushroom cream sauce, and cheese fondue! We had no idea which restaurant to go so we walked down the street and wanted to have our dinner at Restaurant Des Alpes. It seemed like a popular place and their menu had all we wanted.

We went into the restaurant and it was indeed packed. Felt more like a market and too packed for comfort. So we walked further down the street and finally settled for the restaurant at Hotel Krebs. We ordered an asparagus soup, rosti with veal, and was happy they had a 1-person fondue with 2 sizes to select. We took the smaller 180g one and the portion was just right.

The food was really tasty, and it’s the best fondue so far. After our satisfying meal, we headed back to the hotel and will prepare for our drive to Germany tomorrow. That’s the end for our Swiss trip which we wished we had a longer stay!

Project Europe I – Day 09

29 May 2010 – Interlaken – Grindelwald

We were supposed to wake up at 0700 today but ended up only waking up at 0800. We had our breakfast at the hotel restaurant and got out of the hotel towards Interlaken Ost with only 10mins to catch the 0935 train to Grindelwald. We barely made it with the train leaving seconds after boarding the train.

 

The ride to Grindelwald took 34 mins passing through Wilderswil and Zweilutchinen before arriving at Grindelwald. We took a walk around Grindelwald town and found the cable car station that will bring us to First in no time.

First is the start point for many treks. It is 2168m above sea level. The Jungfrau Pass we got gives us free access to the cable car which normally costs CHF52 for a return trip. We scanned our pass and boarded the cable car which took us all the way from 1050m at Grindelwald to 2168m at First. 

It was pretty cold at First and it’s either very misty or the clouds are very low. Visibility was not really great. Having seen pictures of Balchapsee which is about 50mins walk from First, we decided to do that trek to Balchapsee. After walking for about 10mins, it started to rain heavily. We decided to return to the Restaurant at First to wait out the rain and have lunch.

We had our favourite Rosti and Sausage with Beer and Tea for lunch. Again, the price is very reasonable. We paid CHF28 in total for everything. Food was good too. We waited till about 1300 before setting out to Balchapsee again.

The trek is not that difficult with a gravel path and not too steep gradients. After walking for about 15mins, it started to rain again. Today don’t seem like a good day for the mountains, there were low clouds and mist. Despite the rain, we carried on and stopped a few times to take some pictures of flowers along the way. With all that stopping and the rain, it took us almost 1 hour 15mins to reach Balchapsee.

What greated us was a lake that is still frozen. Everything is still snow covered. I think when everything thaws and greens comes back, it should be a very beautiful place. Got to come back here in the later part or summer.

After taking a few shots, we turned back towards First. Along the way, I spotted a huge squirrel like creature called a Marmot by a ridge line. Marmots hibernates for 9 months and works for 3 months, that’s what life should be! That got us excited and we started approaching the Marmot and shooting more pictures. We got to within 3 meters of the Marmot hole before it disappears into the hole and never appeared for a few mins. We decided not to wait anymore and proceeded down the trail.

A bit later, we reached a part of the trail where we can see the valley below and the sun magically illuminated the mountains and the bottom of the valley. It was a great sight which appeared only for a few minutes before the rain started falling and the mist covered everything again.

By the time we got back to the cable car station at First, its about 1600. We took the cable car down and stopped at a station called Bort which is 1570m above sea level. From Bort, we decided to take a walk down to Grindelwald, taking in all the scenery on the way.

The walk from Bort to Grindelwald would take 1hr 20mins according to the signboards. The trail goes through fields of flowers and cows. The PiG was so excited looking at the cows that she got shocked by the electric fencing keeping the cows in. We stopped many times along the way to snap pictures of the landscape, flowers, the cows and finally, a huge heap of cow dung!

 

 

We finally reached Grindelwald town about 1815, almost 2 hours after we started from Bort. As the next train is at 1919 or 2019, we decided to have our dinner in Grindelwald. We found a nice restaurant at a hotel and had Veal with Rosti and a Sirlion steak washed down with some red wine. It was great food and good service too. In all, we spent CHF78 for dinner.  

We finished dinner at 1915 and not wanting to rush for the 1919 train, we decided to wait for the 2019 train. We tried to do some shopping as we walked towards the Grindelwald train station. Sad to say, most of the shops are closed. Even the Coop supermarket is also closed at 1900. We reached the train station in no time and sat on the benches waiting for the train which came at about 1945. We boarded the train and the train left as scheduled arriving at Interlaken Ost at 2050.

We took the 10min walk back to our hotel and retired for the night. Can’t imagine we did so much walking these 2 days, 3 hours yesterday, and 4 hours today! Tomorrow, we will be going to Schilthorn, which was the set for the 1969 James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.