The Adventure Styx

Buckle up, this is a lengthy one. I hope you enjoy the detail as much as I enjoyed compiling it! Here we go, Europe, 2023.

Day one. March 30-31. Travel day. OKC-> ORD -> MUC -> Geneva. Departed OKC at 230pm and once again were able to schedule the best Uber driver in the land (Whitney). We had a connection in Munich, and landed in Geneva, 14 hours later at 230pm local time. We hit the ground running and got in just shy of 20k steps… in 5 hours of daylight. The first stop was to find luggage lockers so we weren’t strolling around logging miles carting our luggage. Big cities and main train stations offer these and were pretty easy to find. 8 Euro for 6 hours wasn’t terrible. We were hustling! Sculptures/monuments (Moon, the Reformation Wall, the Brunswick Monument, Frankenstein Statue, Mirror Sphere, and Victoria Hall) many churches, the flower clock, lake view, city streets, and two museums (Patek Philippe watch museum and the Foundation Martin Bodmer library museum – where we hoped to see the Gutenberg Bible – but it was in the vault 10 floors below us), before we headed to our hotel across the border into France for the night. The watch museum was neat since that isn’t something you see much of in the USA. The Library was really well done. One thing is for sure, the entire city of Geneva stinks like too much money. Jewelry stores on every corner, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Hermes, Gucci, and soooo many more.

Step count day one: 19,439

Day two. April 1. Geneva to Chamonix. Up and at ‘em early to get to CERN! If you don’t know anything about CERN, let me educate you. Science lesson loading…. https://visit.cern/

CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research (in French Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire). CERN’s mission is “Science for Peace. CERN’s convention states: The Organization shall have no concern with work for military requirements and the results of its experimental and theoretical work shall be published or otherwise made generally available.” Basically it’s, science for all and not to be utilized by military for bad. It’s where the World Wide Web was created and where the Large Hadron Collider is. This place was on the Bucket list for both of us, because SCIENCE! We were the first ones there at the visitor center when it opened. We learned that you get tickets for the tours an hour before, and the first tour was at 10am. So we were early. We walked across to the dome (Universe of Particles https://visit.cern/universe-of-particles ) but it opened at 830am. At this point we had to make a decision… and it was an easy one. We walked back and hopped in line for the tour 40 min early. There was absolutely no way in hell we were missing this tour – and we couldn’t be delayed due to a packed schedule or trains and buses (and we did late check out from the hotel so we didn’t have to haul our bags with us, because that would have been problematic). We were #8&9 for the tour. Once we got our guaranteed spot, we hopped back across the road and enjoyed the full experience. The tour was amazing. Our tour guide wasn’t a normal tour guide, this guy worked on the ATLAS project! He is a Particle Physicist and got very excited talking to us about all the things they do at CERN. He is also a professor at a local university. When he’d speak, you’d hear the passion in his voice. He’d get so excited explaining to us about whatever we were seeing; he’d forget details and go back. Because of his genuine love of what he was speaking about, this made the tour top-notch. Probably one of the best tours I’ve ever taken! The tour consists of two main areas: Synchrocyclotron (The OG Accelerator that they have overlaid a terrific immersive multimedia experience) and the ATLAS Visitor Center with a sneak peek into the still active control room.  It was here that we learned that for a short time each year, CERN welcomes visitors to see the actual collider (LHC) when it’s shut down for maintenance. *Insert dolphin squeal* It isn’t often that we plan to return to places, since the world is a huge place, but this was enough to put an asterisk on the map to come back. Plus we missed the United Nations building. So, we will be back to Geneva at some point for nerd vacation 2.0. CERN has 23 countries that are considered “Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.” The USA isn’t part of the Member States, but was awarded CERN Observer status in 1997 “for significant in-kind contributions to CERN’s accelerator complex. The US-CERN collaboration is governed by international cooperation agreements, which are prepared and agreed upon jointly by the US Government agencies and CERN.” Do yourself a favor. If you’re ever in Geneva, make it a point to go experience this for yourselves. You’ll thank me later.

After CERN we had to haul it back to the hotel to check out and we were running late! We missed our bus by 2 min and would have needed to wait an hour for the next one. This will be a common theme of this trip.  So… enter Uber. We grabbed our stuff, checked out (threw the key on the desk as no one was there) and hauled butt in the rain to the bus stop for our next ride. Now we were headed to the mountains, but around Lake Lausanne first. What a beautiful ride around the lake, but nothing compared to the ride and views on the Monte Blanc Express. Mountains for dayyyssss and sweeping views! I may never come home y’all! Josh enjoyed it just as much and probably more after he learned it was a cog-wheel design. Engineers, man! We made it to Chamonix around 530pm, and got checked into our hotel. We dropped our stuff and layered up. Out the door and up the mountain we went, only to find that the gondola was already closed. Okay, time to pivot. The spa is open til 745pm so we threw on our swim suits and up to the rooftop pool/hot tub/steam room/ sauna we went. This is one of the few times we had time to enjoy the amenities of our lodging, and enjoy we did! Then, it was a quick rinse and a bit of research for dinner. When in Rome, right? We’re in a quaint skiing town in France so we went hunting for French food! Chez Constant was delicious! We both chose a 3-course meal option, and neither of them disappointed! Then we had a romantic stroll in the falling snow down a quaint street back to our hotel. How romantic, and necessary after all that food! We got back to the hotel and did some quick looking at our map plan to plot the course for the following day. Then it was off to bed after an absolutely incredible day.

Step count day two: 14,862

Day three.  April 2. Chamonix to Zermatt. When we went to bed the night before, the weather was predicted to be bad, so we scrapped the idea of taking the gondola up the mountain (hindsight, this was an excellent decision, more on that later). Plus, we had an excursion in the middle of the day, two hours away, which is hard to manage. We chose to sleep in and try to bump the excursion time up.  The phone number would not connect, so we had to come up with a new plan, which added stress. Then, trains that only run once an hour suck time up and can easily ruin a day if you let them. We eventually got to Lac Souterrain, or Lake of St-Leonard. This is the largest underground lake in all of Europe. I went to the window and asked if we could move our reservation up, and they were able to accommodate without issue. We got our tickets, and then got in a boat that held 30 people and two unruly shit children that screeched the entire ride. Oh, and an Asian family of four that had no regard for others. I’m all about trying to understand other cultures, but what happened was unacceptable in any culture from my perspective. Our guides spoke French, German, and English, and as they were explaining something about the lake, these asshats decide to film a birthday wish video for someone back home. ALL 4 of them spoke loudly and then replayed the video to each other, laughing loudly and having a full independent conversation WHILE THE GUIDES WERE TALKING. So rude! The lake was okay at best, but those two things ruined it for us though. The underground lake in Dominican Republic was better, and smaller, and less expensive. After this, we found our bus, and then our train connection and headed toward our hotel for the night. We stayed in Täsch (one train stop from Zermatt). Bonus, our hotel was a parking lot away from the train station! The room was so cute with excellent views of the mountains from the patio. Again, we arrived in time to utilize the amenities at the hotel, so, off to the sauna and hot tub we went. After the frustrating earlier part of the day, we both needed to just relax for a bit. Of course we had a few cocktails too – I mean, we aren’t driving anywhere, so why not? Clean up and hustle over to the train to head to Zermatt for dinner and some night sightseeing (more like previewing what to see in the morning). We ate at a delicious Italian restaurant and I had fresh-made pasta. Holy smokes, I was starving and it was so good. I unapologetically ate every single bite! We strolled the city streets walking off the meal and waiting for the train to head to the hotel for the night (Because of course we missed the train by less than 5 minutes and then had to wait 55 for the next one). We successfully turned our not-so-great start of the day into a good finish.

Step count day three: 14,153

Day four.  April 3. Zermatt to Hasliberg. We were against most things Zermatt, but awoke to a beautiful day. We left our hotel, caught the train back into Zermatt, and went for a little walk to take in the sights that we saw at night the day before. Because it was such a clear and blue day, you could easily see the Matterhorn from town. I was awestruck by its magnificence. After our stroll, we saw the gondola line moving very quickly, which is an incredible feat in itself (there were a ton of skiers ready as soon as it opened at 830am) By 9am, the line was very short. There was no debate… We quickly decided that although it’s expensive, we’d take the cable car up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. Honestly though, it wasn’t that expensive, plus we had the Swiss card for transportation, so it got us ½ price for the cable car ($50 each)I am so glad we did! What an absolutely amazing and breathtaking experience, both in cold and views! It was a series of gondolas and cable cars up the mountain. We got some fun looks in the gondola with all the skiers. We were definitely in the minority. I’m also the dummy that forgot to put on thermals that day. J We took the gondola up until we had to switch to the cable car, but decided to step out and breathe fresh mountain air and watch some skiers depart down the mountain. Then it was back in the cable car to climb farther up the mountain. The views were sweeping and so very amazing. Everything this mountain loving girl’s heart desired!  When we made it allll the way to the top of the 360° viewing platform (12,740ft) it was windy, frigid, and awe-inspiring. What we witnessed, photographs just don’t do justice. From the platform, not only can you see the infamous Matterhorn, but you can see 37 other 4,000m peaks and 14 glaciers. We caught a couple get engaged (Brownie points for that dude!) If it wasn’t so freakin’ cold out there, I would have stayed out there forever. Once we were thoroughly frozen, we went in to the café and warmed up with a snack, coffee, and beer. While we sat in wonder, we witnessed a helicopter bringing materials for a new ski launch area and got to watch the unloading process, and full stop to all action on the mountain. That was a very neat experience. Now that we had warmed up, we wanted to explore the rest of the Glacier Paradise exhibit. There is the Glacier Palace, which is filled with ice sculptures and ice formations. That was both neat and cold. They also have a small cinema that shows films on the Matterhorn, but we skipped that due to time. Instead, we decided to hit the viewing platform one more time before we took the long ride back down to catch the train to our hotel for check out and moving on to the next city. We mentally prepared to brave the cold again, which actually made it more tolerable. Josh had to peel me away because I wanted to stay until I was thoroughly frozen.  I will forever be the girl that chases the mountains. I left with a happy heart and smile plastered on my face.  More info on the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise can be found here: https://www.matterhornparadise.ch/en/Experience/Peaks/Matterhorn-glacier-paradise

Now it was time to catch the cable car, gondola, walk to the train station, and catch the train. We rushed to the hotel, and checked out. Thankfully, we had already packed up so it was a grab-and-go type situation. We had about 10 minutes to grab things from the small grocery store for the train ride (snacks, lunch, drinks, etc.) and then off on the train for 3.5 hours and one connection in Interlaken. We were headed to Hasliberg for the next 3 nights, which was nice so we didn’t have to worry about storing luggage in lockers while we went off to sightsee.  Multiple beers and a few mixed drinks (blended scotch whiskey and coke – yes, it’s as terrible as it sounds, but it was all they had in a small bottle) later, we arrived at our stop. Now we needed to catch a bus and go 3 stops up the road to our hotel. The Wetterhorn hotel in Hasliberg is the absolute cutest! The hosts are genuinely nice and will go out of their way for you and any needs you may have. We went to our room and got settled. The room was the largest of all the rooms we’d have on this trip, complete with a 2-burner stove, small fridge, and all the cookware we would need to create our own meals for 2 nights. Yes, we are those people; we don’t always go out to eat when we travel. If the accommodations allow, we will often cook a few meals on our own – plus it saves money. However, the first night we didn’t have supplies, so we ventured to find dinner. We asked the hosts what was nearby and open. Answer, not much. They also owned a hotel just up the road, so that’s where we headed. Josh said, “Let’s take the bus” and the host said it was an easy walk (200m). We took the bus… and hopped on and right back off again at the next stop. We seriously could have walked! The food was pretty good and we couldn’t complain much since there were no other options closes by. I had a flatbread and Josh had lasagna. Mine was delicious (because I always pick the best meal) his was slightly overcooked, but good nonetheless. We also shared dried salted beef – think beef carpaccio but with dried meat. It was very good. After the meal, and being very full, the decision to walk back was easy. Once back at the hotel, we did a brief look at the map for the next day to plan our wake up time and course for the day, and then it was quickly off to slumber. A little bit about the Wetterhorn Hotel – Built in 1907 and renovated in 2012, it offers off the beaten path comfort that is still close enough to the train station to go anywhere. It is super cute, has a gorgeous view, has tons of character, is probably booked for weddings a bunch due to the outdoor space, night club, bar, and full service restaurant. If you are ever nearby, I’d highly recommend a stay there. https://sinnvollgastro.ch/unsere-betriebe/wetterhorn-appartement

Step count day four: 12,338

Day five. April 4. Hasliberg to a few attempted placed, but ultimately ending in Lucerne, and then back to Hasliberg. Today we got up super-duper stupidly early to get to the first thing on our log, and left the hotel by 620am, setting out for the Sphinx Observatory in Jungfrau. We took 3 trains and a bus, and 2.5 hours of time… when we arrived we learned that it would be $150 CHF to go up, each. That’s with a 25% with our Swiss card… That’s a big fat nope. I’m honestly not sure how neither of us noticed the plethora of signs that told us this, but we did. I blame the pretty picture as my distraction. An attempt to see a waterfall failed before it began, since the bus would get us there but not back for over 6 hours, and an extra hour of hiking was not in the cards. Another attempt to see a beautiful lake was ruined before it began as the funicular was closed and that would mean 3 extra hours of hiking. No time for that. We ultimately decided to hit Lucerne for the day. We spent until noon on trains, pretty frustrated with an early morning and half day wasted, but we hit the ground ready to roll, and that’s exactly what we did! The obvious starting point was Lake Lucerne, since it is right outside of the train terminal. The lake is beautiful and large. It can be seen from most of the attractions we went to see for the day. The next stop was the Chapel Bridge. The Chapel Bridge is one of two wooden covered foot bridges in Lucerne. It is also the longer of the two. Built in the 1300s, it is noted as Europe’s oldest covered bridge. Under the roof, along the entire bridge, there are triangular paintings that depict events from the history and legends of Lucerne. Sadly, there was a fire in the 1990s that decimated many of these paintings. The bridge was restored, but some of the charred paintings were left. Pretty magnificent to see and walk. From the bridge it was a short walk to the Jesuit Church of St Francis Cavier. This church is known as the first large Baroque church built in Switzerland north of the Alps. It was built in 1667 and beautiful in its own way. Now that we were across the river, we had to cross back for other attractions on our list. The second of the two covered foot bridges is the Spreur Bridge, aka the bridge of death. This is much shorter than the Chapel Bridge. It’s known for its triangular paintings as well, except all of these depict danse macabre – dance of death. It isn’t meant to be scary or mean that if you walk across the bridge you will die; none of that nonsense. It’s meant to highlight that there is no place in the city, in the country, or at sea where death isn’t present. The paintings are from the early 1600s and are in remarkable shape considering they are exposed to the elements. Now that we have crossed the river, it’s off to the Musegg Wall. The Musegg Wall is over half a mile long, consists of 9 towers, and is well known for the medieval architecture. You can climb at least half of the towers for striking views of the city. They have created an exhibit of pendulums and clocks inside each tower – because Switzerland and their clocks. Some pendulums were as tall as the tower. Of course we loved this aspect. Some of the stairs up the towers are extremely narrow and only afford one person at a time or one direction of travel. Well, I was about 7 steps up on one of these narrow crossings and this douche came charging down and almost knocked me off the stairs. Of course I couldn’t hold my tongue and let him know I thought it was rude. He spouted back “You could have waited as I was already on the stairs!” No dude… “I was already half way up and your entitlement thought you should be able to charge down with no regard for anyone else. That’s just rudeeeee!” You who make the worst tourists? Other Americans. Anywho, we were just about finished with the downtown area of Lucerne, but I wanted to stack another method of travel into our log, so we headed to the funicular up to Gutsch Castle and Hotel. I really had no interest in the swanky hotel, but I wanted to ride the funicular and catch those views. I was not disappointed. Free funicular ride and amazing view of the city. Josh gave his best “Insta-ready pose” and it was absolutely amazing. Y’all can judge for yourselves.

Time for another church: this time it was the Church of St. Leodegar. This church looks enormous from the outside and as we walked up the steps Josh said “it looks so much bigger in pictures.” Yea you already know what I responded… That’s what she said! It was nice and they were preparing for Easter mass in a few days. It’s a 17^th century Catholic Church with twin gothic towers and white stone. The altar was really nicely done; otherwise, it was just another church. Now it was a short jaunt to the Swiss Transport Museum, but we were sad to learn that the Swiss pass got us ZERO discount. Meh, we’re frugal and have been to many transportation museums in our travels. We decided we would tour the outside and not pay to go in. Plus, remember that museums are a bit of a time suck and we can easily eat up hours in them. We debated taking the ferry across towards the train station and to just head back toward the hotel, and gain an additional type of travel. We sat at a park just outside the museum looking at what was around and remembered about the Meggenhorn Castle, Church and Gardens. Not sure how we forgot about this place, but we caught the next bus headed that way and set out for a late afternoon adventure. Once a private castle from the late 1860s, but became public property of the municipality of Meggen in 1974. It’s famous for its views, location, and a place to hold events. We arrived as the tours we ending so we opted to tour the ground on our own. In the late spring the hydrangeas are in full bloom of many colors, plus other floral delights are everywhere for the eye to see. The Castle itself is pretty incredible. The outside of the chapel is beautiful, and I read it can hold about 25 for a small wedding ceremony. The grounds are magnificent, filled with views, gazebos, flowers, vineyards in view, and a small functioning farm just down the walk way. Of course, I touched the animals. Now that we had completed our adventure, it was time to head back towards the train and get moving to the hotel (about 45 min train and bus ride back). We did 22k steps in less than 6 hours! We were moving and our feet and knees could tell!

Side note, if you’ve never been to a major train station in Europe, they are like shopping malls that the train stops at. This made things very convenient for us on the way back to the hotel. We just grabbed what we needed for the two nights of dinner we’d be cooking. We had 10 min to run through the Coop (Grocery store) and gather what we needed. Two critical errors occurred. One, Josh didn’t get in line fast enough to make things move swimmingly. Two, I didn’t know you needed a weight sticker for veggies. They don’t even have bags to put veggies in… do you stick the bar code on the veggie itself? That’s weird. Then, as we were borderline on time, these two entitled 20-somethings decided that they were more important than us and just slide in line in front of us like it was no big deal. I almost came unglued. We moved lines to avoid a “Jenn goes to jail on vacation” scenario. The one time we needed the train to be delayed by 2 minutes, it was on time. Thus, we missed the train and had to wait for 45 min. We tried. That forced us to get snacks, souvenirs, and train drinks. We made it back to the hotel around 815pm and it was time to get dinner going. Tonight was Spinach and cheese ravioli, pancetta, sage and butter, accompanied by bread, cheese, and wine. After dinner, we did laundry in the sink and hung it to dry by the following evening so we could pack it up. Again, we are those people. I bring laundry sheets that have soap and fabric softener all in one. We only bring a backpack and carry-on luggage on trips. Sometimes it’s a laundromat just as they close (Spain) and sometimes you clean laundry old school in the sink to make it work. We are really good at making it work. A quick shower, a little planning for the next day and off to slumber we went. Vacation is half over as of today L

Step count day five: 21,425

Day six. April 5. Hasliberg to Zurich and back to Hasliberg. We got some extra much needed sleep today and caught breakfast at the hotel. Then it was off on the bus to the train again. Trains are fun because you can move around, and that feature comes in handy for two occasions (probably more but two that have proven themselves on this trip). Dealing with a ton of screeching children, and old men that have to speak very loudly in confined spaces to what each other. Neither is enjoyable to be near, so the option to “move about the cabin” comes in handy. Zurich, this town has wayyyy too much money! The train ride to Zurich was about 1.5 hours, and we waited until after rush hour to head that way, hoping we’d miss the multitude of people. Wrong. We forgot that in Europe, Easter is a huge holiday and everyone is off starting on Wednesday (Today). The train was packed!

You know what an engineer and a safety professional do to pass the time on train rides? We do research about trains and things on them. Here’s your safety lesson for the day. Do you know why the little hammers are mandatory on many trains and buses in Europe? Two main incidents played into the requirement, but I know there were many more. The first, 1998 InterCity Express (ICE) Eschede, Germany train disaster crashed into a concrete bridge due to derailment. The cause of the derailment: a single fractured wheel. 101 killed, 88 injured. Details and more info can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschede_train_disaster The second, was the Gletscherbahn Kaprun 2 (Kaprun, Austria) funicular disaster of 2000, where there were 2 carriages running simultaneously on a single track, a small section allowed them to pass each other halfway. “Prior to the passenger train leaving the lower terminus shortly after 9:00 am, the electric fan heater in the unattended cabin at the lower end of the train caught fire, due to a design fault that caused the unit to overheat. The fire melted through plastic pipes carrying flammable hydraulic fluid from the brake system, resulting in the loss of fluid pressure which caused the train to halt unexpectedly 600 meters into the tunnel (this was a standard safety feature)” (Wikipedia). It took several minutes for the conductor to realize what was happening and attempted to open the hydraulically operated doors. They would not open, and panic set in. Many lost consciousness due to smoke and toxic fumes, but 12 from the rear of the train followed a volunteer fire fighter down past the fire and below the smoke. Finally, the conductor was able to get the doors to function and those that had not passed out hurried out of the doors and up the tunnel, away from the fire. Unfortunately, the tunnel acted like a blast furnace, pulling in oxygen from the bottom, and shooting the toxic smoke, heat, and fire blowing upwards – ultimately cooking the fleeing victims alive. The 2 people from the second train (conductor and one passenger) also perished due to smoke inhalation. Determination after the incident was that the fan heaters installed on the train were not designed for a moving vehicle. There were many, many other contributing factors. In total 155 people were killed between the 2 funiculars and the Alpine station. You can read more here if you are so inclined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaprun_disaster#:~:text=The%20disaster%20killed%20155%20people,from%20the%20burning%20ascending%20train. Yes, we are those people that read about disasters while we are on the transportation we are researching. Now you know and understand why there is a hammer to break the glass on trains and buses. There were many outcomes from these specific incidents, and others, this is just the example I chose to expound on. Also note that this is why in tunnels there are many signs showing which direction to evacuate and how far to the safe space. One last thing on this, Austria implemented a very specific hammer as part of this new standard. It covers the knuckles and part of the hand to help avoid as much physical harm to the hand if it is necessary to break a window in an emergency. So, I guess they are trying to forward think that now. I lied, one more thing for those nerdy folks out there like us, the standard is DIN EN 45545-2 HL3. Well, now we have arrived in Zurich, and we are all up to date with our train safety and engineering knowledge. Let’s go adventure!

We arrived by train, so what better place to start then the Zurich Train Station. This place is massive, and has some impressive art and architecture. We only stuck around long enough to figure out where we were starting our journey. We headed off to Lindenhof – Zurich’s old town. We grabbed a snack, and set off down the old city streets. Like many old European towns, cars aren’t allowed on the streets and there was a market going on. We strolled for a bit and then headed off to see some attractions. Wouldn’t you know we went to see a few churches J First up was Christkatholische Augustinerkirche, a Gothic church from the 1200s. It was once used as a coin factory and was restored to be a church in the 1950’s. It’s a very stoic church, with an interesting rood cross. It’s rather plain and dark on the inside, which added to the charm. Simple concrete and wood interior and I would venture to guess it has fantastic acoustics. Just as the rest of the church, the organ was simple, large and beautiful. From there we headed to St. Peter’s Church. Parts of this church date back to 1000AD, but in total the entire church was completed around 1460 in a Gothic style. During the 1400s, St. Peter’s was the only parish church in town and the rest were monasteries. It’s part of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zürich. The steeple’s clock face has a diameter of 8.7 m, and is noted as the largest church clock face in Europe. The altar and pulpit set up was very different, as I have never seen one over the center of the altar before. We did get to enjoy the sounds of the organ while we took in the church. From St. Peter’s we walked just up the way and were awestruck by the slender steeple of The Fraumünster. The church was built on the remains of a former abbey and had amazing artwork in the cloister. We strolled around the grounds but chose to not go in (there was a giant tour group that was in front of us, and we didn’t want to deal with all of that). As we set back out to walk more of the city streets, we stumbled on a wonderful fountain that was filled with roses of all colors. It was such a simple thing, but absolutely beautiful. It made me wonder if this was a normal every day thing, or if it was in preparation for the Easter holiday. Either way, I was glad we got to stop and take a look (and 40 pictures J). Next up was the last church we’d tour for the day: Grossmünster. The Grossmünster is a Protestant church that stands out from the crowd of churches in Zurich due to its twin-towered Romanesque cathedral. The entrance door to the church is gigantic and all hand carved. I couldn’t help but love the tiny yellow bicycle that was parked outside. The first, and possibly the most striking thing regarding this church were the stained glass windows. Josh and I had just talked about how plain many of the churches we had visited were in respect to colors and the lack of stained glass. This one had all the stained glass. The church has commissioned an artist (Simon Polke) to do all of the windows in the early 2000s, and let me just say they were magnificent and very different than the traditional style. The organ was not only huge, but also very colorful and ornate. We chose to not go up in the tower, due to saving our leg power for the rest of the day. The big bummer here was we really wanted to see the Bible collection complete with the Froschauer Bible – worldwide there are only three surviving copies of the first complete edition of the Bible published in German. Sadly, the person that is in charge of the collection was on vacation. We popped out to see the cloister and garden area before we decided we were done. That’s enough churches for today. Off to see some more sights and interesting things! The Suitcase is a fun little random gem. Y’all know I have an affinity for random roadside attractions and this is no different! Next to the Sihl City Mall, there is a raised train track that runs as a bridge above the Sihl river. There is a walking path and several reasons to draw a crowd. If you don’t look up, you will never notice the 100-yard track with a metal actual-sized briefcase suspended from it. The briefcase leaks water until it hits a watering station. Once the briefcase is filled back up, it begins to rotate around the track leaking water. Next we hopped over to Rote Fabrik, a cultural area that leads to wonderful views of Lake Zurich. The alley that leads down to the water is filled with creative graffiti, restaurants, and industrial areas. There is also a theater and concert venue that is open at night. We enjoyed strolling along, peering at the graffiti and then resting our feet while taking in the lake. After a bit of rest it was off to the last two things on our list for the day. We started with the Landesmuseum – Swiss National Museum (free admission with the Swiss card!). As I have mentioned before, museums can tend to suck up time if you don’t keep a close eye on the clock. This museum was no different. We had to really pick what we wanted to see and get after it. We decided we should probably indulge in learning about the country we were visiting. We learned what it takes to become a citizen of Switzerland and some of the political views, and headed into the “History of Switzerland” exhibit. We even played one of their games (think a short escape room, but they ask you legal questions. If you get them right, they challenge that answer with a rebuttal. I’m happy to say that we answered all seven questions correctly and were released!) Part of the exhibit gifted us a copy of the Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation. A great train read for later and a fun souvenir. Oddly enough, we had time to see a bit more of one of the exhibit halls. We went through the “Women’s Suffrage” exhibit and learned that Swiss women faced many of the same struggles that American women did. When we finished that section, we had about 15 min of allotted time left, so we rushed through “the Collection” and viewed collections of clocks, watches, jewelry, etched/stained glasses, old stoves, and a few other various things. We actually spent 15 min longer than the allotted time we had planned, but it was well worth it. It was time to head to our last attraction of the day: the Moulagenmuseum. This is one of the museums that you either love or will not enjoy. Good thing we had one of each J. The Moulagenmuseum is a museum with wax-model reproductions of diseased body parts, including many skin diseases. To me, that is very fascinating. To Josh, it’s just gross. He was a good sport and the place wasn’t too big so we were in and out in about 30 minutes. I could have meandered around for hours though. Now it was time to head to the train station and catch our ride back to the hotel. We had a bit of time to kill waiting for the train, so we popped into a “drinks of the world” store and grabbed a bottle of wine to accompany our dinner, and a few train drinks. Then it was off for a 1.5 hour ride and a short bus ride back to the hotel. This was the first night we were back with a good amount of sunlight left, so we decided to explore the entire property. Y’all, if you are ever in the area, seriously stay at the Wetterhorn. The rooms are cute and cozy, and the grounds are beautiful. They have little outdoor booths to enjoy cocktails or dinner in warmer weather. They have a perfect set up for weddings too (Yes, definitely thinking vow renewal out there at some point). It’s just magnificent. We wrapped up our grand tour of the facility and went to the room to cook our dinner, relax, and pack up. Sad to leave this wonderful little slice of paradise in the morning, but for now, it’s time to sleep.

Step count day six: 19,695

Day seven. April 6. Today it’s leaving one country, traveling through another, and ending in third… Hasliberg, Switzerland to Liechtenstein, ending in Bludenz, Austria. We started the morning with a breakfast at the hotel and a smidge more taking in all of the fun things that the Wetterhorn had to offer. Then it was time to bid adieu.  More trains and buses, and then even more trains and buses. I said I wanted a train trip, but I’m pretty over being on a train or bus a full week in. That said, not driving has its advantages: train and bus beers, only having to pay attention when it gets close to your stop, sitting back and truly getting to enjoy the scenery around (since one of us usually misses out due to being the driver), etc. We hopped on the train in Hasliberg and headed toward Buchs, Switzerland. Funny thing about Liechtenstein, you can’t hop off the train in the country. You have to get on a bus on a bus in Buchs or go across into Austria and do the same. We chose Buchs. Here we ditched our bags in a locker at the train station and caught a bus into Balzers to go see a new country! The country of Liechtenstein is 20% smaller (roughly) than the city of Edmond, OK. The country and few towns we stopped to explore in were quaint, beautiful, and the people were very nice. We learned that although quite small, the major corporation of Hilti is headquartered in Liechtenstein. Of the 100 smallest countries in the world, Josh and I have been to 17 of them! Liechtenstein is the sixth smallest. https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/lifestyle/the-100-smallest-countries-in-the-world/ We enjoyed strolling the town streets with minimal traffic. I really enjoyed how the farming community and vineyards kept the ground wild, filled with dandelions to bring in pollinators to the grapes. What a concept! We took a mild hike up to see the Gutenberg Castle. It was closed for the interior, but the grounds were spectacular, and what a view! Afterward, we hiked back down and went to see the church below. St. Nicholas Catholic Church was beautiful on the exterior, but very mild on the inside, as so many churches we have seen on this trip. Like many churches, there was a cemetery on the grounds. There were a few things to note on the cemetery though. One, there are no family plots like we have in the states. Instead, you are put in chronological order by date of death. You buy a space, just no guarantee that you will be next to or near your loved ones. The second and most striking thing about the cemetery was the pristine upkeep and sheer beauty. I love graveyards, cemeteries, and all the things like that. This was one of the prettiest I have been to. The families can plant trees, shrubs, flowers, plants of probably any kind on the gravesite. There were so many pops of color and tons of life in that cemetery. That’s what it’s all about, right: Life after death and replenishing the Earth with your body? I thought it was fascinating and Josh seemed to marvel at it as well. The third was the backdrop of mountains, hills, and grand blue sky. What a perfect day. Now it was time to find the bus and head into Vaduz for the rest of our time in Liechtenstein. We strolled around, missing bus connections while we tried to figure out what we wanted to do next. We thought we were going to see another castle, but that ended up being the residence of the Prince, so it was a big no go J We decided it was 3:30pm and it was time for wine. So we headed to the Cellars of the Prince of Liechtenstein, which ironically had a perfect view of the castle. Let me tell you, wine in Liechtenstein is fine by me. Josh and I each enjoyed two different Riesling selections while we sat outside, alone on the terrace. We had free roam into the vineyard too. It was a beautiful day to be outside, about 60°, in the foothills of the mountains, and wine in hand. Does life get any better? I don’t think so. We passed some good time just sitting and really enjoying ourselves, but it was time to head to our last stop and then get a move on to Austria for the night. The Old Rhine Bridge is a beautiful historic footbridge that crosses the Rhine River and connects Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Of course we stood in both countries at the same time! Again, a beautiful backdrop and gorgeous day made this perfect. We crossed the bridge, saying goodbye to Liechtenstein, and waited for the train in Sevelen, Switzerland. We had to stop in Buchs to grab our luggage and get a train ticket to Bludenz. We caught our trains without issue and arrived in Bludenz around 7:30pm. We hiked a bit up to our hotel, engulfed in the aroma of the local chocolate factory doing their thing. The air was thick with the scent and it was utterly delightful. Sadly, the factory would not be open the next day or we would have done the tour. Dang it! Our hotel was situated between the chocolate factory (Milka) and a brewery (Fohrenburg). What more can a girl ask for?!? We checked in, got to our cute room (that looked directly out to the brewery on one side and the train tracks on the other) and quickly determined that we were hungry and running on fumes, needing rest. We decided a local sushi/Thai restaurant was where we would go. Maaaaan, that food was good, or we were hungry, or both. Either way, with full bellies we headed back towards the hotel, but decided to take the long way and catch the few local attractions on the way back. Yes, it is night time, but the amazing thing about the new iPhones is they are great for night photography! A cute little church, some country flags, and a glimpse of the brewery at night were about it. Our feet were done! A very quick shower and look at the map/plan for tomorrow and off to bed we went.

Step count day seven: 16,754

Day eight. April 7. Bludenz to Innsbruck. Today we slept in. A full week+ and our bodies are tired. Up at 830a to pack and catch a 930am train to Innsbruck. The trains were full, probably 80-85%. We forgot that today is Good Friday, and most of Europe observes Easter, so everyone was out and about for travels. This posed an issue for seats (we didn’t reserve ahead of time – BIG mistake) so we ended up having to sit in the family zone. L Thankfully, it was only a shorter ride, 1hr45min. Innsbruck is a lovely city with a bit less hustle and bustle of some of the other cities we’ve seen. When we arrived, it was before noon and we knew our hotel had luggage storage, so we headed there (conveniently just a block from the train station). Upon arrival, we learned our room wasn’t ready. Not surprising, as it was 5 hours before typical check in time. We did all of our prerequisites for check in, dropped our luggage, and headed off to see some sights (backpacks in tow). We bobbed and weaved through the town, stopping for photos and taking in the scenery. We continued walking and discovered the Grassmayr bell foundry that offered an interactive museum experience. Bells from 1500’s and up! Sadly, the foundry was done working for the day and off for the remainder of the week for the Easter holiday. Geez, that sounds familiar from the rest of the trip. However, you were allowed to step into a small part of the foundry to see the shop and process. You were also allowed into the old foundry, which was now part of the musical section of the museum. You could also wander the grounds to see all of the bells they had in many additional places. They even allow you to play some of the bells in multiple places. A neat, fun, historical experience with the bonus of education: that’s a definite win from me! Did you know that Innsbruck hosted the 1964 Winter Olympics? Well, they did and we went to see their renewed Olympic park. They currently host soccer, football, ice skating, hockey, and a bunch of other things. You can even go bobsledding! Just below the Olympic Park was a tunnel that had lots of graffiti, so, we stopped in for a look. From there we headed to Ambras Castle – which is more of a museum than a castle, but it was filled with fun treasures everywhere for the eye to see. https://www.schlossambras-innsbruck.at/en/ The hike up to the castle was a grueling, uphill battle with backpacks and tired legs. However, we made it, and boy was it worth it! The castle is broken up into three sections: The upper castle, the castle grounds, and the lower castle. Between those three, there are eight permanent exhibits, plus others that rotate. We dropped our backpacks in the lockers and started toward the Spanish Hall. Wowza! There are twenty-seven full-length portraits of the Tyrolean Counts around the room (Josh and I had a fun time making up stories that matched the pictures. The ceiling was adorned with wood-carved tiles, and the floor was a decorative stone and pattern. The room was marvelous. Onto the St. Nicholas Chapel: a small addition to the castle that is highly decorated for such a small space. After this, we strolled the rest of the upper castle portion of the tour. Then we worked our way down to the lower castle portion. Here we found the Armory, and the start of the exhibition. I always enjoy seeing the evolution of a concept throughout the years, and armor is a great example. After the Armory, we went over to the “Chamber of Art and Wonders” for a look-see… This is the personal collection of “Things” for Archduke Ferdinand II, so you know there are some interesting things. We enjoyed the oddities at a rapid pace, because of course we came as the castle was closing. We grabbed our things out of the lockers, with three minutes to spare! Now it was off to the bus stop. Of course, we missed our bus by two minutes and now had to wait 30 minutes for the next one. Poop. “Well, it’s still light out and there is a church up that hill… It’s pretty steep, but it says six minutes. Six up, six down, six to enjoy the setting, plus a buffer of 7 min. Let’s go get some more steps!” With backpacks… Welcome to vacationing with us!

We hike up to Tummelplatz, a 19^th century military cemetery.  What a neat little wonder up nestled into the hill. There is an open air prayer chapel and the then small chapel that has a few seats for services just a few feet away. Then the cemetery area has elevated head stones that are more like signs. Each is slightly different, but they are mostly green and blend into the natural scenery. I’ve read that in some cultures, it is traditional to have cemeteries in forests, so when you die, you are a gift back to the earth. After a few minutes of enjoying the grounds, it was time to head down, as we didn’t want to miss the bus. We hiked down and waited just a few minutes for the bus to arrive. A few stops later and we were back at the hotel, and ready to check in. Come to find out, because I was so patient earlier in the day (when I attempted to check in way early, but was denied), we had been given an upgraded room. Cool! I love a good free upgrade… They did not disappoint! The view from our room was unbelievable. That ridiculous panoramic view and that bathroom!  Yea, that will do! We enjoyed the view for a little bit, dropped our luggage and headed off to see the few remaining thing son our list so we could get a clean start in the morning. We started with the Innsbruck Cathedral, The painting Maria Hilf (Mary of Succor) by Lucas Cranach the Elder from c. 1530 is displayed above the main altar. It is considered among the most venerated Marian images in Christendom. (Wikipedia).

This place is like the Sistine Chapel by art amount comparisons – that what they said online. I have yet to see the Sistine Chapel with my own eyes. We walked around just looking at the architecture and reveling in the last few days of vacation. We had seen a festival that was filled with food trucks earlier when we walked through. We decided then that this would be our dinner plan. We walked around looking at each truck, plotting what we were going to have. I knew as soon as I saw the brisket fries that would be my dinner. I think Josh needed a few extra minutes to sell himself on his adult decision to have mini pancakes covered in sugar for dinner. Adulting is hard sometimes. After we ate our dinners, we debated between churros or the dough wrapped sugar covered thing… We opted for the dough-wrapped sugar-covered thing filled with nutella. Holy shizzz y’all., this thing was warm, gooey, decadent, but not super heavy. Don’t get me wrong, I was so full, but it was so good, so I kept eating. I am so glad we had a bit of a walk back. At this point I didn’t even care if my feet hurt; I was too full J We got back and went up to the roof top bar for our welcome drink. We both chose a Veneziano and enjoyed them while they lasted. A quick hop to the room and change to hit the sauna and steam room; I enjoy getting to use the amenities of these places since they don’t close at 6pm. A little quick planning mostly for wake up time and then it was off to bed.

Step count day eight: 18,046

Day nine. April 8. Innsbruck to Bolzano, Italy. Today was a day that had zero plans other than to get to Italy at the foot of the Dolomites. We decided to let the normal early morning traffic pass by and take 945 am train to Bolzano. I wanted a bit of a later morning to enjoy the view from the room and soak in our last full day of the trip. SO that is exactly what we did.  The previous day on our way to the hotel I noticed that there were pastry vendors on the way to the train, so I was sure to incorporate that into the timing to get to the train. I got a strawberry rhubarb strudel and Josh got an apple turnover thing. We also got a pretzel for the later morning snack. Yes, we snack a lot J We had a two and a half hour train ride that was pretty uneventful, by now we are numb to most annoyances of the train. We arrive in Bolzano just after noon and go ditch our luggage. This time we ditch all of it as it is locked and secured where the previous day it was just in the lobby, so we took our backpacks with us. Today we could lose that weight! Bags dropped, first stop was the Piazza Vittoria, an arch/statue in the center of the city area. It was gated off, but still easy to see. From there we stumbled into a market and Josh looked at some belts. Somehow he didn’t buy a belt. We did find a cheese and deli truck that looked like a food truck. We sampled some mild cheese since I don’t speak Italian, we chose the two we sampled and got a nice chunk of both. Now we had hike cheese. Don’t forget, I have a bag of smoked sausages in my bag. We enjoyed a good hunk of one of the cheeses on the way to the bus stop. We went to the Bolzano Cathedral, which is known for its multicolored marble roof and late gothic style, nothing crazy on the inside like the one in Innsbruck, but beautiful nonetheless.  From here it was 2:30p and we wanted to have an afternoon of drinking wine and soaking in the views. We set off for an uphill stroll to a small vineyard that was open for a tour and tasting. In distance, the hike probably wasn’t that bad, but the vertical climb and altitude about did me in! We made it about half way up and took a breather, checked out the view, and saw some pretty flowers (possibly wisteria). Then we finished our hike to the vineyard with a stop at the St. Magdelana Church to experience the views of all the vineyards stacked on the hills near this 13^th century Romanesque style church. Sadly, it wasn’t open, and is only open once a year for a festival on July 22 to celebrate the town of St. Magdalena and occasionally for tours. We arrived to the winery, Weingut Plonerhof, and were greeted by Olga, the GSD. Soon enough one of the owners, Brigitte came to usher us inside. Here she showed us the types of wine we could try and told us a bit about the history of the winery. We chose a Lagrein Riserva 2020 and committed to its dark richness. A bit strong for a midafternoon, but we muscled through it with pleasure.  Brigitte walked us around her fields and told us about how the land has been in the family since the 12^th century and the home was built in the 16^th century. She showed us how they have to clip each growth to create a new vine, and how tedious the work was. She told us about her children and grand kids, and how the next afternoon the house would be swarmed by the entire group. She said that she loved making the wine, but sometimes it was a real inconvenience since it’s all the time work with no off season. I feel that in my soul. Can I just be retired already!?! We settled up our tab, corked the remains of the wine, and snapped a quick selfie with Brigitte, then we were off to adventure some more.

We left and just took a nice slow walk around the small level of the town. Many wineries most were probably the same age. The land in this small town is like the Green Bay Packers season tickets. In order to get your hands on tickets or the land, someone had to die. I’m kidding, but not really. We decided that we wanted to see what other things were open up the hillside, so off we went. Remember that incline I mentioned earlier? Yea, 2/3 a bottle of heavy wine in with only cheese in our stomachs made that incline so much worse J We decided to stop on a park bench in the parking lot of the Hotel Eberle that is currently undergoing renovations. However the bench is off of a popular footpath. A quick Google about drinking laws in Italy and we determined that it was perfectly normal to have a break on the park bench while eating the remaining chunk of cheese and wine direct from the bottle. Embrace the moment! So there we sat enjoying the late afternoon sun on the town from up on the hillside, eating our cheese and drinking our wine. Once the cheese and wine were consumed, we decided that we should probably find some food and bring this party somewhere else. We determined that there was a super cute B&B/vineyard/Restaurant place just a smidge more up the hill. That walk felt like a lot more than a smidge, but alas we arrived. The view was spectacular. We grabbed a two-top table toward the end of the patio and were awestruck by the view. We started with a glass of wine each (not my normal go to, but a light white after a hike is always nice J ) and then I moved on to the wine from the township. It was so delicious! We quickly determined that this was how we would close out our vacation, in a small Italian town, staring off into cascading views, and then ordering dinner. There was much more wine with dinner. I told Josh the only thing I required from Italy was some Lemoncello with a view. He did not disappoint! However, there was only enough for one pour and our waiter felt bad… SO I got the lemoncello for free and because he felt bad, he gave us two shots of Grappa on the house. That’s like fire water, but I love free stuff and we are in Italy so why not?!?  When our food arrived we both devoured it in no time. That whole not really eating anything besides cheese was maybe not the smartest decision we’ve had. Once we enjoyed our last bit of the view and tasty treats we closed our bill and set off to hike back down the hillside. I will say momentum fueled by giggling helped the trip go much quicker on the way down. Now we can go check into the hotel. Upon our official check in we learn that they have a hot tub and sauna that is open for another hour and half. Sweet, sold! An awesome way to close the trip out, by relaxing in some hot water and then sweat out toxins.  Well, the hot tub is more of a large, warm pool. The pool was not bad since it was heated. The sauna/steam rooms were a nice ending. Now that we have relaxed, we charge up all of our devices and pack the luggage for the early morning, leaving out only the items we will use in the morning. I also prepped the terrible instant coffee and water kettle. It might be terrible, but it is better than nothing. I set an alarm. I set a second. Josh also sets an alarm. That should be enough. Off to slumber.

Step count day nine: 12,905

Day ten. April 9 (Easter). Balzano to Munich to OKC. Our trip is closing out today, and we are ready. Early up and out to catch a 645am Flix Bus. 2 hours later I wake up in Innsbruck (country number two for the day). Wait, wasn’t I just here a day or two ago? Well hello again, Austria! Pause for a moment and poof two hours later, now I’m in Germany! For those keeping count at home, that country number three on the day. A quick bus change, and brief PTSD flashback of the train situation in Munich last fall, and we were off to the dreaded Munich Airport. This all builds from the backstory from our Spain trip. Something about not understanding the language and getting locked in a train care at 5am will cause a certain level of PTSD.  However this time it was much better. I still say that the Munich airport has some of the worst signage of any airport I have been through. It does not make things easy. We made it to the terminal, check in and all of the fun stuff that goes with traveling internationally. The flight from Munich to Denver wasn’t terrible, and we hit both the Lufthansa club in Munich and the United club in Denver. Clubs are a wonderful way to kill time, save money on snacks, and prep for long flights. The flights home were uneventful. As was the Uber ride home from the airport. It’s hard to get friends to come and pick you up at Midnight, on Easter Sunday. Uber for the win! We made it home to the house late, 12:15am. A quick shower, a few minutes of snuggles with the puppies, and we were off to bed. Josh had to work the next morning.

Step count day ten: 8,872

Trip summary:

The magic word of this trip is: pivot. *Cue Ross Gellar screaming PIVOT. Relying on public transport comes with its own challenges. We either just missed the train or bus by 2 minutes, or we had 30+ to wait. We knew there would be challenges for this trip. I think we learned where the holes in our research were and what to change for the next trip. We honed our pivot ability and worked our change management skills. That’s the thing; we are always learning, adapting, and constantly trying new things to better our travels. Before this, we had only used public transportation to get around cities for a day or two. We hadn’t relied on it for everything. That tried our patience a time or two, but we eventually learned to cope with it as a part of life. I love the way we travel, that will probably never change. Ten days, four countries, only one suitcase each and a ton of planning.

Total steps for trip – 158,507. That’s roughly 66+ miles!

Give Me “Modes of Transportation, for $300, Alex” – Plane, Bus, Train, Cog wheel train, Funicular, Tram, Cable car, Gondola, Uber, Foot, Coach, and Subway. Like all good trips Josh and I take, we came home exhausted, but now we are starting to get the itch again.

Where will our fall trip take us: maybe it’ll be Asia, maybe South America, or somewhere else? Stay tuned, and make sure to get outside and make some memories!