Tag Archives: Switzerland

29 Days of Spring Break across Europe

3 weeks. 1 backpack. 9 cities. Possibly the most liberating thing I have ever done. Amongst the 4 of us (on the PSU program), we organized the entire trip with every sight and travel all on our own. We were together for the 1^st week of cities and then I followed a roommate (Aviva) to Barcelona to join her family and then left to fly to another roommate (Joelle) in Italy.

In this post, I want to give my overall to-the-point blunt impressions and experiences in each city. I use a scale of 1-5

1: When do I go back?!

5: Don’t recommend ever coming.

And details are to come in my next blogs about specific places and events that stood out. With that:

SPRING BREAK 2015

Innsbruck, Austria (1 day): 3. perfect amount of time, most scenic city in the Alps as mountains soar into the sky around the entire town. We took the Nordkettenbahn (gondola) to the top of the Alps for the breathtaking views and in one day were on the next train to our next destination. Visiting once is enough for Innsbruck as it is a relatively small and expensive city, but the views are unparalleled.

View from the top of the Alps in Innsbruck

View from the city center of Innsbruck.

Salzburg, Austria (2 days): 4. home of Mozart and “The Sound of Music”. We spent Palm Sunday in a cathedral that played Mozart, visited the old and cute shopping street Getreidegasse and the Hohensalzburg Fortress overlooking the city. Most of the movies’ filming locations were scattered outside of the town and “Sound of Music” bike tours were highly reviewed/advertised to take to them. However since we came during the tail-end of winter, the tours hadn’t started yet. Otherwise, Salzburg was just another small European town; one day would’ve been plenty.

The hills are alive….

Vienna, Austria (3 days): 1. gorgeous, ready to visit again! Visiting around Easter, the city was peppered with Easter markets full of treats and trinkets. The streets were lined with regal and grandiose architecture – including the opera (where Jo and I scored the 3 euro standing tickets to see Swan Lake at the Vienna State Opera – talk about once in a life time experience). Favorite museums were the MOMA (modern art museum – saw some Andy Warhol) and the Albertina (gorgeous exhibit from the private stock rooms of Musee d’Orsay – Degas, Cezanne and Seurat). Schoenbrunn Palace tried to compete with Versailles, and although it had gorgeous gardens the visitor very quickly can tell who really won.

Vienna!

Viennese Easter Markets – bring on the painted eggs!

Andy Warhol in the MOMA!

Also, this was our 2^nd stay at a Wombat’s Hostel and their hostels are excellent! True social hostel experience packed with Viennese info/recommendation packets lying across the lobby around the lounging travelers.

Prague, Czech Republic (4 days): 1. go go go, would definitely visit again. Plus, AFFORDABLE; from the beer (0.50 euros/ bottle) to the food. Reminded me a lot of Eastern Europe. Visited the creepy bone church – Sedlec Ossuary – decorated with between 40,000 – 70,000 bones. Very fun, friendly, and quirky city. “New Europe Free Walking Tour” is a must. Awesome tour guide, Chris, who entertained us with history and stories of Prague for three hours through the windy and freezing day. The tour guides merely ask for tips at the end and to “pay only what you think the tour was worth”. This way you are ensured to have a great tour as the guides work for their penny. We learned the history of the city and some helpful hints for our stay.

Prague and it’s bridges

Sedlec Ossuary – shield of bones

Barcelona, Spain (4 days): 1. Can I say LOVE? Barcelona was one stop on our Spring Break that I didn’t have to plan or research as I joined the Doery family, so I was completely surprised by the Catalonian capital. It actually felt like this was the REAL vacation (maybe that’s why planning trips is so hard…). Barcelona is the relaxed, fun-loving vibe that just literally envelops the entire city. (I saw people just rollerblading through the tiny alleys of Barcelona with a pizza) I’ve never seen such a vibrant life-filled beach city. The city is peppered with art and architecture by Barcelona’s beloved Antoni Gaudi – the mosaicked Park Guell – the cathedral the Sagrada Familia still being built. The markets, the tapas, the warmth – GO BARCELONA.

Park Guell

Sagrada Familia – natural light flowing in

Rome, Italy (3 days): 3. hot and full of tourists (even in the off-season at the beginning of March). Rome holds the Vatican City, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum but the rest of the city didn’t impress. The people aren’t nice, the public transport is awful, the city is not walk-able, and I can’t stand large crowds of people. All in all, not a fan.

Collosseum

interior of Colloseum

Florence, Italy (2 days): 2. A smaller walk-able Rome with better transportation and less tourists. Took a fun bike tour and loved the leather-store lined streets. Home to the Duomo and Michelangelo’s David. Took a half-day trip to Pisa for pictures. Cute little homey city.

463 steps later – Top of the Duomo!

view of Florence

Michelangelo’s David

Florence

Cinque Terre, Italy (2 days): 2. Post-card colored pastel houses perched on the rugged coast of the Italian Riviera. The 5 water-side towns were a lot smaller than I expected, merely just a street you can see in an hour. You could also tell some of the houses needed a paint face-lift. However, we stayed at 5 Terre Backpackers Hostel, which was by far the best hostel we’ve ever stayed in. The owner, Francesco, formally introduces himself and welcomes guests upon arrival and is available for any help you need during your stay. From daily home-cooked family style meals to evenings playing Jenga on the back porch overlooking the Italian Mountains, it was like staying at a distant relative.

Cinque Terre

Of course, I could say more about each city, but my blog doesn’t do my trip justice. I was liberated, driven, and learning. Seeing a new place every day was just remarkable and doing it all on my own was ridiculous fun. Through visiting every destination, I found my favorite cities to be Vienna, Prague, and Barcelona. I’m so glad to have seen every destination and it sure makes a story I can look back on proudly.

Switzerland for the Night

We got a call from a new classmate saying Basel in Switzerland is having a Museum Night where all of the its museums are free. She asked us if we wanted to join her and her friends. YES!! We were going to SWITZERLAND for a night! My one friend, Aviva, couldn’t get over how cool it was we could just hop into another country!

As soon as we’re on the train, all of the Europeans are pulling out apples, sandwiches, cupcakes, chocolates, thermoses with coffee, and even wine! They all were offering each other and us tastes of snacks. We quickly learned: always carry food on the go. Maybe it’s a European thing, but it would explain why my European mom is always prepared with basically an emergency picnic.

In an hour, we were in Basel and it was raining. Everyone was un-phased by the weather and the museums still packed. I felt that in the States bad weather means smaller crowds – but in Europe I haven’t seen anyone fearful of some bad weather, they just pull out umbrellas, rain coats (and cool rain cover-up pants our one friend ripped off once in the museum) and go. All of the city trams were free that evening so we hopped between several museums and awed at works by Gustave Courbet, Peter Doig, and Alexander Calder (originator of the mobile). Unfortunately no snapping pics in the museum but we had so much fun meeting some new classmates and seeing the gorgeous works. We caught the train home sleepily with lots of Freiburg-er’s and were all home by 3.

Life around Freiburg

Not only did I hop over to Switzerland, the next weekend I was in France within 40 minutes. I made a daytrip to Colmar and Strasbourg. Upon arriving, I kind of forgot that I have absolutely no French and resorted to “merci” and the language of hand gestures.

On the streets of Colmar, France

For now, I am working on improving my German language. Last week I apparently mixed up an order so badly that for a tuna sandwich without cheese, I somehow ended up with a cheese sandwich…surprised on the first bite. But actually laughed. Otherwiseee, I’m practicing my German in the markets and saying, “Wie sagt mann” (how do you say) for the words I don’t know yet and want to learn. It really helps to pick up words and phrases!

Light snow along river outside of Freiburg.

Freiburg streets

To Come

I’m heading to Berlin this week! A friend and I are organizing our trip and we found our 7 hour train ride tickets for 37 euros each, with some research and time. I can’t get a cheaper 3 hour bus ride to Penn State for that. Basically we will spend under 200 euros for 4 days in Berlin, saving for other things! Can’t wait to share details!! (P.S. Paris booked in 3 weeks too!)

Location: Basel, Switzerland

Our Neutral Friend to the North

After leaving my parents in Rome last weekend, they continued their travels throughout Italy by visiting Pompeii, Naples, and Venice before coming to Milan on Thursday. I showed them around Milan for two days before we left for our next destination, Switzerland. Venturing north into the country famous for mountains, chocolate, cheese, cuckoo clocks, and bank accounts, we had an awesome time and I found the Swiss landscape to be the most incredible that I have ever seen.

On Friday evening, we took a train from the Milano Centrale station to Luzerne, a small city located in central Switzerland. The biggest attraction in Luzerne is Mount Pilatus. This mountain is the highest accessible peak in the region and features breathtaking views of the the city and it’s nearby lake. Mount Pilatus features the world’s steepest cog railway and also still serves as a military fortification in case of an attack on Switzerland (the gun emplacements are located just below the tourist viewing gallery). On Saturday, we awoke early and were checked out of our hotel before 8:30 a.m. so that we could reach the summit before the afternoon weather came in and made it impossible to see anything from the top of the peak. Since it is still in the winter in the Alps, the cog railway was not open, so we took a gondola ride up to the top (about 50 francs/person). Although this relatively short ride is pretty expensive, the view was absolutely incredible!

After spending approximately 1.5 hours at the summit, and having listened to a rendition of “Amaing Grace” on the alp-horn, we came down to eat lunch in the city.

After lunch, we visited the second most famous attraction in Luzerne, the “Dying Lion Monument.” The Swiss have a long, proud history of neutrality, but they also have a storied tradition of sending mercenaries and hired protection across the world, the most famous of which serve the Pope in Vatican City. During the 17th and 18th centuries, a faction of the Swiss Officers and guards were charged with the protection of the French royal family. In 1791, the famed French monarch Louis XVI was forced to flee from his Palace at Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris due to French insurgents during the French Revolution. He was then forced to flee again and ordered his protective guards to stand down and return to their barracks, but this message failed to reach the unit. These brave soldiers fought to nearly the last man and those who were not killed in the resistance were quickly executed by way of the guillotine. Known as the “Lions of Luzerne,” these soldiers are commemorated with this stunning statue carved into a rock face located within Luzerne. Above the statue is an inscription that reads, “Helvetiorum Fedei ac Virtuti,” meaning “To the Loyalty and Bravery of the Swiss.” Of all of the monuments, paintings, and sculptures that I have seen in Europe, this one was the most moving as it was the only one that truly was able to capture emotion and empathy into the work.

On Saturday night, we left Luzerne to head to Wengen, a small mountain village located in the southern portion of the country near Interlaken. In order to reach this town, we had to take a train to Interlaken and then take a cog railway up to Wengen. Located within the heart of the Alps, this small village is a very popular spot to stay for skiers. However, our attraction to this place was it’s close vicinity to three of the most famous peaks in the Swiss Alps, the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau. From Wengen, there is a unique opportunity to take the Jungfrau expressway up to the highest railway station in Europe, the so-called “Top of Europe,” that is located about midway up the Jungfrau. Due to it’s absurdly high cost (about 165 francs/person!) we decided to just take the train to the Kleine Scheidegg station, which is located at the base of the Eiger.

The Eiger is one of the most famous rock climbing destinations in the entire world due to its treacherous and challenging Eiger Nordwand (or Eiger North Wall). Here is a clip showcasing this famed rock face:

At the base of this mountain, I was completely in awe of the beauty of the mountains in front of me and couldn’t believe that I was standing in front of three of the most famous peaks in the world. For anyone traveling to Switzerland, this is a must-see! We stayed at this station for about 2.5 hours while we walked around small surrounding trails and ate lunch, then headed down. We got back to our hotel in Wengen, grabbed our luggage and left. I headed back to Milan while my parents headed to Zurich to catch their flight home the following day.

It was great seeing my parents over the past 10 days and we had a lot of fun throughout Italy and Switzerland!

Location: Luzerne, Switzerland

Allora, Interlaken SWITZERLAND

Its been a while since I blogged, but I’ve just been having so much fun I haven’t really had time. Needless to say, two weekends ago I went to Interlaken, Switzerland.

Five of us (me, Dee, Chris, Aaron and Rob) all decided to go there so that we could ski/snowboard. We left on Thursday afternoon for Florence, to meet the bus that was taking us there through Bus2Alps. I cannot even describe how much fun I had.

We got into Balmer’s Hostel, the oldest hostel in Switzerland, at around 3am. By 7 we were awake and on our way to the slopes. We skied an area called the Jungfrau Region. The views from the top were so beautiful that we stopped every time and took pictures of the same mountains over and over again. I couldn’t get enough of the view.

I need to dedicate a paragraph about our roommates. If I had to pick one word to describe them it would be eclectic. I’m not even sure if one of them knew his own name. Another was the most overenthusiastic person I’ve met so far in my life. His stories went something like, “…and then we went up the stairs! IT WAS AWESOME, SO CRAZY, DUDE [everyone was a dude, even the girls] YOU NEED TO DO IT!” And the third was the ultimate surfer bro. I’m convinced there’s a chance he’s the author of broslikethissite.com.

In other news, it was nice to be on skis at least once this year, which I didn’t think was going to happen. Everyone in our group fell at least once when we were going down the mountain, so I considered it a successful day.

Guess what exotic food we ate in Switzerland? That’s right, you guessed it, calf’s head. Literally it was the face of a cow. It was pretty weird to say the least.

Saturday we went into Zurich, and it was so pretty. It isn’t anything like any of the cities I’ve seen so far, most of the buildings were no more than five or six stories. The buildings were so different even from the cities I’ve visited in Italy. The day was so relaxing, we just wandered and found random parks and buildings through out the city. There was this chocolate shop where we found chocolate hamburgers. Needless to say we were those 5 Americans who went into the chocolate shop and left with 12 chocolate hamburgers in all different colors. We almost ate them right outside the store, but we figured that would be a little excessive and made it about 3 blocks away before we tore the box open. Typical.

Sunday I think was by far the most epic day. Canyon Jumping. Enough said.

Enjoy the disclaimer we were given to read, and keep in mind that we were taken to the spot to jump buy three Swiss hippies, in an old 70s style van, and did donuts in the parking lot before we went up to jump and Aaron got a free shot at the top for being the first one of the day to jump half-naked.

I really don’t think I can properly describe it, so you can just watch these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o20FYX2tb04

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK00-yC07VE

All I can say is it was probably the most fun I’ve had here so far, and I can’t wait to recklessly jump off a cliff again soon.

Location: Interlaken, Switzerland

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