Our hiking friend, Ermanno, entertained us along with his lovely wife and two children at their home in Zurich. We talked about lots of ‘getting to know you’ things over our delicious Italian antipasto of rockmelon, prosciutto, mozzarella and other treats. Our ‘pasta’ experience continued from days just past, as our conversation wandered off into our individual stories: hiking, exercise, religion and language. Hugs, and a promise to catch up again somewhere in the world [...]
Walking in the hills of Freiburg there was a sense of what this flat open valley city values most in life. Trees aren’t cut down so tourists can put pretty pictures in their albums, instead innocuous towers are built in strategic places so the albums will in the end be complete. The needle covered narrow pathways lead us scissor-like through the undulations preventing erosion and allowing access for all abilities. There are chairs so the [...]
Sandy and Yoli drove us high into the forested hills that look down on Munster. They took us to a large old farmhouse restaurant with rustic chairs and tables where a few ducks gathered in the vast lawns sweeping down into the woods below. It was a rare experience, as I would imagine to do this, you would need to know a local, and have a car - we had both. Sandy is a ‘way [...]
If you’re lucky to meet an English speaking Swiss couple in a park and start chatting, you might find out some secret information. We asked the hotel person, who said go to the rail people, who simply asked if we were old or students, and the information folk didn’t know. But our park adventurers did, and maybe you knew as well. “It’s the Post Office stupid” - that’s where you get a ‘24 hour rail [...]
The Matterhorn From the snowy white hump of Mount Blanc to the grey jagged edges of the Matterhorn, a contrast between mountains could not be more vivid. Walking up various paths gave us different perspectives on this thin, pyramid-like mountain floating in the clouds. Small pipes on the path side indicated where winter batons guide skiers on their much faster trajectory. Corrie was one of those graceful two bladed gliders so she saw the mountain [...]
Not quite in Switzerland but only a short bus ride away, and we'll be in Lausanne tomorrow. Now we're in the famous French Alpine village of Chamonix. It is resting in the bowl of the Mont Blanc and friends' mountain range. At just under 5000 metres, I believe it is the highest mountain of the Alps. From Aosta we bussed up to around 3000 of them, chair-lifted up to about 4000, then walked around the [...]
