Week 8 - Time Capsule
Like many of my fellow Book of Me bloggers, I have no I interest in writing about a time capsules. So I decided to write about an alternate topic. I did a Google search looking for other genealogy writing prompts. Low and be hold I found one - Your favorite vacation. Since I'm currently in Europe on vacation I decided it will be my time capsule write-up. This will be a long topic, so I will break it into multiple entries. I am including prices so future readers will know what things costs.
Prior to our trip, we had purchased airline tickets, an 11 day Danube river cruise, trip cancellation insurance, and health insurance from a local travel agency. We purchased a Eurail train pass from AAA, and a prepaid hotel room in St. Gallen, Switzerland. I had also arranged to convert some US dollars to Euros prior to our trip at our local bank. I also called the banks and credit card companies to inform them of our upcoming trip. I called Verizon to get an international plan because I planned to take my smart phone to Europe.
This the part 1 of a 5 part blog detailing a recent trip my husband Burt and I made to Europe.
Part 1 covers our time in Switzerland and a visit with my cousin Aline Reppel.
Part 2 covers our time in France with cousins who live in the Alsatian village of Mussig
Part 3 covers our time in Prague to Boarding the vessel near Nuremburg
Part 4 covers our Avalon Danube River cruise from Nuremburg to Passau
Part 5 covers our Avalon Danube River cruise from Melk to Budapest
We left our home in Ocala about 3:00 pm. Our friend Dave Cross drove us to the airport in Orlando. Our plane scheduled for departure at 8:40 pm was late taking off. They served us dinner on the plane, but we had already eaten at the airport while we were waiting. Good thing as the meal wasn't served until 10 pm or so. The plane seats were comfortable for sitting for a couple of hours, but not for the 9 hour 15 minute flight. We decided if we fly to Europe again, we will spend the additional money and fly business class.
We arrived in Frankfurt around 12 pm and cleared customs without any problems. We had purchased a Eurail Select 3 Country Pass good for 5 days of travel in Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic from AAA before our trip. So after clearing customs, we headed for the attached train station. The Frankfurt airport train station (Frankfurt Flughafen) is the largest airport train station in Germany. We asked for directions several times and finally ended up at the station.
We found the information center and a very helpful employee looked up two alternative train routes to get to our St Gallen destination. We chose the route with a single transfer even though it was scheduled to arrive in St. Gallen at a slightly later hour. We hurried to the platform just in time to board the train to Munich which left at 12:37.
When we arrived in Munich 4 hours later, the train to St. Gallen was waiting at the adjacent platform so we hurried aboard. When the conductor came by and checked our pass, he asked us for the Austrian supplemental. Apparently the train route passes through Austria on our way to Switzerland. Burt told the conductor we didn't know we were passing through Austria and we hadn't purchased the supplements. The conductor said with a laugh that if we didn't pay for the supplemental, it was a long swim across Lake Constance to Switzerland. So we paid the conductor 44 Euros for 2 first class supplemental tickets.
On the train from Munich to St. Gallen, the beverage/snack cart came by several times. We bought a ham sandwich to split. It was made from olive bread, with pieces of black olives and much better than expected. So that and two bottles of water got us through the afternoon.
I needed to call the hotel to let them know we would be arriving after 6 pm. It was my first international call. I tried to make the call without success. I asked one of the railroad employees for assistance, but he was unable to help. A fellow traveler finally provided the necessary information and I successfully called the hotel. After informing them of our scheduled arrival time, I asked for the best way to get from the train station to the hotel. Gabriel, the clerk, said to get a taxi.
When we arrived in St. Gallen around 7:30 pm it was dark and sprinkling. We found the cab station and asked the first cabbie to take us to the Hotel Einstein St Gallen. Apparently the cab driver thought it was too short a trip and didn't want to take us. The next one in line took us straight to the hotel and received a nice tip for his trouble. Switzerland doesn't use the Euro; they retained their Swiss Franc for their currency. We had purchased some Euros from our bank before the trip. We had no Swiss Francs (CHF), so we put the 14.70 CHF ($16.45) taxi fare on our Capital One card.
After taking the bags to the room, we went up to the hotel restaurant for dinner. We had seen a roast beef sandwich on the room service menu that looked good. However, when we arrived at the restaurant, the meals were all gourmet, and not what we were looking for. We asked if it was possible to get the roast beef sandwich with salad to share. When it arrived we were surprised by the sandwich as it had a fried egg on it. Switzerland was expensive; our sandwich cost 39.00 CHF ($ 43.78).
Day 3 Oct. 23 — St Gallen, Train to Bern, Aline
On Wednesday morning, we went in search of breakfast. Our room (booked on Expedia) didn't come with breakfast. We scouted around the old town for breakfast, but there wasn't much so we went back to the hotel for the breakfast buffet. I thought the buffet was suppose to be 25 CHF per person, but when we got home the credit card bill was for 60 CHF ($67.49). Ouch. As we were leaving the hotel, we saw an enclosed scooter/cycle which I had to take a picture of.
According to MySwitzerland the
official Switzerland Tourism website:
“St. Gallen’s most famous landmark is its Baroque cathedral
with the Abbey Library, which houses some 160,000 documents – in part
hand-written and over a thousand years old. The library probably also has
Switzerland’s most beautiful Rococo hall. The entire Abbey precinct was
declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1983.”
It was the pictures of
the Abbey library from that site is that prompted our visit St. Gallen. When we
finished breakfast, the Abbey Library hadn't yet opened, so we visited the
Cathedral which was open to visitors free of charge. Wow - it was breath
taking and the few pictures I took didn't do it justice. The Cathedral was constructed
from 1755 to 1766 in Swiss Baroque style. A white interior adorned with
turquoise colored stucco ornamentation. The ceiling is adorned with painted
frescoes. Additional images are available on Google images.
After leaving the cathedral we walked around the corner to the Abbey Library. It is home to one of the comprehensive collection of early medieval books; 400 of the books are over 1000 years old. We paid the 12 CHF ($30.11) entrance fee and stowed our gear in the provided lockers. Visitors must stow bags, outer garments, and cameras in lockers and wear slippers over their shoes while in the library. Since the Library houses priceless manuscripts, photography is not allowed. The library interior is in the late Baroque style with carved polish wood, painted fresco ceilings, inlaid wooden floor, and walls covered with antique books. Several of the antique books are on display within display cases. There was a replica of an antique globe. The original was taken from St. Gallen to a museum in Zurich. After a fight, a replica was made for the St. Gallen abbey. Since we couldn't take pictures, I bought two post cards. Many additional images can be viewed on Google images.
When we left the Abbey it was beginning to rain so we collected our luggage and took a cab to the train station; the fare was 10.20 CHF ($11.26). At the station, we asked a railroad employee which platform we needed to get to Bern. He led us to the correct platform. Since the train that was heading to Zurich was at the platform we boarded the train. We arrive in Zurich about an hour later.
The rail station in Zurich was nicely set up; it was easy to find the board listing the scheduled departures. The train heading to Bern was close by. We picked up a ham sandwich and a couple of bottles of water and headed to the platform 14.70 CHF ($16.54). When the train arrived we boarded and were off to Bern.
I called my cousin Aline from the train to let her know our planned arrival time. We met up at the information booth. This was the first time I met Aline in person; we had been friends on Facebook for a couple of years. The Bern rail station was larger than I expected, it had a bunch of shops; it looked similar to the shopping malls at home. After 3 escalators up, we arrived at the parking lot. It was raining, but not too hard. We made it to her car without getting too drenched. Aline speaks French, Spanish, German, some Italian and some English. I speak English, a little bit of Spanish, a wee bit of Romanian, and a "petit peu" of French. We managed to communicate. Aline's English improved as the days went by. I wish I could say the same of my French.
Aline drove us from Bern to Kerzers (about 20 minutes from Bern) where she is living with her truck driving man Oliver. We picked up Oliver from his place of employment and head to their nearby flat. They live on the third floor of a multi-family building. When we reached their flat, Oliver grabbed all of our luggage and hauled it up 4 sets of stairs from the underground garage. Burt and I were huffing at the top landing and grateful that Oliver was strong enough to handle our luggage.
Oliver is a German truck driver who is currently employed for short distance hauls. He makes a trip in the morning, has an afternoon break for dinner, and then returns for a second haul. Prior to working in Switzerland, they were living near Barcelona and Oliver was making long distance hauls. At one time Aline drove long distance hauls with him. She is currently unemployed. When the financial crisis hit Spain, drivers from Bulgaria and Romania were willing to work for half the money that Oliver was making. The company offered him a job being on road constantly for 800 euros a month. So he found a job in Switzerland. they would rather live in Spain, but financially, they cannot at this time. Oliver was offered a job in Canada, but he turned it down as it is far from his and Aline's families.
Aline cooked Choucroute for dinner. This was the first time I had eaten this typical Alsatian dish of pickled cabbage cooked in wine, with smoked ham hocks, several different types of sausages and boiled potatoes. I ate it with the French Dijon mustard that I love so much. It was outstanding. She also made homemade muffins for dessert. After dinner, Burt and I were done for, so off to bed.
Day 4 Oct. 24 — Solothurn & Murten Switzerland
We started the day with a combination French-German Breakfast; there were croissants & pastries (French) and Cheese and cold cuts (German). I had wild cherry hot tea as the European coffee is a bit too dense for me. After breakfast, we dropped Oliver off at work.
Aline drove us to Solothurn, a nearby town with a historic old town. Solothurn has a traffic free old town with cobbled streets, colorful water fountains, and interesting business signs and architectural features. We stopped by the clock tower which was built in the 13th century. The clock tower has a large astronomical clock which was added in 1545.
The town is known for its colorful fountains; I read there are 11 of them, I took pictures of 3.
The highlight of Solothurn is St. Urs Cathedral. The cathedral was built between 1762 and 1773 in Swiss baroque style. The number 11 is celebrated in Solothurn, the Cathedral has 11 alters, 11 clocks and the steps leading to the church doors is divided into sections with 11 steps. We climbed up the many steps before reaching the church doors. I sure hope in the middle ages there was a better way for the infirm to get to the cathedral. The inside was impressive.
There is a river that bisects the town. We crossed one of the many bridges and walked beside the river to the next bridge and crossed the river back to the other side. We stopped at a cafe for tea; Aline had to pay the tab as the cafe didn't accept Euros or VISA. The price of the tea gave us sticker shock - we soon realized why they say Switzerland is the most expensive European country. Additional images are available on Google images.
After spending a couple of enjoyable hours in Solothurn, we drove to a medieval town call Murten which borders Lake Murten. We planned to eat lunch at one of the cafes overlooking the lake. Well it wasn't the tourist season and it wasn't a weekend; all the lakeside cafes were closed.
So we went to the old town and found a nice cafe. Before we ordered, we asked about paying with VISA. They didn't take VISA, but they made an exception to their Swiss Franc only rule and allowed us to pay with Euros. We ordered the pork schnitzel plates; the cutlets came with green beans, carrots, and French fries. It was one of the most enjoyable restaurant meals we had during our trip. After lunch we spent a few minutes looking around the shops within the walled city. Additional images are available on Google images.
On our way back to Kerzers we drove through farm land. Kerzers is known for its vegetable farming. We saw a large complex of fields and green houses. When I remarked on the sheer number of green houses, Aline turned off the road and drove us through the fields. As we passed next to the green houses we could see they were growing tomatoes and green peppers. They also had some plants growing under row covers in the nearby fields. My brother-in-law Johnny Bell would have enjoyed driving through the fields. Additional information on Kerzers farming is available. We returned to the flat and hung out the rest of the afternoon. Aline fixed a small meal for us, Leeks, carrots, potato pancakes, chicken cutlets and banana muffins for desert. Good thing she didn't fix a big meal.
Day 5 Oct. 25 — Fribourg Switzerland-Mussig France
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| Fribourg - picture from http://www.fribourgtourisme.ch site |
After breakfast at Aline's flat, we drove to the town of Fribourg. Switzerland is divided into 3 regions based on the primary language spoken in the area. French is spoken in the west, Italian in the south, and German is spoken in the remainder.
Fribourg sit on the Sarine River the divides the French-speaking and the German-speaking part of Switzerland. The medieval city was founded in 1157 and has an impressive old town.
We parked near the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. The Gothic cathedral was built between 1283 and 1490. The entryway is impressive. The doors had massive door knockers.
In the interior, Gothic churches are darker inside with more stained glass windows than the baroque churches we visited in the past few days.
After viewing the cathedral we walked around the town. We found a small cafe and had a cup of tea. After leaving the cafe, we drove to an older part of Fribourg near the old bridge. We walked about in the old historic area. Additional images are available on Google images.
We found a nearby cafe and had lunch. Burt had a Poultry Provencal Salad with chicken, beets, carrots, corn, lettuce and tomatoes with a Dijon vinaigrette. I had the special which was a fish plate; it was served with potatoes, cauliflower, snow peas and carrots. When they serves my plate I doubted my choice, but it turned out to be a good choice. We paid 48.80 CHF ($55) for the 3 lunches.
After we finished lunch, Aline learned Oliver had to work
the afternoon shift and would be unable to go with us to France. So we went by the flat and picked up Aline's
dog and our luggage and headed towards France. It was rush hour on Friday
afternoon. The traffic near Basel was horrid. The normal 2 hour trip stretched
to 3 hours and it was dusk when we reached the Peter Reppel farm in Mussig.
To be continued
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