Travel - Switzerland
The date is August 4th. Packing. Printing out the tickets. Have the ride to the airport. Passport and YES I had to get a covid booster for this trip! Supposedly this requirement is dropped this October. I don’t know if this is a country requirement or the tour company’s requirement (for legal liability reasons for example). This is a Tauck trip that I set up with Vacations to Go.
Tauck’s Switzerland Tour Description
Day 0: Packing
I did a lot of planning for this trip. Specifically on my camera gear and clothes and how I was going to walk around comfortably and with camera. By way of clothes, since sometimes it was going to be very warm if not hot and other times it would be very cold up on the top of a mountain glacier, I probably only needed one light sweater, one thin coat, and one warm coat. I was glad to bring a cap that could be pulled over my ears and gloves. Shorts and short sleeve shirts, and nice jeans and one or two long sleeve shirts for dinner was all I needed. Don’t let the change in terrain making you believe you have to bring lots of clothes! As for shoes, one pair of walking shoes would have likely been enough.
Camera gear bag was very important. The link for ThinkTank is below with the bag I used. Also the link for Peak Design. No problems with carrying on the ThinkTank bag! I used the 6l small Peak Design bag as my second carry on and I kept my tickets and passport in that bag too. If you look at my Gear-How to Travel blog post you can see how I packed up my camera gear.
Day 1: Travel & Lausanne Switzerland
So embarrassing I didn’t pronounce Lausanne (low-zann) correctly. When I go on a tour with a company like Tauck, I like to arrive at least one day early. One reason is you just don’t know what is going to happen: cancelled flight, lost bag, as an example. A second reason is I get use to the country at my own pace before a fast paced tour begins: I like to be well grounded before the “foot race” starts!
I let Tauck make my flight arrangements and they had a driver that took me from the airport. The hotel in Lausanne for my star was the Lausanne Palace. The staff there was incredibly attentive and first rate. The spa visit I had and massage was fantastic! I can’t say enough about this hotel and the city of Lausanne. One word of warning! Do not just go out the door of the hotel and start walking around. For example, if you want to get to the lake (as I discovered the train station was in the way) take the Metro. Ask the concierge and they will direct you.
On this first day, since I didn’t feel comfortable yet, I just pulled out my small camera and shot the video and the pictures using the RX100 Mark 7. This is a fun camera! When it comes to upping the game with the photos there is just no comparison using the Sony Alpha 7R V! My use of the big camera started on day 3. As a note, my day 2 is the Switzerland Tour day 1, since I arrived a day early.
Day 2: Lausanne Switzerland
I didn’t know Lausanne, Switzerland was home to the Olympics! Unfortunately when I got there the museum building was closed, but there was much to see around the building.
Getting my bearings finally. Discovered the Metro! That was a life saver, because the streets in Lausanne are very very steep. Not unusual to encounter and 18% gradient! Came across some guitar players from Peru. Had a fantastic lunch of lake perch by the lake. The official trip was to start that evening with dinner at the hotel. There were 12 people for our group and another tour group had started the previous day. I think Tauck has more than 80 Switzerland trips a season! With that being said, I felt our group was very special and our tour director, Charlotte Geurink, kept us on track, on time, and kept us happy! She was just a joy!!!
From Lausanne you can take a ferry ride to Evian, France. Yes you know the name if you have ever drank a bottle of Evian water! France and Switzerland share lake Geneva. So, the Swiss call it lake Geneva and the French call it lake Lac Léman.
Day 3: Travel to Zermatt
Again, my day 3 is really day 2 of the Tauck tour, and this is the first true first day as far as the trip: we leave the hotel and start our sight seeing travels! This was a busy day! Our first stop came up rather quick (about 60 minutes) to Chateau Chillon. I have made a separate gallery of pictures for this place, because it is impressive. And it sits right on lake Geneva. I love finding places I want to visit or have visited on YouTube. As you can see from the video below, this is a very special place, and you really do feel like you are transported back to medieval times! I included the black and white like picture in the gallery, because part of this place was used as a prison, and the graffiti you see on the walls, is hundreds of years old!
This is the day I start taking pictures with my Sony Alpha 7R V using my GMaster 24mm to 70mm lens. I had a lot of fun going up and down the stairs, corridors, and literally the walls of Chateau de Chillion. So much so that I had left my warm sweater like jacket in the bathroom along with one of my camera straps in the bathroom. Fortunately, we were able to take a slight detour after our trip to Gruyere’s and on our way to Zermatt. Straps and coat were retrieved! Thanks for everyone being patient and for Charlotte our tour directory and Henry our bus driver!
Our next stop was the charming “post card” like town of Gruyers for lunch. Of all the places we visited, this did have a little of a tourist trap feel. However, once I made it to the castle, which is now a museum, it was fabulous. If you do this trip, make sure you make it in the castle. The views and the entire castle are just spectacular!
Late in the afternoon of my day 3 (Tauck tour day 2) we arrived in Zermatt, where we would spend two nights. I set up my camera with the 85mm lens set to f/1.4 and the Sony microphone, and made this next video. The way we got to Zermatt was to drive to Tausch, and take the 40 minute or so train ride to Zermatt.
Day 4: Zermatt & Matterhorn
This day was all about a train ride up to Gornergrat. Meeting our guide who had us hike down to a lower train stop (about 1 mile and over an hour of hiking). From there we took the train down to a lower station, where we had lunch at a small Italian like restaurant owned by a very jovial Irishman! After lunch we took the train the rest of the way back to Zermatt.
Day 5 & 6: Travel to Lugano and Explore Lake Region
Day 5 was a busy day, traveling up and down the mountains, on our way to Lake Lugano via Italy! Several stops along the way! First was a morning coffee break at a cute very small town on top of a mountain pass. Fantastic coffee and fantastic pastries and other goodies. Then we headed across the border into Italy to the town of Stressa on Lake Maggiore. After lunch there we boarded a small boat to take us to Isola Bella in order to visit Borromean Palace where I took many pictures!
My day 5 (Tauck Day 4) I was up early for a wonderful breakfast, looking across the street to Lake Lugano. We had a two hour tour of Lugano followed by a boat ride, and then we docked the boat at a wonderful grotto for lunch!
A great highlight of the walking tour before the boat ride and lunch, was the visit to Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. There we saw these magnificent frescos of Passion and the Crucifixion of Christ by Bernardino Luini.
Day 7: Visit Bellagio and Travel to Saint Moritz
Day 7 was a big travel day! After (reluctantly) leaving Lugano, we were off to lake Como, where we stopped somewhere near Menaggio. From there we took a small boat to Bellagio. After a walk around and biscuits and coffee we headed back. And, before departing to Saint Moritz, we had lunch at the Grand Hotel in Managgio.
In order to get to Saint Moritz we had to traverse the many switch backs of the Malaga Mountain Pass. At the top of this pass I was able to get many spectacular photographs of the magnificent mountain views. Saint Moritz was just a short drive from the top of this mountain pass.
At this point in the tour I had to take a break from shooting video while I was in Switzerland . First, shooting video and uploading them is still very new to me. Second, the bandwidth is demanding, so the hotel internet is often inadequate for this kind of work. Third, I was getting overwhelmed with all of the pictures. Here are some of my thoughts after I returned home…
Day 8: Glacier Express to Andermatt; Then Travel to Interlaken
Day 8 started very early, because we had to catch the first Glacier Express train to Andermatt. This was an extremely scenic comfortably moving train through tunnels and up and down mountains where at times the tracks spiraled down and spiraled up!
After getting off the Glacial Express train in Andermatt, we had a scenic drive to the scenic and beautiful town of Interlaken. All the hotels on this trip were 5 star, but there was something special about our hotel in Interlaken! And our stay there was for two nights!!
The specific meaning of Interlaken is “between lakes”, and this is obvious from the map below. The town resides between lakes Brienz and Thun. If I go back there, I will do the hang gliding where they land right in front of the Hotel Jungfrau. The pictures you see of Interlaken were shot going up or at the restaurant Harder Kulm. The Harderbahn had to be the steepest cable/track car ride I have ever had in my life!
Day 9: Travel up and Down Jungfraujoch: Top of Europe!
Welcome to the Bernese Alps! I had heard of the Matterhorn, but I had never heard of Jungfraujoch - The Top of Europe! On this day we are up early at the Grand Victoria Jung Frau. We headed to Lauterbrunnen to take a leisurely train ride to Kleine Scheidegg station. From There we took the Jungfrau Railway to the Jungfraujoch station residing at 3,454 meters (11,332 ft)! It is the highest train station in Europe (but not the world?).
To be technical… The Jungfraujoch is a glacier saddle on the upper snows of the Aletsch Glacier. The highest mountain in the Benese Alps is Finsteraarhorn at 4,274 meters (14,022 ft). More famous (at least in my opinion) is Eiger at 3,967 meters (13,015 ft). The Eiger is the eastern most peak of a ridge crest that extends to across the Mönch to the Jungfraujoch (via the Jungfrau tunnel). And on the way up to Jungfraujoch you go through a tunnel (7 km long) carved out of the Eiger and we stopped twice, because there are two viewing stations where you walk a distance through smaller tunnels to get to the windows embedded on the side of the mountain.
It’s hard to not ask the big question…why? Why do this, build the train line, the train stations, and what was once a hotel at the top! Adolf Guyer-Zeller was the one who thought about a railway to the top in 1893. By this time he was president of the Swiss Northeastern Railway (NOB). The rail line was first opened in 1905, where it went from Eigerwand Station to Eismeer station. In 1912 the work crew broke through the glacier at Jungfraujoch. The Jungfraujoch station was inaugurated on the first of August of that year.
But why do this? At the time, the 1890s and a decade or two beyond, there was a craze in Europe, and notably in Switzerland, for railway tourism. There had been successes such as the Rigi Railway on Lake Lucerne. But, Guyer-Zeller’s vision was beyond ambitious! His complete vision included a hotel and an elevator carved out of the mountain that would put you on top of the Jungfrau!
After our exciting day of travel to the Top of Europe, exploring through a glacial cave and looking at carved ice sculptures, and then drinks and food at a glacier bar, we headed back to the highest train station in Europe to head down to Eigergletsher station. There we took the Eiger Express, which is one of the largest Gondolas in the world where each car can seat comfortably 26 skiers. This is definitely a place I am coming back to and play! There is so much to do here at all times of the year. The area is HUGE from top to bottom!
Day 10: Travel to Bern then onto Lake Lucerne
After an early breakfast, we left Interlaken and headed to Bern. We arrived shortly before lunch. Bern is the city where Albert Einstein worked in the Swiss Patent Office, which was outrageous for probably the greatest physicist that every lived! His miracle year of 1904, where he not only introduced the theory of relativity, but also used Brownian motion to prove that atoms really do exist, was spent in Bern, where he, his wife, and children lived in a modest apartment there.
After spending time at the Bärengraben, we went to the Rosengarten. Then we walked the streets of old Bern, to the famous clock tower, Zytglogge, Einstein contemplated what would happen if traveled away from the tower at the speed of light. Then we had an incredible lunch at the historic Bellevue Hotel.
Day 11: Around and On Lake Lucerne
We spent the day in Lucerne and on lake Lucerne! Even though it is a small city of 82,000, it feels much more populated. If you include the outer municipalities, the population is approximately 220,000. Zürich’s population including municipalities is about 1.83 million people. Despite this, Lucerne feels like a city much larger with all of the benefits, but very few of the problems. Lucerne is very much a cultural and arts center. The Lucerne Symphony Orchestra plays in the world renowned Lucerne Culture and Congress Center, which was designed by the architect, Jean Nouvel.
While on the walking tour, we came upon the famous Chapel Bridge and Water Tower, which was built in the 14th century. Later we visited the Jesuitenkirche, which is a Catholic Church. Construction for this church began in 1667. Later in the evening we took a boat to our dinner destination at Seehoten Baumgarten.
Day 12: Train to Rothenthurm, then Bike to Lake Zurich via Kloster Einsiedeln
This was Tauck’s day 11, and everyone was heading to the airport. I decided to check with the concierge at Hotel Schweizerhof to potentially set up a bike ride around the countryside of Lucerne. They hooked me up with Josef Schmid (+41 79 287 94 75). Josef and I met the previous day to plan our bike expedition. The plan was to rent an e-bike at the train station. The trains are very accommodating for bikes! So the next day we walked to the train station, picked up my bike and helmet, and boarded the train to Rothenthurm. The entire route was about 55 kilometers, but there were three major climbs, which weren’t bad on an e-bike. From Rothenthrum, we biked about 10 kilometers and arrived at Einsiedeln around lunch time. After coffee there and a tour of Einsiedeln Abbey, we took a short ride of the Sihlsee reservoir to the town of Willerzell. After lunch it was about a 45 kilometer ride to the outskirts of Zürich. We on bike paths and narrow quiet country roads. We crossed a lovely covered bridge (known as a “devil’s bridge and there are quite a few of them in Switzerland) in Teufelsbrücke, which was a very small country town. This was hilly, heavily wooded country, but it was fun. We headed through the bike trails in the lush marshlands of lake Zürich to Eschenbach train station. On the way we had another coffee break with little Swiss chocolate treats! We then departed by train back to Lucerne. It was a great day biking and getting exercise with an enjoyable route and marvelous host…Josef Schmid!
Some fact about Einseideln Abbey. Do they pay money to the Vatican, because it is a Roman Catholic monastery? No, they do not! It is officially a “territorial abbey.” The jurisdiction of territorial abbey’s is confusing, but let’s just say, there aren’t many of them anymore; they are rare. The history of this Abbey starts in the year 797! It was started by a German aristocrat, Meinarad, who became a monk and later a priest. Supposedly, he performed miracles. He was murdered by two robbers in 861. Other miracles were performed at the site where the abbot was today, by other “hermit” monks. In fact, the abbey is dedicated to Our Lady of the Hermits! Today, 150,000 to 200,000 Catholic pilgrims from around the world visit the abbey a year…many looking for a miracle to help them or a loved one dealing with a hopeless situation.
