Europe Archives - Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com

Day 11 – Zürich, Travel Home

Isaac Church — Wed, 22 May 2019 03:59:51 +0000

Sadly, today marks our final morning in Zürich, Switzerland, and Europe. We’ll spend most of today traveling—either by plane or automobile. Unfortunately, this is the non-glamorous part of travel, so there shouldn’t be much to today’s post…

Unfortunately, it’s never that simple.

Breakfast - Allegra Lodge

For our final meal in Europe, we opted to eat Hotel Allegra‘s somewhat expensive, but delicious breakfast buffet. Actually, the buffet was next door in the new hotel, Allegra Lodge.

If I didn’t mention earlier, our hotel was actually completely automated and unmanned. You just checked in on your phone, and then your phone functioned as the door key to get in the hotel, use the elevator, and access the stairs. If you didn’t have a phone key, you had to go next door to the Allegra Lodge to get a key card.

Flughafen Zürich // Take I

Faith and I arrived at Flughafen Zürich around 08:00, in plenty of time for our 10:10 flight. We boarded our plane, United Flight 135 to begin our Trans-Atlantic return journey. Our travels this week enamored us so much that we’d all but forgotten about airport and time zone changes. Our scheduled takeoff time was 10:10 CET (04:10 EST), and our 8½ hour flight was scheduled to land at EWR at 13:05 EST.

Zürich airport

That’s when the chaos started…

Many of you remember the fiasco I had a couple years ago trying to get home during some bad weather. The same thing happened in 2012 trying to take a flight from JFK to CLT. I don’t exactly have a great track record when it comes to return flights…

Right after we boarded the plane, we found a spot to place our carry-on luggage in the overhead bins. Apparently, I injured my back twisting as I turned and lifted our luggage. I could hardly sit down. As I was in my seat the pain worsened, and I began to feel nauseous. I managed to tell Faith that I thought I was about to pass out, and she’d better get some help. As she was getting the stewardess, I blacked out.

Two passengers, a nurse and a medical student, rushed to help and checked to make sure I didn’t have a spinal injury: I didn’t, thankfully. Because the captain couldn’t risk having to make an emergency landing, we were forced to leave the plane, and were told we couldn’t fly again until I had a fit-to-fly examination. Swiss EMTs, accompanied by heavily armed Polizei, escorted us off the plane and into a waiting ambulance.

There’s nothing quite like getting the above text when you’re the passenger requiring assistance.

Medical Center

We had to clear customs to re-enter Switzerland, and then we were taken to the Airport Medical Center, where the paramedics explained to the doctor what had happened. Thankfully, most of the medical staff spoke very good English.

Zürich airport hospital

Pain meds

The doctor examined me, and told me that I had a “para-spinal muscle spasm”, which had pinched a nerve in my back, causing the pain and the passing out. After being given some very heavy (horse-pill) doses of over-the-counter painkiller, I was cleared to fly.

Now, we just had to figure out how to get home…

Flughafen Zürich // Take II

The airport special assistance worker helped me into a wheelchair, and rolled us back to the United Airlines desk in the airport. The airline transferred us to their affiliate, Swiss Air, for a 17:00 CET (11:00 EST) flight to Newark, and then a 22:00 EST flight to Charlotte.

The lady wheeled me back through customs (double stamps on our passport for this trip), and then we had several hours to kill. The meds were kicking in, and I was able to walk slowly, so we were able to temporarily ditch the wheelchair.

The airport is no less expensive than the rest of Switzerland, but we finally found a market-style self-service restaurant that had sandwiches for a decent price.

Fresh squeezed fruit juice in the airport

Sandwiches

We ate our lunch, browsed some of the airport stores, spent my last CHF coins on some Lindt Premium Dark Chocolate for dessert, and then returned to the special assistance lounge to await our next boarding.

Lindt chocolate

Swiss LX0018

Our flight, Swiss Air 0018, departed about 20 minutes late, but managed to arrive one minute early, at 20:09 EST.

The food on the flight was very good. They served us a Thai curry bowl with rice, savory quinoa, shaved Swiss cheese, a roll with Swiss butter, and mango mousse. Later on the flight, they gave us a kaiser roll stuffed with pizza toppings, and a piece of Swiss chocolate.

Swiss Air food

Newark Liberty International Airport

Our flight from Zürich landed around 20:00 EST.

Out of all the cities I’ve ever been to, Newark is probably my least favorite. I’m currently struggling to think of one that’s worse, or comparably bad. The airport, unfortunately, mirrors the city.

Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

Newark Metropolitan Airport was built in 1928, and shows its decrepit-ness — caused by effects of time and aging from its century-long history, and from being located in the terrible city of Newark, NJ.

At this point I’m too tired and sick of traveling to write anymore, so you’re not getting any further information.

We didn’t have much time during this layover, and had to quickly scramble through customs. This was perfectly fine with me, for reasons mentioned above.

Newark Liberty International Airport

Our original flight, United 3656, was scheduled to depart at 14:44 EST and land in CLT at 16:40 EST; however that obviously didn’t work out.

Our new flight, United 267, was running late because we had to return to the gate to remove a “non-compliant passenger” (whatever that means).

Either United didn’t give us any snacks on the plane, or we were so out of it that they didn’t even bother to ask – probably the latter.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport

Home at last! Faith and I arrived back in North Carolina around 00:30, but didn’t get to the baggage claim until 01:00. Mom was unable to come, so Dad and his sister [Patricia] picked us up at the airport. We gathered our bags (though unfortunately, as I’m writing this post, our checked bags are still in Europe somewhere), and drove back to Granite Falls, where we spent the night at my parents’ house.

Finally home

I finally got in bed sometime after 03:00. Unfortunately, I had to work in the morning, while Faith got to sleep in.

Final Thoughts

This was indeed the trip of a lifetime. I know I say that about almost every trip I blog, but this truly was an unforgettable journey filled with many remarkable sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and memories.

Perhaps the most amazing part of our journey is that there is so much of Switzerland we didn’t get to see! We certainly hope to go back one day. Unfortunately, it is a very expensive country, and there is much of the world we also haven’t seen.

Until next time, auf wiedersehen.

Post Scriptum

We hope to post a final summary soon, including our thoughts, favorite moments, and maybe a few videos. Comment below if you have any questions you’d like us to answer!

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Day 9 – Zürich

Isaac Church — Sun, 19 May 2019 16:00:46 +0000

Today, Day 9 of our travels, we awoke at Hotel Allegra, and began our adventures of Zürich and the surrounding area.

The Swiss often joke that Zürich is “zu reich und zu ruhig“, or “too rich and too quiet”. While we enjoyed the quiet, it was certainly an extremely expensive city, even compared the rest of Switzerland. [For example, at a low-end restaurant, an average vegetarian dish with potatoes, vegetables, and maybe some cheese would cost at least CHF20. Dishes with meat would likely be double that.] As such, today’s post will be fairly uneventful. We took today slowly, exploring the city and taking time to rest before one more big day of travel tomorrow.

Breakfast

For breakfast, we ate the lemon joghurt we purchased at Aldi Suisse in Embrach last night. We didn’t leave Hotel Allegra until almost 10:00, since the few businesses that were open in the city today didn’t open until then.

Lemon joghurt

Kloten train station

Zürich

Our hotel in Kloten was about 100ft from the metro stop, so we walked over, purchased our a day pass on my iPhone, and waited about 10 minutes for the train to arrive. It was a very smooth 15 minute ride into Zürich HB, the main station.

Zürich - History

The Romans created the settlement in 15 B.C., calling it Turicum, though archaeologists have found settlements in the area dating back 6,400+ years. It’s is the largest city in Switzerland, with a metropolitan area containing 1.83million people. Like Lucerne, the people speak a variety of Alemannic Swiss German, here known as Zürich German.

This region played a key role in the Protestant Reformation, fueled by reformer Huldrych (Ulrich) Zwingli.

On January 1, 1519, Zwingli, still a Roman Catholic priest, did away with the traditional Latin lectionary and began expository sermons through the New Testament in his native tongue.
By 1525, he’d finished the entire New Testament and then moved on to exposit the Old. In the interim, Zwingli dissociated himself from the Catholic Church, decried papal and conciliar authority, and had the Mass abolished in Zurich, making it the world’s first magisterial Protestant state.
– Alex Duke, 4 Ways the Reformation Changed the Church

The city is also the capital of the canton of Zürich, is a major global financial hub, and is widely considered one of the top cities in the world to live in.

Canton of Zürich

The Canton of Zürich is Switzerland’s most populous, with 1.5million inhabitants. It’s residents speak a local variety of German, Züritüütsch.

Coat of Arms

The Canton is divisible into six geographical regions: the city, Lake Zürich (containing the island of Ufenau), the Unterland (lowlands) in the northwest, the Oberland (highlands) in the southeast, the Weinland (wine country) and city of Winterthur in the northeast, and the Knonaueramt in the southwest.

It is widely considered one of the wealthiest regions in Switzerland/Europe. The median income for an individual was a staggering ~$83,000/year in 2008.

Zürich HB

Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum // Landesmuseum Zürich

The museum

Our first stop for the day was Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum/Landesmuseum Zürich, the Swiss National Museum. While the west wing was closed for renovations, there were still many exhibits to see.

Today was International Museum Day, so admission was free for all, though our transit day-pass would have also gotten us in.

First, we saw an exhibit of famous works and contributions of the Swiss.

1564 copy of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion

Picture of Calvin

Relief of the Alps

The museum was highly interactive, with iPads relaying the background of items in up to 10 languages. Exhibits engaged all five senses, and were easy to understand for English-speakers.

Children sliding an "x-ray" type screen in front of objects to learn about them

Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum/Landesmuseum Zürich

Upstairs, there were more exhibits. One covered the history of artifacts of ancient civilizations that lived in Switzerland. Another other showed award-winning World Press photos from recent years, including the stories behind them. It was a very compelling exhibition.

Another larger section of the museum traced the history of Swiss back in time to the Confederation’s origins centuries ago. It included many interesting facts about Swiss neutrality, political views, democracy, commerce, and more.

A turret used to fortify the mountain regions during WWI/II. The Swiss's plan, if invaded, was to retreat south into the mountains and barricade themselves there.

A household clock

Exhibits on the Reformation

China

Swiss music

A history of politicians

More World Press photos

The museum also had a tin diorama of the battle of Murten, which took place in early 15^th century. This battle was essential in the forming of the Swiss Confrederation. The diorama included a step-by-step progression of the battle, complete with intricate descriptions and important details.

Lunch // Zürichsee

Next, we hopped on the streetcar south for a while, and then got our two stops early and walked past Paradeplatz (the financial district) towards Lake Zürich (Zürichsee). From a street vendor, we each grabbed a bratwurst, which came with a very crusty piece of bread instead of a bun.

Zürich bratwurst and brot

Since our bread was a bit hard to chew (apparently that’s the style in Switzerland), we tore the crust into crumbs and fed the ducks and swans.

Gelati am See

Again, we hopped on a streetcar and traveled farther south to the Höschgasse stop, walked about two blocks west, and arrived at Gelati am See, a gelato shack on the shore of the lake. We got two flavors each: we both got biscotti (cookie); I got cioccaloto nero (dark chocolate), and Faith got caffe (coffee). As a tradition, the shop gives you a small bonus scoop on top so you can try another flavor. I got fragola (strawberry), and Faith got dark chocolate.

Gelati am See

Gelati Am See

Zürich, Switzerland

Delicious gelato with a stunning view.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Limmat-Schiffahrt

As we finished our gelato, we walked south towards Zürichhorn, and park on a small peninsula that sticks out into the lake. From there, we hopped on a boat and took the Limmat River Cruise north, back to the Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum.

In the park at Zürichhorn, we saw the Heureka, a kinetic sculpture that is essentially a “worthless machine”.

The boats are very low so they can [barely] fit under the city's low bridges

Heureka

Limmat River Cruise

Grossmünster

Underneath a low bridge

Grossmünster

We got of the boat, walked back upriver for a while, and arrived at Grossmünster, which was Ulrich Zwingli’s church.

The church did not allow photos inside, so here is a link to photos on Google.

Directly across the river, the Kirche Fraumünster, known for its stained-glass windows depicting Biblical scenes, stands tall. We didn’t go in because they charged admission to see the windows, and we were both too tired to care.

Ulrich Zwingli statue

Kirche Fraumünster

Lindenhof

Needing desperately to rest, we walked up to Lindenhof, a city park on top of a hill overlooking the river. There, we rested while watching the locals play chess and bocce.

Niederdorf // Sternen Grill

Once we began to be able to feel our legs and feet again, we walked down the hill, and then walked from Lindenhof to Niederdorf, the old town.

We walked around and checked out some restaurants, but even basic food was so expensive we couldn’t bring ourselves to eat anywhere. So, we got on the streetcar at the Central station, traveled about 6 minutes southeast to Bellevue station, where we got off and walked about a block to a restaurant I had noted as a good value during my pre-trip research.

Finally, we arrived at Theaterstrasse to the Sternen Grill, a local restaurant that specializes in takeaway food from a smaller kitchen below the restaurant on street level. Even better, one can get meat at a reasonable price! We each got a Schnitzelbrot, which is Kalbs-Wienerschnitzel im Baguette mit Salat & Cocktail-Bruzzitosauce (roughly translated: a pork schnitzel sandwich with lettuce and tangy special sauce). Each sandwich came with another hearty/crusty roll (bürli) and mustard.

Sternen Grill

The sandwiches were delicious, and it was a great meal to end the day.

Sternen Grill

Zürich, Switzerland

A rare place to get semi-reasonably-priced (and delicious) food in an otherwise expensive city.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Travel Back to Hotel Allegra

After our dinner, we walked around the river and lake a bit longer, and found a Coop (pronounced “cope”) grocery store that was open. We went inside and bought a few more containers of joghurt for breakfast tomorrow morning, as well as some AOP-certified [local] cheese and a bar of Lindt schokolade (made in Zürich) for dessert.

A short distance away at the main train station, we got on the S9 train to go back to our hotel in Kloten. We arrived back to the hotel well before 19:30, but decided we should go to bed early in an effort to get an early start tomorrow – the last non-airport day of our trip.

Train station

Ride home

Rooftop gardens

In Switzerland, they even have paths next to the stairs for bikers to ride down.

Goodnight

Goodnight everyone! Our plan is to wake up extra early tomorrow morning and drive west towards Liechtenstein, Austria, the Appenzell region, and whatever else we have time for. We might even got back to Germany if it works out.

Today certainly wasn’t the most exciting day of our trip, but it was nice to relax a bit. The Swiss certainly aren’t in any hurry about anything other than making sure their trains run on time. While Zürich might be too calm for some, there’s a reason it’s ranked the most livable city in the world.

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Day 8 – Bern, Rheinfall, Deutschland

Isaac Church — Sun, 19 May 2019 03:59:39 +0000

This morning, we awoke in Bern as we began the eighth day of our travels in Europe.

Breakfast - Hotel Waldhorn

First, we ate breakfast at Hotel Waldhorn. As a way to promote tourism, all travelers spending the night get a free Bern Ticket, which gives you free public transit, as well as access to two funiculars and an elevator to the top of Berner Münster, the city’s massive cathedral. [We forgot about the cathedral part; we’ll get to that later…]

Bern Old Town

Immediately after breakfast, we checked out, and walked from our hotel to the old town of Bern, which took about 15 minutes. The weather was nearly perfect today; one could wear a long-sleeved shirt and no jacket and be comfortable walking the hills all day. We spent the better part of the day walking around Bern and seeing the sights in this picturesque city.

Bern

Bern is the capital of the Swiss Confederation, and of the canton of Bern. It is the nation’s fifth-largest city, with a population of ~660,000. Bern, founded in the 1100s, is the city of the bear. The city has kept live bears since the 1440s, and currently has a large riverside park, Bärengraben, that houses four brown bears. Since the bears now have a more spacious home, the former medieval bear pits house a gift shop and performance venue.

Coat of Arms

The river Aare, a tributary of the Rhine, curves through the city. Pedestrians often swim in the river on a hot day.

View out our hotel window

City of bears

Our hotel

Closed violin shop

Most of the city has stone promenades. These are original from the 1400s, when they replaced wooden buildings after a widespread fire. You can walk throughout the entire old town without ever stepping out into the weather.

Bern

Bern is often called the city of fountains, with 700+ water fixtures, almost all of which are potable.

Bärengraben

The city of Bern’s namesake is an ancient word for bear. During medieval times, the citizens kept bears in a pit in the middle of the city. Now, the city has built Bärengraben on the edge of the river, with plenty of room for three brown bears to roam, play, eat, and sleep. Under these conditions, bears will actually live 50% longer because they have access to better nutrients and medical care.

We visited the bears twice: once in the morning and again in the afternoon.

Trying to get comfortable...

Bärengraben

rosengarten

Before we headed back to the city center, we took a walk up the hill to Rosengarten to take in a nice view of the city.

Zytglogge

The Zytlogge is a medieval mechanical astronomical clock that was once a guard tower and a prison. The city finally converted it into a clock tower after the Great Fire of 1405. We arrived at the tower just before noon, and witnessed the mechanical display on the hour. It’s very impressive technology, considering its age!

Zytglogge

The Zytglogge is a 15^th century astronomical clock. Before “Zytglogge“, locals referred to the prison tower as “kebie” (“cage”) or the reconstructed tower as “nüwer turm” (“new tower”). The clock must be manually reset every leap year.

I found this helpful diagram online:

YouTube video of the clock:

Berner Münster

After seeing the clock tower, we headed to the Berner Münster, the Swiss Reformed cathedral that towers over the town.

We toured the inside, and then climbed all 309 steps to the top (only realizing later tonight that we could have ridden the elevator with our Bern Ticket).

The Bells

Marktgasse // Lunch

Climbing all those steps made us quite hungry. We descended from the tower, and walked down to Marktgasse (Market Street), and browsed through the local market, picking up a variety of delicious free samples, and some not-so-delicious-and-very-spicy tapenade. We bought a Süss from Gateaux du Vully, which was a sweet butter cake topped with toasted almonds and served warm.

Süss

Giant lemons

Bern Marktgasse

Gateaux du Vully

Bern, Switzerland

I would go back, if just for the Süss pastry.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

At a local bakery, we bought three items to split: a pretzel cut in half and filled with butter, a croissant-shaped pastry that was filled with a cinnamon mixture, and a Madeline sandwich filled with apricot jam and dipped in chocolate.

Pretzel

Croissant-thing

Madeline

Sparrows feeding on our crumbs

We walked around a bit more, saw the Swiss Parliament building (Bundeshaus), and then dropped in a Migros restaurant (think restaurant section of Whole Foods) to grab two sandwiches: a tomato-arugula-parmesan and a salami-olive-cheese to eat later. We also got a mini-waffle from a street vendor for an on-the-go snack. Nearby at the main transit interchange (Bundesplatz), we caught the #9 streetcar back to our hotel – about a 12 minute ride. I nervously maneuvered the car out of the underground garage, and we returned to the roadways.

Kloster Königsfelden

We started driving to our next destination, stopping at Kloster Königsfelden, a monastery in Windisch, along the way, but we decided not to go inside.

Kloster Königsfelden

Deutschland

From the outset of this trip, we were determined to visit all six countries on our list. [If you’re keeping track, we’ve only been to three so far, and it’s now Day 8 of our trip.] Our original plan was to visit the picturesque lakeside citys of Lindau/Konstanz, Germany Monday. However, in an effort to cut down on drive time, and to be able to more thoroughly explore Appenzellerland, we’ll unfortunately have to cut Lindau and Konstanz from our itinerary.

Fortunately, we had to drive through Germany to get to our next destination, so we still get to check the country off our list! We tried to find a place to take a picture with a German flag, but apparently the Germans are not as proud of their flag as the Swiss are.

Deutschland

Rheinfall

About an hour later, we arrived near the towns of Schaffhausen and Neuberg, and as we parked our car, we could hear the thundering of water in the distance. The Rhine Falls (Rheinfall) are Europe’s largest waterfall by volume, at 490’/150m wide and 75’/23m high. It was a very impressive site, but just about as touristy as Niagara Falls, so we continued on our way towards our hotel in Kloten, just north of Zürich. We also saw an enormous mastiff there.

Rheinfall

Mastiff

Dinner - Chickeria

In Pfungen, we stopped at a Swiss fast-food restaurant called Chickeria, which specializes in rotisserie chicken and fries. It was very good, and even beat out Chick-fil-A in our minds (which is really saying something)! I got a half-chicken and Faith got a basket of drum-ettes. We attempted to go in the Migros next door to buy some chocolate, but it was already closed at 18:00 on a Saturday.

If I haven’t mentioned it already, Switzerland [for the most part] comes to a screeching halt from 18:00 Saturday to 10:00 Monday morning. I’m sure it’s nice for them, but it’s very frustrating for anyone trying to make even a simple purchase during that time.

Chickeria

We managed to find a Co-op gas station that was open, so I filled up our rental car, and then we went in an adjacent Aldi Suisse that was thankfully still open for a bit longer. We picked up some Callier dark chocolate and two lemon yogurts for later, laughed at two tween boys who tried to sell us a plastic toy they found on the ground for CHF2.00 “because we were American”, and then continued on our way to the hotel.

Hotel Allegra

We arrived at Hotel Allegra just north of the city of Zürich in Kloten, Switzerland, and checked into our room around 18:15. The hotel is very modern, and is only a short distance from the Zürich Airport.

Maps

Here are some maps showing our travels for today. One is of the city of Bern, and the other is our travel from Bern to Zürich.

Goodnight

Tomorrow, we’ll explore Zürich, and try to dodge the rain. Thanks again for following our travels. Comment (or ask questions) below if you’d like! We’ll respond as we get the chance – once we get home, probably.

Rheinfall

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Day 6 – Chamonix

Isaac Church — Thu, 16 May 2019 17:00:48 +0000

Today we’ll spend the day exploring Chamonix and the surrounding area. Around 08:00 this morning, we ventured down to the hotel lobby to eat breakfast. The breakfast was excellent; we enjoyed meat, cheese, fruit, jams, pastries, bread, and more.

Breakfast at Hotel de l'Arve

Aiguille du Midi

Right after breakfast, we walked through downtown to the cable car station, where we bought our tickets and narrowly caught the cable car up to Aiguille du Midi (“The Needle of Midday”). The view at the top was incredible. You can see Mont Blanc up close, plus many other peaks of the French, Swiss, and Italian Alps.

Aiguille du Midi

The Aiguille du Midi (“Needle of Midday”) is a 3,842m (12,605′) peak in the Mont Blanc Massif range. The cable car to the top, Téléphérique de l’Aiguille du Midi, opened in 1955, has the highest vertical ascent of any cable car in the world (1,035m to 3,842 m // 3,396′ to 12,605′).

The “Step into the Void” attraction opened in 2013. I walked on the glass platform (with great trepidation) when I visited in 2017.

My 2017 visit

Another nail-biting attraction, Le Pipe, opened in 2016. Click here to watch a video of its construction.

Cable car change at Plan de l'Aiguille

We finally headed down, once again changing cars at Plan de l’Aiguille, which marks the end of the ice and the beginning of the trees. The second (top) leg of the cable car is the longest stretch of cable in the world with no intermediate support beams.

Plan de l'Aiguille

Montenvers Train

Now safely back on the ground in Chamonix, we made a quick pit stop at our hotel (stopping in the lobby to grab a chocolate and lemon-creme-raisin croissant each) to change into some less-warm clothes, since we were no longer above 3,800m.

Changed, refreshed, and less hungry, we walked to the Montenvers train station to begin our ascent to Mer de Glace on the cogwheel train. It took a while to find the path to the train station, because the normal train tracks are in the way. We finally found the bridge over, and made the 12:30 train just in time.

Montenvers

Mer de Glace

The train creaked its way up the mountain, and finally arrived at the station. We walked down to the cable car, which takes you about ⅓ of the way down to the glacier. One must walk the rest of the way down – almost 1,000′ of elevation change on very steep stairs.

Mer de Glace

The Mer de Glace (“Sea of Ice”) is a 7.5km (4.66mi) long glacier in the Mont Blanc Massif mountain range. It’s a staggering 200m (600′) deep. The glacier is the second-longest in the Alps, behind the Altesch Glacier in the Berner Oberland, just a few miles south of Lauterbrunnen.

I can no otherwise convey to you an image of this body of ice, broken into irregular ridges and deep chasms than by comparing it to waves instantaneously frozen in the midst of a violent storm.
William Cox, 1777

A map of the valley – Mer de Glace is near the top center

Mer de Glace

At the bottom, we entered an ice cave carved in to the glacier. Every year, the Mont Blanc Company must dig the cave again, because the glacier moves >20’/year.

Mer de Glace

The walk back up to the cable car station was exhausting. The view of the glacier and the surroundings peaks was breathtaking (as were the stairs), so it made the climb a little more enjoyable.

Mer de Glace

We took the cable car back up to the train station, waited about 20 minutes, and then boarded the train headed back to Chamonix. Faith and I both struggled to stay awake on the return trip…it was now around 15:00.

Mer de Glace

Afternoon Tea - Hotel de l'Arve

Since we were both completely exhausted at this point, we headed back to our hotel to take a shower and a nap. At 16:00, the hotel began serving afternoon tea again, so we moseyed down to the lobby around 16:35 and got muffins, pound cake, and hot chococlate.

Hotel de l'Arve

Dinner - Chez Constant

We finished our “tea”, asked for some restaurant recommendations from a lady at our hotel, and walked around downtown Chamonix for about two hours, popping in and out of ski/clothing/jewelry/meat/cheese/other shops. We purchased a few souvenirs and other items, and then headed back to the hotel once again to drop off our items.

Chamonix

The Count of the Genevois first mentioned Chamonix in a land grant in 1091AD. Over the years, it developed into a famous tourist destination, and was especially popular with British gentry. The area’s economy has been largely tourism-centric since the 1800s.

Coat of Arms

The commune’s official name is Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (Mont-Blanc was added in 1916), though it was originally spelled Chamounix. The city hosted the first Winter Olympics in 1924.

Our first choice/recommendation for dinner, Chez Constant, was unfortunately closed for the shoulder season and won’t open until tomorrow, so we went with the hotel’s second recommendation: Neapolis, an Italian restaurant next door that featured wood-fired pizza and homemade pasta.

Faith and I split three dishes recommended by our waitress: a mixed appetizer plate, a lasagna bolognese, and some kind of pizza I’d never heard of – that had a white sauce, prosciutto, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. It was all excellent. We finished off the meal with Italian ice cream (not gelato); I got chocolate and Faith got café.

Neapolis

Map of Chamonix

Goodnight

Thanks for reading! Tomorrow we head back into Switzerland. We’ll see a castle, taste some cheese, eat some chocolate, and more…

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Day 5 – Valle d’Aosta, Chamonix

Isaac Church — Thu, 16 May 2019 03:59:42 +0000

Today, we’ll explore Italy’s Aosta Valley (Valle d’Aosta) and Gran Paridiso National Park (Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso). It was a day of waterfalls (cascate), hiking, and grand views. Today is the 5^th day of our European adventure, and our first full day in Italia.

Breakfast

This morning, we awoke in our apartment, La Roche, and headed over to the dining room for breakfast.

Breakfast at La Roche

La Roche

Leaving the hotel

Pont d'Aël

After checking out of our hotel, we departed the city of Aosta down SR47 to the Pont d’Aël, a Roman aqueduct built in 3BC to provide water for the new Roman colony of Augusta Praetoria, which is now Aosta. Pont d’Aël is one of three remaining intact Roman bridges in the Aosta region. The Torrente Grand’ Eyvia flows under the bridge. We paid a small entrance fee, walked across the aqueduct, and then back through the inside of it on a glass floor.

Pont d’Aël

Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso

Cascate di Lillaz

Gran Paradiso National Park

Cascate di Lillaz

Gran Paradiso National Park

Cascate di Lillaz

Continuing past Pont d’Aël on SR47, we traveled to the village of Lillaz in the Cogne Valley to visit the Cascate di Lillaz in Gran Paradiso National Park (Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso). This three-stage waterfall totals 240m (787′). The river Torrent de Valeille feeds the falls. It’s quite amazing how the Italians have built roads and tunnels to even the most remote part of the mountains.

Aosta

Next, we left Lillaz and drove back down to Aosta. Aosta is the capital and largest city in Valle d’Aosta. The city is full of Roman ruins and history, so we walked around the downtown for a while, and stuck our heads in a few shops. It was very difficult to find parking, but once we did, it was free – a huge plus around here. Apparently any space with white lines is free, while blue-lined spaces require validation (at least that’s what I gathered from having a Google Translate-facilitated conversation with a woman who only spoke Italian).

Arch of Caesar Augustus

Valle d'Aosta

Flag

The Aosta Valley (Valle d’Aosta) is region of Italy that borders the Swiss canton of Valais on the north, and the French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes on the west. Valle d’Aosta is one of five Italian regions granted governing autonomy by the constitution. The Italian government did this in an effort to protect cultural and linguistic minorities, and to prevent secession after WWII. The region has only 128,000 inhabitants.

The region’s official languages are Italian and French. However, much of the population speaks Valdostan (Valdôtain), which is a dialect of Franco-Provençal (a.k.a. Arpitan). Franco-Provençal is considered an endangered language.

Coat of Arms

Aosta

Lunch

Soon, it was time for lunch. We went to La Bottega Degli Antichi Sapori, a restaurant we’d spotted the night before. We ordered some ravioli stuffed with some kind of spiced meat in a fontina cheese sauce, a caprese salad, and tagliatelle with local pork, parmigiano reggiano, and a buttery sauce. The food was incredible, and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

Caprese Salad

La Bottega Degli Antichi Sapori

Assorted bread

Our view at lunch

La Bottega Degli Antichi Sapori

Aosta, Italy

A truly spectacular meal – both times I have visited.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

After lunch, we walked down the street to Gelaty to get some gelato. It was incredible, and we enjoyed it as we walked around the town a bit longer.

Aosta gelato

Leaving Aosta

Waterfalls, Part II

Leaving Aosta, we drove west to the village of La Joux in the town of La Thuile to see the Cascate del Rutor. Cascate del Rutor is the highest waterfall in Italy, thundering down 700m (2,296′) in three stages. It’s fed by the Rutor glacier.

Unfortunately, the trail to the waterfall was closed due to avalanche danger. Disappointed, we turned around and drove back down the winding road towards Mont Blanc.

Road Closed

At least we got a decent view out of our drive up the mountain

Travel to France

Leaving Aosta, we headed underneath the mountains and drove through the Mont Blanc Tunnel into République Française.

Hotel de L'Arve

We arrived at Hotel de L’Arve in Chamonix, France around 17:15, and immediately enjoyed some afternoon tea and house-made baked goods in the hotel lobby.

Pound cake and chocolate muffins

View from the hotel lobby

Hotel de l'Arve

I hate these weird shower glass things

Chamonix

We took the remainder of the evening to explore Chamonix. The sunset was beautiful, as was the scenery. We went in a few stores, grabbed a croissant and a chocolate croissant from a local bakery for a snack, and then headed back to our hotel for the evening.

Chamonix

The first two explorers to summit Mont Blanc

A meat shop downtown

Chamonix

Mont Blanc

Goodnight

We will be in Chamonix for one more night to do some more alpine exploring. See you tomorrow!

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Map

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Day 4 – Rhône Alps, St. Bernard Pass, Valle d’Aosta

Isaac Church — Wed, 15 May 2019 03:59:53 +0000

Today we leave the Berner Oberland and head southwest to the Rhône Alps. We’ll pass through Sion and traverse through the Great St. Bernard Pass to the Aosta Valley (Valle d’Aosta) in the Italian Alps.

Our departure from Switzerland is only temporary, however. We’ll return in a few days. After crossing the border and spending some time in Italy, we’ll take the Tunnel du Mont-Blanc underneath the ‘White Mountain’ into France. After a couple days in the French Alps, we’ll travel back to Swizerland and slowly make our return to the eastern part of country.

Déjà Vu

Does this sound vaguely familiar? It should. I traveled to some of these places (except in reverse order) two years ago, almost to the day. Click here to read about that trip.

Two years ago...

Chamonix

Valle d'Aosta

Aiguille du Midi

Breakfast - Hotel Oberland

Once again, we ate a Iight breakfast at Hotel Oberland, and checked out of our room. We drank the remainder of our fresh milk from the night before, and sliced up our beef wurst and put it in a bag for a snack later today.

Leaving Lauterbrunnen, we traveled north to Interlaken, west to Spiez, and then south to Kandersteg.

Lötschberg Tunnel

In Kandersteg, we drove our car onto a train, to travel through the Lötschberg Tunnel underneath the mountain to the Rhône Alps.

Lötschberg Tunnel

Basilique de Valère // Château de Tourbillon

Forty minutes later, we arrived in Sion, found a car park, and hiked to the Basilique de Valère and Château de Tourbillon – a church and castle on adjacent hills. It was a painfully steep hike, but we finally made it to the top of both, enjoyed a few exhibits at the Basilique, and then headed back down the to town center of Sion. On the way up, we ate our beef sausage; it was strong but excellent.

Basilique de Valère

Basilique de Valère is a fortified church that sits high on a hill near the middle of Sion. The original church structure was built between 1100 and 1130 AD.

The Basilique‘s organ has been there since 1435, and is one of the oldest functioning organs in the world. It was slightly modified in the 1700s so it could play Baroque music.

Château de Tourbillon

The Château de Tourbillon is a castle on a hill adjacent to the Basilique, . The Bishop of Sion, Boniface de Challant, built the castle in ~1290-1308 as his primary residence.

Despite a fire, the castle’s frescoes remain intact. Valais restored the castle in the 1960s, and it stands today as an official ‘Swiss heritage site of national significance’.

A smaller chapel below the Basilique

Sion

View of the Basilique

Château de Tourbillon

Sion

View of the Basilique from the Château

Hiking down

Army uniforms

Chests made for the castle

Basilique de Valère

A smaller chapel below the Basilique

Basilique de Valère

Château de Tourbillon

Sion

We wrapped up our tour of the castle and finally started walking downhill for a change, as we headed back towards the city center of Sion.

Sion is a neat little town in the French speaking region of Switzerland. We quickly forgot we were even in Switzerland; it almost seemed we were already in France. It felt like a completely different country from the Berner Oberland region.

Sion

Background - Sion

Sion sits in the canton of Valais, with a population of ~35,000. It’s one of the oldest and most significant prehistoric site in the region; archaeologists have discovered settlements dating back to before 6200 BC! Sion was the capital of the Seduni, one of the four Celtic tribes of the Valais. Both Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus wrote of the city at the end of the 1^st century BC, and the Romans built baths there.

Sion’s Coat of Arms

82% of the residents speak French as their first language, followed by German and some Portuguese.

Sion narrowly lost a bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics to Turin, Italy.

Background - Canton of Valais

The Canton of Valais [see map below] is in the southwestern corner of Switzerland, bordering Italy on the south and France on the West. It’s capital is Sion, which sits on the Rhône in the northern center of the canton.

This Canton is the third largest in Switzerland. The Rhône flows through it’s center separates the Bernese Alps in the northeast from the Pennine Alps on the Italian border.

Valais Coat of Arms

Valais is a canton of contrast. It contains some of the highest peaks in the Swiss Alps, and gentle plains and hill; it also has some of Switzerland’s wettest and driest areas. Three of Valais’ most famous peaks are the Dom, Matterhorn, and Weisshorn.

We stopped at a boutique that sold tea, soap, and other house goods; a nature museum devoted solely to butterflies; and a cheese store. By this time, we were getting a little hungry, so we dropped in Boulangerie Le Délice du Grand-Pont, a French-style bakery in the shopping district.

We split a salami sandwich and a Callier chocolate croissant, and each got a cappuccino. Then, we got a vanilla creme-filled pastry and a shortbread pinwheel to split as we walked around the town.

Boulangerie Le Délice du Grand-Pont

We also filled up our water bottles at this fountain

Great St. Bernard Museum // Martigny

Next, we drove about 20 minutes west to Martigny to go to the St. Bernard Museum. I had been before, but Faith had not. It was a great experience, and we even got to pet a dog! I was a little disappointed that there were no puppies this time around.

The dogs are so strong that they can survive over 48 hours in the snow with no food or water, and can carry a grown man on their backs for great distances without stopping. St. Bernards are a cross between a Danish bull and a mastiff.

St. Bernard Museum

Great St. Bernard Pass

The Great St. Bernard Pass goes through the Pennine Alps from the Swiss canton of Valais to the Italian region of Aosta. It is the third highest mountain pass in Switzerland.

Saint Bernard of Menthon founded a hospice for travelers in the pass in 1049. The dog breed and the mountain pass are both named after him.

The Great St. Bernard Tunnel, which opened in 1964, goes underneath the pass. Before its construction, there was no quick way to travel from Martigny to Aosta. The Pass, above the tunnel, is open from June-October, but even then is often closed for weather.

St. Bernard Museum

Roman amphitheater behind the museum

Italia

After leaving Martigny and crossing through the tunnel underneath Great St. Bernard Pass, we officially entered Italy.

We checked into our Hotel, La Roche, which is just north of Aosta, up the mountain a ways. It’s very nice, and by far the cheapest of all our hotels, at less than 60€, including breakfast tomorrow morning.

Aosta

We took our luggage into our rooms, changed shirts, and drove down into the city of Aosta to seek out a place to eat dinner. This was by far the largest downtown we’ve been to, with many winding, twisting, and turning streets and narrow alleyways.

The center of the city is completely traffic free (you must park outside and walk in). Faith and I walked around the town for a bit until most of the shops had closed at 19:30. We also stepped in the local cathedral to snap a photo.

Aosta Cathedral

Aosta

Dinner

Per the recommendation of our hotel, we ate dinner at Aldente, a restaurant that features local specialties from Valle d’Aosta.

We got a few dishes to split:

Assiette – an assortment of lard, mocetta, boudin, and chestnuts with honey; fontina, toma, and bleu cheeses
Crespelle – crepes with ham and fontina cheese, baked with a béchamel sauce
Fresh spaghetti with lamb ragu, with thyme and sweet dry-fried red peppers
Carbonada – beef cooked with wine/onions/spices/juniper berries, served over polenta
Gianduja with caramel and minced almonds, plus two shortbread cookies

Aldente

Carbonada

Dessert

As is the case with most Italian restaurants, we got way too much food, but it wasn’t terribly expensive, especially compared to Switzerland. The total bill would equate to food for one person in a Swiss restaurant. The waiter even gave us a free espresso to split at the end of the meal. [It was VERY bitter – even for espresso. Faith chugged it and was shaking from the caffeine later.] The food was very good, but I think the food I had last time was better. Still, it was worlds better than anything you can get in Boone…

Goodnight

Late Sorry this post is late; our Internet access wasn't good enough to upload photos, so I had to wait until we got to Chamonix.

After dinner we drove back up to our hotel, showered, and headed to bed. I’m exhausted, so we’re hoping to sleep in [a little bit], eat breakfast before 09:00, and go to two large waterfalls in the Valle. If we have time, I hope we can go back to downtown Aosta to eat, get gelato, and go in a few stores. Tomorrow evening, we’ll drive under Mont Blanc to Chamonix, France, where we’ll spend the next two nights.

Sion

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Day 3 – Berner Oberland

Isaac Church — Mon, 13 May 2019 22:00:15 +0000

This morning we overslept and woke up later than intended, around 07:10, in Lauterbrunnen – the heart of Berner Oberland, as we began our second day in Switzerland. We got dressed and headed down to our hotel lobby to grab some breakfast. Our plan was to take the first train up the mountain at 07:37, but since we overslept, we took one about an hour or so later.

Breakfast - Hotel Oberland

For breakfast, we enjoyed a variety of meat, fruit, bread, jam, honey, cheese, and more.

Jungfraubahn

After breakfast, we walked to the Lauterbrunnen train station, purchased our tickets, and boarded the train for Jungfraujoch, Europe’s highest rail station. Along the way, the train passed through Wengen, Kleine Scheidegg (where we changed trains), and a few other smaller villages. We couldn’t see much for the clouds.

Jungfrau Railway

The Jungfrau Railway (Jungfraubahn) runs all the way from Interlaken to the Jungfraujoch Station, Europe’s highest railway station. At Zweilütschinen, the railway forks east to Grindelwald, and south to Lauterbrunnen. The railway joins again at Kleine Scheidegg.

The depot at the mountain pass of Kleine Scheidegg (2,061m // 6,762′) is the final train interchange before making the climb to Jungfraujoch. This final stage goes 9km (~5.5mi) in a tunnel through the Mönch and Eiger, finally stopping at Jungfraujoch (3,454 m // 11,332′).

Construction of the railway started in 1896 and took 16 years to complete.

Railway Map

Faith and a blurry train

White out

Kleine Scheidegg

Jungfraubahn tunnel

Jungfraujoch

About an hour and a half later, we arrived at Jungfraujoch. The views were breathtaking. While it was overcast in the valley below, we were now high above the clouds, and the sun was shining brightly. It was not a good day for me to forget my sunglasses…

Aletsch Glacier

Jungfraujoch

Bernese Alps

When viewed from the west, the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau sit from left to right. The etymology is quite fascinating: the Mönch (monk) is protecting the Jungfrau (maiden/young woman) from the Eiger (ogre).

These three peaks lie just a few miles northwest of the Alps’ largest glacier, the Great Aletsch Glacier (Grosser Aletschgletscher), which is over 14 miles long.

Since the Eiger’s north face was successfully climbed in 1858, at least 64 climbers have died attempting to scale it.

We explored the observatory for a while, and closed our journey with a venture out onto the snow for some pictures.

Jungfraujoch Ice Cave

There was also an ice cave…

Jungfraujoch ice cave

Train Ride Down // Lunch

We thought about getting lunch at the top, but after seeing the prices, decided to venture back the valley instead.

Switzerland is very expensive! A small salad like this cost nearly USD$20.

It was clearing up just a little on the train ride down, so the views were a little better. We met a group of four people about our age from Alabama, and had a lively conversation with them on the way down.

Now back in Lauterbrunnen, we stopped at the local grocery store, Co-op, to buy a quick lunch. We got some dried beef and salami, some delicious local cheese, and yogurt.

Berner Oberland

While I’m thinking about it, here’s some more info on the Berner Oberland.

The Berner Oberland, also known as the Bernese Highlands or Bernese Oberland, is the southernmost (and highest) of the five districts of the canton of Bern. The residents speak the Highest Alemannic German dialect, which has many different plurals than Bernese German and has more “n” sounds.

Lauterbrunnen Coat of Arms

The Romans, who used various nearby mountain passes, first settled the area. Three main peaks protrude from the southeastern wall of the Lauterbrunnen valley: the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. These three peaks form a highly recognizable landscape, visible from many miles away on a clear day.

Trummelbachfälle

After lunch, we drove to Trummelbachfälle, a waterfall that is actually inside the mountain. A funicular took us about halfway up; we walked the rest of the way up, and then walked back down. The waterfall was enormous and thundering, and was quite the site to behold. We came out slightly wet from the spray and water drippings.

Trummelbachfälle

A view of the valley from the falls

Funicular

Levels of the falls

Trummelbachfälle

Gimmelwald

Next, we left Trummelbachfälle and drove almost to the end of the Lauterbrunnen valley to Stechelberg to take a cable car up to the villages of Gimmelwald and Mürren. Gimmelwald is a traditional alpine village and has maintained its historic state by getting itself declared an “avalanche zone”, so no modern buildings can be built in the village.

Cowbells

A frolicky horse we met

Gimmelwald

Gimmelwald had several self-service food stations where hikers could buy snacks or locals buy essentials like eggs or milk. We bought a package of beef wurst to eat later.

Alpkäse self-service

The Honesty Shop

Cheese storage/aging hut

You can fill your water bottle at any fountain like this across the Alps

Mürren

After exploring Gimmelwald for half an hour, we took the cable car up once more to the larger, more modern village of Mürren. Locals and workers access these villages by very steep roads, but only when necessary because they are dangerous. All pedestrians and tourists must park at the bottom and use the cable car, often hauling luggage to their hotels high above.

The village, high above Gimmelwald

Downtown Mürren

Dinner - Restaurant Stägerstübli

By this time, we were very hungry for dinner, so we stopped at Restaurant Stägerstübli in Mürren for dinner. I got Rösti mit Käse überbacken (hash browns smothered in cheese), and Faith got Rösti mit Käse überbacken (hash browns with vegetables). We each got an espresso to go with our meal.

Restaurant Stägerstübli

Hiking Down

After dinner, we explored Mürren a bit more, and then hiked back down to Gimmelwald to take the cable car down from there. It was a very pleasant hike; we saw great scenery, alpine farms, and even a wild chamois on the path. We made the cable car with no time to spare (we had to run a little at the end).

Yellow signs like this direct you around the Alps, often including walking time (as clocked by local senior citizens)

Frische Milch

Now back at our car at the bottom of the valley, we started the ~8min drive back to our hotel in the town of Lauterbrunnen. Along the way, we stopped at a dairy farm that had a fresh milk dispenser. You drop in some coins, place your personal container under the spout, and the machine spouts cold milk, fresh from the farm that morning. The milk was deliciously sweet and buttery. We took it back to the hotel, where we enjoyed it while settling down for the evening. It was now ~20:00.

Frisch Milch

Frische Milch

Stechelberg, Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Not exactly a restaurant, but this was one of the neatest experiences we had on the trip – and the best milk I’ve ever had!

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Auf Wiedersehen

Unfortunately, tonight is our final night in Lauterbrunnen and the Berner Oberland. Tomorrow we drive to Valle d’Aosta in Italy. We both agree we didn’t allow nearly enough time for this area, but maybe we can return one day. It is very expensive though, so I’ll be glad to get out of Switzerland for a few days.

That’s all for today! See you tomorrow from Italy (and a little more of Switzerland).

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A map of Berner Oberland:

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Introduction, Part 2.5 – Europe 2019

Isaac Church — Thu, 09 May 2019 14:00:35 +0000

Meta-Intro

First, I’d need to apologize for dragging out this introduction into three parts. I originally intended to be brief, but somehow got carried away. I guess that’s what happens when you live in Boone with little-to-no sunshine for the winter months.

You can catch up on my unnecessarily long introductory posts below:

Teaser

Overview

That said, I’ll make a concerted effort to keep this post short: it will just contain a few final notes before we begin our actual journey.

Final Notes

Since I promised I’d be brief, I’ll only give three last minute “housekeeping”-type items:

We’ll try to send out our blog daily. However, bad Internet connection and lack of sleep might get in our way some days. Don’t worry; we’ll catch up!
Please be lenient with us on spelling/grammar errors…I’m usually trying to write the blog and bulk-edit photos at night when we’re exhausted from the day’s events. I promise we’ll correct them eventually. Thankfully, Faith can proofread for me some.
As mentioned in my second introductory post, I’m planning on adding a few new features to the blog. Whenever I do, I’ll highlight it using an alert box like the one below:

Example This is an example of an alert box. Click the [X] in the upper right-hand corner to close it.

We hope you enjoy following our travels through central Europe. We fly out of Charlotte at noon on Saturday; it’s almost time!

If you haven’t already, click below to subscribe to our posts. We should be sending out daily emails, but things might get delayed a bit for reasons mentioned above.

Vaduz, Liechtenstein

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Introduction, Part 2 – Europe 2019

Isaac Church — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 16:30:26 +0000

Welcome back! Before I proceed, if you haven’t read the first part of this introduction, click here to do so now.

If you weren’t able to read Part 1 and require a recap, Faith and I are traveling to Europe this May for a late honeymoon.

The Big Reveal

Now that we have all the formalities out of the way, I suppose it’s time to reveal our destination–er, rather–destinations.

On May 11, 2019, we will fly out of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (CLT) and land in………Toronto. “But wait”, you say, “I thought you said you were going to six countries. You do realize that only one country borders Canada, and that’s the US?”

Patience, patience. I’m not done with the story yet… After a hearty four-hour layover in Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), we’ll board yet another flight, this time overnight, and wake up as we land in………Zürich, Switzerland!

Zürich, Switzerland

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

Destinations

Okay, sorry for all the drama; I promise I’ll stop now. Now I must reveal the answers to my clues; but first, the official list (with official names in official languages) of the countries we’ll be visiting, sort-of in order:

Swiss Confederation (Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft/Confédération Suisse/Confederazione Svizzera/Confederaziun Svizra)
Italian Republic (Repubblica Italiana)
French Republic (République Française)
Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland)
Principality of Liechtenstein (Fürstentum Liechtenstein)
Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich)

Bonus points to anyone who can name the four official languages of Switzerland without having to look it up.

Clues Revealed

Three places I will be revisiting are: Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France; Martigny, Switzerland; and Valle d’Aosta, Italy.

Chamonix, France

Torgnon, Valle d'Aosta, Italy

Martigny, Switzerland

The other facts revealed:

Liechtenstein, obviously, is one of the ten smallest countries in the world – coming in at #6. Liechtenstein is only 160 km² (about 61 mi²), has the world’s lowest unemployment rate (1.5%), and has the highest GDP per capita (USD$141,165.08 as of 2010, which is 1,118% above the world average).
Bears and beets are quite prominent in Switzerland, (as well as in a popular TV show).
Switzerland has four official languages, which explains the aforementioned commonalities.
The languages we’ll likely run into are German (both Swiss German and Standard German), Italian, French, Romansh, and Franco-Provençal.
The cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics are Chamonix, France (1924) and St. Moritz, Switzerland (1928 & 1948). Lausanne, Switzerland will host in 2020. Since writing my original post, I’ve determined we likely won’t make it to St. Moritz.

Destinations

Since everyone is now sufficiently enlightened, I’ll give you a rundown of our plans:

From Zürich, we’ll drive south to Luzern and the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland [2 nights], and then cross the border into Italy’s Valle d’Aosta [1 night] via the St. Bernard Pass.
From there, we’ll travel through the Mont Blanc Tunnel into France.
From Chamonix Mont-Blanc [2 nights], we’ll circle back by Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) towards Bern [1 night].
We’ll spend our final days in Kloten [3 nights], a northern suburb of Zürich.
With Zürich as our base, we’ll travel east to Liechtenstein/Austria and north to Germany.

[Images linked to sources]

Omissions

Feel free to skip this section for a quicker read…click here to move on.

Faith and I are both ecstatic for this trip, but it is worth mentioning the locations we won’t be able to visit on this tour of Switzerland. As I was planning this trip, it really hurt to pass over some of these cities/regions, but there is only so much one can fit into a ten-day excursion.

Northern/Western Switzerland

Geneva – We’ll miss attractions such as the Reformation Wall, Olympic Museum, United Nations, International Red Cross headquarters, and more.
Lausanne – Lausanne is one of my all-time favorite cities. I heard one author describe it as “a real-life version of Chutes and Ladders“. It has everything: beautiful views, a lake, mountains, shopping, history, chocolate, cheese, technology, and more. We might be able to squeeze in a day trip, but it’s not likely.
Titlis – Located in the Uri Alps, Titlis is a mountain home to the world’s first cable car, as well as several glacier caves.
Basel – This city on the German/French border of Switzerland is a cultural hub with lots to do, plus easy access to the Rhine and the other two countries.
Neuchâtel – Home to Neuchâtel cheese and Neuchâtel Castle, the city is also near La Chaux-de-Fonds, the watchmaking capital of the world.

Southern/Eastern Switzerland

Zermatt – This auto-free village, accessible only by train, is the threshold of the Matterhorn, one of the most famous peaks in the world.
Titlis – Located in the Uri Alps, Titlis is a mountain home to the world’s first cable car, as well as several glacier caves.
Lugano – The largest city in the Italian-speaking Ticino region of Switzerland, Lugano is home to lake-and-mountain views, and is also considered by many to be the culinary capital of Switzerland, largely due to its Italian influence. Lugano is location right across the Italian border from the famous Lake Como, and is about 80km NNW of Milan.
Southeastern Switzerland – We will miss St. Moritz, Andermatt, Arosa, Chun – home to Europe’s highest railway – the Bernina Express, the Swiss National Park, and most of the Romansh-speaking region.

Sorry for being long-winded, but I included the above section for a couple reasons:

I wanted to have a written record of everything I would like to cover in future trips.
I wanted to give you some idea about how much there is to do and see in Switzerland, or Europe in general.

While I certainly can pack a lot into an itinerary, I often have to make very difficult decisions so we can maximize our time abroad.

New Additions

Since this trip marks a new era for Church Trips, I thought I would do a few things differently, or at least include some things I haven’t in the past. So, new inclusions for this trip include:

Maps to show our routes between destinations, and just to show where we are in general. I may post screenshots of these, or simply link to a mapping service like HERE WeGo or Google Maps.
Lodging – several of you have asked to see more pictures of where we stay. In the past, I’ve typically only mentioned our accommodation’s name in passing. I usually don’t see a need to share details about domestic hotels, since they’re largely uniform, but international accommodations tend to be a bit more unique, different, and noteworthy.
Videos – While I don’t have the desire, time, equipment, or battery life to shoot and edit videos by myself, I’ll include some links to videos that will allow you to further explore and better appreciate the places we visit.
Links, in conjunction with the aforementioned videos, to third-party websites that includes information about our destinations, such as culture, traditions, cuisine, travel, history, and more.
Suggested additional content you would like to see…comment below [or on any of my posts], and I’ll try my best to include the content you request.

As promised, here are two maps – admittedly missing a few stops because my computer was being finicky:

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The post Introduction, Part 2 – Europe 2019 appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.

Introduction – Europe 2019

Isaac Church — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 13:00:50 +0000

Church Family Update

2018 was a magnificently busy year for the Church family, as I’m sure many of you know. I think if I tried to group everything that happened in one sentence, the comma key on my laptop would wear out, so I’ll opt for a list instead:

I graduated from Appalachian State University with two Master’s degrees, and was the commencement speaker at graduation.
Mom, Dad, and I traveled to the Pacific Northwest, visiting Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia (you can read about our adventures here).
Dad and I traveled to State College, Pennsylvania to see App nearly upset the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley (read about that here).
I started a new job at Lowe’s Companies, Inc. in their Wilkesboro office.
Dad and I were honored as ‘Alumni of the Game’ at an ASU home football game.
Dad survived another round of kidney stones.

Like I said, it was a pretty eventful year. Oh, and I got engaged and married. No big deal.

Church family Update, Part 2

Actually, it was a huge deal, and we are thrilled to welcome Faith as the newest Church. You can click here to see photos of our wedding. And before any of you ask, yes, we did consider changing her middle name to “Independent Free Will Missionary Baptist” when we went to the SSA. I figured we needed a separate list to cover wedding related stuff, so here’s part two of 2018 events:

Faith and I got engaged on July 14.
We were married at Alliance Bible Fellowship in Boone on December 15.
We honeymooned in Asheville at the Biltmore Estate for a few nights, where we enjoyed some great food, a candlelight tour of the house, and some time exploring Asheville and to catch up on Christmas shopping. I’ll post a few photos below.

Enjoying a cheese board at Chestnut

Biltmore Bistro

Touring the Biltmore House

2019 Update

Even in the new year, a lot happened! At the end of January, Faith and I traveled to Asheville with some friends of ours, and we’ve been on a few other adventures in the meantime. She will graduate with her degree in Violin Performance from the Hayes School of Music at ASU on May 10, and is/will be teaching music lessons in Boone, plus whatever else she decides to do. I’m currently working on a music website for her, so stay tuned for more details about that.

As a late celebration of our wedding, Faith and I are taking an international trip! Mom and Dad won’t be joining us, so this will be a new breed of “Church Trips”. This will be her second international trip, and my third (fourth if Puerto Rico counts, and sixth if Canada counts). We’ll leave the day after she graduates, May 11. Our destination(s) will remain a secret for the time being; however, I wanted to give everyone an update about our upcoming adventure so you can follow our travels.

Hints

Since I usually provide a few hints about our destination, here you go:

The photos on this page are of our destinations.
We are hoping to visit six (!!!) countries on this trip, but will never drive more than four hours a day.
Water is a key theme in our trip–many of the cities we visit are on a lake (or two); our journey will take us to many famous rivers and many waterfalls.
Assuming airports don’t count (they shouldn’t), all six of these countries would be new to Faith, while only three would be new to me.
We will go at least three places that I have been before.
One country we plan to visit is one of the ten smallest nations in the world.
Bears and beets
Some of the countries we visit will have common languages. We will likely run into at least five languages, not counting English or Spanish. All are Romance languages.
We will [possibly] visit two cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics (one of them hosted it twice), and another that is scheduled to host it in the future.

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