This will be our final post for this trip. We have been home for two weeks now, and the time really flies by. We have completed the blog, having completed at least done one pass on proof reading, and also having adding images to the daily posts. We have also added captions to the Photo Album Images that will play on the slide show. Here are some fun facts about…
NOTE: We have added several Videos for this trip. The videos are shown in both the Menu at the top of the main page, above the slideshow, or to the right in the sidebar. Also, we have added Menu Selections for Trip Posts Only, and for Planning Posts Only in the top Menu. These selections will only show the posts from their respective Categories. We have been home for just…
After having just completed our trip to Italy, we felt that we now wanted to plan another land trip to quieter parts of Europe. We really enjoyed the peaceful time we spent in Varenna, on Lake Como, and that made us think about another trip while we were in Italy, possibly heading up into the Alps from northern Italy. When we first discussed this trip, we though about flying into…
This is just a first pass at a route map for this trip. It will probably be modified a few times as we make the final selection of the places we actually want to visit. This preliminary route is based on flying into Zurich, Switzerland and flying home from Munich, Germany. The route is based on what Google Maps provides for driving routes, so it only represents the order of…
We are having to put this trip on hold pending the outcome of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The virus is widespread in Northern Italy at this time, and Italy is on 100% Lockdown. In addition, the surrounding countries are making efforts to contain the virus as it spreads. We do not know if the virus will be contained by the time we would need to be finalizing plans for this trip.…
Most of Europe is no longer on lockdown, and the Covid-19 virus has slowed in most European countries. Unfortunately, the USA has not adopted a centralized plan to control the spread of the virus, and we are now the most infected country, and getting worse by the day. Travel to Europe from the USA has been banned by the European Union because of infection rates in the USA. It will…
The Covid-19 pandemic is still with us, but as of March, 2021, vaccinations are being given across the globe, and the number of cases is dropping. We will see if the cases continue to drop as we go forward. Stephanie has been fully vaccinated with both doses of the Moderna Vaccine for several weeks. She received her vaccines through her workplace, a skilled nursing rehab facility, which was included in…
We have been looking into airfare for this trip over the last couple of days, trying to figure out estimated pricing, and any of the new airfare rules that have been implemented as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are still looking into flying to Zurich, Switzerland for the start of the trip, and departing from Munich, Germany to fly home. For the overnight portion of the flight over…
Yesterday, we went ahead and purchased airfare for this trip from United Airlines. The airfare seemed reasonably priced, and had actually gone down since the last time we looked a few weeks ago. The European Union has authorized travel to the EU for the Summer of 2021, and we thought that might drive up the airfare prices if we waited. We are connecting through Washington Dulles International Airport on both…
Here is our next draft of our latest planned Itinerary. We had originally thought about going back to Varenna, Italy so that we could take the Bernina Express Scenic Train from Lugano, Italy to St. Moritz, Switzerland. We had looked into taking this train ride on our last trip to Italy on 2019, but did not have the time to make the day long round trip journey. However, while looking…
Listing of our Accommodations for this trip. We are mostly staying in apartments but a few nights are in hotels.
Swiss Rail Pass Discussion With all of our accommodations selected, it is now time to start the detailed planning for each city we are staying in. The first order of business is beginning to identify which sights we want to see that require us to purchase a train ticket to get to. I addition to the train tickets, we need to know where we will be taking cable cars…
Here is our Trip Itinerary. Since we have booked all of our accommodations, we do not expect to make changes to this Itinerary since that would involve changing our reservations, and possibly having to select new accommodations if the revised dates were not available. Note: We did make a few tweaks later on and have reflected them in this Itinerary, and it is now the Final Itinerary
We have continued our planning effort for this trip even though we are still not certain it will happen because of the Covid 19 Virus. We have been seeing that the European Union (EU) is starting to establish opening dates for International travel to all of the countries in the EU. From what we have been reading, Switzerland is following the EU guidelines, as well as a few other non-EU…
Below is a Google Map showing the route we plan on driving for the Grossglockner High Alpine Highway (in German Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße), located in Austria. We are staying at the Sagritzerwirt Hotel in Großkirchheim (Point A on Map) on the night before we start the drive (September 23, 2021) and then staying at the Hotel Post Fusch in Fusch an der Glocknerstraße after the end of the drive the next day. …
And then there was the Delta Variant of Covid 19…… We have been continuing to put the final details on our planning effort for the various places we are scheduled to visit. We purchased seat reservations for the Glacier Express Train from Zermatt to Pontresina a few weeks ago, and yesterday, were inside the 60 day window to be able to purchase “Supersaver” train tickets in First Class (to match…
We are scheduled to leave on our trip to the Alps two weeks from today. We are still not sure if we will actually go due to concerns about Covid-19, specifically the Delta variant. Cases in the US are continuing to rise in dramatic fashion. Now we are also reading about many ‘breakthrough” cases of fully vaccinated people, and also of the waning effect of the vaccination. Stephanie will reach…
It has been a tough couple of weeks trying to make a decision on this trip and trying to find out if Switzerland will even let US tourists into the country. On August 30, 2021, the EU Advisory Committee recommended that the United States be banned for non essential travel to the EU countries. This recommendation was non-binding, so each country was allowed to set their own restrictions. As of…
Well, we did end up leaving to go on this trip today, although the uncertainty lingered even up until the time of the first flight. We were still not sure if any border closures would happen today due to Covid, and there were some Covid situations at Stephanie’s work that added to the stress. I felt that we were not as prepared as we normally would be, and we also…
Continuation of our Heading to Switzerland Post……. Once through Immigration and Customs, we headed to baggage claim. Stephanie headed over to the baggage claim carousel while I visited the restroom. By the time I was finished, Stephanie already had our bags. We took the opportunity to try out the cell phones, which required one restart because of the new SIM cards, but everything worked as advertised and we each received…
The sleep we got last night was both much better, and much longer than what we got on the airplane, and we were happy about that. We both thought the room was a little stuffy without air conditioning, but not too bad. I woke up about 6:30 AM and tried to make some coffee with the little automated pod type coffee machine, similar to a Keurig. I was not sure…
I woke up about 6:15 AM again today, having had a pretty good nights sleep. We had done a small load of wash last night and let it run while we slept, so this morning I dried that load. The combo washer/dryer is nice, but it is really slow. A wash cycle takes about 2 hours, and drying time is not much less. We have been trying to do a…
Today we travel from Lucerne to Grindelwald. But first, we had to get ready and try to overcome the Swiss Covid Certificate Issue with the Glacier Express train that we found out about yesterday. I was awake at about 6:10 AM, knowing we would have a difficult morning. I just could not sleep in any longer. I made some coffee and tried to work on the blog post for yesterday…
Stephanie and I both slept really well last night, it was a little cooler here than in Lucerne and we both thought that helped, as well as all of the activity and stressful travel from yesterday. I woke up about 6:30 AM, and made some coffee in the Nestle cup coffee machine, similar to a Keurig. I worked on the blog as usual, it is just easier during the peaceful…
This morning we were a little slower getting going, not by much, only about an hour. I still got up around 6:15 AM, and I enjoyed my coffee and worked on the blog post for yesterday. Today, our plan is to head to the area called Grindelwald First. It is a different area from where we have been going, the gondola to the top of Grindelwald First is within walking…
I woke up this morning about 5:30 AM, a bit before the 6:00 AM alarm. I knew we had a lot to do to get finished with our packing, and it is just nicer not to be in a rush. I let Stephanie sleep in until the alarm went off at 6:00 AM. I re-dried the remaining clothes for a bit that we had left from last night and then…
We both slept in this morning. I woke up about 7:00 AM, and did my usual routine, making coffee and working on the blog posts. I was a day behind, not getting anything done on the post for our last day in Grindelwald the day before yesterday, and then for all of the extra travel to Bern yesterday on the way here to Zermatt. Stephanie woke up about 8:00 AM,…
Today was not the most spectacular day of my travel planning career, but everything turned out well in the end. But, more on that later……. Today we are taking the Glacier Express train from Zermatt to Pontresina. The Glacier Express is billed as the “slowest express train in Europe”. It takes about 8 hours for the transit, and only covers a little over 200 miles. It is a special panoramic…
After all of yesterday’s problems, we were pleased that today’s weather was bright and sunny when we woke up. Once again, I was up about 6:30 AM to do a little blog work, not quite having finished yesterday’s traumatic post. We had a really nice view from our balcony. Looking out to the side, we had a nice view of the nearby mountains with the morning sun shining on…
We slept in today knowing the weather forecast for today was not that great. The forecast called for a 100% chance of rain, not leaving much of a chance for the possibility that the sun might appear. Our first planned activity for this morning was to attend the 10:00 AM Mass, so we could not do anything before that anyway except eat our breakfast downstairs in the hotel’s restaurant. We…
The weather forecast for today was for partly cloudy skies for most of the day, then some clouds and rain in the late afternoon. It was fairly cloudy when I woke up at 6:45 AM, it was barely light enough to see outside, but enough to tell it was cloudy over the mountains. We were not sure what we would do today, after spending most of the day yesterday in…
Today is our toughest travel day of the entire trip, at least on paper. When we planned the routing for this trip, I had no idea that there was not an easy and direct route to get from Pontresina, Switzerland to Innsbruck, Austria. Since Innsbruck is a fairly large town, and the Swiss Rail system is so vast, it seemed like it would be an easy trip to plan, but…
Today is our second day in Innsbruck. Well, actually, we are not in Innsbruck, but in a small town outside of Innsbruck called Igls. We both slept in a little today, we were only planning on going into Innsbruck today, and possibly riding to the nearby mountain top called “The Top Of Innsbruck” on a series of two different cable cars and a funicular. I have been fighting a slight…
I ended up sleeping pretty well last night with the aid of the Nyquil, but it always makes me feel a bit groggy in the morning, which is why I rarely take anything like that. However, in this case, it was better to get a good nights sleep with the aid of the Nyquil, or, alternatively, cough all night and feel even worse in the morning without enough sleep. I…
This morning we slept in until about 7:30 AM. Stephanie was feeling a little worse with her cold today, but I was much better. She must be about two days behind what I was going through, so today may be her worst day. We got ready and then packed up our suitcases before heading downstairs for breakfast in the restaurant. The Breakfast was included with the room. The buffet breakfast…
Today we are travelling by car to the town of Hallstatt, Austria. Hallstatt is purported to be the town that was the inspiration for the village in the animated movie Frozen. It is only about an hour and 15 minutes drive from our hotel in Fusch an der Großglocknerstraße, and check in to our apartment there is not until later this afternoon, so we were in no hurry to get…
Today is our second day in Hallstatt. The weather forecast for today is for sunny skies, with a high near 80 degrees in town. Our plan for today is to visit the Dachstein Krippenstein, which is a mountain cable car system accessible from the nearby town of Obertraun. We planned on taking a bus there from Hallstatt to avoid driving. It is only a 20 minute bus ride from Hallstatt…
Today is our 13th Anniversary – Happy Anniversary to Us! As the weather forecast had predicted, it did rain last night, and actually rained really hard. I was worried about the skylight type window in the bathroom ceiling, we had been leaving it open, open meaning that one end is tilted open, which is the low end. I got up to use the bathroom, and sure enough, there was a…
Today we drive to Salzburg from Hallstatt. It is only abut a 1 hour and 20 minute drive to our hotel in Salzburg, so we were in no hurry to leave here early. I have requested an early check-in, but we will not hear if that is an option until later this morning, most likely after we have already left here. I woke up about 6:15 AM and headed out…
We like our apartment in Salzburg, it is easy to get to the car parking and to get out of town, but being located on a fairly busy street makes it really noisy inside. We have to leave the windows open at night for ventilation since there is no air conditioning to help cool it off. Having the windows open lets in a lot of the noise from cars driving…
We both slept much better last night, it was a little cooler inside the apartment from all of the rain we had before we went to bed, and so we were able to close off some of the windows and eliminate some of the road noise from outside. I woke up about 6:00 AM, and thought about sleeping in a little more, but we will have to get up very…
Today we travel home after our 23 days in Europe. We are glad to be going home, but also sad to be leaving. As is typical for these long trips, especially an all land trip with out any relaxing “At Sea” cruise days, we are getting a little worn out. When we get close to the end of these trips, we just loose a little of the energy that comes…