The Swiss Adventure...: September 2007

Monday, September 24, 2007

Apline Culture - Part II

So after some heart pumping hiking, we made our way to Schafler…another

“Are you kidding moment!”

The views were spectacular and worth every moment of the hike. The entire way up the mountain we kept saying…"Wow, glad there is a gondola to take us down this, who would want to hike back down that mountain?” Keep this sentence in mind for following day.

The tiny little speck on top of the mountain is where we stayed...

Schafler...on top of the mountain...

To our room….we had an end room with two windows, two windows to witness two incredible views. So once on top of the mountain, there isn’t much hiking to be had – more like cliff jumping – of which we weren’t too interested in partaking. So instead, we decided to have that alpine beer (not the green plate of carbs as experienced the night before) and take in the views. That night we had great Swiss style dinner, for Robert a huge plate of bratwurst and rosti …oh rosti is delicious and can certainly be enjoyed after an intense hike.

Then upstairs to get some rest in before the hike down.

Check out the down comforters on these beds!

The next morning we woke early to catch the sun rising above the mountains. Now here is a view that you just wish you could bottle and whenever you are stressed, simply untwist the cap and let the sunshine in. Beautiful! The amazing thing about the Swiss is that they take the time to enjoy their country. We were surrounded by hikers all sitting outside in the cool, crisp air, watching the sun come up, as if it was the first time we had ever witnessed such a sight. Taking the time to watch nature in action…simply underestimated and not appreciated nearly enough. We marveled at the sight, took loads of pictures and somehow felt incredible after the experience.

Now with the sun up, we packed our sacks (sacks just makes them sound smaller…doesn’t it?) and headed down the mountain to take the chairlift down. On our way down the mountain, we once again witnessed Swiss culture is action. Picture this…no really, I mean it, close your eyes and picture a mystical place, something like you see in Lord of the Rings – (minus the scary troll dude) and all of a sudden you hear the most beautiful noise resonating off the mountains. When you first hear this, you think, maybe I fell off the trail and this is heaven and then quickly realize your feet are still planted, firmly on the ground and you are hearing alpine horns. Alpine horns sound rather ridiculous and even look more ridiculous (I mean, look at what those dudes are carrying); however, the noise they make is absolutely peaceful and quite heavenly. I almost cried…I really almost cried, it was that beautiful.

Moving down mountains is actually harder them coming up them. You really have to pay attention, focus on each step and know where you are going. Once we reached the plateau where we were “going to board the gondola and take the scenic, easy way down,” (as we had mentioned the day before, “who would want to hike down this mountain?) we read the price of the 5-minute ride, looked at each other and said, “let’s save the cash and walk down.” So we hiked down and once again on the decent, we witnessed culture only the Swiss can master. Once we turned the corner after emerging from the cave, we saw a church, built into the side of a mountain completely full, standing room only, praying in the fresh Alpine air. Incredible, a church, built into the side of a mountain, full of hikers, praying on a beautiful Sunday. Once again…I almost cried. I felt like I had just opened an issue of National Geographic magazine profiling European cultures. Sometime you have to wonder – is this for real?

Well, the real beauty of it is, is that it is real and we are doing everything we can to soak up the glory of living in such a beautiful country! Another incredible weekend in the Alps!

The Swiss love to hike...

Robert and Melinda at sunset...

Beautiful cross on top of a mountain...

Us on top of Schafler....

Green, lush, Switzerland!

The view from our room... (can you find the hikers on the trail below this tower of rock?)

Lake Seelapse...

The lake with an incredible reflection...

Part of our hike to Schafler... (After the Donkey ran by us...)

A Berghaus...

Alpine Culture - Part I

Alpine Culture
Another weekend in the Alps - this time we ventured into the Eastern part of Switzerland – the Appenzell region, which is close to the Austrian border. We typically enter these trips with open minds and no preconceived expectations, but we know by now if you are going into the Alps, the views will be spectacular - Appenzell was no exception!

Fall is in the air...

Once we entered the valley, we looked at the map and decided, as Robert Frost would have, “to take the road less traveled” or in other words, the harder of the two trails.

Robert deciding which trail to take. His pack may not look heavy, but let us reassure you, it is!

The hike into our first Berghaus took about an hour and a half, most of which was uphill. We have yet to learn the art of efficient packing, therefore, we are still managing to lug a load on our backs, all quite heavy, while making for an amazing workout. We do this just to be prepared…just in event that a wicked storm blows in and we need hats, lots of food rations and first aid kits (I think we have read too many travel books, or just can’t seem to get past the latest read,

“A Walk in the Woods.”)

So anyway, enough about of heavy loads…we made our way to the Berghaus, thrilled to lose the packs and quickly spent another two hours exploring the area. Wow…this place is beautiful! As you can see, the lake was this amazing deep turquoise color and with the contrast of the leaves, which are starting to change color, we ate up all of the eye candy we could get before it got really dark!

So out of the mountains and into the Berghaus, we thought we would wrestle up some dinner. This is where actually knowing German would have come into handy. Robert really wanted an Alpine beer and when he asked the waitress for one, what came instead was a green plate of smelly noodle, type stuff that made my stomach turn. I am not being rude, I typically like the Swiss food, minus the Schnitzel, and horse (yeah, don’t this veggie started!) Anyway, Robert never got a beer that night, but managed to stomach the green stuff.

Off to sleep in our super cozy beds, and anxious to start the next day.

What a beautiful lake...

The next day arrived and we had some breakfast, packed our two-ton packs and headed up the mountain to our next overnight destination…Schafler – 1924m – or the Berghaus that sits on the top of the cliff. In one day we gained about 2569 feet (but who’s counting?) ok, we are counting because in case you forgot, we are carrying two tons of crap we don’t need up a mountain… hiked straight uphill and witnessed some amazingly rad (don’t you just miss that word??) and intense Alpine culture.

On the way up we witnessed the following:

Children, not teens, we mean little tikes, the ones that are still in diapers, transversing the landscape like mountain goats.

Wild crazed donkeys that are tearing through the mountain trails – blazing trail right in arms length. Now that is a sight!

This donkey almost ran off with this guys' backpack.

Houses built right into the side of mountains – whose idea was this anyway?

Trails that take you right through caves – dark, wet, incredibly cool caves.

And loads and loads of para- gliders taking flight right in your view.

Incredible views...

Robert and Melinda - taking in the views...

Notice the boulder... (I cannot tell if the house came first, or the boulder?)

We love the fall!

Amazing...

Misty lake scene...

Robert and Melinda on the lake...not in the lake!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Darwin was a Cynic

(This is actually a business trip, and unfortunately, Melinda could not join me.) From Basel, Naples is a short 2 hour flight; the arrival of which might be compared to Tijuana. The exceptions to this comparison are a) all EU people are waived through customs, and I had to be scrutinized (ok, maybe not a valid exception), b) I did not see any donkey’s painted like zebras, and c) I have never been to Tijuana, nor do I plan to. I prayed for my luggage to arrive, and it did. Sadly, there were other people who where attending the same meeting, who were not so lucky. With bags in hand, my current boss and I made our way to the taxi’s. Everything I have heard (and what you are about to) regarding the taxi drivers in Naples is completely true. The fixed rate of 20 Euro, from airport to all beach front hotels, was quickly and explicitly reestablished at a fixed rate of 35 Euro. Other people who I later heard from were offered 22, 25, 27, and even 30 Euro. So actually the fix price, isn’t, it varies based on the number of people in the car, the number of bags you have, how well dressed you are, the type of hotel you are going to, and like our taxi driver pointed out, the fact that he is able to avoid/drive around/negotiate/or make traffic disappear. Which brings me to my next point; the driving. The lines that are painted on the highways and streets are strictly for artistic purposes only. The lines hold no legal delineation between right and wrong, and if anything, they only indicate the general direction by which one should/could/or might travel down (or up) any given street that the lines may appear on. As we traveled to the hotel, about a 35 minute drive, our driver, who did not/or pretended not to speak English (or German), never stayed in the lanes, flashed his lights at (while weaving) any car in front of him, and would begin to change lanes when the hood of the taxi passed the hood of the car next to us (not the entire car!!!). Once off the expressway, we begin to dodge mopeds, and make right turns from the left lane cutting off buses and trams. At stop lights the taxi driver would inch his way around cars, sometimes in the on-coming traffic lane, and sometimes in the right turn lane, only to cut everyone off just before the light changed. Finally, we made it to the hotel right across the street from Castel dell'Ovo, a rather large 5th century castle that had since been upgraded in the 15th century, then turned monastery, and now a haven for newly weds to get there picture in front of. We saw at least one wedding party per day from Tuesday through Saturday! After, we checked in and met up with our other work colleagues; four of us went for a walk around old Naples. The picture below was taken just before we collectively wandered around the narrow alleyways with mopeds, and Fiats whizzing by. In the narrow alleys we quickly realized that things are a little different in Naples. Xerox, perhaps, does not have a very large market share, and we found several print shops that were still using Heidelberg printing presses, circa WWII. Additionally, there were several, small eateries, typically with about 5-6 guys out front, that easily looked like they could put a hit out on someone. I would have liked to take a picture of them, but something tells me it would not have made it in the blog, or I would not be writing it right now. Also, it is perfectly acceptable to place cardboard boxes on top of hot rotisserie ovens. As we made our way back to the hotel, I realized that Darwin could have saved himself a trip around the world, because “survival of the fittest” is a daily part of life. I would challenge anyone to voice there opinion after trying to cross the street in Naples. Seriously, when you push the button to cross the street, if you do not start to cross when indicated, the cars keep driving (through the red light). If you do not show your intention to cross, the light becomes irrelavant! On the first day of the meeting, on of the local hosts of the event stood up and showed a short movie on the sights and sounds of Naples. He finished with a quote and said, “we have a saying here in Naples… See Naples, then Die.” The context is that once you see Naples, you have seen it all, and there really is nothing else to see in life. Unfortunately, I thought that this meant you would die in a taxi accident, a mob hit, a mugging, or as collateral damage. Perhaps this was not the best way to start of the trip. This was somewhat verified by our local Napoli contingent as we had asked him if he was worried about Mt. Vesuvius becoming reactivated. He shrugged it off and said, “if Mt. Vesuvio goes, then Naples will go to. We will all go too, so don’t worry.” Anyway, I could bore you with the descriptions of the meeting, but everyone knows what I do, and since my blog is about our relocation and experiences while we are here, I feel like work will not be mentioned other than the fact that most of the time this trip consisted of 8 to 12 hours per day of lectures, followed by dinner meetings, followed by late night bar meetings. I don’t think I fell asleep before midnight on any given night. After a long week, several of my colleagues from the US and I managed to score a seat on the bus that was taking the distinguished meeting guests to Pompei followed by dinner somewhere on the beach in a town called Vico Equense. Below are some pictures from the trip. Pompei you have probably heard about. We had a tour guide, which was good on one hand, but on the other we only had two hours, and the route was somewhat fixed and the area is massive. To date, they have only uncovered 2/5 of the entire site. In the pictures below, Mt. Vesuvius used to be twice as high, and when it blew up, most of it landed on Pompei and the surrounding towns, covering it with 20+ feet of ash and debris, and relocating the coastline 2 kilometers away. This happened around 79 BC. While walking around Pompei, you see a highly organized city (of about 20,000 people) with straight grid like streets, running water using gravity piping from the base of mountains over 8 kilometers away. I wondered if the people from Naples could reflect upon this and learn something regarding order (no offense). Anyway, it was quite impressive to think that over 2000 years ago, there where people hanging out doing pretty much the same things that we are doing today. By the way, there were wild dogs everywhere. The next day, the meeting ended early, and before my flight I managed to go to the museum that had a lot of the Pompei artifacts. After I got in, I quickly found out that part of the museum was closed. My final note is that on the way back to the airport, I managed to establish the fixed rate cab ride up front. But then the guy set the meter, and was talking to his friends on the street. So I stared at him a few times, because English did not work here, even though I know “20 Euro” is a direct translation. Finally, after thumbing through the pricing card so he could see me, he confirmed the fixed rate by turning off the meter.

The Bay of Napoli