Bastille Day 2014 Paris, France

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Eiffel Tower Panorama

Our trip to Paris was planned to coincide with the fireworks around the Eiffel Tower for Bastille Day, or as the French are sometimes quick to correct us, La Fête Nationale.   I arrived at the 59th floor of Tour Montparnasse nine hours early hoping to find a prime view of the Eiffel Tower.  There were very few spots left at that time, but was allowed to squeeze into one of the last remaining spots, thanks to Paris photographers Elhadj Ndoye and Laurent Sigwald.  It is the start of a goal of mine to get fireworks at several famous locations, such as the Statue of Liberty, Sydney Bridge and maybe Big Ben.

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Dijon, France

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Dijon Mutard

We stopped in Dijon, mostly due to poor travel planning.  We looked at a map and calculated ‘this is about how far we can travel from Lauterbrunnen in one day,’ something we commonly due when driving in the States.  However, when already on a train going 185 mph there is no reason to get off at an arbitrary point.  Not much went well in Dijon for us.

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I want more cow bell!

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The title of this blog is taken from an old Saturday Night Live skit with Christopher Walken who demanded “More cowbell” from the Blue Oyster Cult band members playing “Don’t Fear the Reaper.”  On our last day in the Swiss Alps we embarked  upon a hike that was a bit tooooo long.  Fortunately for me, it was suggested by the desk clerk, our unofficial activities chairperson.  Because the entire hike was down hill from the top of the Murren, Switzerland ski tram it seemed it would be pleasant enough of a hike.  It turned out to be a long way to go, walking in the full sun, for a beer served just outside of an active, operating cow barn.  While hiking, we heard the loud clamor of many, many cow bells.  The video shows just how far away the cows were, but the bells they wore were loud and clear.  We had heard these cow bells at a town festival a couple of nights earlier, when I had to cover my ears they were so loud.  I have a video of that as well, but will spare us all the embarrassment of posting it….

3 Days of Action, Jam-packed into 7

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Travel Daytrain-StationMany people upon learning of our travels imagine all of the many, many sites we will encounter.  They recall their last seven or ten-day vacation, where they were ‘on the go’ every day, to our six months in Europe.  As the title of this BLOG implies, there is a lot of down time.  Traveling for six months and staying at each rental a week, means 25 travel days!  These are days filled with some level of stress of trying to make a 10 minute train connection, negotiating a closed train ramp as we encountered in Rome, or boarding the wrong train car entirely and being told we need to move back several cars into economy class.  We also spend time planning the next leg of the journey, walking to the train station to buy the tickets, trying to learn what platform to go to, etc.  We have pictures drawn in a small notebook to bridge any possible communication problem we may encounter when trying to purchase the tickets.
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Innsbruck, Austria

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Innsbruck Austria We certainly wanted to visit Innsbruck, but it was also a convenient stopping point in our journey from the Dolomites, Italy, to Switzerland. We traveled by bus, two trains and taxi to arrive at the Hotel Mondschein, which is the lighter pink building just right of center above.

Innsbruck is a neat, clean town and we were happy to finally get away from the pizza and pasta of Italy.  We celebrated by going to both a good Thai and a Nepalese restaurant.  Also, Austria is where I got my first international haircut, by the most skilled barber ever…

Innsbruck WindowsInnsbruck TrollyBread Store

Dolomites, near Corvara, Italy

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Dolimites PanoramaThe Dolomites are called the Italian Alps, for good reason.  The mountains themselves are not extremely tall, but they rise so abruptly from a low valley floor their tall jagged peaks are very impressive.  The area is a mecca for skiers, hikers , mountain bike enthusiasts and para-sailing.  Many inhabitants do not like that this region became part of Italy after World War I, so there continues to be a strong Austrian influence in the buildings, language and menus.   We hiked most days here and learned about Italian rifugios.

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Venice, Italy

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Morning Gondolas

The thought of Venice likely conjures up romantic notions of riding in a gondola while being serenaded to familiar Italian songs such as Volare.  The truth of the matter is a bit less romantic, but I would likely come across as a real scrooge by talking it down.  So yes, we did hear many, many a gondolier sing a variety of wonderful songs.  Our balcony overlooked a canal and we watched boat captains skillfully maneuver their beautiful wood power boats, gondolas, delivery boats and the occasional ambulance through the congestion.  All the boat drivers pitch in and pass signals to other boat drivers regarding traffic around blind corners.  We frequently heard the loud call of “Ooui!” which apparently means, “I’m coming around the corner so you had better get out of my way.”

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Cinque Terre, Italy

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Village of Manerola at dusk

Village of Manarola at dusk

Cinque Terre is a series of five small fishing villages on the west coast of Italy, known as the Italian Riviera.  In these towns there are basically no cars, no stop lights and few roads wide enough to drive cars if you had one.  We stayed in Corniglia, the middle of the five towns.  To get to our condo we walked up a series of narrow sidewalks bordered by 4-5 story buildings several hundred years old.  Adding to the interest of our stay were three turtles in the back yard.  The first night we saw the Mom Turtle dig a hole with her hind legs and lay eggs.  The very close proximity of the buildings does not provide much privacy but adds to the quaintness.  If not careful, our just washed clothes could drip on the people walking below when hung out to dry.  Corniglia was on a high hill requiring 400+ steps, arranged in a series of switchbacks, to arrive in the town from the train station.  The bus service between town and train station was unreliable, so walking was the preferred method for us as it also provided good exercise.  So here you have an entire town that is not wheelchair accessible.  If you wanted to go to the scenic beach, that would be another 400+ steps down on the other side of the cliff, no bus service.  I would say the Cinque Terre area is a highlight of Italy and wonderfully unique area.

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Turtles of Cinque Terre

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When we stayed in Corniglia, one of the five villages in Cinque Terre, Italy, the landlord had three turtles in the small backyard.  The first night there we watched Mom Turtle dig a hole with her hind legs then lay eggs.  No photos as I did not want to disturb her.  The next day Papa Turtle was quite proud as well, as seen in this video….