2014 Trip Selected!

Learning how to play the alpenhorn. (2012)

After much agonizing and discussion, we have finally chosen a tour for our 2014 trip to Europe. It is always difficult to select a tour. We always try to keep a few factors in mind when making our selection. The first consideration is always enjoyment. Is this a trip that our participants are going to enjoy? What kind of new experiences are they going to have on this trip? The second factor that we consider is price. The price of air travel has skyrocketed since I started doing these trips in 2006. This has especially affected those of us looking to get to Europe from the Left Coast. Because of this, we tend to look for trips that are at least ten days long. This really gives our travelers a little more value for their travel dollar. Of course, the cost of transportation also limits our geographic reach. We try to offset this by selecting tours that offer a variety of experiences. Travel, when done correctly, is an investment in the future life of the traveler. It should be a transformative experience that opens one up to even greater experiences and opportunities in life.

A summer day at 10,000 feet (Switzerland, 2012)

So, which tour have we selected? Our tour for 2014 is called "Edelweiss" (a beautiful alpine flower). This 11-day excursion is centered around Austria, Bavaria, and Switzerland. We start off with three nights in Vienna, where we will tour the Schönbrunn Palace and learn the Vienese Waltz. Then we dart off to Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart, to tour a fortress high on a hill and a salt mine deep under the mountains. After our Austrian adventures we head for Munich, the capital of Bavaria, stopping along the way to tour "Mad" King Ludwig's grand palace in the middle of a lake. Our time in Munich also includes a tour of Nymphenburg Palace (the summer palace of the Wittelsbachs) and the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. On the way to our final stop in Switzerland we will visit Neuschwanstein, Ludwig's most famous fairy-tale castle. We end our tour in the beautiful village of Engelberg, high up in the Swiss Alps.

Visit the trip site for more details:

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Day 8: Engelberg & Luzern

Hot chocolate (NOT Swiss Miss)!

I'm a little sad that our visit to Switzerland has to be so short. It is often said of Switzerland that the Swiss just sit back and let other people do things, that nothing ever happens in this corner of the alps. After all, Albert Einstein came to Switzerland to escape the militarism and intensity of Germany. I personally believe that doctors should be able to prescribe a Swiss vacation for patients suffering from stress and overwork (I guess that would be the entire United States). The alpine air is wonderful stuff for sleeping. The intensely green landscape is enough to melt away even the toughest stress. There is nothing like waking up to a breakfast that includes ingredients that are so local that the cheese has the picture of the dairy farmer who made sitting next to the serving plate. That is the kind of place that Switzerland is.

Fearless!

After that breakfast, we embarked on our most adventurous day trip yet. We climbed aboard three different cable cars to make the ascent to the top of Mt. Titlis, 10,000 feet in altitude. The first cable car was a pretty standard affair, a little six-passenger bubble that took us straight up to the second station on the mountain. The second cable car was more like a city bus. It held 80 passengers and took us to the third station. The final cable car was the most impressive. It was shaped like a giant hockey puck and rotated as it made its way up the final stretch to the top, giving everybody a fantastic 360-view. This was definitely not easy going for those who are afraid of heights, especially when the cars started swinging a little as we crossed each tower.

Is this the line for the Matterhorn?

Once we reached the top, we made a visit to a glacier cave. This was quite an amazing, if a little frigid, experience. I expected to see Darth Vader come swaggering around a corner followed by a squad of snowtroopers. If you know what I am talking about, then I congratulate you on being as big nerd as me. Back to the stuff that matters. We also had the opportunity to walk out onto the glacier itself. The summer temperature at the top was a balmy 0 degrees Celsius. For those of you who don't follow the metric system, that's the freezing point of water. The wind came howling across the summit, pushing the clouds at incredible speeds. Forty-five minutes and three cable cars later we were back in Engelberg, where the weather was 77 degrees and sunny.

Beautiful Luzern

Another 45 minues brought us down out of the mountains to the lakeside city of Luzern. Luzern is an ancient and very important town on the lake. Luzern sits at the mouth of the river that empties the lake into the lower elevations. The people of Luzern are responsible for regulating the flow of the water out of the lake in order to control its level. When the snow melts in the spring they open up the gates a bit more in order to prevent the towns that dot the lakeshore from flooding. Today, Luzern is a relatively sleepy little city (nothing like Paris or London). For me, it's the perfect place to have a little picnic next to the lake, and to buy a sweet Swiss Army knife and some chocolate.

 

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Free Time Suggestions: Lucerne and Engelberg

Lucerne and Engelberg are going to be a nice break from the craziness of Paris. I always like to build in a couple of overnights in a smaller town to allow myself to refresh and rebuild between big cities. Engelberg, a ski and hiking resort town high in the Alps, is a perfect place in which to do this. The alpine air is crisp and fresh, even in the middle of the summer. I love to leave my window open just a little bit as I sleep under the big down comforter that is common to German and Swiss hotels. Engelberg is also where I like to take a long after-dinner walk through town, past the monastery, and into the pastures just outside of town. Be prepared for chilly weather! Switzerland can be cold and rainy even in July!



Think of our afternoon in Lucerne as an opportunity to slow down and relax for a moment. The Guilded Age of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has left the biggest mark on Lucerne. Paddlewheel steamers still deliver sightseers to destinations around Lake Lucerne. Take some time to wander around the narrow, automobile-free streets of the old town. Lucerne is a great place to do some shopping for chocolate and Swiss Army knives (or some wardrobe refreshing at H&M). While most of Lucerne has been shaped by the nineteenth century, there is still a segment of the old city walls left for you to explore (just head uphill). Lucerne also plays host to a gallery of modern masters like Picasso, Klimt, and Klee at the Rosengart Collection (http://www.rosengart.ch/foundation.php5).



Restaurants in Switzerland can be expensive because only 17% of Switzerland can be utilized for agricultural purposes (the price for living in the Alps). That's why I always make sure to take only what I know I will be able to eat at breakfast and other meals in the hotel, especially if I am staying at a family-run hotel like the Edelweiss. That is also why I take the opportunity in Lucerne to grab some quick food and a beer at a supermarket (there's a good one in the train station) and have a picnic on the lake. After lunch with the ducks and the swans, you could take a short trip on the lake on a foot-powered paddleboat.


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