Switzerland Pt 2; Interlaken, Zurich and Basel

So, we arrived in Interlaken about midday and were keen to get straight outside and experience what we had heard would be some intense walks and hikes. A little investigation directed us to a mountainous region that lay on the opposite side of town to the larger Alps.

The fairytale-like paths through the woods

Great view! We climbed the mountain on the right.

After a quick but hearty snack we set off with our well-suited boots and what we would soon learn was a little too much clothing. As we climbed through up the paths, two things became evident - one; that the views were indeed fantastic from every possible vantage point and they only improved as we went higher and two; that an increasing amount of ice and snow was finding it's way onto the paths we wanted to walk along. 

View of the Alps in the distance

Yes, that is a path.

Determined, we plundered onwards but after not much longer we decided to halt and return as the ice was making it particularly slippery and the paths becoming more and more narrow!

Still, we had made it not 10mins from the top, which was a great effort and certainly was a lot of fun.

What a view! Certainly deserve it. Look at that blue!!

With only one night in Interlaken, James was determined to check out what the town 'had to offer' in terms of nightlife. Not before dinner though, and for just a second time we cooked our own, ha! Whilst eating we met and made friends with a girl from Melbourne who had been travelling prior to beginning some study abroad in Italy.

We all decided to go out for a couple of drinks together and settled, strangely enough, at an Irish pub not far from the hostel. A couple of drinks and some good conversation later and we actually discovered that the girl we had met had also been travelling with the same group we'd met and had a crazy night out in Vienna with. A nice little coincidence and certainly a 'small world' feeling. 

 

The view from atop the Grossmunster

The next day we returned once again to Zurich, though we would now have the chance to explore the city. Dumping our bags at the hostel, we raced around to have a look as this would be James last full day in Europe! We climbed up the tower of the Grossmunster church and got a fantastic view in all directions.

The 'Guild Houses'

Walking through the little lanes, we browsed through some of the shops that sold a range of Swiss luxury items; many many watches, many more knives and strangely, wooden toys. 

Not exotic. Shocked and disturbed really

Front of Swiss National Museum

After this we visited the Swiss National Museum which housed a fantastic exhibition on the history of the country and had a large focus on the consistent transition of cultures and language that had swept across the region now known as Switzerland. In addition to socio-geographical history, the museum also covered the development of design within the country; focusing particularly on household interiors and furniture. 

 

Inside the Swiss History exhibit

One of the furniture exhibits.
Both photos from the museum website ;)

One of the photographs on show

We finished on a photography exhibit that showcased images taken of critical events within the country and others abroad related to Switzerland from the last 50 years. I'm always a fan of photography exhibits and this was no exception; though we were unfortunately ushered out the door before we saw it all as the museum closed!

So, I asked James that night given it was his final before departing home, what he'd like to do – perhaps go to a restaurant, a bar or a pub? In the end, he settled on a kebab from a shop across the street. 'I'm pretty tired”; but despite that he certainly had enough energy to destroy the thing before I'd even taken the first bite of my meal.

Zurich; not bad looking at night.

Not one to go against his word, James clearly was tired the next morning as I tried to wake him on several occasions and he simply lay in his bed and turned over. About an hour before we had to catch the train to the airport, James poked his head into the common room where I was milling waiting, and we finally we down to get some breakfast. After a nice big coffee and a hot breakfast in the belly, James grabbed his stuff and we trod off to the train station – though not before James tried desperately to waste time by getting himself lost in random shops. Convincing James I no longer cared if he missed his flight (though I guess I actually did..), we finally got on the train and travelled just 10minutes to the airport. 

James; truly broken

So, with a masculine goodbye which consisted of a handshake and “alright, see ya back home then” (James was actually distraught to leave; see photo above), we departed and I headed back into town.

I spent the rest of the day at the Kunsthaus Zurich (Zurich Art Museum) which covered a range of art from around Impressionism to Contemporary; with quite a number of works from Monet and Manet, as well as Rousseau. Some of the contemporary painting and sculpture was a little beyond my tastes but certainly always interesting.

Zurich Art Museum

Sculpture made from dice

 ...A relatively early night, and ready for an early morning the next day.

Up at 7, I caught a train at 9am to Basel which got me there at 11. From this station I was to catch a bus which would take me to the reason I had travelled here; the Vitra Design Museum. Unfortunately however there was a great level of confusion which greeted me. Basel was a town technically in Switzerland, but which at it's extents almost straddled three countries; France, Germany and Switzerland. So, to make matters more confusing, whilst it was again technically within Switzerland, the train station was Deustche-Bahn run (German). I had to stowe away my bags for the day in the lockers at the station, however I didn't quite have the correct change on me, so I asked at a shop, however they only accepted Swiss Francs. I eventually managed to swap a note with someone for some coins, only to realise that after all this I had missed my bus – the next, not for an hour.

That was barely round one however. Working out the bus route was interesting. The bus left from a platform near the station. I found the platform and saw a ticket machine so tried to find the ticket for the bus; no deal – whatever I searched for, it couldn't find my destination. Turns out; it was just for Swiss-buses; despite my bus starting it's journey from that point and going into Germany. Either way, when the bus eventually arrived I was able to pay on board as per usual.

So, later than I had hoped and having missed the first tour time, I arrived at the design museum and how great it was! From the distance on the bus I could tell we were almost there as the Herzog and de Meuron VitraHaus stands out from a mile back, towering over the skyline – it really is awesome to see!

The VitraHaus by Herzog & de Meuron

Frank Ghery's little bit of fun

Whilst waiting for the tour I spent time inside Gehry's famous building which housed a very interesting exhibition on Rudolf Steiner. Quite a unique man, I did not know much about him, though I had heard his name; he certainly tried his hand at a number of fields. On the whole a philosopher, he also became a social reformer writing many many books on social theory and eventually influencing education. What interested me a lot was his works in architecture; he designed and built a building he called the ''Goetheanum''. This burnt down and he then created another. Crazy, gargantuan buildings without a strict sense of style and intended to house the development of Steiner's social teachings. The exhibit had a very cool model of the second..

The second ''Goetheanum'

Starting the actual architectural tour of the campus, we began at the Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome tent. An important structure in architecture but also in engineering in that it was a very quick-assembly large-scale tent that could be deployed anywhere, even hoisted into position by helicopter.

Walking past the industrial architecture in the production factory of Nicholas Grimshaw, we walked underneath the very cool, very elaborate and surprisingly wet-weather automated bridge-like roof by Alvaro Siza. We then made it to the famous first-work by Zaha Hadid, the Fire Station; and crazy it is. Whilst not as strange perhaps in geometry as Gehry, there is barely a wall perpendicular to the ground; all choosing to run at bizarre angles; including the bathroom and toilet walls! All in some attempt to continuously play with the entrants perception. Fun, though how useful for the firemen I'm unsure..

The Basel Fire Station; Zaha Hadid's first building

Parts of the interior; nothing level

Tadao Ando's pavillion

The final building on the tour was by Tadao Ando which was a beautifully clear, simple structure that really contrasted the bold statements of the others. Instead it carved itself into the landscape and carefully positioned itself between tree's and nature. The building also included two walls that shot off each side and 'protected' the building from the 'harsh' manufacturing and industrial parts of the campus.

Ending the tour, I visited the very famous icon of the campus, the VitraHaus. It really is spectacular to see up-front and it is very cool inside. Effectively the Haus acts as a display home for all the products Vitra sell; furniture to lighting to generally designed objects. Each extruded 'house' form frames a great view across the hilly-landscapes in the distance.

Interior of the VitraHaus with the framed view

With a big day of architecture and design done I found my way back to Basel and then caught the train to Stuttgart where I would once again meet with my home-stay family I met on exchange. After a couple of delays I eventually made my back to familiar territory around 9:30pm, and once again got to the Steigerwald house; the first place to feel like home for a long time!

Switzerland. "Danke, Merci, Grazie" (Part 1)

A new day, and the plan was a relaxing one. Our final destination would be St. Moritz, however first we would be making our way to Vals, where we would visit the famous Therme, Thermal Baths designed by architect Peter Zumthor. Again, another architectural visit (though this time with a relaxing twist), one I had been looking forward to particularly to see how it would hold up. My gosh did it ever! The baths themselves are beautifully designed, certainly feeling as though you were descending at the start into a quiet, blissful network of caves with a series of baths at different temperatures and each with a particular theme. 

The exterior of the thermal baths complex

One of the interior baths

The most spectacular however is the baths which leads outside and with a view that is breathtaking. The cold temperature actually made it quite dramatic as it caused a field of steam to hang over the baths, making it a little mystical!

Exterior bath with Alps backdrop

Exterior bath with the veil of steam!

Unfortunately I could not capture the exact view with a photo (you aren't allowed so I have borrowed some from elsewhere!), but with my words and some context photos, try and picture relaxing in a hot thermal bath, overlooking the Swiss Alps not 200m away! 

(For a more in depth architectural review of the baths, see http://www.greekarchitects.gr/en/degrees/made-of-stone-and-water-for-the-human-body-id2843) 

After a greatly relaxing and extremely refreshing few hours, we caught the bus back to town (which itself was an unforgetable short journey rounding some very tight cliffs and passing through some massive gorges) and caught the train on to St. Moritz.

Arriving at just after 8pm we caught the bus to our hostel and walked a short way to reach our destination. Feeling a "little" cold we walked inside and saw the thermometer reading of the outside temperature; -19degrees celcius – blooding freezing!! 

The lovely meal awaiting our starved selves at the hostel.
First steak in over a month! Below; James' response...

Waking up early once more, we stocked up on the inclusive breakfast and rushed out to catch what would be an activity in itself, the Glacier Express. Travelling from St. Moritz to Zermatt, this scenic railway makes its way through the Swiss Alps, ranging from 600-2000m above sea level. This journey would take us 8 hours, and sent us through some sometimes 'nervy' but nevertheless always breathtaking terrain. The views were consistently stunning everywhere we looked and we could not have had a better day; perfect bright blue cloudless skies! Consider that area of the world well and truly photographed.

The Glaciar Express making it's way through the Alps

James (hilariously) reduced to wearing ski goggles

One of many picturesque views

Picturesque view number two

Picturesque view number three

We arrived in Zermatt around 5pm and after settling into our hostel (which was located up an unpleasant number of steps – James aptly noting that he couldn't recall the hostel mentioning it was located actually on the Matterhorn), we then explored the town and got our bearings and info down pat so we could jump straight into skiing the next day. A beautiful sunset and an early night read for a big day ahead.

View from our window the next morning

Rising as early as we felt we could (7am...laughable I'm sure, but we were tired!), we smashed down breakfast, very much excited to get onto the mountain ASAP. Our hired ski gear fitted; we decided which runs we wanted to explore and went to the relevant station to catch the train (yes, train. ..seriously Australia take a hint) up to the slopes. Climbing through the trees and up the incline to 3000m we got our first proper glimpse of the Matterhorn in full breaking daylight – what an awesome sight!

This impression is even without skiing yet, and setting foot on the slopes for the first time we got a look at what we would be exploring that day. The best word that comes to mind to describe the conditions are phenomenal! Everywhere you looked was worthy of a thousand photographs. Being able to ski in such a fantastic environment, we felt almost privileged (despite probably deserving it given the amount we'd paid..). Looking back now, we were insanely lucky to have two days in a row of perfect weather and fantastic snow conditions so we were feeling very grateful towards mother nature! 
  

Skiing in front of the Matterhorn (left)

View from one of the chairlifts

The skiing itself was great fun, with a good variety of runs which meant after mastering one there were plenty more to challenge. Certainly not professionals, we stuck to blue and red (beginner, intermediate) runs which even still seemed to stack higher than home (swiss blue = aus red roughly...) and then occasionally through either improved confidence or sheer stupidity went down the odd yellow and black (hard, expert) runs., That being said, we did quite well I think, only falling a couple of times when attempting a jump or something a little out of our league. I wish I'd caught one of James' mighty falls when he went flying down a slope, over a jump and flying, legs and ski's pointed up landing right on his ass – directly next to a waiting rescue helicopter which was airlifting someone injured down to the base. 

 

We explored the Gornergrat and Rothorn runs

Halfway through the day we found ourselves a little parched, and so as you do, we found ourselves a drink; at an igloo ice bar located midway through a run and probably at 2000m. A great novelty; I grabbed a beer, sat back and took in the view. They even had deck chairs.

Another early night to rest our bodies and we were back skiing again the next day. Choosing a different part of the mountain we started at the top and found a beautiful sweeping run which rounded the edge of the cliffs providing unobstructed views of the Matterhorn and the surrounding Alps, not to mention the sheer drop to the town below.

View from top of Rothorn. (Sorry about dodgy stitch!)

A little hungry, we spotted a restaurant so took off our ski's and walked on over. A large timber deck hanging off the edge, outside bar and some great live music all backdropped by the Alps created yet another surreal moment.

The restaurant deck with Alps in the background

Getting back onto the slopes, I definitely did not want to leave! Unfortunately the day eventually came to an end, but not before exploring a few more runs on the mountain; and some interesting moments; James nearly colliding with a squirrel that ran out of the tree's.

James showing his skills. Taking off goggles not one.

Later that evening we found a bar for a couple of drinks and ended up watching a live jazz gig. The band were straight from the US, with one of the members, on sax apparently playing with James Brown for 10 odd years. Needless to say; some great music and very catchy stuff.

The next morning we said a sad goodbye to Zermatt and James and I also parted ways with Yen who would be travelling to Italy. We jumped on a train and made yet another spectacular journey down the Alps on our way towards Interlaken.

Part 2 of Switzerland coming soon...

Munich. ''It's not German, it's Bavarian!''

Travelling from Bratislava to Munich we travelled via Vienna and crossed through the beautiful Bavarian landscape where we saw our first real snow. Passing through Salzburg before we entered Germany was just amazing; so you have to see it really – check out the photos and video!

 

The idyllic views greeting us in Bavaria

We made it into town at around 3pm and so took the opportunity to walk around, wandering along the main stretch of shops and centre of town; Marienplatz. Getting dark at about 4pm, the street and central square lit up and looked quite magical! Heading back to our hostel, we went in search of some food and found a busy little cafe with a great atmosphere. Not particularly traditional but definately delicious, I grabbed a bowl of gnocci and to make up for it, a big Bavarian beer. An early night to round out an exhausting day of travel!

Entering the city gates at Karlsplatz

Marienplatz with the neo-gothic Town Hall on the left

The close-up of the Town Hall

Walking back along the shopping strip once dark

The next day we decided to tag along on a city tour with what turned out to be quite the energetic and thoroughly entertaining guide; Ozzie. He was very much focused on 'getting us local' so we were questioned and taught more about Bavarian history and culture and introduced to many sights of the city; Ozzie not forgetting to teach us the actual significance of each one. A worthwhile and unexpectedly entertaining tour of Munich.

Walking past the Spielzeugmuseum

Yen and James at Odeonplatz

 

Following this we had a few spare hours left in the day, so we quickly made our way to the BMW Museum; something I had been looking forward to for some time. It didn't dissapoint; the building itself a fantastic display of deconstructivist architecture by Coop Himmelblau. The 'welt' form of the building itself was great to see up close and really is awesome. Additionally the entire complex features some cool lighting, effects of which can be seen in the photos below. The museum was very cool, even for myself as I am not really a large fan of cars, nor bikes or planes; but of course I appreciate them either way and the exhibits certainly were good fun.

Exhibition space inside the BMW Museum

James and I with a BMW concept car

Standing in front of the 'welt' and lit up museum

To round out the day we decided to embrace being a tourist and visit the very-tourist-based Hofbrauhaus. Either way, I enjoyed it; a second time round! A hearty pork goulash with potato dumplings and a litre stein of dark beer always go down well. To top it off, a breaded dessert with thick warm cream, yum!

The 1L stein matched Yen's head. Cheers!

The next morning was a comparitively sombre start to the day. For the second time, I visited Dachau Concentration Camp with James and Yen. Whilst I had been here just two years ago it was still a cold and sobering place and again an arrestive look at a terrible time in history. I could not reccomend going any more greatly; definately something that should be seen at least once.

Dachau Concentration Camp grounds.

A memorial with an important message.

With less time than we had hoped, we then visited the Deustches Museum. A little over 2 hours was certainly nowhere near enough time to see a museum which claims you need 2 full days to see all the exhibits. We decided to split up and just have a look at what we each wanted to see. Having also been here before, I skipped over the fantastic mining, military, metalwork and shipping/automotive exhibits and decided to take a look at the nanotechnology and modern/future science areas. All very interesting and so much to take in! 

The famous Deutches Museum

A little peak of what is inside! Entire ships!

Without even noticing, as we had been pondering around the Museum, a few inches of snow had fallen and had created a beauitful blanket of white across everything! It created a very pretty scene as we walked back to catch the train.

The snowfall at dusk, a beautiful scene!

A chilly walk back through the fresh snow

James just happy he could
build a snowman

Our last night in Munich was spent at the hostel bar, with a few beers, quiet for me, however Yen and James stayed and exploited the 11 free drink cards Yen had received and piled on the shots and cocktails – needless to say a slightly tipsy Yen walked in the room later that night! However, nothing compared to the young British 'lads' who rocked up at about 4am, full of conversation. "Y'aright then?" as they would say...

Leaving Munich early the next morning we set off for Zurich, however we would be making a stop at Neuschwanstein Castle, a few hours out of town and luckily on our way. Arriving at the base of the mountain atop which the castle sat, we bought our tickets and began a 30min walk up the trail to the courtyard where our tour of the grounds and building would start. As we climbed the hill we were greeted with some spectacular views of the surrounding landscapes with the small towns below. Topping this by far was the awe-inspiring, post-card view of the castle set amongst the mountain, high above the trees. It has to be seen to believe, so take a look at the photos! This castle was famously the inspiration for Walt Disney's fairytale castle.

James and I with the castle

View from the Castle windows

The fantastic scenery from the castle gates

Setting off again we made our way via train to the point where we had to change, however unfortunately we only had minutes to catch the connecting train and a delay meant we missed this. A two-hour stopover was created so we went in search of dinner. Finding a Croatian restaurant we tucked in and killed some time.

Back on the train, it was 11pm before we made it to Zurich and made it to our hostel. We all settled straight to bed, keen to prepare for what would be just as big a day tomorrow. (Not for James however, he wasn't content with spending a Saturday night inside, so he went looking for somewhere to party! Sadly however all he managed to find was a gay bar and a number of strip clubs, so he resorted to buying a rather expensive bratwurst before returning. At least this is what I heard...perhaps James can expand later?)