innsbruck, austria

17/1/15

Overnight it became apparent that Adelboden and the weather didn't want us to leave.  It had snowed all night and covered the ground with snow.  Still it only took us about 10 mins to walk down the hill from Our Chalet to catch the 0554 bus from Adelboden Oey.  Yeah, 0554... I was up at 0445... WAYYYYYY to early!!

We caught the bus from Adelboden to Frutigen, the train from Frutigen to Bern, Bern to Zurich, Zurich to Feldkirch and finally Feldkirch to Innsbruck.  It took us all morning to get there, but finally at 12ish we arrived in Innsbruck.

Innsbruck is the capital city of the federal state of Tyrol in Western Austria.  After getting map from the information booth and exiting the train station the first stop was the Tiny Arc De Triomphe on one of the main streets.  It was built in 1765 from the stones of the former city gate.  It has two sides - happy and sad.  The happy celebrates the marriage of a son of Maria Theresa and a the sad which remembers her late husband Franz Stephan.

Next stop was the Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof).  Considered Innsbruck's most famous symbol, it was completed in 1500, the roof is decorated with 2,738 fire-gilded copper tiles for Emperor Maximilian I to mark his marriage to Bianca Maria Sforza.  The balcony was used to observe festivals, and other events which took place in the Square below.  In 2007, during an art project a single shingle was swapped from the roof with a wooden one from a barn near by.  From there it was stolen again and found two years later on a roof of another barn.  In 2012, the scaffolding used for restoration work was used to steal another seven shingles.  A week later they re-appeared in post offices around town.  It is still a mystery as to who stole them.  

 

The Goldenes Dachl and Me & The square it looks onto

We continued walking around and looked through several little stores and streets. We even walked in and around a Baroque Church (below). 

 

We found the river 'Inn' and then the bridge which crosses it, the bridge which Innsbruck is named after.  The word 'bruck' comes from the same root as the modern German word "Brucke"meaning 'bridge', leading to the 'bridge over the Inn' or Innsbruck.  

We had a late lunch at McDonalds... some of the most expensive Maccas I have ever had! However it was the nicest and most historically maintained Maccas as well.  They had maintained the original arches of the buildings roof and the decorations were even time period appropriate to the building!

We stayed in Innsbruck and just generally wandered around the city and area after lunch, until we decided to head to Liechtenstein.  Heres where we hit a snag.  We started walking to the Bahnhof  (train st) at about one thirty, we expected it not to take too long.  However some how we managed to get very lost after walking down Universitatsstrasse (University Street) and ending up in the middle of no where.  We found a florist shop along the way and asked a lovely old gentleman where the Bahnhof was and he was able to tell us.  I had completely lost my sense of direction by then and was just following what he had said and hoping he was right.  Turns out he was.... because we eventually found the train line and then the station after that. 

Our plan to leave early then fell through and we caught the train we had originally planned to catch - the 3:45 train to Feldkirch, a 2 hr train. From Feldkirch we caught bus number 21 to Vaduz, Post then changed to bus number 11 as per our Host AirBnB's lady's instructions.  We got off at Triesen, Vaschiel and walk down the hill to her house.  She was absolutely lovely and even had maps and ideas for things to do tomorrow around Liechtenstien.  We arrived around six thirty ish, just as they were sitting down for dinner.

Just after 8 pm we caught a lift with our host lady into Vaduz, to go to the Coop Petrol Station to buy some food for dinner and breakfast.  We just bought an oven pizza and some drinks... It was nice to sit and have a hot dinner which didn't require much cooking on our behalf!!

luzern

28/12/14

This morning was a lazy morning.  We didn't get up until 7.40 am and then didn't get down to breakfast until 8.30.  Overall we didn't leave the hotel until 10.45 am.  I think that is the latest I have ever left a hotel when on holiday with mum!  Usually its up at 6 out by 7, and not back until 10pm at least! I usually need a holiday to recover from my holiday!

We caught the tram into Bern Bahnhof, where we bought tickets Luzern (or Lucerne - you can spell it two ways).  There were two options - One train which only took an hour but didn't leave until 12 (it was 11.20), or there was one at 11.36 which got there by 12 as well.  The 11.36 train was also cheaper than the 12.00 train, though this was because it took longer.  We bought two adult tickets, one half fare ticket and two children day riders (Lauren and Hannah) for the train and headed to the station.

We arrived in Luzern at about 1 pm, as with every other city the first thing we did was find the tourist / information centre.  As it was Sunday though, it was closed.  I managed to find a tourist information brochure though and inside was a map (all we had actually wanted really).

The bikes at the train station

We walked along the river, Lauren was leading.  We were eventually heading to the Dying Lion monument, however got side tracked along the way.  It was snowing quite heavily whilst we were walking, Nanny had her umbrella but the rest of us were in jackets and the snow just got everywhere,.

We turned left down a side street, on a mission to find the Lion Monument, and got distracted again.  This time it was by a church.

 

This was the Court Church of St. Leodegar.  One of the most important churches in Luzern, it was built in parts between 1633 to 1639, onto the foundation of a Roman basilica which had burnt down in 1633.  Inside the church was absolutely beautiful (look at the organ!)

We eventually made it to the Lion Monument ... one of the most famous monuments in the world.  The statue was carved in memory of the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution.  It was designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and was carved in 1820-21 by Lukas Ahorn.  Mark Twain described the sculpture as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world."

Right next to the Lion Monument is the Glacier Garden.  It is a journey where you travel back to when Luzern was a subtropical palm beach 20 million years ago right through to the glaciers of the last Ice Age 20'000 years ago.  The museum was built around a glacial pothole found by accident when a wine cellar was being built, a glacial pothole which had survived since the Ice Age.  The museum also displays artifacts from throughout the town's history.  

The last thing in the museum, is the Labyrinth of Mirrors.  Which was really fun - if you don't get lost!

We walked around town before having a coffee at Macca's.  It was absolutely freezing, so we decided that a warm drink was a good idea.  

Then we walked back to the Train Station - we walked along the river and then across the board walk across the river.   

White Swans!

Boardwalk of Luzern

Tower in the Lake

Then we caught the train back to Bern, it was dark by then.  We went through the Co-op and got some salad and food, and then went to Macca's for a burger and Daim McFlurry for desert!

what's that? i don't know but let's find out...

17/12/14

This morning we woke up at 5.15.... which is too early in my books. Charlotte,  Ana, Schooley and I were planning to head out for a day trip.  Our plans were to head first to Basel, then Bern and finally Spiez. 

We left Stockli at about 6 am to walk down to Adelboden, Oey.  From there we caught the bus at 6.26 to Frutigen and then the train to Basel.   We arrived in Basel at about 9 am. 

First thing we did was find the information centre and get a map. From there we were able to navigate ourselves to the Christmas markets and around the town.  

We wandered around...

The Basilisk, Basel's official animal 

Basel's Cathedral

The City Gates

Melfies

Basel Christmas Markets

Charlotte and I trying on really expensive hats

About half way through us walking though Basel, Schooley and Ana headed off to Bern.  Charlotte and I finished walking around Basel and through the Christmas markets some more.  We found that they were selling Mulled Wine and Hot Chocolate in really cute cups, so we decided to investigate.  We had to pay a 3CHF deposit for the cup plus whatever it was for the drink but then as the hot chocolate man said "you don't have to bring the cup back, you can keep it f you want!!"  So we did!

Then Charlotte got hungry and bought a mega pretzel...

We caught the train to Bern and found the tourist centre, who gave us an even bigger and better map. This one had pretty pictures and interesting points to visit on it!


First we found the Christmas Markets closest to the train station.  I was more impressed with the Bern Christmas Markets than I was with the Basel ones!  Here I bought a half beanie type hat thing, to kep my ears warm... you will see it feature in many photos to follow.

Then we walked down the main strip, or what we assumed was the main strip and found the Bern Parliament building. As per Rachael's request we had a Melfie with it.  (Note: Selfies by popular demand have been renamed Melfies for the extent of this trip.. watch out for the soon to come album on facebook of them all!)

Unfortunately all the tours through Parliament were in German so we didn't go on that, however when you walked around the side of the building to the back, there was a spectacular view of Bern. 

We walked to the second Christmas markets and had a look there.  They were smaller than the first but still just as good!  After we walked through there we headed on to just wander.  We found the Clock Tower (Below left) and Einstein's House when he lived in Bern.   

 

About 5 ish we caught the train to Spiez.  Our plan was to walk down to the castle and the river Thun.   However it was raining when we got there and the train station was at the top of the hill and the castle unsurprisingly at the bottom.  So instead we took photos from the too and walked around a bit before getting back on our train.

Here's where the day got messy.  So far we had managed to get the right train at the right time but this time we failed.  We got on at the right platform on the right train according to the board however obviously it said it was the wrong train somewhere because when the ticket man came to check tickets he said nope. Fortunately all we had to do was buy a ticket from Frutigen to Visp,  the next station to get off at and then get back on the train heading in the right direction to Frutigen.  At least he didn't fine us, it could have been worse!

Visp

So we waited until 7.28 as the man told us, I almost got on the wrong train again however Charlotte saved us, and caught the train back to Frutigen.  However, this train was heading straight to Spiez.  So the ticket man got it wrong as well.  He came and found us on the train though and wrote something in German on the back of our tickets.  Obviously whatever he wrote worked because we got off at Speiz and back on the right train which definitely stopped at Frutigen.  The ticket man on this train read whatever the other ticket man had written and said that was fine. 

We got off at Frutigen and there was a bus waiting to go to Adelboden.  We caught that to Oey, and then hiked up the hill home to Our Chalet.  The hike took us all of 15 mins, the fastest I have ever done it!