Tag: hiking

21 September 2023

by George Sorrells, posted in General, HausmannLife, Travel

It is always fun when people come to Switzerland for the first time. The looks on their faces when they see the landscape is priceless. It also means that Julie and I get to experience some new things as well. We able to experience two new things this past weekend. We got see an Alpabfahrt or Alpabzug parade. We also rode the worlds steepest funicular train. Hopefully we will continue to have some new visitors, because it is always fun to find something to with a visitor that I have not had the chance to do.

Alpabfahrt

Depending on what part of Switzerland you live this annual celebration is called alpabfahrt or alpabzug. They mean the same thing. A literal translation is simply alpine descent or alpine deduction. So coming OUT of the alps. The celebrations occur usually between the 2nd weekend of September and the 2nd weekend of October. I have to admit it seemed awfully warm last weekend to be thinking about winter. The temperature was pushing 30 degrees and we were baking while we were waiting for the cows to march by. I really felt sorry for some of the children leading the cows, goats, and sheep. Many were walking barefoot, and the heat from the road had to be torture on their feet. I don’t know for how long the animals and the people were walking, but it was a long way. As we left the town of Urnäsch we passed one of the groups and they were walking to the village of Waldstatt 4 miles away!

In the Appenzeller region, each group consists of a small group of goats, followed by 3 or 4 herdsmen dressed in native outfits. Immediately behind the herdsmen are the three “bell cows. These are three boss cows of the herd. The bells the cows wear are harmonized to each other. The four herdsmen will either sing, or yodel to the tones of the bell whenever they come near people. After the cows pass, the owners of the herd walk. They are identified by always wearing brown. The last part of the parade is a wagon that contains all of the apparatus needed for making cheese and butter on the mountains.

In other regions of the country the parade is similar but the tradition of the bell cows is different. The cows will still wear a bell (just like almost every cow in Switzerland), but the cow will wear a headdress of flowers. Some of these get very ornate. The bells also are not nearly as large as the ones found in Appenzell.

In the spring this tradition is reversed. There is a big party because winter is over as the cows go back up to the mountains. The first half of the video below is of one of the parades we saw. The second part of the video was for the second new thing we did last weekend.

Stoos

Stoos pronounced more like close in “Please close the door.” is a town located in the canton of Schwyz. The town is located 1/2 way up a mountain. There are two peaks on the mountain. Fronalpstock is the peak we visited. At the top of the mountain you look over LuzernSee (Lake Luzern, Mt RIgi, Mt Pilatus, and the city of Luzern. The other peak is named Klingenstock. One of the most famous hikes in Switzerland is between these two peaks. It is called the ridge hike, it of course goes along the ridge of the mountain where one side overlooks the ski area and the other side is pretty much a cliff about 1800 meters down. I have already told my children that if they come visit this spring we are taking that hike. They may have to leave me on the side of the mountain, but that hike looks absolutely amazing!!!!!

I do not know what the population is of Stoos. I am guessing a couple of hundred permanent residents. However, I think it would a great place for a ski vacation. It is one of the only places I have seen, here, that you can actually ski from your house to a chair lift!

Besides the views at the top, the main attraction is the ride up the mountain. You start at the bottom and board the strangest looking train you will ever see. It looks like four giant barrels pushing a half barrel. The train was built in 2017. It is a funicular training meaning it works similar to a giant gondola. There are two trains, and they are always at opposite ends from each other. The trains run on one track separated into two right in the middle, so they can pass. There is a giant cable that actually pulls the train up and lowers the train down the hill.

This is the steepest funicular in the world. At the steepest the gradient is 47 degrees, but you never realize how steep it is because the train levels the cars automatically. The train can take 1500 passengers per hour. It takes about 5 minutes to make the trip. The train climbs about 750 meters. The ride is almost 2 kilometers long. Two more tidbits of useless information. The gift shop and lodge are heated with the waste heat from the engine room of train. The hot water in the lodge is heated by capturing the braking energy of the train! Julie and I have been able to ride quite a few funiculars while here, but this was by far the most unique.

We got some good pictures of our travels last week. Another side trip we took was the the Abby Library at St Gallen. I have talked about this place many times as it is one my favorite places to visit in Switzerland. They have really opened up the rules on taking pictures. So we have quite a few pictures from the library this week. The pictures below are a panoramic picture of the ceiling, and a panoramic view of one side of the library. It amazes me each and every time I see it!


Next week there will not be a post as we are heading to Munich for Oktoberfest. I figure I will be in no condition to post while we are there, but hopefully on Monday or Tuesday my head will have cleared enough to write coherently!

Talk to you soon, enjoy the pictures.

10 August 2023

by George Sorrells, posted in General, HausmannLife

Julie had to go to London for a couple of days this week. So I decided to play instead of just staying around the house. The day that I got her off to the airport I came home got a shower, and then hopped in the car. I drove to a little mountain village named Churwalden where I spent a few hours riding an amazing mountain coaster. Yesterday, I decided I was going to go on a hike. Not any hike, I wanted to hike up Mt Pilatus. Our son did the hike last year when he was visiting. He said it wasn’t that bad of a hike; so the idiot I am decided I could do it as well. The difference being we went up different sides of the mountain. You would think that wouldn’t matter, well it does!!! The side he went up was a Class 2 hike. I tried making a class 3 hike. HUGE DIFFERENCES!

Mountain coaster

According to Google Maps there are 23 bobsled or mountain coaster rides in Switzerland. I have only been on two; so it looks like our remaining time here we will be doing some traveling around finding the different rides! Basically there are two types of rides. The Bobsled rides are an aluminum half pipe that go down the mountain. You sit on a little plastic sled with wheels and a brake lever.

The pictures above are from our weekend at Mt Pilatus a couple of months ago. The one on the left shows Julie being pulled back up the mountain. You can see she is sitting on the little bobsled. The picture on the right shows part of the track. It does kind of resemble a bob sled run. The second type of track resembles a roller coaster more than anything. The cars are similar to the bobsled run, however, it CANNOT leave the coaster track. The picture below is one I took from the chairlift going up to the start of the coaster ride.

You can see the coaster track is elevated off the ground, and you can see it is basically aluminum pipes that the car runs down, not the half pipe of the bobsled run.

The coaster offers a couple of advantages if you like excitement. Because the car cannot jump the track (and you are belted in) the course can be faster, and it has much tighter turns than the bobsled. Both rides are fun, but the adrenaline junky part of me likes the coaster better!

The one disadvantage of both rides happens when you get behind someone that doesn’t like the excitement. At Pilatus I got stuck twice on the run, because I was behind someone that wouldn’t go fast. I had to slow down so much that on a level section I stopped and had to push myself. If you go to the 3:14 point in the video below you will see what I mean!

The mountain coaster has the same problem you can see if you watch the video below. The slowdown occurs at the 7:45 mark.

While at the Pradaschier Coaster I got the pleasure of watching a Swiss Mom jump all over some middle eastern man who decided he would let his family of three kids and two other adults cut in front of about 25 of us that were standing line already. It was masterful. German is an excellent language for cussing someone out, because it just sounds so harsh anyway! The icing on the cake was watching the entire family have to get out of line and go back up to the chair lift because they walked right by the signs telling people in german and english (with pictures) that you could not take backpacks on the ride. The entire line just started laughing!

After the drive back home I got ready the next day’s adventure.

hiking up mt pilatus

Julie and have been to the mountain numerous times. We have gone up and down both sides. I knew the side I wanted to hike was more steep. What I thought, however, was that it was only going to be really steep the last few hundred meters. BOY WAS I WRONG! The trail up the mountain is broken up into three different hiking sections. Each section is between 2.5 and 3.5 kilometers long. I knew there was no way I could start at the very bottom and climb up. On that side, you have to go up two different “hills’ before you get to the actual mountain. I was going to be smart.

I have talked before about the trail rating system in Switzerland. It has nothing to do with elevation or exertion the rating scheme is all about the trail. Class 1 means a paved or gravel path, may be steep. Class 2 means dirt path with a lot of stairs, rocks or roots, and may be steep. Class 3’s definition is: mostly marked trails, may be steep in sections, risk of falling, may need hands for balance. The only equipment talked about for these three classes of trails is having good clothing and sturdy hiking boots. Now there are three more classes of trails in Switzerland, and I KNOW I will never EVER go on any thing marked 4 or higher! The first part of the hike was marked class 1. I knew it was not to bad, because Julie and I have hiked down the trail before. The second part of the hike was marked class 3.

I took the gondola up the first leg. I saved myself 3.5 kilometers of climbing, and about 90 minutes of walking. All told I was going to hike only about 7 kilometers. Since I started at 8:50 (the time I got off the gondola) that meant I would have 8 hours to hike the 7 kilometers. Easy, right? I mean heck two or three days a week I cover 8 kilometers in about an hour on my daily jogs. Of course it isn’t uphill the whole way, but still…..

The first part of the hike went exactly like I thought it would. It took me about 80 minutes to hike up the trail. I was just feeling warmed up. It was. a nice walk, and even with the couple of steep sections I was well on my way to finishing up the second half of the hike. I sat down for about 25 minutes, ate a snack and had a bottle of water.

I started on the next section, and after about three hundred meters I was thinking, “I see what they talk about with needing hands for balance.” I was going through a field along the side of the mountain. It was pretty steep and as I was scrambling over and around the rocks I would occasionally need to use my hands. Another three hundred meters I was really starting to question my sanity. The trail was going straight up the mountain, and there were chains, rope and cable that you needed to use climb up the rocks. It wasn’t quite a cliff, but if you fell, the only way you were stopping soon was to come against a tree! I started to get a little worried when I looked at my watch and realized that it had taken me over an hour and I had barely gone 1/2 a kilometer. The entire section was supposed to be only 3 kilometers, and the trail signs said that it should only take 2.5 hours to complete the hike! I finally got up the “hard” part of the trail, and I was about 1/2 way through the hike. When I looked at my watch, I realized that it took me two hours to get this far. I stopped and rested a bit, but started to worry about the time. I plotted the remaining hike on the map and told myself I am going to give myself two time points. If I do not hit those points by 1 pm and 2 pm. I am going back down. Of course once I had hit the 2 pm point, there was no turning back, because at that point I would have been 3/4 of the way through, and it would probably have taken me longer to go back down. I gave myself the two time points because the steepest section of the hike was going to be the last 400 meters. Technically I would have been only 150 meters from the finish, but it was literally straight up the mountain, so the switch backs meant a lot more walking. 400 meters doesn’t sound like much; four football fields or one lap around a track. Practically anyone can go 400 meters right? Well I never got that far to find out.

I was tired. After another short break I started walking up again. This time the path was a class 1. Nice crushed gravel path. I had my hiking sticks out and I was just going to put my head down and start walking. After 30 minutes I stopped to take a quick break and that was when I knew it was over. In those 30 minutes I had only covered a couple of hundred meters. I was looking up at the place I needed to reach in 90 minutes and knew it was not going to happen.

The chapel above was my 2 pm way point. On a straight line basis, I was probably 500 meters away, but I knew there was no way I was making it up that 500 meters in time.

I will be trying this again. However, I will be taking off the first 1/2 of the hike. I am going to also start walking up more hills. I try and avoid it as a general rule, but I think I need to get better on the hills! I feel a little bad, that I couldn’t complete the hike. But not nearly as bad as I would have felt if I had called Julie and said, “You are going to have to get home from the airport on your own. I have to spend the night on the mountain, because I did not make it up before the last gondola left.” When I try this again, I will be bringing along a blanket. Something that I can wrap around me if I can’t make it up the mountain in time. I am going to finish this climb BEFORE we move back to the US.

I have talked before about the physical effects after catching Covid last year. I have really had to change my exercise goals. I used to do a lot of climbing on the bike, but now I can’t even make a 300 meter climb without having to stop. Hopefully I can work myself up to more strenuous hiking. I guess I have the remainder of our time here in Switzerland to find out! The Doctors I have spoken with don’t give me a whole lot of hope. My heart and lungs have some long term damage from Covid, and they will either get better or they won’t. Basically I am fine as long as I keep my heart rate low. When I approach my max heart rate for even a couple of minutes my body just gives out.

I don’t have a lot of pictures this week. Only a few from my hike. I hope you enjoy them, however.

Talk to you next week!

27 Juli 2023

by George Sorrells, posted in Travel

The highlight of my summer ended two weeks ago. We had two couples that we have been friends with since the 80’s come visit. We took them to see one of our favorite places in Switzerland, Salzburg, and then Munich. I truly hope they enjoyed the trip as much as Julie and I. It was especially fun, because we saved some of our bucket list experiences to be with them.

Like all good vacations this one had a little drama. It started with delayed flights that cost a day of sightseeing in Switzerland. We got thrown out of a restaurant in Lauterbrunnen. We got kicked off a train in Germany! However, we made it through all of that, and had an amazing week.

In Switzerland we went to the Lauterbrunnen valley. In my opnion, this is for sure in the top three most beautiful places in Switzerland. We stayed in a little town named Murren. Murren is a small village with only 450 residents, but it has over 3000 beds for tourists. Murren is one of the towns in Switzerland that does not allow cars. This is not technically true, because some of the residents have cars, but there is no easy road up to the town. To get there you take a train to the village of Lauterbrunnen, take a gondola 1/2 way up the mountain, then a train across the mountain into the town. The train was built in 1891, and when you board the train it looks like the original train car is still in service. We spent three days hiking and enjoying the alps before heading off to our next stop.

I do have to talk about our trouble in Lauterbrunnen. I promised our friends that we would have a fondue picnic while in the alps. So we went down into the valley to hike, and visit some of the waterfalls. When it started to get close to noon, we decided to stop and have our fondue. There was a restaurant in the area, that had a huge outdoor seating area. The restaurant was not open yet, so everyone thought we should just go sit at one of the tables, like dozens of other people were doing. I tried to convince them otherwise because I knew the place would open up before we were done eating. I was outvoted, so we set up….. Needless to say, before the cheese had melted we got chased away. The fondue was excellent, though!

Salzburg was one of the cities that Julie and I have wanted to visit since we first moved. I think it had more to do with the Sound of Music than anything else, but Salzberg was a fascinating town. We stayed in an old monastery that had been converted into a hotel.

Salzburg has been inhabited since the stone age. It got the name as being one of the primary salt distribution sites in Europe. There is, or was, a large salt mine in the area, and the Salzach River made a perfect way to help distribute the salt. The Salzach is a tributary to the Inn river (think Innsbruck) which in turn flows into the Danube. Salzburg has a very deep and rich religious history for many hundreds of years, the rulers were Prince-Bishops. Each one felt the need to build a new church and add on to the Hohensalzburg Fortress. This was the most impressive castle/fort I have visited. It is not a Palace by any means. It was built purely as a defensive fortification to protect the ruler. One of the interesting things I read is that it was never defeated. Though that is a little bit of a mis-statement. When Napoleon came to the area the fortress gave up with out a fight because the ruler realized that military innovations made the fortress obsolete. It was still a fascinating place to tour, and offered the best views of the city.

One of the biggest disappointments I have had traveling was in Salzburg. We all wanted to take a Sound of Music Tour. We had visions of dancing in the gazebo and running through the fields singing just like the movie. I am old enough to know NOT to have these preconceived ideas, but I had them anyway. Our tour guide was excellent, and we loved learning some of the trivia from the movie. Things like Christopher Plummer did NONE of the singing. He was also a bit of an ASS. Apparently, he did not like the little girl that played Gretl. She was so young, that she kept getting fed to keep her quiet on the set; so she gained a lot of weight. During the final scene when the Captain is carrying her over the mountains it was a stand in, because Plummer could not pick her up! We also learned that just like any movie BASED on a true story there is more fiction than fact. It turns out that the Captain was NOT being recruited by the German Navy after all. He was old! The family had already been touring Europe as a singing group for a few years. They left because Hitler wanted them to perform, and the Captain hated Hitler so much (kudos by the way) he decided the family should leave rather than perform for Hitler. Also, they left by train not hiking through the mountains. Which does make a lot more sense, because going through the mountains would have taken them into Germany, not Switzerland. 🙂

The tour was also disappointing because the only movie scenes we saw were 1) the church from the wedding 2) the garden from the do re mi song, and the lake where the boat tips over. We did see some of the sites from a LOOOOONG way off. but that was it. We are still not convinced we actually saw the gazebo. It too has been moved because the crowds were to much for the site. They moved the gazebo a few miles outside the city, and of course it is locked up, because some idiot tried to do the dance scene and couldn’t jump from bench to bench and got hurt. Honestly, the gazebo just looks like something you would buy at any home garden store!

The picture above is an example of what I mean. This was taken with the strongest zoom my iphone would capture! We were 3/4 of a mile away, and we simply drove by. The same thing happened in the field where Maria sang. We drove by the field, and the guide said ” and this is the field where Maria sang.” The problem is that all of the sites are privately owned, and so many tourists want to visit that the owners have cut off access. The picture below was our group at the lake where the boat scene was filmed. Way off in the distance, you can see the hotel where all the balcony scenes were filmed.

So my recommendation to you is that if you ever go to Salzburg skip the Sound of Music Tour. It is simply not worth it. Salzburg is an amazing small city on it’s own and is worth a visit! Our biggest adventure happened as we were trying to go from Salzburg to Munich.

Julie and I have traveled by train enough to know that while trains work great in Switzerland; sometimes they leave a lot to be desired in other countries. I convinced myself that we did not need to get a seat reservation for the trip to Munich. Even if the train was crowded it was only a 45 minute trip so we could stand if need be. This was A HUGE mistake on my part. We got our tickets just fine. It turned out the train was only 4 cars long. We got on the first car, and there were no available seats; so we went to car number 2. We found seats that were marked as reserved, but 2 minutes before the train was due to depart no one was there; so we went ahead and sat down. Of course for some reason the train was delayed and after 25 minutes the people that had the reservation showed up; so we were forced to stand. The train was delayed even more when one of the cars had to be emptied because the air conditioning was not working. This of course caused everyone on that car to try and pack in the remaining cars. The conductor made an announcement that if you were standing you needed to get off the train. Again, this has been a pretty common occurrence so we stayed in the car. Eventually it took off; so we thought we were good to go. We only rode about 15 minutes before the train stopped at a station in the middle of nowhere, and two police officers get on. The officers tell us that everyone standing has to get off, and there will be another train along soon.

I asked the officers and the conductor if the next train would have seats, but of course they did not know. I went into the office and asked what time time train would be coming, the number, etc… I was told it would come by in an hour, but this person also did not know if there would be a seat. So we waited. A train came finally, but the sign said it was going somewhere away from Munich. I talked to a German Soldier who was also trying to get back to Munich, and he called the station from the train and verified it was going to Munich. I will say the train company did this right. They diverted a train that was not in service to pick up all the people stranded, and they sent a train that was big enough for everyone to get on. So eventually we made it Munich!

My post is getting a little long so I am going to end it now, and will talk about Munich in my next post. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

30 Juni 2023

by George Sorrells, posted in General, HausmannLife

It has been a pretty low key week. I spent a lot of time cleaning the apartment since we are having visitors. The visitors won’t be around for long though. We will spend one day around Zürich then we head to the mountains for a few days. We finish up the visit in Salzburg and Munich.

My friend’s trip has not started off the best, however. They were flying from the US to Dublin, Ireland and then on to Zürich. They were supposed to be here about 7 hours ago, but the flight was delayed leaving the US; so they missed the connecting flight. It is pretty easy to tell that the summer holiday season is starting. The four of them then had to split up to actually get to Zürich. So I leave for the airport in a few hours to pick up two, and then about 2 hours later head back to the airport again for the next two.

It is just another example of why flying really is the worst. I realize that air travel has made it much easier to explore different countries, but the air travel experience just keeps getting worse and worse.

Last weekend was a good one though. I got the chance to see one of my cousins and her husband. I had not seen them for a couple of years even before we moved to Switzerland. Out of the blue she sent me a Facebook Message about what currencies she might need on her tour this summer. I found out she was going to be in a town about 80 kilometers away; so we made plans to meet for dinner. We had a really nice evening, and it was great catching up! I really hope she enjoys the rest of her tour.

Julie and I then decided since we were already going to be in the mountains we would go for a hike Sunday before we came home. We have finally figured out the Swiss method of rating their hiking trails. Easy means paved, gravel, or at least fairly level walking surfaces. Moderate means you really have to watch where you are walking there are very few level spaces on the trail, and if you are not watching closely it will be very easy to turn an ankle. Hard means NO stable walking areas. You are scrambling over and around obstacles, and for every meter you go forward, you might go .5 a meter in the wrong direction.

So when we looked for a hiking route, we looked for something about 3 – 5 miles, that was ranked easy. What I also should have looked at was the elevation change! It was easy walking, but it was a HARD hike. 🙂

We did have a good time and got some exercise in; so those were both good things.

Two last rambling thoughts

I am sitting here writing this staring at the Cuckoo clock we bought in Lausanne. I insisted that if we were going to buy one we had to buy a mechanical clock vs a quartz “fake” cukoo clock. I really like the clock, but getting it adjusted is going to drive me insane.

You see a real cuckoo clock is moderated by the pendulum. What I mean is that you adjust the pendulum to speed up or slow down the clock. There SHOULD be some kind of marking on the pendulum to show how many seconds are impacted every millimeter you change the weight. Unfortunately, there is nothing like that on the clock we bought. I figure I will NEVER get it exact, but I should be able to get it close enough that I do not have to adjust the minute hand every day, because the clock is losing or gaining 30 – 45 seconds every hour. I am getting close. I have it now where I only need to adjust the minute hand once per day, but even that is excessive.

The first week we had it I so so frustrated I contacted the company to see if they could tell me how much the speed changed every move the weight. They were very nice, but not any real help. They wanted to sell me a new pendulum that has a screw to hold the weight in place. You can be much more precise when you are turning a screw vs moving the the weight up and down which is how I have to do it. If I don’t get it figured out soon, I will probably bite the bullet and buy one.

My second thought is: Why are the bugs less of a problem here vs in the US? In the US we had screens on every window and door, and we had air conditioning so we did not leave doors and windows open all the time. Here no air conditioning, and the temperature the last week or so has been hovering near 80. Si we have windows and doors open everywhere. I do have some screens up but all of our doors have “walk through” screens and they do not close well, especially if the wind is blowing.

With that being said today I finally had to swat the first house fly. What is the difference? No way could I have left our doors open like this in Wisconsin, and we only have one fly. It boggles my mind.

Well that is about it for today. I won’t be writing anything next week, as we will be spending time with our friends; so I will see you in about two weeks.

Enjoy the pictures.

23 Juni 2023

by George Sorrells, posted in ExPat Life, General, Travel

Before I get into the travel/adventure section. I have to rant a little about life here in Switzerland. We got the “final” decision back from the insurance company telling us that Julie’s “accident” was not an accident. They instead are saying it was caused simply by her getting older. What I find most irritating about this is the insurance company quoted Swiss law as saying that an accident can only be caused by a strike. Meaning that you hit something, or that something hit you. I showed the insurance company that law where it says that a torn meniscus by itself is an accident, that a meniscus cannot simply tear without some sort of force, but that did not do any good. Even worse was that Julie’s surgeon who initially told us that he would work with us to fight the insurance company, decided to back down. He now says he will not assist us with another appeal. Of course at this point the only way we can appeal is to hire an attorney, and attorneys (just like everything else in this country) are a lot more expensive than back in the US.

I have decided that even with all the flaws of the US health care system, I prefer it to the Swiss system. One way that Switzerland olds down medical costs for the citizens is that companies are expected to pay for “accident” insurance. Everyone else is required to take out regular health care insurance. Well other than the very young, and the very old. Most medical expenses are caused by accidents. In fact, when Julie hurt her knee she was encouraged to report it as an accident. This would hold down our costs, because accident insurance does not require any co-pays or shared expenses. It also covers those costs in a more luxurious experience. Go back in February to when I wrote about her surgery and you will see what I mean.

So my beef isn’t just with the cost. If we had simply used our regular insurance from the beginning, we would have had to meet the deductible, and then pay 20% of the cost. Which is exactly what will happen now. What has me angry is that because the two systems work against each other, we now are going to have to pay for this all at once, instead of over the 9 months, that we thought the accident insurance would pay for things. What will really make me angry is if the hospital does bill us for the full private room experience. The insurance we pay for only covers a semi private room for the hospital stay. Even though she was only in hospital one night, that private room could wind up costing us 10000 francs more. We will wind up eating 100% of that, and that means some of the travel we wanted to do might be off the table.

On the bright side. Julie’s surgery really did help her. We went on a long hike over Father’s Day Weekend, and a year ago that would have not been possible. We did a lot of hiking the first few years we lived here, and I really hope that we will be able to pick that up again. Also on the bright side, we have the money to pay for it, it isn’t like we had no insurance at all. I simply think this is a very inefficient way of handling health care.

The Black Forest

The Black Forest, known as Schwarzwald in German, is located in southwestern Germany. Spanning over 6,000 square miles, it is renowned for its dense evergreen forests, charming villages, and stunning natural landscapes. The history of the Black Forest is intertwined with the cultural, economic, and environmental developments of the region, shaping its identity over the centuries.

The earliest evidence of human habitation in the Black Forest dates back to the thousands of years, with artifacts and cave paintings indicating the presence of prehistoric communities. During the Roman Empire, the region was part of the province of Germania, and the Romans established a network of roads and settlements, contributing to its integration into the wider Roman infrastructure.

In the early medieval period, the Black Forest was covered with dense woodlands, which played a crucial role in shaping the region’s history. The forests provided resources for timber, hunting, and gathering, and became the backdrop for various legends and folklore. The Celts and Germanic tribes inhabited the area, and the Roman influence gradually waned with the decline of the Roman Empire.

During the Middle Ages, the Black Forest experienced significant population growth and the emergence of several towns and villages. The region was ruled by various feudal lords and monastic orders, who sought to exploit its natural resources. Timber became a valuable commodity, and the Black Forest gained a reputation for its skilled woodworkers and carpenters. The production of wooden clocks, furniture, and musical instruments became important industries, leading to the establishment of numerous craft guilds.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Black Forest faced challenges brought by war and political changes. The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) devastated the region, leading to a decline in population and economic activity. However, the subsequent peace brought opportunities for recovery, and the Black Forest experienced a period of resurgence. The region benefited from the growth of trade and the flourishing textile industry, with many farmers engaging in cottage industry to supplement their income.

During the 19th century, the Black Forest witnessed significant changes due to industrialization and urbanization. The advent of steam power and the expansion of rail networks transformed the region’s economy and transportation system. Traditional handicrafts faced competition from mass-produced goods, leading to a decline in some sectors. However, the tourism industry began to flourish, as visitors from near and far were drawn to the Black Forest’s scenic beauty and fresh air.

The Black Forest also played a significant role in the development of the cuckoo clock industry. Originating in the 18th century, the clockmakers of the region crafted intricately designed timepieces that featured the iconic cuckoo bird. These clocks became highly sought after, and the Black Forest became synonymous with this unique form of horology.

In the 20th century, the Black Forest faced the challenges of two world wars. The region saw periods of economic hardship and political changes as Germany grappled with the aftermath of both conflicts. However, the post-war years brought stability and renewed focus on tourism, as the Black Forest continued to attract visitors seeking relaxation and natural beauty.

The Black Forest is a part of the world that we all have known about since we little kids. There are some very famous tales told about the Black Forest, but many in the US do not realize this, because we haven “Americanized” the stories. The four best known fairy tales (at least in the US) are: Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood , and Rumplestiltskin. One I had never heard until I bought a children’s book to help me learn German is The Water of Life.

We experienced one big difference between Switzerland and Germany. Normally when I am going on a hike, even a day hike I make sure I have a map of the area. Well in Switzerland I have not needed that. We have had cell phone coverage everywhere. Even on the most remote mountain hikes we have taken. So I became complacent. We started off with coverage but after about a mile and a half we lost the signal. Even worse, the trails are not marked nearly as well as in Switzerland. We never got lost, but I like being able to look at a map and know exactly where I am! I should probably start downloading the maps onto my cell phone. It really would make a lot of sense.

The picture above is the trail we took from my Garmin Watch. You can ignore the big blue BLOB by the Seebuckhütte. I forgot to turn it off, and as we were going by Julie realized the shops were open. Stores being open on a Sunday are just too big of a temptation!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

23 Juni 2023: Complaining about some of the problems with the Swiss Health Care System. Julie and I took a Father's Day Hike into the Black Forest. A little history (as usual) and some pictures.

31 Mai 2023

by George Sorrells, posted in General, HausmannLife, Travel

First off:

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag meiner kleinen Schwester Trisha Doyle!

Last weekend Julie and I went back to one of our favorite places. We spent the weekend up at the top of Mt Pilatus just outside Luzern. We have been to the mountain a couple of different times, because it is one of the places that almost every visitor wants to see. We even stayed up at the top the second fall we were here, and woke up to about 8 inches of snow on the ground. No snow this time, but it was still just as magical. Now a little history:

The mountain takes its name from Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who, according to tradition, sentenced Jesus Christ to death by crucifixion. According to a local legend, Pontius Pilate’s body was thrown into a deep and remote alpine lake near the mountain, and his ghost was believed to haunt the mountain.

Long before it was named after Pilate, the mountain was steeped in ancient myth and superstition. The early inhabitants believed that the mountain was inhabited by dragons, and stories of sightings and encounters are numerous, feeding the mystique of this majestic peak. The notion of dragons living in the mountain caves was so strong that in the early 19th century, the government of Lucerne even banned ascents to prevent disturbing these legendary creatures.

The first successful recorded ascent of Pilatus was in 1585 by Jost Burgi, a Swiss clockmaker, mathematician, and astronomer. However, the mountain remained relatively inaccessible to the general public until the 19th century. That changed in 1889, with the construction of the Pilatus Railway, the steepest cogwheel railway in the world. This monumental feat of engineering transformed the mountain, making it a popular tourist destination. The railway was initially steam-powered but was converted to electric operation in 1937, making the trip up the mountain more accessible and less environmentally impactful.

Despite its relatively modest height of 2,128 meters (6,982 feet), Mount Pilatus continues to captivate visitors with its stunning views, unique history, and legendary folklore. Its craggy peaks and deep valleys remain a symbol of the natural beauty and cultural richness of Switzerland. I think the view from the eastern side of the top plateau is one of the most beautiful views in Switzerland. This part of the grounds was closed off this visit, but this is a picture from October of 2020.

There is a type of mountain goat that lives on the mountain called the Alpine Ibex. We have looked for these goats every time we have visited and never saw any until this visit. After breakfast we went for a last walk and I happened to catch some movement out of the corner of my eye, and there was a family (Mom and three kids) just hanging out on the side of the mountain having breakfast. It was a fantastic ending to a great weekend!

I also learned last weekend, that I am approaching the “GET OFF MY LAWN” phase of life. I was very irritated about part of our stay. The hotel dining room has a dress code posted. Even though we were only going for a weekend, I packed a sport coat, dress shoes, etc… Julie did the same. On Friday night, the dress code was enforced. Every man had either a sport coat or sweater, every woman was dressed equally as nice. Saturday, however, was a different story. There were only two of us in the whole restaurant with a coat. The majority of people were in jeans, t-shirts, hiking apparel, or in one case pajama bottoms and an overly large sweatshirt.

You can see by the picture I wasn’t going to the Oscars, but I did dress a little better than normal for dinner. I was very irritated that people would ignore the dress code, and even more irritated that the restaurant went ahead and sat everyone. Don’t get me wrong. If there was not a published dress code, I would not have cared one iota. Of course I also would not have brought dress shirts and a sport jacket either. 🙂

One of the things we had not had a chance to visit was the play area about 1/2 way up the mountain. When you go to the top of Pilatus you have three means of transportation. You can take the train up one side of the mountain. (It was not running last weekend.). You can hike. (If you know my son ask him about this. He did it last summer!). You can take a gondola. This was our method of travel last weekend. Anyway, at the last gondola area before the top they have a wonderful play area. There is a rope course, a great playground, a zipline style ride, and a toboggan run. I have always wanted to go on one of the toboggan runs so last weekend was my chance.

The Dragon Glider and Toboggan Run

One final video. Another thing I had not been able to finish at Pilatus was the Dragon Way. This is a short trail around, over, and through the mountain. Please ignore the heavy breathing. I am an old, overweight man! I still had fun on the train, though!

Well that was our weekend. We are getting ready to visit Austria and Hungary this next week. We are driving through Germany and Austria to Vienna. We will be spending 4 days there, and then we drive further east to Budapest where we will spend another 4 days before driving back to Switzerland.

Enjoy the pictures.

2 June. 2022

by George Sorrells, posted in ExPat Life, General

MY SON TRIED TO KILL ME THIS WEEK!!!!

Elevation image of hike

This is only the 3rd time our son has been able to be here in the warmer months. The first time really doesn’t count, because he was only here for a few days, and his main task was to move his Mother out of the hotel and into our apartment. This time he has decided he wants to try some hiking. Last weekend he and Julie went on a lovely hike from our home to Uetliberg. It is a fun hike of about 9 kilometers. You hike over one ridge to a nearby town, take a gondola up the next ridge, and then it is a fairly level walk the rest of the way. He and Julie took the hike, while I went for a long bike ride. His second hike he wanted to do in the mountains. He decided to visit Seealpsee and Ebenalp.

I read up on the hike, and found that this is one of the most popular hikes in the country. At least the hike to Seealpsee is. Now most people doing this hike, take the graveled trail from the train station up to the lake. If people are doing the entire hike, most people take the gondola up to Ebenalp and then hike down. Not my son. He wanted to be Swiss. We drove to the train station, and then started going up, and up, and up. We got to the top of the first ridge, and I was “OK, that wasn’t that bad. It was hard, but I didn’t die. We will have a nice level walk to recover. Have some lunch, and since we are halfway up I should be OK.” Then I looked across the valley. As you can see from the elevation map when we leveled off, we were not 1/2 way up, we were only about 1/3 of the way up the mountain. We have some good pictures, but I also hope you enjoy the video I made by splicing together a bunch of TikToks. Ignore the heavy breathing toward the end of the video. I was EXHAUSTED!!

The hike was even harder because the day before I went on a pretty hard bike ride, that had over 1500 meters of climbs. My legs started tired, and they were pretty shaky at the end! If you look at the elevation picture, where the climb was the most steep I was only able to walk about 25-30 meters at a time. The trail at that point was nothing but steps and switchbacks. I basically went from switchback to switchback and took a two – three minute rest at each turn. The strangest part of the hike was near the end. You can see the restaurant we stopped for a breather. The restaurant is built into the side of the mountain.

I was a little concerned about how we were going to get from the restaurant up the top of the mountain. The trail started as a bridge built off the side of the cliff. I was a little worried that was going to be how the hike ended. I stumbled and fell hundreds of feet down! However, after a few hundred yards the trail came to a cave. You actually hike through the cave to get up to the field at the top of the mountain for the gondola ride back down. The change in temperature was very striking. We were very comfortable up to the point we left the cave. I think the temperature was a good 15 – 20 degrees colder up at the top of the mountain versus the bottom. Thank goodness there was a building to wait for the gondola, or we would have gotten hypothermia.

Growing up on a cattle farm, I am still impressed with how the Swiss cows live on the mountains. When you look through the photo gallery. Look for a picture of 3 or 4 cows on the side of the mountain. The next picture is zoomed out to normal, and you can see the whole hillside. The cows actually make little terraces as they walk across the hill finding what little grass is available. It seems so strange to me, that the cows are able to find enough nourishment on the mountains, but I guess they have been doing this for hundreds and hundreds of years, so what do I know?

This weekend we are heading to Luxembourg. So I should have some more travel photos for next week’s post. Talk to you soon.

5 Juli 2021

by George Sorrells, posted in ExPat Life, Travel

Julie and I have been back for a couple of days now. We have learned, for us, it is better to come back from a vacation on a Saturday. That way we are able to get to the grocery store, and make sure we can eat on Monday morning. If we wait until Sunday to return, we have to make extra trips to downtown Zurich to get to a grocery store, and since the only place open is the train station or airport the stores are swamped.

Leaving Zermatt was a bit of a headache. The Zermatt/Gornergrat Marathon was running in the morning; so we had to wait about 15 minutes to cross the street to the train station. Thank goodness we left the hotel early. For my runner friends, this one might interest you. It is basically 26 miles uphill. Zermatt is the 1/2 way point of the marathon so once you run through a town, you literally run the side of a mountain to the finish line. The race starts at 8:00 AM, and the course does not close until almost 4:00; so you have almost 8 hours to complete the race. They have cut off stations at three different points. If you do not make the cut off times, you are asked to stop running. We hiked a good portion of the course, and we were going downhill. I can not even fathom trying to run UP the course.

On Friday evening, we actually met someone new for the first time since we moved here. (Outside of work, that is.). I had put up a Tik Tok earlier in the week, and someone posted they were going to be in Zermatt for the weekend. On a whim I asked if she wanted to meet for drinks. I realized immediately how “stalkerish” that sounded, so I sent another message saying Julie would be there as well. Then I realized “Oh Great, she now thinks we are swingers.” I guess I did not come across as badly as I thought, because she sent me a message saying,”My husband and I would love to get together.” So I made a reservation at a Tapas restaurant where we could also watch the “Nati” (Swiss National Soccer Team) play. It turned out to be a great dinner. The four of us had a lot in common. They live just across the lake; so we already have another dinner planned in July! George and Kaylee think we are pretty strange for meeting someone off the internet. I was counseled by my children to be careful. I admit, it did go against everything I have ever talked to students about when we were discussing internet safety, but we had a wonderful evening.

We had some great hiking before we came home. On Thursday, we walked across the second longest pedestrian suspension bridge. It is the Charles Kuonen Hängebrücke (Suspension Bridge). The bridge was the longest in the world until this spring. The Kuonen bridge is 494 meters long. In Portugal, just about two months ago, a bridge opened that is over 500 meters. I have to tell you, though, when you are standing at one end looking across to the other it seems like it is much farther.

This was by far the most challenging hike we made. We started with a 20 minute train ride to the town of Randa. Then we hiked 1000 meters up, crossed the bridge, and hiked 1000 meters back down to the town. The downhill was not any easier than the uphill portion. The uphill portion had a pretty good trail, but it was UP!! The down hill side was over rockslides, and parts of the trail were literally going straight down the mountain. There were a couple of spots, we just sat down, and slid.

I think my favorite hike was Wednesday. We took the train to the top of Gornegratberg, where we found another bucket list item. There is a hotel right at the top, that we need to stay in for a weekend. Then we hiked down the mountain.

We found a great spot to have a fondue lunch. It was right above the lake, and we had a wonderful view of the Matterhorn.

fondue

We wound up staying here a lot later than we should have. We kept waiting for the clouds to completely clear the mountain, and for the wind to stop blowing. In the picture of the mountain, you can just see the edge of the lake what the reflection would look like if the wind were not blowing. Unfortunately, the wind never stopped; so we did not get the picture we really wanted. Oh well, I guess that means we have to go back.

Julie learned that mountain bikers are a little bit different on this hike. After we passed the stop at Riffelberg, the trail becomes about 18 inches wide. One side is the mountain wall, the other is basically wide open spaces. I mean you wouldn’t “Fall” but you would certainly tumble about 400 feet before you stopped. We had a few mountain bikes go by us, and Julie was sure we would find them crumpled and broken at the bottom of the climb.

Our last hike started with a gondola ride up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. We went up there in February, but we both wanted to visit again. There is year around skiiing here. Between Switzerland and Italy there are over 20 KM of ski trails that are open almost 365 days per year. It was pretty wild, watching all the skiers. We then took the gondola down to Scharzsee and hiked the rest of the way down the mountain.

Scharzsee Hotel

If you look really close in the picture you will see the moon shining behind the Matterhorn. The moon is light, but you can find it on the lower right side of the mountain. This hike was notable because of the big herd of sheep grazing on the mountain side.

black faced sheep

The best part of hiking in Switzerland is that every hike somehow had a bar very near the end. We were able to relax with a cold beer after every single hike! I cannot recommend that ending enough.

I am pretty sure I have said this before, but the mass produced beer is SO SO SO MUCH better than back in the US. Even better when you are hot sweaty and tired after hiking 5 or 6 miles. There are the specialty beers here as well, but honestly I do not taste much difference between the two countries. But the differences between Feldschlössen, Cardinal, Appenzeller to Budweiser, Miller and Coors are vast. I truly understand now why european beer drinkers think american beer tastes like water. Don’t even get me going on lite beers. They might exist here, but I am not really sure. I do not ever remember seeing any. :).

Well that is about all for this post. I will have one more this week. I took a lot of video, and I have some video of us crossing the bridge, and also of the gondola ride up to the Glacier Paradise. I also took the liberty of speeding them up. For example the gondola ride is 35 minutes long in real time. I sped it up to a minute and a half. It is quite the trip!

I hope you have a great week, and I will see you soon. If you like my blog please put your email address in the block below, and click subscribe. You will get email reminders when I post.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the pictures. There are a lot of them:

29 Juni 2021

by George Sorrells, posted in ExPat Life, Travel

Julie and I came to Zermatt right before the world shut down. It was our first winter in Switzerland, and we decided we wanted to go skiing in the Alps. There was talk about the virus in China, and they had just announced some cases in Italy. Wow Julie and I thought it would be fitting to come back as the world opens back up. We are spending a week here hiking and relaxing. When we go back home; Julie has to start going back into the office, and she has about six weeks of incredibly long days ahead. The annual filing has to be completed by mid August; so she gets a breather before the marathon starts.

I think Julie would agree with this. Out of all the places we have visited, in Switzerland, we like Zermatt the best. The town is very different from when, we visited last, however. I thought it might be virus related, but our waiter last night was saying that summer is a lot slower than the winter, Many of the hotels are actually closed right now. We do not feel like we are being overwhelmed by golf carts this visit. However, the scenery is fantastic. The food is unbelievable! The hiking trails have a wonderful mixture between easy and strenuous. It is also very easy to get here. It is about the same driving or the train. We opted for the train this time, as Julie does not like the mountain passes. Maybe our next visit I can convince her to let us drive.

We have lucked out with the weather. Last week, the prediction was storms all day every day this week. So far, today has been the only bad day. Every other day, the rain held off until late. We have been able to hike every day; so we feel very Swisslike!

We started off with a pretty hard hike. It was over 6 miles long. Thank goodness most of it was downhill. We talked to the desk person at the hotel, so we could buy gondola tickets, and she told us to take the hike backwards. Thank goodness we did. The hike was 5 miles downhill, and then 1 mile uphill. If we had done it the “right” way, it would have been 1 mile downhill, and then 5 miles uphill.

I have to talk to my friends Mike and Steve, for when they come visit next year. I found a fly fishing excursion that takes us to one of the lakes we hiked near. It is a private lake, but I could see the trout swimming! The excursion includes all the gear we need and licenses. We can let the ladies relax in town, while go fish for two days! Let me know what you think. Price wise it is a steal for Switzerland! Plus from the picture below, you can’t beat the views.

Fishing lake!

The other benefit of taking the hike backwards is that after 1/4 mile hike up the mountain you come to a bar; so you can rest and have a drink before continuing.

After the hike I had bit of a panic. I thought I had lost my sunglasses on the train coming down the mountain. I looked all over the hotel room and could find nothing. I kept thinking of the thousands of dollars I was going to have to spend on new glasses. The next morning, though I found them. The glasses case had fallen down in between the mattresses of the bed. That is one thing I will never get used to over here. You almost never find a queen or king sized bed. It is always two twin beds pushed together. Sometimes they will be in the same bed frame, but not always.

Our hike the next day was much easier. We hiked about 5 miles from Zermatt to Täsch. We cheated though, and took the train back instead of hiking! We also learned how the “rich”people vacation here. They rent a chalet way up on the mountain, and hire a helicopter to take them and all their gear up the mountain. The group we saw took 4 trips. 1 trip for the people, and then 3 more trips for the gear and food. From just the cases of wine I saw on the sling loads, these people are going to be living REALLY good this week.

I have decided that whoever has put the time estimates together for the hikes is on crack or meth. Maybe the estimates are ok, if you are walking as fast as you can, and you do not care about looking at the beauty that surrounds you. For example, the hike from Zermatt to Täsch is supposed to only take an hour and a half. That would mean you are walking at about a 20 minute per mile pace. Maybe a little slow on flat paved ground, but probably about right if you are going as fast as you can walk on trails. It took Julie and I almost 2 1/2 hours, of course we stopped and took pictures, or just gazed at the waterfalls.

This morning (Tuesday) we had a small unplanned adventure. Today the forecast is for rain all day. There was a little break in the clouds after breakfast; so we thought we would just take a quick walk around town, before the rains started. We walked down by the river, and saw a sign for the Gornerschlucht (Corner Gorge) and thought we would check it out. We hiked back and up to the gorge, and THEN we saw the sign advertising the price to go through. Well, we were already back there, the rain was holding off, and the price was only $5 (cheapest thing I have found living here). We were both really glad we went back there. It was beautiful. Our short walk turned into almost a 4 mile hike, as the gorge was one way, and then we had to hike around until there was another bridge across the river. :). We had a great time, even though the heavens opened up a couple of different times. Our city shoes got a little muddy, but other than that no problems!

We made it back to the hotel, before the heavens really opened up; so we are going to spend the rest of the day just relaxing. I am furiously typing away at this post; so we can go sit at the pool the rest of the afternoon!

Zermatt is again showing itself to be wonderful place to vacation. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear the weather will cooperate so we can go way up into the mountains like we did when we were skiing. It just doesn’t make sense to pay for the gondola ride, when you are not going to get the views. Hopefully the weather predictions will be false, because I really would like to go back up again.

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That is about all for now. I hope this finds you well. Enjoy the pictures. I will have some video to add next week. That will give me something to do once Julie goes back to work!