Lausanne

We had a pretty laid back day today.  We started with a stroll in Lausanne past the cool Hotel DeVille.  Then we walked up a pretty good hill to the Cathedral of Notre Dame which was built in the 1200's as a Catholic church but was taken over by the Protestants during the reform.  The stained glass windows were fantastic as was the architecture.  The views of Lake Geneva and the Alps were also breathtaking.  Lausanne is the capitol of the Olympic Committee, so we went to the Olympic Museum.  The museum I wanted to see was closed today.  It was a collection of art composed by criminals and mentally disturbed people.  I guess I will just have to come back to see that!!

This is one of the fountains in the city.  The water is drinkable.

Gargoyle at Hotel DeVille

View of Lausanne, Lake Geneva, and Alps

St. Francios Church, built in the 1300's

Side view of Notre Dame

Inside Notre Dame

Moses

Jesus and the Last Supper

Quite the manhole cover!

Typical Office building

What??

Lake Geneva from the Olympic Museum

Montreux and Lausanne

We traveled from Zermatt to Lausanne via train this moring.  One highlight was the waterfall below.  The definite low light was ugly naked guy on his balcony (NO JOKE!!)  It was raining, so the scenery was subdued.  We passed Lake Geneva in Montreux.  After checking in to our hotel, we went back to Montreux to tour the Chillion Castle.  It was run by the Savoy family until they were taken over by the Bernise.  The Savoys went on to rule Italy until WWII.  The castle was neat.  The scenery would be spectacular on a sunny day, but we enjoyed it none the less.

Of Course we would find the cellar!!

Wouldn't this furnace look cool in our addition?

Lake Geneva is 8 miles by 45 miles and can be up to 1000 ft deep!!

Zermatt

The Matterhorn from our hotel

Zermatt is pedestrian only

Oh yeah-Swiss Chocolate!!

Mount Rosa

I will catch up pics from the last couple of days, but I really wanted to get today's pics up.  We are in Zermatt, Switerland, home of the Matterhorn.  Today's weather was perfect.  Kathy put it best-we are at the top of the world with our best freiends in the world.  What could be better than that?  Most days I realize how lucky I am, but today really showcased that.  I think you will agree after seeing the pics.  I have not editted them and I was using the wide angle, so bear with me.

We are in Switzerland!

Hello!  We made it to Zurich with ease despite the fact that we(I) hit the panic button thanks to Hurricane Irene and complicated our flights.  Our biggest problem was the two very young children sitting behind us from Dallas to London that were miserable and cried and/or kicked the back of our chairs for 8 hours straight!  Anyway, our train ride from Zurich to Pontresina was beautiful.  Our friends were already here when we arrived and it was good to see them.

Today we rode the Bernina Express from St. Moritz to Tirino, Italy and back to Pontresina.  The morning ride was hampered by rain and fog.  We had a really nice lunch in Tirino and visited a couple of sites.  The weather cleared for the return so I hope the pics are better.  I wanted to tour St. Moritz, so we went back there prior to dinner.  As a result, I do not have pics to post but will do so asap.

Tomorrow we will ride the Glacier Express from St. Moritz to Zermatt where we will spend the next two nights.  The train ride will take 7 1/2 hours, but the scenery should be spectacular.  Again, I will post pics asap.  Zermatt is home to the Matterhorn and with a little help from the weather, we hope to get pics to post here.

Good night all!  I will keep "posted" as much as I can!

Time for another trip!!

We have stayed home (or at least been within the state of Missouri!) this summer which is pretty unusual for us!!  We will be making up for lost travel miles shortly, though!  We leave August 30 for our European adventure!  We will spend 9 days in Switzerland, starting in Zurich.  We will be riding 3 scenic trains through the Alps crossing much of Southern Switzerland and touching into Italy briefly.  Our Alpine adventure will continue into Bavaria starting a two week trek across Germany.  We will visit several cities by car (with Wayne driving-YIKES!!), train, and boat on the Rhine and Mosel Rivers.  It is our hope to spend a few hours in Austria and hopefully go to my favorite tiny country, Liechtenstein!  Our final destination will be in Munich for the famed Oktoberfest celebration.  Our accomplices for this trip are our long time friends, Ken and Kathy King and Fred and Jan Shipman.  A grand time will be had by all!