Liechtenstein & Innsbruck, Austria

Mon, Aug 24th 2015
Today, sadly, we left Bern, Switzerland. We drove an hour & a half to a rest stop. There was a shopping center with a XXX store. Yikes! The stuff they had in the window! Oh my. At home, that kind of stuff would be "in the back" or at least out of plain view. Heehee!
We drove another hour & a half to the country-within-a-country, Liechtenstein. It is its own country but kind of part of Switzerland. They use Swiss francs & the Swiss military protect them. It was nice to walk around for 1 1/2 hours. Most people got lunch. I walked around & took pics, shopped a little & got some hazelnut ice cream. There's a castle there for a Habsburg descendant. It's way up on a mountain & they actually live there. Down the street was a church that was really beautiful.

Saw a Newfie!

I love church doors!

I found this gargoyle behind the church. It must have broken off.

Lit candles for Mom & Dad

 



On the way back, Hope was yelling for me. "They have a Bernese Mountain Dog pulling a cart in that toy store!" Now, I have to say that I had the whole group on the lookout for me for Berner stuff. At first, someone would exclaim, "Jes! Jes! There's a Bernese Mountain Dog thing over there!" I'd look & say, "that's a Saint Bernard!". Just a little bit later, someone else would say the same thing & again I'd reply, "Saint Bernard!". So when Hope told me this, I didn't get my hopes up too high. I said, "Is it black?", she said, "Yea!". WOOHOO! I speedwalked to the shop to check it out. Funny, because I saw the shelf with the wooden critters when I was in that store earlier but my eyes passed it over because I already bought 2 wooden Berners. I never saw the one pulling the cart! It was so cute. It even has a milk bottle in it. Gimme 2! Michelle's gonna owe me a lot of money, haha! She told me to get 2 of everything & I am! I even found super cool peacock wallets for us.



We got back on the bus & drove another 2 hours or more to Innsbruck, Austria (Western Austria). YAY! More huge mountains, chalets, cows & beautiful scenery. The Hotel Innsbruck is right in the heart of the "Old Town". We met up with a local woman tour guide, Angelica. She was petite but such a pip! We went with her & rode up a mountain to a lookout point over the city. We saw the huge ski jump they built for the Olympics! Innsbruck has hosted the Olympics twice & they're hosting the Children's Olympics this coming winter. Then we followed her on a walking tour of the old city part. We wore those "whispers" to hear her talk as we walked around. It almost looks medieval in the architecture. Angelica was so funny. There were tons of Asian tourists all over the place. We had to cross an intersection & there was a mob of Asians across the street. She said to us (in our whisper ear buds), "So many Asians! They're small but they're fast. So we have to be faster! Ok, ready? Let's GO!", then we crossed the street & tried not to get lost in the crowd. HAHA!

Bus ride to Innsbruck

walking tour

Olympic ski jump!

Freddy Krueger? We thought this was funny

View from up on the mountain near the ski jump

old shooting stations

 walking tour with Angelica

famous "Golden Roof"

I went with the Tennessee girls to dinner. It was so great! We ate out on a terrace but they had awning type covers for the wind. I got a dish called Hauspfad'l or something close to that. It was pork tenderloin, green beans with bacon & dumplings. It was terrific! Then I HAD to try the Kaiserschmarren for dessert. That's the dish that sounded exactly like our eggie-stuff that I grew up on & still eat. Holy guacamole= it IS just like it! What made it even better was I got a jar of spiced, stewed plums to eat with it. OH MY WORD. We have to have it like this from now on! I was in Heaven. I told the waiter that I grew up on this stuff but we called it something different. He told me the story of how it got its name. he asked a waitress what "schmarren" was in English & she said, "uhhhh, nonsense". Apparently the Kaiser's wife loved this dish & asked to have more of "this nonsense". Therefore...Kaiserschmarren. It's basically pan fried, scrambled pancake batter. YUMMO!
We were all pretty wiped out. It was a long day of traveling. A couple of us walked to the Inn river close by & peeked in a shop. Most stores were closed because it's late now. Time for bed!

Our table number was 42! How appropriate for me...

Kaiserschmarren aka "eggiestuff"!

Inn river

This was in a store front window. The whole picture is made up of tiny little pictures of tushies! (and more) How original! heehee

You can see all the individual pictures here~ ;)

 



I'm an Alpine Girl for sure

Sun, Aug 23rd 2015
 Oh man, what a day AGAIN! Every day is as spectacular or even better than the last!
But ooooh baby- I just found Les Miserables on tv! I didn't want to be up late again but I might now!
So today we rode the bus about 1 1/2 hrs to Lucerne, Switzerland. It's a bigger city with some amazing sights. We saw the famous Lion Monument. It's a huge lion lying down carved into a massive stone wall. It has a broken spear in it with a shield of the coat of arms from Switzerland & France. It's a tribute to 700 fallen Swiss military from the French Revolution. The inscription around it says, "To the loyalty & virtue of the Swiss". Interesting story Steve told us= apparently the sculptor didn't get paid so he altered the carving somewhat. If you look closely at the edge (outline) of the lion you'll see the profile of a pig!



Our guide, Steve, took us on a walking tour through town, over the famous Chapel Bridge. It's so old & beautiful, filled with flowers on the sides & a water tower in the middle. There were lots of very old paintings on the trusses up above (inside the bridge). Some were damaged by a fire years ago.

Steve also walked us around town & pointed out some highlights. These painted buildings looked so cool! Plus I loved this little girl carrying a stuffed Berner!

 





During our free time, a few of us walked up to the remains of the old city wall. We also climbed up the one tower-holy moley-LOTS of steps! But the view of the city was incredible!! Wowee-the pictures I got were great. Lake Lucerne is right there so it looked so amazing. If we had more time, it would have been great to take a boat tour on the lake.

Reda & I saw this sign in a bathroom. We couldn't stop laughing! Who does that???





Before we got back to the bus I got some awesome hazelnut ice cream again! Giancarlo, our bus driver, yelled at me for bringing it on the bus but then waved me off ok cuz we had to go. I promised him I wouldn't leave a drop! I guess he cares a lot about his bus!
We then drove to Mount Pilatus. Oooooh-was this exciting! Going there, we could see a HUGE mountain with a building way up at the tippee top. Steve said we were going up there. WOW! We got off the bus in town & got on to a platform to take a cog train up the mountain.
It was crazy cool!! Like going up a steep hill on a roller coaster but going up, up, up, higher & higher for about 40 minutes! I should have videotaped all of us going, "WOW! WOW! WOW!".

Starting here

Ending here!





We passed some cows way up there. I think we were all surprised to see them up that high. We also were surprised to see hikers. It was funny. We're like, " There's people! People? Yea, people!" Holy Hanna, I can't imagine hiking up that mountain. We were 7,000' high!



We got out to an observation area with 2 hotels, a restaurant & gift shop. I climbed up to a lookout point- lots of steps! I was huffing & puffing. Saw incredible panoramic views from up there. Just spectacular!! I said to Reda, "let me take your picture". Then I said, "Where's Jay? I'll get the 2 of you together". She says, "I don't know, where did he go?" I said, "I don't know. Yodel for him!" So she DID! And he comes walking out from behind something, right on cue! It was hysterical!!!

Jay & Reda

 

Check out the switch back trail for hikers!



I walked/climbed up another path next to that one & got a different perspective. I loved the cows! They actually do wear the cowbells. They all sounded like wind chimes together. It was so cool.
Then I walked over to a different, higher lookout point. A couple guys from our group were just coming down & said, "it's worth it!". Holy crap were there a lot of steps. Jeez-o-lu. I had to pause to catch my breath. But it was so worth it! Just spectacular views. Absolutely amazing! Surprisingly, it wasn't that cold up here, just a little windy.

I'm so in love with my zoom on my camera! I couldn't believe how close I could get to this church. I zoomed in & saw the couple & then zoomed WAY close to get the next shot. I couldn't believe it when it looked like the guy is pointing right at me! Yes, that's how far away it was. In case you want to know, I have a Nikon Coolpix 600. (that's the church in the middle-the little white dot)

 

 

 





When we were all finished, we rode gondolas back down. How cool!! It was like the longest, highest, biggest sky ride or ski lift you ever saw. It was so quiet & smooth. No worries at all! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Tennessee Girls!

Going down into the abyss

Audrey & Penny

 me & Steve, our tour manager

Swiss Stone Pines



Giancarlo met us at the bottom. It was an extra long ride home. There was a lot of traffic. I fell asleep for a while. My head was bobbing & I'm sure I was catching some flies. We had to push back dinner cuz we were so late.
I changed into my dirndl dress. I brought it along & asked Steve if it was appropriate to wear. He suggested tonight's dinner at the Kornhaus Keller restaurant would be good. I doubted wearing it because it was raining but Reda & Jay really wanted to see it. Everyone went nuts over it! I came off the elevator in the hotel lobby to a bunch of cheers. Some wanted to take my picture, it was funny.



We walked nearby to the restaurant. It looked very old, historic & SO beautiful. Our waitress loved my dress. She actually said she was jealous! She wore several at a past job but not anymore & she misses wearing them. How about that?
Dinner was great. I had salad & minced beef with pasta with applesauce on it. It looked like Hamburger Helper. It was good! I put cheese on 1/2 & the applesauce on the other half. YUM! For dessert, we all got the Kornhaus variety of little cakes. Good stuff!

Now I have to pack. We're leaving at 8am for Innsbruck, Austria. First, we'll stop at Liechtenstein (which is its own country).
Now that I just watched Les Mis & bawled my eyes out, it's time for bed at 1am. Yikes! Let's hope the couple above me won't be going at it like wild rabbits like they did last night! Woohoo!