Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
January 13th, 2010
Continued from 3.5 Weeks in Thailand and Laos – Part 1
Koh Phangan, Thailand
From Bangkok we traveled the cheap, backpacker way and took the overnight bus to a ferry to get to Koh Phangan. The bus was surprisingly comfortable and we both were able to get some sleep. This 12ish hour journey only cost 600 baht each (~$18).
In Koh Phangan, we went back to Haad Rin, where we had been 4 years earlier on our RTW trip. For people that know Emily and I, this may seem like a surprising choice since Haad Rin is best known for its crazy full moon parties on the beach. We weren’t there for the parties, it was just nice to go back to someplace familiar; plus Koh Phangan has decent beaches, beautiful sunsets, and most importantly – delicious chicken schnitzel! We are both obsessed with these delicious non-Thai treats. Almost everyday we would go to “Mama’s Schnitzel” for lunch where we would get a chicken schnitzel sandwich and a fruit shake (coconut, pineapple, and orange). The sandwich is very basic – a bun with fried chicken, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and sweet chili sauce – but it is amazingly delicious. I wish Mama Schnitzel would franchise and open up in the US/Switzerland!
Most of our time in Koh Phangan was spent relaxing on the beach or sharing a Chang beer while watching beautiful sunsets. We took one day trip to Koh Samui to extend my visa (apparently when you cross the border via car or train you only get a 15 day Thai visa as opposed to 30 days when you enter by plane…). We also took a longtail boat over to Hat Yao one afternoon, where I proposed to Emily. (She said yes!)
Koh Tao, Thailand
We took the short ferry from Koh Phangan to Koh Tao to get a change of scenery and to meet up with our friend CK. On Koh Tao, we headed to Hat Sairee and were lucky to find a good, cheap, basic bungalow right on the beach. Our first choice was all booked (as many places were since this was just a few days before Christmas) but they had room left at Crystal Dive Resort. Our bungalow was very basic – just a wooden shack with a bed, a fan, and a bathroom, but it was all that we needed and it was right on the beach.
In Koh Tao we met up with our friend CK and her friend Ty. (We had recently seen CK when we visited her in London a month earlier). CK and Ty stayed on a different beach than us, Mae Haad, but we met up with them everyday on the beach and for dinner. It was a lot of fun to see some familiar faces and hang out with them.
Koh Tao is famous for its scuba diving. I did some dives here on the RTW trip back in 2005 and was excited to get back in the water. Since I hadn’t been diving since 2005, I decided to take the PADI refresher course at Seashell Divers. The refresher course consists of a brief classroom session (~30 minutes) and reviewing all of the 20 skills from the Open Water certification in the pool. I remembered how to do everything right away, but I felt more comfortable after taking the refresher course. The next two mornings I went on double dives, so I did 4 dives total. The first day we dove Green Rock followed by White Rock. Green Rock has some nice swim-throughs but is otherwise rather disappointing. White Rock has a lot more diversity of fish and coral, and I really enjoyed that dive. The next day, which happened to be Christmas Eve, we went out to Chumphon Pinnacle first, where I had an amazing dive. We saw at least 8 bull sharks that were each 6-8 feet long. Even besides the sharks, there were lots of other stuff to see including huge schools of fish and tons of sea anemones. This was by far the best dive of the trip. My final dive was back at Green Rock and was nice and long but otherwise unmemorable.
We spent Christmas on the beach in Koh Tao. It felt very strange to be away from home and in 90 degree weather for xmas, but at least there were enough tourists and expats that we saw lots of Santa hats and heard some Christmas carols playing. On Christmas morning, Emily and I filled stockings for each other, mostly with cheap Thai trinkets. We both put a lychee instead of the traditional orange at the end of the stocking (well, traditional in my family at least).
From Koh Tao, we took another ferry and overnight bus back to Bangkok. We only had a day in Bangkok before we had to head back to the airport where Emily flew back to Zurich and I flew to the USA (I couldn’t go back to Switzerland due to the visa issues). Overall, it was an amazing trip. It felt like we were gone forever. Long enough to forget which day of the week it is, which I think is the sign of a good vacation. Now it is back to reality…
All Thailand photos on Flickr
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January 13th, 2010
After my visa issues and stopover in Doha, it was on to Southeast Asia for 3 and a half weeks. I feel very fortunate to be able to say that this is not the longest vacation I have ever taken (3rd longest, I think). I spent 3 days in Laos and the rest of the time in Thailand. This was my 3rd time visiting Thailand – its combination of beautiful beaches, great food, friendly people, and cheap prices makes it one of my favorite countries in the world.
Vientiane, Laos
I arrived in Bangkok on December 6th with one night reserved in Bangkok and no other set plans. I was on my own until Emily arrived five days later on December 11th. I decided to do a quick trip to Vientiane since Laos was the one place in SE Asia that I had still not been to yet, and I wanted to check it out.
To get to Vientiane you can either take an overnight bus, overnight train, or fly. I chose the overnight train from Bangkok to Nong Khai, followed by a quick train across the Friendship Bridge into Laos. Unfortunately, I made the bad decision to go 2nd class on the way there. The bed was fine but they left the lights on all night long so I didn’t get any sleep at all. So when I arrived, I was suffering from some serious “trainlag”.
Maybe it was due to my sleeping schedule being off or maybe because I got sick while I was there (cold), but Vientiane didn’t really impress me. I stayed in a cheap guesthouse near the river, or rather, near the riverbed. The Mekong river was extremely low (I assume just because of the season?) and it only filled about a third of the total riverbed. So instead of eating dinner overlooking the water, I had a rather unspectacular view of dirt. The food in Vientiane, however, wasn’t bad and was dirt cheap. I really enjoyed the chicken laap, a traditional Lao dish. Laap, or larb, is minced meat mixed with a lot of herbs and chilis and usually served with sticky rice.
I did get out and do some sightseeing in Vientiane one day. I took a tuk-tuk/jumbo to the Patuxai monument and then walked back from there. [Side note - negotiating with tuk-tuks is much more difficult in Laos than in Thailand because they are run like a cartel - the driver must get the price approved by the leader of the group before he can leave.] Patuxai, or “Victory Gate”, is Vientiane’s Arc de Triumphe. There is a funny story behind it; the US government gave Laos concrete to build a new airport in the 60s but the Laos government used it to build this monument instead, which is why it is often referred to as the “Vertical Runway”. After Patuxai, I also stopped by the Talat Sao market and the That Dam stupa.
Pictures from Laos on Flickr
Bangkok, Thailand
Emily and I met up in Bangkok, after she flew in from Zürich and I took the train back from Laos (1st class this time). We stayed in a guesthouse on Soi Rambutti, just off of the main backpacker strip of Khao San road. We had been there on our around-the-world trip so we were already familiar with the area. It is a bit crowded and chaotic there which was fun for a couple days, but then we were both ready to get out of Bangkok and down to the islands.
We did manage to get away from Khaosan road a couple times. One night we took a tuk-tuk to the flower market, and another night we went to Chinatown and ate dinner at T&K Seafood, which had been recommended to us by a friend. We ate outside on the crowded sidewalk and had a great meal. I had the crab curry and Emily tried the sweet chili fish. Both were great. Emily also ate a couple of the biggest oysters I have ever seen in my life. Even after cutting them in half, they were still enormous.
Continue to 3.5 Weeks in Thailand and Laos – Part 2
All Thailand photos on Flickr
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January 3rd, 2010
On my way from Zürich to Bangkok (about a month ago), I managed to fit in a short stopover in Doha to visit my friend Josh Weiner and his wife, Stephanie. I wanted to stay longer but the best I could arrange was to arrive at 6:30pm and leave at 8:00am the next morning. When I booked the trip, I didn’t realize that Saturday night in Qatar is like our Sunday night since the weekend is Friday/Saturday instead of Saturday/Sunday. Oops. Even though it was a very short visit, it was still great to get the chance to see a new country and catch up with old friends.
Josh and Stephanie picked me up at the airport and took me to the old Souk, where we got an amazing dinner of Lebanese food at Le Gourmet. Then they drove me through downtown Doha and past all of the Qatar foundation buildings, where Stephanie works. Afterwards, we went back to their villa and had a couple drinks on the balcony. The drinking laws are very strange in Qatar – as I understand it, only hotels are allowed to sell alcohol and only expats and tourists can buy it. And expats must get a special license to buy alcohol to drink at home too. They obviously have a very different attitude toward alcohol in Qatar than in the USA or Europe (or anywhere else I’ve ever been).
In many ways Doha reminded me of Dubai – lots of huge highrises, everything under construction, and surrounded by desert (plus both are Arabic speaking, Muslim countries). Like Dubai, Doha seems like a booming city with lots of money. Qatar is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but I was surprised to learn that they get most of their money from natural gas, not oil. I was also surprised to learn that there is no income tax in Qatar.
Although almost everything in Doha is new and modern, much of the city still feels rather temporary or unfinished. For example, the villa where Josh and Stephanie live is very nice but there is no paved road to get to it (and no plans to ever pave it). After turning off the main road, you have to drive offroad on the dirt to get to the building. Also, I heard that it is a common practice in Doha to tear down relatively new buildings (1-2 years old) to make room for new construction.
The traffic is crazy in Doha. They have the biggest, scariest roundabouts I have ever seen in my life. Seriously, we are talking about 4 to 8 lanes of cars, nobody paying any attention to lane markers, and people diving across all the lanes to exit from the innermost lane. Crazy.
Finally, I was surprised to see so many US and western companies in Doha. I saw far more international chain restaurants and retail stores in Doha than in Zürich. I even saw some smaller chains such as The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in addition to the bigger ones you may more likely expect like Dunkin Donuts.
Pictures from Doha on Flickr
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December 31st, 2009
[After a nice, long vacation in Thailand, I am back in the USA. I've been putting off writing this blog post both because I was upset when it first happened and because I just wanted to relax on the beach for awhile before dealing with it again. But now the time has come to revisit this issue and catch up on lots of blog posts.]
Unfortunately, the great Swiss visa saga of 2009 continues. When I was leaving Switzerland on December 5th to go to Thailand, I was stopped at passport control. I was prepared for this inevitable event with a detailed spreadsheet of all of my travels for the year to show that I have stayed within the legal limits of my tourist visa by only staying in Switzerland for 90 days out of 180. Unfortunately, although I had been careful to follow the rules, I had been given bad advice by a Swiss lawyer so my accounting was inaccurate. The actual rule is that I can stay 90 days out of 180 in ALL SCHENGEN AGREEMENT COUNTRIES, not just in Switzerland. So even though I was in CH for less than 90 days, I had been in Schengen countries for 101 days, meaning I had overstayed my tourist visa by 11 days. Doh!
So back to the passport control at the airport. They noticed that I had overstayed my visa and sent me into a back office with another police officer. They locked me in a large room with one older woman who was bawling and apologizing profusely for overstaying her visa by over 90 days. I had to explain my situation to the (very nice) officer and fill out a form. Then I had to pay a fine of about 250 CHF, but luckily since I was about to miss my flight, the officer accepted the 60 CHF that I had in my wallet as full payment. Then I had to sign another form that basically said I acknowledge that Switzerland/Schengen area may deny me entry in the future because of this incident. However, the officer said that since I had only a minor violation that this would probably not be an issue for me. So let’s all keep our fingers crossed that I am not permanently banned from Europe…
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November 24th, 2009
Just 24 hours after we had returned from Berlin, I went back to the airport and left for Copenhagen and London. Emily had to go to London for work, and since I am currently unemployed, I decided to tag along. I used up some of my frequent flier miles to get an (almost) free flight. Since I was using a reward ticket, I couldn’t get a direct flight and had to connect in Copenhagen. And since I had never been to Copenhagen, I decided to stop there for a free 24 hour layover on the way to London.
Copenhagen, Denmark
I only had one day to explore Copenhagen so I obviously couldn’t see or do everything. I stayed in a hotel just south of the train station and spent the majority of the day walking from there all the way across town up to the Little Mermaid statue and back. I really liked all of the pedestrian areas in the city center, especially Strøget which is supposedly the longest pedestrian street in the world. Copenhagen also seemed very bike friendly, and I thought the bike infrastructure was even better than Amsterdam (although I admittedly didn’t ride a bike in either city). One other thing that I noticed was the city’s obsession with climate change (it was hard to miss). There were exhibits in the airport and all over the city about climate change. After I left I found out that the UN Climate Change Conference was taking place in Copenhagen a few weeks after I left.
Unfortunately, though, it was not the ideal time to visit Denmark. The weather was cold and lightly raining the whole time I was there. Also, the Tivoli Gardens were closed (they reopened with Xmas lights a week later), the quaint Nyhavn harbor was deserted, and the sun set at 4 pm. After visiting Norway when there was still snow on the ground in March and Copenhagen when it was cold and rainy in November, I’m going to implement a new policy of only visiting Scandinavia in the summer from now on. Lesson learned.
Pictures from Copenhagen on Flickr
London, UK
From Copenhagen I flew to London and met Emily there. We spent the first night in Richmond, near her office, and then spent the next 2 nights at a friend’s apartment near Earl’s Court. CK somehow managed to be a great host and take us all over the city despite getting steadily more and more sick as the weekend progressed. Thanks again, CK!
On Friday night we met up with some people on Carnaby Street, which was a part of London that I had never seen before. The Christmas lights were already up and it seemed like a nice area. We all ate dinner at Cha Cha Moon, which was very good and a similar style to Wagamamas. On Saturday we went to the Borough Market, which was amazing. It is probably my favorite place in London. There is a ton of great food to eat there: our favorites were the scallops, the raclette grilled cheese, fresh ravioli, and oysters (according to Emily). The ribeye sandwich, chorizo sandwich, brownies, and turkish delight were also quite good (did I mention that we ate a lot that day?). If anyone is ever visiting London, I would highly recommend the Borough Market.
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November 21st, 2009
A couple of weeks ago Emily and I went to Berlin for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The wall fell on November 9th, 1989; I was only 8 years old at the time so I don’t really remember much from when it happened. This trip to Berlin was very interesting and educational for me. I felt like a bit of an ignorant American when I first got there, but I learned a lot about the history of Berlin and the significance of all of it. Hopefully, I am now a slightly less ignorant American.
This was my first time visiting Berlin (Emily had been here once earlier this year). On first impression, I really like the city. It has a very artsy / creative / alternative vibe which I really enjoyed. I think it might have reminded me of San Francisco in some ways. I was somewhat surprised by how big of a city Berlin is (probably felt even bigger coming from Zürich), but it was easy to get around with the U-Bahn and our budding German skills. While we were there, we played tourist and saw most of the famous sites of the city including the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Deutscher Reichstag (German Parliament), Berlin Cathedral, TV Tower, and the Holocaust memorial.
We met up with a few of our friends from Zürich while we were in Berlin too. It was actually our friend Mieke who gave us the idea to come to Berlin in the first place. We also went out to dinner one night with Katrin and Toby, who gave us the insider tips on Berlin. Finally, we were lucky enough to stay with our friend Nikolai and his girlfriend, who are both Russian. I know this might sound a bit cheesy, but I do think there is something symbolic about two Americans staying with two Russians for the celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Nikolai and Marina were really amazing hosts, and I hope that they make it to Zürich sometime soon so we can return the favor.
The big celebration for the fall of the wall (20 Jahre Mauerfall) was on Monday night, November 9th. They had set up 1000 giant dominos along 1.5 km of where the wall used to stand. This actually made it somewhat difficult to get around the city at times (although obviously nothing compared to what it used to be like 20+ years ago, so I can’t complain). The ceremony took place at the Brandenburg Gate, but there were huge video monitors set up along the domino wall. We ended up watching from a spot between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate that night. It was raining most of the time, which made it difficult to see past all the umbrellas. There were speeches from the leaders of Germany, Russia, France, Great Britain, and the USA (Hillary Clinton, plus Obama via satellite). There were also some musical performances including Bon Jovi, which seemed a bit strange to me. But after dragging it out as long as possible, they finally knocked over all of the dominoes and symbolically knocked down the wall for a second time. They even had some fireworks to finish it off. It was a neat experience and I’m glad that I went.
Random fact – You can tell you when you are in East Berlin by the pedestrian crossing lights at intersections. The “Ampelmann” is very distinct and much different than any other city I have ever visited.
Berlin pics on Flickr
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October 30th, 2009
Marathon Training & Injury
One of my goals for the year was to finish a big race like a marathon or half Ironman triathlon. I figured that running would be easiest with all of my traveling this year, so I decided to train for a marathon. After running for a couple months to get a decent base, my sister-in-law Nina, who is a running coach, made a great training plan for me. Then I fully committed and registered for the Amsterdam Marathon in October (which was about 6 months away).
My training went well for the first 5 months, and I made a lot of progress. I was to the point where an hour long run felt like an easy day. Before this, the longest I had ever run was 13.1 miles in the San Francisco half marathon in 2007. But I got to the point in my training where I was basically running a half marathon or more every week! For me that was quite an accomplishment unto itself.
Unfortunately, though, this story doesn’t have a happy ending. In the middle of September, about one month before the race, I went out for a long run in Zürich. It was to be my longest run yet at 3 hours (about 3/4 of a marathon). The run started out fine but just as I got to the farthest point away from home (it was an out-and-back run), the arch of my right foot started hurting. I could tell that something was wrong, but I had no way to get back home other than to run/walk it. So I hobbled along all the way back, most likely exacerbating the injury along the way, until I got to an area I knew and could get on the bus home. And that was the end my running career, for now anyways.
My own diagnosis is a stress fracture, but I haven’t actually gone to a doctor to confirm this. For now I have stopped running and am trying to keep off of it as much as possible so that it can heal. I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but I know that it had nothing to do with the training plan. I had been adding distance very gradually and had had no problems up until that day. I suspect that it was most likely due to not replacing my running shoes quickly enough, but my orthotics and/or bad running form might also be to blame (or maybe something else completely, who knows?).
On the bright side, we already had the trip to Amsterdam booked so now I could just go and enjoy myself. Plus, Emily had signed up for the Amsterdam half marathon, so now I could be her cheerleader/photographer.
Amsterdam
Emily and I went to Amsterdam two weeks ago, from October 16th to 19th. It was my first time ever in Amsterdam or in the Netherlands; Emily had already been there once before earlier this year with our friend Ben Shapiro. The city is definitely very unique with canals literally everywhere. I was surprised by how the canals were so integrated into the city and by just how many there were. The other thing that is impossible not to notice in Amsterdam is all the bikes. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a city where biking was embraced so heavily. While there were marked bike lanes almost everywhere, I was still a bit surprised that there wasn’t a better biking infrastructure. I’m not really sure what I expected, but I just found it strange that the bike lanes were often blocked by tourists and weren’t more isolated from the cars and pedestrians.
Over the weekend, we were lucky enough to stay at a friend’s apartment rather than a hotel. We stayed with Luke Miller, who is one of Emily’s friends from work whom I had met earlier in the year in Paris, and his sister Tegan. They were very generous to let us stay with them, so thanks again Luke and Tegan! Oh, and they have the craziest shower I’ve ever seen in my life, complete with lights, radio, steam, and more.
Sunday was the day of Emily’s race. The marathon started in the morning, but the half marathon didn’t start until 2 pm. The race started and finished at the Olympic Stadium, which was walking distance from Luke’s apartment. I watched Emily start then walked around the city and got some lunch while she was running. Most of the public transport was closed down because of the marathon so it was a bit difficult to get around, and I actually didn’t get back to the stadium in time to see Emily finish. I thought I had made it in time, but she ran faster than she had expected! Her final time was an impressive 2:01:54. Way to go, Emo!
Our flight didn’t leave until late Monday evening, so Emily and I had all day to hang out and explore the city. We spent most of the afternoon at the Van Gogh Museum, which we both enjoyed a lot. Other than that we just walked around and then headed to the airport for our flight that evening.
So even though I didn’t get to run the marathon, it was still a good weekend. Emily had a great race and we had a good time. Thanks again Luke and Tegan!
More Amsterdam pictures on Flickr
Category: Goals, Health & Fitness, Travel
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October 23rd, 2009
Eric and I got back to Zürich from Prague on a Friday night, then woke up on Saturday morning and got on a train to München, aka Munich, Germany. There were 8 of us that all went together from Zürich – myself, Emily, Eric, David, Peter, Rich, Julia, and Adriana. We had a couple hotel rooms booked but no reservation at the Oktoberfest tents. We spent Saturday walking around Munich and resting up for our big day on Sunday. We got a good, traditional Bavarian lunch at Ratskeller next to Marienplatz in the center of town. Then we walked over to an outdoor cafe in Hofgarten near Odeonsplatz. After resting in the hotel for awhile, Eric was lucky enough to be able to watch the Michigan football game in the sports bar that happened to be in our hotel. For dinner we went to the Augustiner beer hall between Marienplatz and the Hauptbahnhof. It was a very festive place with good food too.
On Sunday morning, we all woke up early and got over to the Oktoberfest tents around 9:15 am. Since we didn’t have a reservation (we tried but you have to many months in advance or spend a lot of money), we had to get to the tents early in the morning to make sure we got a seat. We chose to go on a Sunday rather than a Saturday because we thought it would be a bit less crowded, and I think that was a good decision. The tents all open at 9 am and we were told that the best bet for people without reservations is to get there very close to when it opens. That means drinking steins of beer at 9:30 in the morning! We chose the Schützen-Festzelt (tent) on a recommendation from some friends and it was over half empty when we got there. This meant that we were able to secure a couple of crucial extra inches of space for our group before more people arrived. The atmosphere in the tent was pretty calm and quiet, partially because of the tent we chose and partially because it was so early in the morning. But as the day went on, the brass bands started playing, the tent filled up, people started standing and dancing on the tables, and things started to get more lively. Although none of us bought the full lederhosen outfits, we did all buy some hats for the occasion. We spent all morning and afternoon drinking liters of beer, eating pretzels and chickens, singing, wearing various hats, and generally having a good time.
We left the tent sometime around 3 or 4 pm and decided to try a few of the carnival rides. The first one was great, but I would definitely not recommend the second one – Turbo Power. Funny enough, I actually remember riding that same ride the last time I was at Oktoberfest back in 2002 when I was studying abroad in Florence, Italy. I guess I hadn’t learned my lesson, but I will remember for next year. And we’ll probably have to plan ahead a little and get some reservations next time so we don’t have to start so early too…
See all my pictures from Oktoberfest
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October 22nd, 2009
There is a joke that the majority of blogs on the internet start with “Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote…”. Well, I guess it is my turn now. I have been falling behind in keeping the blog up to date with everything that I have been doing over that last few months. I am going to try to catch up and keep all of the posts in (roughly) chronological order. So here it goes, my trip to Prague in September:
About a month ago, Eric Wilfong and I went to Prague for 5 days. Eric came over to visit us in Zürich for about 2 weeks and wanted to travel around Europe a bit as well. Since I had no job tying me down, I decided to join him for a week in Prague. I had been to Prague for the first time earlier this year with Emily, and I had really enjoyed it so I was excited to go back again. This time we stayed in a different are of town at the Hotel Galileo. The hotel itself was great, but I personally preferred the location of the hotel where I stayed last time (near Florenc metro) better than this location. But that was no big deal. It was a good reason to explore more of the city and see new areas.
When we weren’t indulging in the cheap and delicious food and drinks, Eric and I were usually taking pictures. Eric has been getting into photography recently and is currently in the midst of his own project 365, where you take one photo every day for a year. I was excited to get some practice with my new DSLR and get some tips from Eric too. He did inspire me to get a new camera bag, the Lowepro SlingShot 100, which I highly recommend. You can see all my pictures from Prague on Flickr.
We also took a daytrip to the town of Kutná Hora. Kutná Hora is much smaller than Prague and not as packed with tourists (although some would say that it is a still a bit “touristy”). It has a surprising history and is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Eric and I walked around town and went into the impressive Cathedral of St. Barbara. Then we hiked all the way to the Sedlec Ossuary, aka the Bone Church, which is a outside of town and a longer walk than we had anticipated. But it was worth the walk to see this odd and very unique sight. The Ossuary is a very small room with human bones from people who died from the plague. Some of the bones are piled up into towers about 7 feet high, while the rest are arranged artistically including a chandelier containing every bone in the human body. It was very interesting, albeit a bit creepy.
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October 4th, 2009
A month ago (has it been that long already?), six of us rented a couple cars and took a rather spontaneous roadtrip up to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) in Germany. Emily and I had people over to our apartment on Friday night, and then we all took of on Saturday morning/early afternoon. Somehow, we also managed to fit in a quick brunch before we left with a couple friends from San Francisco, Menden and Jonathan, who were in town for the weekend. While we were at brunch, everyone else went to pick up the car and since Emily and I weren’t there, we weren’t allowed to drive the rental car. So we were generously chauffeured all weekend, which worked out rather nicely for us. After a busy summer of making my own last-minute travel plans, it was nice to sit back and let someone else do all the planning (and driving) for a change.
From Zürich we headed North across the border of Germany and eventually stopped for lunch at the Titisee. When we got there, we played with a tennis ball in the parking lot for about a half hour before realizing that we could have just done that at home so we should probably go walk around and explore. After lunch, we drove up to Freiburg where we found a hotel for the night. We had a good German dinner at Hausbrauerei Feierling and ended up staying there all night playing cards. After dinner, we invented a new game that is sure to become an Olympic sport in the near future – leaf racing! Everyone chooses an object that floats (it doesn’t have to be a leaf) and then drops it into the stream at the same time. It is surprisingly entertaining, try it out.
The next morning, we stopped by the Freiburger Münster on the way out of town. Then it was on to Steinwasen Park, a sort of zoo/amusment park/mini-Disney World in the Schwarzwald. We did just about everything there was to do there including the creepy “It’s a small world after all”-type ride, riding chair lift, tobogganing, the water slide, playing on the playground, petting the animals (Peter especially liked the goats), and walking on the suspension bridge. It ended up being a lot more fun than I ever expected.
After the park, we drove to a quaint little town for lunch (I forget the name) then started heading home. On our way back to Switzerland, we stopped by two of the biggest attractions in the Black Forest. The first stop was the biggest cuckoo clock in the world. It was the size of a house, although I had expected it to be even bigger/more impressive. The second stop was the highest waterfall in Germany. It was really four small waterfalls rather than one big one, but it was still pretty cool.
More pictures on Flickr
Category: Travel
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