After having an amazing Christmas together and indulging in copious amounts of delicious food we were rudely awoken by our alarm at 4am on Boxing Day to jump in our taxi to Gatwick Airport for our Christmas and New Years getaway.
We arrived at the airport and our flight was quite empty which was surprising for an Easyjet flight. Upon disembarking the plane the first thing you are greeted with is the sight of the Alps and clean, crisp, fresh mountain air, such a nice change from rainy London. After a quick bus ride were soon at our hotel dropping off our bags ready to head out and explore the old town.
After wandering around for admiring the old buildings and Christmas decorations we found the Christmas market – Lou was in heaven. It was one of the better Christmas markets we had been to with about 40 stalls keeping up the 400 year old tradition of having a Christmas markets in the old town.Having been up since 4am we were starting to feel hungry again and decided to sample some local dishes – freshly baked Pretzels and Bratwurst sausage with sauerkraut. Apparently sauerkraut is really good for your digestion…not in Hamish’s case.
If you didn’t know that Mozart was born in Salzburg, you soon did after about 4 shops selling every single type of Mozart themed tourist souvenir including copious amount of Mozart chocolate and even Mozart rubber ducks!
Our next stop was the Salzburg cathedral built in 1181 and rebuilt in the 17th century after a fire. Having been into many churches over the past 4 years we didn’t linger long and decided to stretch the legs and walk up to the Salzburg fortress.
This fortress was built in 1077, and has had a long history of housing soldiers and prisoners for years and years. It was a steep climb but an amazing view at the top, although the weather had had clouded over a bit by the time we got up to the top. There was also a museum which showcased Austria’s long history, particularly in the military.
We strolled round the outside of the castle which gave us an insight into more residential Salzburg life as opposed to just the old town and churches. We found that generally the houses are really well kept and looked really sturdy, guess they would have to be with the weather coniditons they have. We looped up back round to the cliff over looking the city and the river before heading back to our hotel for a bit of a kip and to thaw out.
It had started raining when we ventured out for dinner but we were pretty keen to have a drink at the Augustiner beer hall, which is a brewery as well. It was a beautiful collection of old buildings including a church that still operates today. It was a very weird experience in this beer hall, there was no signage so we just tried a few open doors before we found this underground tavern where you first picked up a stein from the shelf and then paid for your beer and then it got filled up by this old guy with a wooden keg. You then found yourself a seat, mostly sharing tables with other Austrians. For food you went into this hall that was like a food court that mainly sold various roasted meats, picked vegetables and bread. We decided on the spit-roasted chicken that was incredible and took us back to our Oktoberfest weekend, and Lou insisted on some salads. Hamish wanted round two and came back with bacon steaks, which were like stacking about 10 slices of bacon on top of each other. Heart attack central. Throw in a couple of pretzels for extra salt. It was a great experience and we felt like on of the locals, there were even guys in lederhosen!
Highlight: The old town and the fortress. It is such a strategic position on this huge cliff rising out of the old town, very spectacular.
Lowlight: 4am starts are never fun
Interesting fact: The Augustiner Brewery was founded by Augustinian monks in 1621. When the Augustinians died out in Salzburg in the 19th century, Emperor Ferdinand the child handed over the monastery to the Benedictines from Michaelbeuern.
Friday 27th December
We had the hotel breakfast, which was pretty good in the scale of hotel breakfasts, Hamish had yet more bacon and sausages and Lou took advantage of the nice coffee on offer.
It was a stunning day, cold and crisp and brilliantly sunny. We decided we needed some exercise after all the beer and bacon so we headed up the mountain on the other side of the river to the fortress, which was a national park. We saw some stunning views and scenery, and really felt like we got amongst some nature. We spent a good couple of hours trekking around and it got so warm Lou was down to her cardigan layer, madness.
We had booked a Bavarian Alps tour for the afternoon so we grabbed an easy lunch at the supermarket before having a quick look at Mirabel gardens and palace. This was where a lot of the Sound of Music was filmed, although Hamish hasn’t seen it and Lou can’t remember any of the scenes from it so it was kind of lost on us.
Our tour took us over the border to Germany where we visited Lake Kongissee, which is supposedly one of the prettiest lakes in Germany. It certainly was stunning, very alpine and few remnants of snow was around although not the foot deep snow we were expecting on this holiday! We wandered round the lake before visiting the very pretty alpine town of Bertchesgadner. They still had their Christmas markets going on so we had a wander round. This town was famous for its woodcarvings. Although not open during winter we also spied the Eagles Nest on top on the Hoher Göll mountain. The Eagles nest was built for Hitler as a hideout.
Our tour returned to Salzburg around 6pm, and we took the opportunity of a clear night to get some night shots of the old town before we walked along the river to this restaurant that Lou had read about. Unfortunately it was fully booked so we went back to our hotel, which had a pretty decent restaurant as well. Lou had cheese dumpling soup and Hamish had beer pretzel soup which was a weird combo of beer flavored soup and chopped up pretzels. Hamish then had more sausages and beef goulash and Lou went vegetarian with mushroom goulash.
Highlight: Getting a lot of nature today and some good exercise
Lowlight: Hate it when restaurants are full!
Interesting fact #1: The lake's position surrounded by sheer rock walls creates an echo, which is known for its clarity. On boat tours, it has become traditional to stop and play a flugelhorn or trumpet to demonstrate the echo.
Interesting fact #2: We were all ready with our passports for the border crossing into Germany, but we sailed through on the bus and all there was to show we were in Germany was a little road sign!
Saturday 28th December
We had a reasonable sleep in, and another good breakfast at the hotel before we walked up the road to main train station to get on our train to Zurich.
The trains were really nice and designed for long distance travel, apart from the young boys getting drunk at 10am in the morning….
Our train journey through the Alps was so picturesque, it was exactly what we had imagined it would be. Although a lot of the towns didn’t have snow, the mountain villages had snow on the trees and in the sunlight it was like being in a postcard.
The journey took about 5 hours to get to Zurich where we hopped off and walked about 20 mins to get to our hotel. We checked in and dumped our bags and headed back into the bustling city just as it was getting dark. This turned out to be a bonus as the Christmas lights were coming on. The Christmas markets were still in full swing and we ere amazed at how many people were out shopping at ridiculously expensive shops. Every label shop that exists has a shop in Zurich.
We wandered round the old town with all the churches and bridges, it wasn’t too cold but the wind was pretty brisk. We found the place that Lou had been recommended for dinner; it was apparently the best sausage place in Zurich. We weren’t too impressed especially when we paid the bill; this country was going to be expensive!
We found a supermarket and bought some breakfast things as the hotel breakfast was going to be £15 each and even Hamish can’t eat enough food to make that worthwhile.
The rain started as we were almost home so we had an early night ready for another travelling day tomorrow.
Highlight: The scenery, the natural scenery on the train and the old buildings and the lake in Zurich.
Lowlight: The walk from the station to the hotel was a little further than Lou had anticipated…
Interesting fact: The clock on St. Peter’s church in Zurich has the largest clock face in Europe.
Sunday 29th December
We had a slow start to the morning, had our very Swiss breakfast of muesli and yogurt out of the hotel glasses. To Lou’s delight the hotel room and an Espresso machine, result!
We dropped our bags off at the station where Hamish managed to fit both bags in a teeny locker to save money. We headed up the hill to the University where we had great views over the city, then we past the Opera house and walked some of the way round the lake, which was so nice. We noted Swiss people like jogging and walking their dogs and even though their diet is primarily cheese and meat, they aren’t very fat.
We bought some sandwiches for lunch and hopped on our next train. Destination Lausanne, where the BBC is saying that’s is snowing….
But it wasn’t. It was a bit overcast and chilly when we pulled into Lausanne, our hotel was right by the station so we dumped our bags and headed out again. Lausanne is a city on the shores of Lake Geneva and its pretty much straight up and down so there were a lot of steep little streets everywhere. We walked up to the City Cathedral, which looked awesome lit up at night, but we were too late to walk up the bell tower. We wandered around the other sights before Lou navigated our way to a restaurant she had been recommended. After about 20 mins of walking we found that it was shut, as were 90% of the restaurants in Lausanne on a Sunday night.
We went back to the Cathedral and found a small tavern open there. To say that the service was bad would be an understatement. It was like they purposely didn’t want any tourists in there, they were so rude! We felt like we had to try fondue while in Switzerland, although we were very underwhelmed. After awhile you just feel sick and you don’t feel full. The worst part was how expensive it was. But hey ho.
We strolled down the hill in the drizzle to our hotel and had a well-deserved sleep.
Highlight: Zurich lake was beautiful and the train ride again offered some great views.
Lowlight: Fondue. It is never going to be served in the Bennie household.
Interesting fact: Don’t lose your bread in the pot! It’s a tradition that if a man drops his piece of bread in the fondue pot, he must buy a round of drinks. If a woman loses her bread in the pot, she must kiss all her neighbors.
Monday 30th December
Our hotel room had blackout curtains and there was no traffic noise so we had a very deep uninterrupted sleep before getting up and having another El cheapo breakfast of yogurt and muesli in the hotels water glasses.
The day was slightly overcast but the sun was slowly making its way through the clouds over the lake, so we thought we would try our luck at the cathedral again. We walked up the 224 steps to the top, which had a great view right over the border to France (the border goes right through the middle of Lake Geneva).
We then walked all the way down to the Lake, which had some pretty chateaus and very expensive hotels along the shore. We found a track that would take us through the vineyards called Lavaux which we had passed on the train here. We grabbed some lunch from the supermarket and started walking around the lake. It turned into an absolute pearler of a day and we were both walking round in one layer of clothes rather than the usual 4. We had a very scenic lunch by the lake with the Swiss Alps as our vista. We then turned inland up the hill criss crossing the old vineyards. As it was winter all the cellars were shut but it was still absolutely beautiful. It was picture postcard perfect. We spent a few hours wandering and taking it all in before getting a bus back into the city centre. We treated ourselves to coffee and hot waffles before having a rest at the hotel and venturing out for dinner.
Highlight: The scenery again! The Swiss seem to have it all.
Lowlight: Lou couldn’t buy any wine from the vineyards as they were all shut.
Interesting fact: The International Olympic Committee founded by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894 is headquartered in Lausanne. Coubertin willed that his heart be sent to Olympia, Greece where it is kept in a monument. The rest of his body is buried in Lausanne.
Tuesday 31st December
We had another great sleep (we really need to invest in some blackout curtains!) had another super cheap breakfast and hopped on the train to our last stop, Geneva. It was only about a 40 min journey and when we arrived in Geneva the city was covered in fog. We found our hotel, cheerfully named the Edelweiss Manor and checked in. This room was decorated like you were inside a cuckoo clock, wood everywhere!
We stocked up on some nibbles and wine from the local supermarket ready for out crazy New Years Eve and then did some sight seeing.
Walking along Lake Geneva again to the old town was so pretty, even though you couldn’t see much in the fog. The most surprising this was the big water fountain which is set in the harbor (kind of like the one in Wellington) but this one shoots water 459 feet in the air, quite high really.
We wandered around the old town, but most things were shut over the holidays. We went into St. Peters cathedral and walked up the top for a better view. The fog had cleared at this stage and we got spectacular views of the whole city and Mont Blanc in the distance.
From there we walked back around the lake to the botanical gardens and the park where most of the international organisations are like the United Nations and the Red Cross. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war. The United Nations was closed for the holidays so we headed back to the warmth of our hotel.
Our New Year's celebrations started with a very cheap bottle of wine and some nibbles watching the BBC's Top of the pops, a bit random, before heading down to the restaurant for our gala dinner.
The restaurant was like stepping into Heidi's house, lots of wood and alpine scenes, tacky but in a good way. We had an epic 7 course meal and were so stuffed by the end of it. We had things like chestnut soup, fois gras, Swiss cheese, chocolate and loads of bread and wine. The entertainment was brilliant, yodelling and this big horn thing and some great dancing by the locals.
We made a quick retreat at the end to catch the fireworks over the lake which was awesome, it was raining but Hamish improvised with a cardboard box…so like Mcguyever. Straight after the fireworks we went back to our crazy hotel and slept like babies.
Highlight: The meal and fireworks, brilliant.
Lowlight: The fog in the morning was a pain.
Interesting fact: We finally found the hot chocolate powder that captured James and Louise's attention about 20 years ago – Carotina. First produced in 1963, it is the king of all hot chocolate.
1st January
Feeling a little worse for wear, mainly from the amount of rich food, we had a lazy morning watching Harry Potter and checked out at noon. We went for a little walk around the lake to get some fresh air before heading to the airport and doing the long trek home. We had a wicked time on our holiday and really got a good balance between relaxing and exploring. Now back to work….
Highlight: Not having to check out till noon!
Lowlight: The cab ride home from the airport, stupid Gatwick Express
Interesting fact: There are so many minis in Geneva – Lou got sick of playing spot a mini…
