Cornifesto: Switzerland and Vienna

Wow! Seven months passed since my last post? Life has been busy. But alas, I'm back with a trip report of a very special place we recently visited...SWITZERLAND!!!

Day 1 - Arrival in Lausanne and Fondue

It was a rough journey. We took off after work on Thursday night to Houston, spent a night in the BBQ capital and continued our flight to Manchester and then Geneva. Manchester (and the U.K. from my understanding) has very stringent border control, but we made it through with flying colors thanks to copious amounts of research (and my friend Cathy Truong's warning..more because of Cathy's warning)!!! (sorry babe, I drove you to the edge with my worrying)

Lausanne
We checked into the Hotel Royal Savoy at 6:30 pm, quickly freshened up, and headed to our dinner reservation at La Pinte Besson. This is one of the oldest restaurant in the region known for cheese fondue! When in Switzerland, eat the fondue!!

Side note: Cheese fondue is a Swiss thing, chocolate fondue is a New York thing. Interesting huh?

View from our room at Royal Savoy Lausanne

La Pinte Besson - Some popular steak dish.

La Pinte Besson - Cheese Fondue!!!!!

View from the top deck of Royal Savoy Lausanne

Day 2: Chillon Castle and Montreux

We woke up bright and early to take a boat to Chillon Castle. It's a defense Castle built so long ago that there are no records of it. The earliest found record was in 1005. After touring the castle, and its numerous rooms (the execution room being one of them), I've concluded the people of that time lived a lifestyle that can be found disturbing today. I mean, the dining room is literally two floors above the prison and execution room (and what I think is also the torture room). How can one comfortably eat dinner, and go to sleep in the same castle, when a prisoner was executed downstairs!?!?! Other than that, it's a beautiful castle that's totally worth a visit!

Boat ride to Chillon Castle

Vevey - a city we passed by while on the boat

Expectation as we approach the castle by boat

Reality - Chillon Castle from afar
There is this big highway behind it!!!!!

Chillon Castle - ta da!

Me with Chillon Castle in the background

We made it to the top of Chillon Castle, which was pretty high up (for me)

Wayne on his "draw bridge"...not really, just a bridge

After our castle tour, we had a lovely French lunch at Le Pavois.
Beef Tartare
Foie Gras
Pasta Carbonara

Wayne: stop taking pictures!!!! (this is in Montreux, after our lunch at Le Pavois, I think)

Panoramic GoldenPass Line
After lunch, we took the later 3:44 pm panoramic train to the alps. From research, there are two panoramic Golden Pass train. This line travels between Montreux and Zweissimmen, and we paid to upgrade and reserve our first class seats for that leg. These seats are at the front of the train and we can see what the driver sees. A worthy experience. Swiss railway system is efficient and totally awesome. However, do your research or you might end up paying hundreds of dollars more per person!!!

Golden Pass Line - leaving Montreux

Montreux from atop

Montreux

Doesn't that green house look like something out of wizard of oz?

Sleepy Wayne on the train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen (not Golden Pass)

We arrived in Wengen at 7:30 pm on Day 2, and was greeted to THIS! Wengen is such a cute little town. There are no cars, except for the occasional working vehicle.

#nofilter #wengen (I wasn't able to filter this picture, or I would've...but alas, none needed!!!!)

After I got over the site of the cute buildings, we made our way and checked into the hotel, Sunstar Alpine Wengen. The hotel is conveniently located by the train station, but far enough so it's quiet. It doesn't have the BEST view, but it's still amazing.

Balcony view from Sunstar Alpine Wengen. BEAUTIFUL!

After we were able to tear ourselves away from the balcony, we had dinner at Hotel Schoenegg, Restaurant 1903. The food was pretty good.

Hotel Schonegg - Restaurant 1903

1) Like Paris, the wine was cheaper than the water. So we ordered wine
2) I was so tired, forgot what I ordered. But this is what it looks like
3) Wayne ordered chicken, what he got was sausage.

view from Hotel Schoenegg's Restaurant 1903

After dinner walk back to Sunstar Alpine Wengen. This was at 9:30 pm

Day 3 - Jungfraujoch and Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg Hike

Jungfrau (Top of Europe)

The hotel has a screen that shows the weather at Jungfraujoch. We saw that it's a good day, and decide to start our Swiss Alps trip with the most anticipated. The first train left Wengen at 7:20 am. We took the second train at 7:50 am. This was still plenty early, as the day trippers from Interlaken tend to start the ascend from Wengen at 9:30 am. So, moral of the story is, the early bird gets the worm (or view without disruption in this case).

Jungfrau - the top has various activities such as the Ice Palace and Ice Gateway. We spent a good 45 minutes walking around and touring before we braved the hike to Monchsjoch Hutte. The hike was about 1.16 miles uphill in 11,000+ altitude. At the end, the Monchsjoch Hutte (restaurant) is at 12,000 feet. It was a rewarding climb.

We woke up to this

The train!!!! to Jungfrau

Ice cave

Winter Wonderland theme place

Wanted to get a picture of the icicle covered stop sign

The hike to Monchsjochhutte from Jungfrau

Getting warm

The end is in sight!

The entry to the restaurant, behind that snow

On the train ride down, we saw some cows!

Moo Moo up close

Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg
After the very brutal hike across the glacier (okay a walk along the path...), we idiotically decided on another hike. Research suggested that this is probably one of the most beautiful, yet easi(er) hikes, and I agree! We took the gondola (similar to a ski lift) from Wengen up to Mannlichen. From Mannlichen, we hiked uphill on the "Royal Hike" path. What greeted us was a wonderful 360 panoramic view of Grindelwald Valley, Lauterbrunnen Valley, the three mountain tips of Eiger Monch and Jungfrau, the two mountain tips of Wetterhorn and Shreckhorn, and Wengen. There was also a peek-a-boo view of Interlaken. Totally AMAZING!!!

When we finally picked up our dropped jaws, we backtracked downwards from the Royal Hike to Mannlichen and continued downhill towards Kleine Scheidegg with the views of the mountains in front of us. (Note: if one were to go the opposite direction, Kleine Scheidegg to Mannlichen, it would be an uphill walk with the mountains behind).

We completed dinner at Pasta & More Restaurant at the Hotel Victoria. It is the hotel next to ours, and was convenient.

This was my favorite day. Utterly breathtaking!

View from top of Mannlichen

Stop taking pictures....This is at the top of the Royal Hike.

View of Grindelwald Valley from top of Royal Hike. Wetterhorn and Shreckhorn mountains behind

Higher up. View from Royal Hike. Peek a boo view of Monch, Eiger and Jungfrau mountains. Below is Wengen, and below that is Lauterbrunnen Valley.

A fake cow and Grindelwald in the background

Wengen view from the train

Train from Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen

Dinner at Pasta & More. More pasta carbonara

Dinner - Mac & Cheese

Day 4 - Lauterbrunnen, Murren, and Gimmelwald

Today, we woke up to another beautiful and cloudless day. The sky was perfectly clear! So, we decided to do another hike. We would go down to Lauterbrunnen Valley, then take the gondola up to Grutschalp. From Grutschalp, we'll hike to Murren. Have lunch in Murren, then hike to Gimmelwald. From Gimmelwald, take the gondola down to Lauterbrunnen Valley, and then a bus to our train stop and train back to Wengen.

Wow, that was a mouthful, but it's basically a circular route. I highly recommend this if you have the time (If you only have time to do one hike, do the Royal Hike and the hike from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg).

Lauterbrunnen
Lauterbrunnen has the famous Staubbach Falls that we see in pictures. It's breathtaking!

Lauterbrunnen

River and Staubbach Falls behind

Lauterbrunnen

Grutschalp to Murren Hike
This hike is interesting. There are horses, and ONE COW. It's not the freshest scent of hikes, but worth it if you want to work out. If you're short on time, just take the train.

A beautiful view atop the gondola station at Grutschalp

Train

We made it to Murren!!!!

Lunch in Murren at Hotel Alpina
The restaurant at Hotel Alpina was OKAY. The food was so-so, but the view...OMG that view!!!

The balcony seating at Hotel Alpina

1) the view from the balcony
2) Raclette - a plate of pure cheese and three potatoes
3) Kaseschnitte mit Vorderschinken und Spiegelei - Bread soaked in white wine, covered with ham and hot cheese, topped with a fried egg. (it sounds better than it tastes)

Murren to Gimmelwald Hike
This hike is downhill and BEAUTIFUL!!! There is something about standing parallel and up close to a mountain. I loved the view on this hike. Also, Gimmelwald is a cute and VERY QUIET town. It's a little too quiet for me, and remote. I prefer Wengen and Murren more. But it's worth a visit.

Hike to Gimmelwald

On our way to Gimmelwald

Gimmelwald in the background - we made it!

Discovering Wengen
We shopped at COOP for dinner and walked around Wengen. On one side, we discovered the Alpenrose hotel and it's beautiful view. On the other side of Wengen (where our hotel was), we stumbled upon the Wengen to Lauterbrunnen trail. These were both jaw dropping view spots.

Think this was from the path to Lauterbrunnen close to our hotel

This was the most magical view for me in Wengen. At Alpenrose Hotel

Day 5 - Lake Brienz, Giessbach Falls and Open Air Museum

Last day in Switzerland before we move onto our next adventure. We spent today away from the alps, and ventured to Interlaken. This whole Bernese Oberland area is pretty magical. There are three tall mountains (Monch, Eiger, and Jungfrau), two smaller mountains to the left and three to the right. There are two valleys, Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, and two lakes (Brienz and Thun). Thus, Interlaken is between Brienz and Thun.

Our day consisted of taking a boat ride on Lake Brienz, having lunch at Giessbach Grand hotel while overlooking Giessbach Falls, and continuing onto the city of Brienz. At Brienz, we toured the Open Air Museum, which has NOTHING to do w/ airplanes!!! It's actually a cultural museum of Switzerland's farming history throughout the years, and it's out in the open. Hence, Open Air Museum. (Maybe I am the only one who thought "open air museum" involved airplanes)

We ended our day with purchasing Swiss Chocolates at Choco Chalet in Interlaken. Perfect end to a wonderful day.

Side note: Brienz Lake is 800 feet deep, and blue like the shallow waters of the Caribbean. This is because there are minerals in the lake that reflects the blueness. Lake Thun is also blue, but not quite as blue as Lake Brienz.

Me!

blue water

hiking to Giessbach Hotel

Giessbach Grand Hotel - we had lunch here

Giessbach Falls

We made it to Brienz!

Open Air Museum - I only wanted to go here because I was in search of cows. But it was too hot, so they weren't there.

On our way back to Interlaken. Tim and Michelle's picture showed a very stress free, empty boat. What we got was quite the opposite.

The dream (that's Tim)

The reality. But nonetheless, it's still pretty awesome!

Final thoughts. While Wengen, Murren, and the alpine villages were quaint and quiet, Interlaken was a MAD HOUSE. There were tourists of all kinds (see the boat ride). It was stressful navigating through the crowds. So very different from the relaxed feel of alps, where we can hike a whole trail without running into more than a handful of people at a time.

Highly recommend the alps. Discourage Interlaken!

Day 6 - Switzerland and Vienna: Departing the alps and exploring Vienna

Good-bye Switzerland:
Today, we had our last meal in Switzerland and journeyed towards Vienna. I was disappointed that there is no train from Switzerland to Vienna (that made sense for us). So we flew to Vienna. However, before we hopped onto the plane, we got one last train ride to the Zurich airport via Bern.

Last morning

Train in Wengen

Lake Thun from the train to Bern

Got a view of Bern

Vienna:

We made it to Vienna and checked into the Park Hyatt Vienna. That night, we had dinner at their restaurant, The Bank Brasserie and Bar. It was alright.

Google Image of Park Hyatt Vienna's Dining Room. It's a very impressive dining room.

We ended dinner with a Sacher Torte from the Sacher Hotel's Cafe. It was rich and thick, not my preference. But when in Vienna, gotta try it.

We ended the night with one of the high floor bars that I OH SO LIKE. The bar is at the Sofitel hotel and it overlooks the city of Vienna.

At Sofitel Bar

Sofitel Bar with view of Vienna

Day 7 - Vienna: Belvedere Castle, St Stephen's Cathedral and bar hopping

The last day of our vacation was spent as TOTAL tourists. That meant:

1) eating at the most touristy place
2) going to tourist sites
3) being a tourist!!!!

Vienna is a classy European city. I loved how people are so well dressed and fashionable. It's also very clean. The city is really focused on classical music, mainly Mozart. There were people selling tickets to classical concerts. I know NOTHING about classical music except it's all instruments and no lyrics. Here is a conversation between me and a ticket salesperson (not verbatim, but something like this):

Salesperson: Would you like to buy tickets to a classical concert tonight?
Me: I don't know anything about classical music or Mozart
Salesperson: Oh, it's not just Mozart, it's many many genres. What do you usually listen to?
Me: Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber
Salesperson: Why are you in Vienna???

Yup......

Itinerary:

We started our morning with some Austrian apple strudel at one of the most hyped up and touristy cafes, Demel. Although service was pretty atrocious, the strudel was worth it!! Go early and beat the line.

Then we walked past the gothic Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) to our lunch destination of Figlmuller. Figlmuller is so popular for their Schnitzel (Wienerschnitzel) that they have tour groups and a huge line prior to opening. We snagged an 11 am reservation, so was seated quickly. In and out.

St. Stephen's Cathedral behind

Figlmuller

1) gotta try the Austrian Schnapps (at 11 am...BAD IDEA!). It's like a shot
2) And the goulash
3) of course, can't miss the potato side dish
4) at last, the famous schnitzel. tastes like chicken nuggets, but it's pork, not chicken.

Then, after freshening up at the hotel (meaning digest and get over food coma and mild buzz from schnapps), we headed to the Belvedere Castle