Monday, February 9, 2009
Smoking, Drinking
In Switzerland, the drinking age is 16. It used to be 18 but they lowered it. So when you go to a bar, all the signs say you can't drink if you are under 16. But the smoking age is 18. How logical!?
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Innsbruck
So we rode another 8 hour train to Innsbruck. This was a little confusing because we had to switch trains in Linz, but finding the train we were supposed to be on was confusing because trains are listed by their final destination, and Innsbruck is an intermediate destination and was not listed on the board anywhere. So I got some help and we realized that we had a good 45 minutes to spare so we sat down at a cafe and ordered two beers and two sandwiches. The beers came, we drank them, we waited, and waited, and waited....and 35 minutes later our sandwiches came out. We realized too late that there was only one cook in the kitchen. So we bagged them to go quickly and ran to catch the train.
On that note, I have to say, I want to be a server in Europe. In the US you have to be constantly checking on people, running around, making sure everything tastes ok, and god forbid they have to ask you for their check. In Europe, they take your order, they bring your food, and they never check on you again. If you need something you better find them and ask for it, and they do not bring the check unless you ask for it. Food generally takes a long time, and the pace is generally much slower. They do not have to rush around. And in Switzerland, the tip is included. In other places it is not always included, but they certainly get paid more than $3.90 an hour! It is a much easier job, I must say.
The train ride through the Alps was very beautiful. There was a lot of snow in some places, and the villages in the mountains are quite picturesque. The forecast said it would snow and rain when we were in Insbruck, and to our lucky surprise the sky was clear and blue without a cloud to be found. It was clearer than any days we have had so far in Lausanne. We have a nice view of the Alps in Lausanne, and Lucerne was surrounded by mountains, but neither can compare to Innsbruck. They tower over the buildings and completely dominate the landscape. It is beautiful.
Generally Innsbruck attracts skiers, especially this time of year. Their main tourist attraction is the Golden Roof. This sounded quite impressive to me and the first time I saw it I didn't realize that was it. It's a building with a balcony and the Golden Roof covers the balcony. I'm sure it was quite expensive and it is impressive to have a roof made of gilded tiles, but in comparison to the ornate cathedrals and palaces all over Europe, it just looked sort of...cute. Ok, so we looked at it, very nice, and that's it. We arrived in town in the evening and set out to fnd a place to eat dinner. Mom had something that recommended this place called Papa Joe's. As we walked there we passed all sorts of cute cafes and restaurants, but decided we would go with the recommendation and found ourselves in a place that resembles something like TGI Friday's or Chili's. (Mom ordered a White Russian and the bartender got all excited and brought it out and said "The Big Lebowski's favorite drink!"). The food was crappy, but the highlight of the place were the nine drunk Finnish men who stumbled in and got 9 mojitos and 9 half yards of beer. One of them had a helmet on and he made it his business to sit down and talk to us once he heard us speaking English. He was quite taken with Mom, although he did mention that he was married with four kids.....they were on a skiing trip, but from the looks of them, they weren't going to be getting a whole lot of skiing done. Not the next morning anyways. We got out of that place as fast as we could.
For our next day we started the morning at the AlpenZoo, the highest elevation zoo in Europe, specializing in Alpine animals. We had the option to either hike up a trail or take a cable car but decided to walk. We were warned against it by the hotel receptionist, but I think it's because we are American. Our tour guide in Prague also mentioned several times about Americans complaining about walking. In any case, it was not a hard walk at all, although yes it was uphill, as were most of the trails in the zoo, but nothing too steep. The animals were cool, we saw a lynx, ibex, caribou, lots of exotic birds, etc. However, we were extremely disappointed at the small enclosures for the animals. Some of the bird enclosures were no more than 6 ft high, hardly room to fly. The wolves were running in circles around their area because it was really very small. I think in the US a zoo like that would have been critisized, so we were a bit disappointed with that. Even the fish in the aquarium seemed crammed in.
After the zoo we walked around Innsbruck to see the various sights. The Golden Roof (ok that takes 30 seconds) and we climbed the city tower (#2 attraction) and looked at the views over the city. We saw a few churches and enjoyed walking the streets of the city. We also ate at restaurants with good food.
Our hotel was right in the city center, and had been around and in the family for hundreds of years. Apparently Mozart even stayed there. Naturally it was small, but the staff were very nice and the hotel was very cute. Our final ride back took about 6 hours by train. We arrived in Lausanne in the rain and went out to dinner with Dad and his colleague Bert at a British pub in Ouchy. Perhaps the first loud bar we have found in Switzerland! As we were about to leave two students from the hotel management school approaches us and said hello because they overheard us talking and were relieved to talk to some other Americans. They were very friendly and we sat and talked to them awhile. It is nice to meet some random Americans around here every once in a while.
On that note, I have to say, I want to be a server in Europe. In the US you have to be constantly checking on people, running around, making sure everything tastes ok, and god forbid they have to ask you for their check. In Europe, they take your order, they bring your food, and they never check on you again. If you need something you better find them and ask for it, and they do not bring the check unless you ask for it. Food generally takes a long time, and the pace is generally much slower. They do not have to rush around. And in Switzerland, the tip is included. In other places it is not always included, but they certainly get paid more than $3.90 an hour! It is a much easier job, I must say.
The train ride through the Alps was very beautiful. There was a lot of snow in some places, and the villages in the mountains are quite picturesque. The forecast said it would snow and rain when we were in Insbruck, and to our lucky surprise the sky was clear and blue without a cloud to be found. It was clearer than any days we have had so far in Lausanne. We have a nice view of the Alps in Lausanne, and Lucerne was surrounded by mountains, but neither can compare to Innsbruck. They tower over the buildings and completely dominate the landscape. It is beautiful.
Generally Innsbruck attracts skiers, especially this time of year. Their main tourist attraction is the Golden Roof. This sounded quite impressive to me and the first time I saw it I didn't realize that was it. It's a building with a balcony and the Golden Roof covers the balcony. I'm sure it was quite expensive and it is impressive to have a roof made of gilded tiles, but in comparison to the ornate cathedrals and palaces all over Europe, it just looked sort of...cute. Ok, so we looked at it, very nice, and that's it. We arrived in town in the evening and set out to fnd a place to eat dinner. Mom had something that recommended this place called Papa Joe's. As we walked there we passed all sorts of cute cafes and restaurants, but decided we would go with the recommendation and found ourselves in a place that resembles something like TGI Friday's or Chili's. (Mom ordered a White Russian and the bartender got all excited and brought it out and said "The Big Lebowski's favorite drink!"). The food was crappy, but the highlight of the place were the nine drunk Finnish men who stumbled in and got 9 mojitos and 9 half yards of beer. One of them had a helmet on and he made it his business to sit down and talk to us once he heard us speaking English. He was quite taken with Mom, although he did mention that he was married with four kids.....they were on a skiing trip, but from the looks of them, they weren't going to be getting a whole lot of skiing done. Not the next morning anyways. We got out of that place as fast as we could.
For our next day we started the morning at the AlpenZoo, the highest elevation zoo in Europe, specializing in Alpine animals. We had the option to either hike up a trail or take a cable car but decided to walk. We were warned against it by the hotel receptionist, but I think it's because we are American. Our tour guide in Prague also mentioned several times about Americans complaining about walking. In any case, it was not a hard walk at all, although yes it was uphill, as were most of the trails in the zoo, but nothing too steep. The animals were cool, we saw a lynx, ibex, caribou, lots of exotic birds, etc. However, we were extremely disappointed at the small enclosures for the animals. Some of the bird enclosures were no more than 6 ft high, hardly room to fly. The wolves were running in circles around their area because it was really very small. I think in the US a zoo like that would have been critisized, so we were a bit disappointed with that. Even the fish in the aquarium seemed crammed in.
After the zoo we walked around Innsbruck to see the various sights. The Golden Roof (ok that takes 30 seconds) and we climbed the city tower (#2 attraction) and looked at the views over the city. We saw a few churches and enjoyed walking the streets of the city. We also ate at restaurants with good food.
Our hotel was right in the city center, and had been around and in the family for hundreds of years. Apparently Mozart even stayed there. Naturally it was small, but the staff were very nice and the hotel was very cute. Our final ride back took about 6 hours by train. We arrived in Lausanne in the rain and went out to dinner with Dad and his colleague Bert at a British pub in Ouchy. Perhaps the first loud bar we have found in Switzerland! As we were about to leave two students from the hotel management school approaches us and said hello because they overheard us talking and were relieved to talk to some other Americans. They were very friendly and we sat and talked to them awhile. It is nice to meet some random Americans around here every once in a while.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Prague
So we rode an all night train to Prague.... 2 hours to Basel on the border then we switched trains to head on to Prague. The journey took about 14 hours total. We didn't get sleeper cars because it cost about twice as much, so instead we got the sleeperet car, which basically means reclining seat so its a bit like riding an airplane. I slept pretty well (thank you Ambien) and we arrived in Prague about 11am. We were staying in a hotel with Dad on a business trip but he was flying in (lucky bastard) and not due to arrive until 5 pm. Mom read up about how the taxis were run by the mafia and was throughly freaked out but the hotel was walking distance and we found our way pretty easily. I say "we" loosely there. I found the way. Mom walked right past every street I told her to look for so I took over navigating. Kelly said Prague was very confusing, but that probably had to do with his rule of no maps and no backtracking. The streets all run every which way but once you get a feel for it, it's not bad at all.
We checked in to the hotel and then headed into the city for lunch. We went to the communist museum first, which was pretty cool. I found it ironic that the museum is located behind a large McDonald's and next to a casino. I also noticed that there were quite a few casinos and McDonald's in Prague. There are two McDonald's in Wenceslas square alone, which only covers about 1km. Our tour guide the next day was proud to mention that Ray Krock's mother was Czech. After the Museum of Communism we stumbled upon another museum that had a Leonardo da Vinci exhibit so we went in. Mom was shocked because she thought he was just an artist, she didn't realize that he was the Renaissance Man! They had various models of his designs: parachutes, an early model of a helicopter, catapults, even a robot and a tank. Afterward we had a cappuccino in a cafe near Wenceslas Square and then headed back to the hotel for dinner with Dad and several of his colleagues.
On our second day in Prague we had a 4.5 hour walking tour. We went all over the old town, the new town (new means founded in the 1300's), St. Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, the Astrological clock, and all the other main sights. Mom is officially hooked on walking tours after we had one in Rome in 2007, and they really are very interesting. One cool thing about Prague is that they did not suffer much damage in WWII so they have a lot of old buildings. They also take great care to protect them. Our tour guide kept saying "in Prague, just because something is old doesn't mean you can tear it down." Actually, they have strict laws protecting old buildings. In one case she showed us a shopping center that was being built when they discovered archeological remains from the 14th century underneath. Building had to be put off for two years while an archological crew was brought in, all this at the expense of the owners.
After our tour we had a nice lunch and thawed out. It was freezing but we were lucky it did not rain like the forecast said. We took a nap at the hotel and then headed back out to explore a bit after dark. Prague is a beatiful city. I loved it, but more importantly, Mom loved it.
Dad returned to Lausanne the second day, while we spent one more night at the hotel and then headed to Insbruck, Austria.
We checked in to the hotel and then headed into the city for lunch. We went to the communist museum first, which was pretty cool. I found it ironic that the museum is located behind a large McDonald's and next to a casino. I also noticed that there were quite a few casinos and McDonald's in Prague. There are two McDonald's in Wenceslas square alone, which only covers about 1km. Our tour guide the next day was proud to mention that Ray Krock's mother was Czech. After the Museum of Communism we stumbled upon another museum that had a Leonardo da Vinci exhibit so we went in. Mom was shocked because she thought he was just an artist, she didn't realize that he was the Renaissance Man! They had various models of his designs: parachutes, an early model of a helicopter, catapults, even a robot and a tank. Afterward we had a cappuccino in a cafe near Wenceslas Square and then headed back to the hotel for dinner with Dad and several of his colleagues.
On our second day in Prague we had a 4.5 hour walking tour. We went all over the old town, the new town (new means founded in the 1300's), St. Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, the Astrological clock, and all the other main sights. Mom is officially hooked on walking tours after we had one in Rome in 2007, and they really are very interesting. One cool thing about Prague is that they did not suffer much damage in WWII so they have a lot of old buildings. They also take great care to protect them. Our tour guide kept saying "in Prague, just because something is old doesn't mean you can tear it down." Actually, they have strict laws protecting old buildings. In one case she showed us a shopping center that was being built when they discovered archeological remains from the 14th century underneath. Building had to be put off for two years while an archological crew was brought in, all this at the expense of the owners.
After our tour we had a nice lunch and thawed out. It was freezing but we were lucky it did not rain like the forecast said. We took a nap at the hotel and then headed back out to explore a bit after dark. Prague is a beatiful city. I loved it, but more importantly, Mom loved it.
Dad returned to Lausanne the second day, while we spent one more night at the hotel and then headed to Insbruck, Austria.
Back Home
We arrived back from Innsbruck this evening and I have posted pictures. I will add some notes about our trip tomorrow.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Snow
Woke up this morning to snow on the ground again. This evening we take an overnight train to Prague. We will be in Prague two nights and then Innsbruck two nights before heading home. Expect lots of photos when we return.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
