"Guten Tag, Switzerland!" Part 2 (Luzern)

Rigi Kulm - "Queen of the Mountains" was our Day Two excursion in Luzern. Rigi is part of the Swiss Alps and is easily accessible by public transportation. We took about an hour long boat ride from Luzern station over the Luzern Lake to Vitznau. By the way, the lake is huge, and it sure doesn't surprise me that it's the 4th largest lake in the country!

The view from the boat was amazing! It felt really nice and relaxing to be surrounded by so much greenery!...and friendly birds!

Arriving into Vitznau, we immediately ride the railway to take us to the top of Rigi. I've never riden on such steep railway tracks! The occassional jerks whenever we were climbing steeper had everyone who was standing in the train (including me!) constantly moving around to keep balance! Although I was busy keeping myself up, I was also enjoying the amazing view! There were sheeps enoying the fresh greens, and some hikers who opt to walk to the top instead of taking the train!

6,000ft above sea level, we finally make it to the top! The Rigi gives you an awesome panoramic view of central Switzerland! After about an hour of taking in the view, we eat lunch at the cafe and decide to return to Luzern.

Not having the proper hiking gear, of course, we decide to take the railway back down! (Don't wanna take the train? Don't wanna hike down? Then paraglide! Believe me, we saw several people choosing this option! Of course, I'm sure they were professionals!) Steam train, anyone? -Yes! We chugged our way down to Weggis station and rode a cable car to take us further down to the boats. Taking the same boat route back, we wave goodbye to the "Queen" and finally arrive into Luzern!

Next Stop - "Goodbye Luzern, Hello Grindelwald!" Taking the panoramic train to Grindelwald, where we hike through the clouds, walk in the snow while feeling light-headed, and lots more!

Fish, Garlic and Danish Food!

Over the weekend, Danny and I took a short trip up to Monterey and Gilroy to enjoy the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Gilroy Garlic Festival. We left early Friday morning and took a funny way on the 5 freeway (don't ask! haha) to get to Monterey. It was our first time to the Aquarium, so we were both excited. We brought our own lunches that we enjoyed outside with the cool sea breeze!

Look at the sea lions lounging on the beach! At first I thought they were just rocks until I saw a small lil-something move and swim into the ocean!

Danny couldn't resist eating the swimming mackerel! Our highlight of the day was watching the cute sea otters bath themselves! They wash their cheeks with human-like circular motions!

For dinner we went to the Monterey Fish House...they have amazing food! Danny had halibut, and I had California white seabass which we both had almond encrusted -yum! Luckily, we were able to get a 5pm reservation, otherwise we would of had to wait until 8:30pm to get a seat!

The following morning we hit the Gilroy Garlic Festival to enjoy some stinkin' food! Just like last year, there were lots of visitors wanting to stink their breathes with garlic as much as we did!

We started the day by watching a demo of how to cook pepper steak sandwiches, then we got hungry and ate some key lime calamari. After scarfing down the calamari, we ordered a sausage sandwich with chicken stir-fry, scampi and mushrooms -of course, everything had garlic in it. It was fantastic! Then, saving the best for last we had roasted corn with garlic butter! Luckily, the nice boy gave me an extra corn for free which meant a whole corn for the each of us -score!

We had our share of garlic for the summer, so it was time to go home to Orange County! We didn't try the garlic ice cream, again, this year, but someday we will!

On our way back home, we decided to take the 101 freeway as we were hungry for a different scenery. The nothingness of the 5 would have driven us crazy! We thought that a good stop along the way into Solvang would be nice. It's been years since Danny and I went there, so we wanted to revisit it again =)

We ate at a small danish cafe, and enjoyed the music of the old man's accordion. I almost felt like I never left Vienna! Danny enjoyed a plate of schnitzel and I had danish sausage. After strolling the small danish village, we went back on the road and said "Good Night" to a fun and exciting weekend!

"Guten Tag, Switzerland!" Part 1 (Luzern)

The beginning of my amazing European trip started in Luzern, Switzerland. Luzern, the most populous city in central Switzerland, is the 7th largest city in Switzerland and is one of the most popular tourist destination. We had 2 full days to take in the breathtaking mountains surrounding us, and time to stroll in-between the medival-looking structures.

First, we took the express railway from Zurich Airport to Luzern, and in about an hour we arrived at Bahnhof Station. Our hotel was conveniently located nearby the train station and our room had an amazing view of the Luzern Lake! Might I add here, Switzerland has an amazing railway system and makes it extremely easy to travel between cities. Following our stay in Luzern, going to Grindelwald in the Panoramic Train was very nice.

The town's most famous landmark is the Kapellbrucke ("Chapel Bridge"), the oldest wooden bridge in Europe, which stretches 670ft across the Reuss River. The Wasserturm (Water Tower) that adjoins the bridge used to serve as a prison, torture chamber, when the bridge was constructed in 1333 to help protect the city from attacks. All along the ceiling are 17th century paintings which depict events from Luzern's history.

Another noteworthy monument is the Lion Monument, designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen to commemorate the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution. The inscription below the dying lion lists the names of the officers, and the approx number of the soldiers who died and survived. The sculpture is 20ft high and 33ft long.

Here are shots of couple churches we visited along the way. (Jesuitenkirche & Hofkirche)

Next Stop : Rigi -a mountain in central Switzerland and part of the Swiss Alps; also known as the "Queen of the Mountains" Aprrox elevation of 5,900ft we took a ride over steep railway tracks and on cable car lines!

Willkommen!!

Coming back from my 16 day trip to Europe, I have lots to do for my blog! Although, first I will need to sort through 3000+ photos and choose ones to post on my blog. I have lots of fun and interesting photos to share with you, so hopefully you can find the time to watch my blog! Of course, in between my Europe posts, I will post about other stuff we are doing in Cali!

I visited several cities which include Switzerland (Luzern, Grindelwald), Italy (Venice) and Austria (Vienna). To share one quick photo will you, this is from Grindelwald, Switzerland at "Top of Europe" which is said to be the highest railway station in all of Europe -about 11,300ft high! As you can see, there was still snow and was about 32F. The train runs through 2 different mountains and took about 16 years to build the tunnel! I gotta admit, I was gettin' a bit light-headed from lack of oxygen - but I made it!

I will see you back in a bit with highlights from my trip. See ya soon!