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Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento & Capri, Italy – Princess Cruises

Posted on June 14, 2014 by SUNGRL

We haven’t been to the south of Italy before so decided to do the tour that took in Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento & Capri. It was set to be another hot day and again 5 cruise ships were in port so it was also going to be a busy day ashore.

We met our tour guide Antonio and boarded the bus for Pompeii. Antonio was a guy in his 50’s who lived in Naples. He was very good – informative, animated and he had a great sense of humour. There would be no sleeping on the tour today. We got to Pompeii and with all these tours there are always the local factory visits – first up a Cameo factory. We watched a short video on how Cameo’s are made which was actually quite interesting. I didn’t know that they are carved out of shell so you do learn something everyday. After we finished the walking tour of Pompeii we visited the Limoncello factory.

We then walked to the entrance of Pompeii. The very day after the big celebration to Vulcanalia, the region’s god of fire, Pompeii disappeared under yards of volcanic ash in 79 A.D. and lay forgotten for 1,500 years. The site attracts 2.5 million visitors each year.

Pompeii has been well preserved and was very impressive in terms of ruins. I was particularly impressed with these large round stones at the intersections of the roads which the chariots could go over using the spaces between them as tracks.

Mt Vesuvius had remained quiet for 1.500 years then on the 24th August 79 A.D., nearly 30,000 Pompeians perished under as much as 50 feet of ash after it erupted. 10,000 people in the nearby town of Herculaneum watched in horror, a precursor to their own doom. The heat of Vesuvius created a flash flood of mud and ash that poured onto the town and instantly hardened to cement. Today there is a national park surrounding Mt Vesuvius which provides spectacular views to the world’s most famous volcano. It last erupted in 1944.

The ruins in Pompeii, still being excavated today, were perfectly preserved by the ash and mud and offer a portal into the past with a network of buildings, brothels, shops, theatres, artwork and mummified bodies and more. Pompeii was a commercial centre and is famous for it’s erotic / fertility artworks still intact.

In fact in 1819 King Francis I of Naples was so disgusted by the sexually explicit ancient artwork, he ordered many chambers closed to the public. To this day, by law, children may not tour some of the sites unless accompanied by a consenting parent. Several Christian groups to this day call for the destruction of the ruins.

We then took the bus for the very scenic ride to Sorrento. The coastline is quite spectacular with the limestone cliffs. It was a hot day and the heat haze prevented clear views across the Bay of Naples. Apparently on Saturdays and Sundays when all the locals decide to go to the beach the winding road to Sorrento becomes a parking lot with bumper to bumper cars. There are some private beaches that you pay EU25 per day for a space on. I am pleased it was Thursday – 5 cruise ships in town was causing enough congestion.

We had lunch at Zi Ntonio which translates to Uncle Tony’s. It was very nice with spinach and ricotta cannelloni to start followed by chicken topped with mozzarella and rosemary roasted potatoes. Dessert was a lemon flavoured cream cake. Fresh produce is in abundance and apparently they grow the best tomatoes. They also grow lemons in abundance and they grow big – lemons on steroids – perfect for making Limoncello which is a speciality in the area.

Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to explore Sorrento as we had to catch the boat to Capri. There were 11 groups of 50 people from our cruise ship doing the same tour so they had chartered a boat. It took a long time to get all the groups on the boat so we spent a bit of time with the sun beating down on us – everyone was sweating and feeling rather uncomfortable. When we finally got moving the sea breeze was amazing!

There are three islands in the Bay of Naples with Capri being the only one that is not a volcano. Capri has been a major shopping destination for the world’s who’s who since the day of the Roman Empire. They say Mariah Carey has a place here. It is a stunning island with beautiful grottos, rock formations, harbours and cliffs. We got off the boat and caught the local minibus up to the top of the island which is the main town area and Piazza Umberto I.

We were so hot by the time we got to the top we just wanted to cool down – a restaurant overlooking the bay beckoned us and we took solace in there until it was time to head back to the boat. What a stunning spot. We were then supposed to catch the Funicular back down to the Port but the queues were very long. There was a sign that said you could walk down in 10 minutes so we took that option. It was a wise choice for a couple of reasons – the walkway was lovely and we saw the lovely gardens of the houses we passed and we beat the rest of our group down by about 45 minutes.

The boat trip back from Capri to Naples took about 45 minutes. It had cooled down considerably by the time we got back to the ship. A hot shower was a welcome relief to wash away the stickiness accumulated throughout the day.

We didn’t actually get time to explore Naples but learnt a bit about it from Antonio while we were on the bus with him. Naples is one of the oldest cities in the world founded between the 8th and 9th century BC as a Greek colony. It is the cultural epicentre and capital of Southern Italy’s Campania area. According to where the city borders are drawn Naples has somewhere between 1 and 5 million people and is the most densely populated centre in Italy. While Italian is the country’s language, Naples has it’s own (protected by law in 2008) city language called Neapolitan, spoken by some 7 million people.

For 3,000 years, Naples has been a snapshot of life, frozen in statues and long abandoned ruins, yet alive today in laughter, music, food and saga. Almost 1,000 years before Christ’s birth, Parthenope (Naples) was a Greek colony. Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul preached here. Just about everyone except the Eskimos have been in charge of the place. It is an ancient melting pot.

Naples is the birthplace of both the pizza and gelato. Pizza was invented during the 18th century reign of King Ferdinand I of Naples. The story goes that his wife wouldn’t let him taste the common dish so he disguised himself as a pauper to test it. He loved it. Later, for years, the dish was called The Margherita after the Queen of Italy. She loved her first bite, especially because the chefs had made one in the colours of Italy.

Naples was the most bombed Italian city during World War II. It has survived countless wars over the centuries, involving just about everyone from the Vikings to the Poles. In 1656, the plague killed half it’s 300,000 citizens. Next to Paris, Naples was Europe’s second biggest city then.

The wine is also very good in this region and is referred to as Lycryma Christi which translates as Tears of Christ and comes from the tale of Jesus crying over Lucifer’s fall from heaven. The holy tears flowed onto the lava scarred fields near Vesuvius, thereby making the vineyards divine.

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Aix en Provence, France – Princess Cruises

Posted on June 10, 2014 by SUNGRL

This boat is so smooth that you actually forget that you are cruising at an average speed of 29km per hour on the ocean. The sun rises about 5.30am and the boat docks at about 7am so it is nice to get up early and look at the landscape as we come into Port.

On Tuesday morning we took a tour to Aix en-Provence. We had to meet in the theatre at 7am and then we got herded onto the appropriate bus. It took about 1.5 hours to reach Aix en-Provence which is a city commune in the south of France, about 30km north of Marseille. It has a warm climate and on Tuesday it reached about 29 degrees. Aix has an average of 300 days of sunshine per year.

Our tour guide Aureil gave us a commentary about the area along the way and then took us on a walking tour in the town. The town is divided by a tree lined boulevard called the Cours Mirabeau. It is bordered by fine houses and decorated by fountains – there are 21 fountains in the town. Aix means water so the fountains are quite fitting. The boulevard follows the line of the old city wall and divides the town into two sections – the new town and the old town or the medieval town.

We visited the Cathedral of the Holy Saviour (Aix Cathedral) which is situated in the medieval part of Aix. It contains a mixture of all styles from the 5th to the 17th century.

Aix has long been a university town: Louis II of Anjou granted a royal charter for a university in 1409. Today Aix remains an important educational centre, with many teaching and research institutes.

This town used to be independent from France and have it’s own language. The local Aix dialect, rarely used and spoken by a rapidly decreasing number of people, is part of the provencal dialect of Occitan language. The provencal for “Aix-en-Provence” is “Ais de Prouvènço”. Most of the older streets in Aix have names in both Provençal and French.

We hopped back on the bus and headed back to the boat and hit the pool for some relief from the heat of the day. We set sail for Rome at 3pm so with everyone on board the pool areas were rather busy but by 5pm the adults only pool was deserted. Steve was up to his old tricks – he told me that he was just going for a walk and would come back to the pool about 5pm. He finally appeared at 6pm – he had been making friends around the boat. He’s really enjoying the cruising lifestyle.

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Adios Barcelona – Hello Med – Princess Cruises

Posted on June 10, 2014 by SUNGRL

We spent the morning exploring more of the streets in our neighbourhood before packing up & catching a taxi to the Cruise Terminal at the Port.

We are doing a 10 day cruise from Barcelona to Venice. We are cruising on the Regal Princess on her maiden voyage. She left Venice last week. Everything is very shiny & new. The check in process is very smooth and we were on board in our rooms within an hour of leaving our apartment in Barcelona. These cruise ships are like mini cities with a number of restaurants, theatres, movie theatres, a running track, putting green, gelato, sushi, cafés, bars, swimming & spa pools, basketball court, big outdoor screen, shops, art galleries and the like.

It is quite amazing and I am not sure if I like it or not yet. It is very comfortable and is definitely an easy way to travel but it all seems a bit unreal – all this glitz and glamour – it reminds me of Las Vegas actually.

We had to have a safety drill before we set sail to learn the do’s and dont’s in case of an emergency. We got to put on the life jackets which are much sturdier than your normal life jackets. They then had a Barcelona sail away celebration – music and dancing on the pool deck as we pulled out of Barcelona in the evening sun. We had a bit of dinner, explored more of the boat and then stopped off at Crooners Bar to listen to this amazing piano player called Tom Franek – he was very cool and very entertaining.

It is just non stop activity & entertainment!

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Explorers and Headless Men – Barcelona

Posted on June 8, 2014 by SUNGRL

We arrived into Barcelona at 10.48pm last night by train from Paris. It took six and a half hours on the high speed train – a very comfortable and relaxing way to travel. We took a taxi to our accommodation which is a two bedroom apartment in the El Born neighbourhood. We had been in communication with our host Alejandro and were going to meet him outside the property between 11pm and midnight. It is always a bit unnerving standing in the middle of the street at 11.30pm wondering A. are you in the right place; and B. will he turn up?

Being the glass half full type of person I had faith that it would all work out and wallah Alejandro appeared. He opened this skinny metal door and we looked up to see this very narrow staircase – no lift here so we had to carry our suitcases up to the third floor. Carol was concerned her Steve was going to have a heart attack but we all made it with no serious injuries.

The apartment is lovely – newly renovated with all the mod cons. It is in the neighbourhood of El Born. Despite humble beginnings as a settlement built on top of a medieval area of jousts and celebrations El Born has grown into being one of the most fashionable places in the city. It is a 5 minute walk to the Cathedral, a 10 minute walk to the Port and a 10 minute walk to the La Rambla.

The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia also known as Barcelona Cathedral, is the Gothic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain. The cathedral was constructed from the 13th to 15th centuries, with the principal work done in the 14th century. The cathedral is dedicated to Eulalia of Barcelona, co-patron saint of Barcelona, a young virgin who, according to Catholic tradition, suffered martyrdom during Roman times in the city. One story says that she was exposed naked in the public square and a miraculous snowfall in mid-spring covered her nudity. The enraged Romans put her into a barrel with knives stuck into it and rolled it down a street (according to tradition, the one now called Baixada de Santa Eulàlia). The body of Saint Eulalia is entombed in the cathedral’s crypt.

The Port of Barcelona has a 2000-year history and great contemporary commercial importance. It is Catalonia’s largest port, vying with Tarragona, and Spain’s third and Europe’s ninth largest container port, with a trade volume of 2.57 million TEU’s in 2008. It is also one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean.

It is a huge area and we could see the cruise ships in the distance – we’ll be heading there tomorrow : ) We explored the Port Vell area which comprises two marinas or yacht harbors, a fishing port, a maritime station for ferries travelling to the Balearic Islands and other destinations in the Mediterranean and other stations or landing areas for cruise ships, and it abuts the industrial port.

In the central area, it also houses “Maremagnum” (a shopping mall and nightlife complex), a multiplex cinema, the IMAX Port Vell (large-format cinema complex) and Europe’s largest aquarium, containing 8,000 fish and 11 sharks in 22 basins filled with 6 million litres of sea water. Because it is located in a designated tourist zone, the Maremagnum is the only commercial mall in the city that can open on Sundays and public holidays. Next to the Maremagnum area are the “Golondrines”, small ships that take tourists for a visit around the port area and beyond.

We then headed up the La Rambla which is a street in central Barcelona, popular with tourists and locals alike. A tree-lined pedestrian mall, it stretches for 1.2 kilometres connecting Plaça de Catalunya in the centre with the Christopher Columbus Monument at Port Vell. La Rambla can be considered a series of shorter streets, each differently named, hence the plural form Les Ramblas which is often used instead of La Rambla. We had lunch on one of the street side cafes serving paella, beer and sangria – yum! We also had some pictures taken with some of the very cool human statues on the street.

The Christopher Columbus monument is in honour of his first voyage to the Americas. The monuments serves as a reminder that Christopher Columbus reported to Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand V in Barcelona after his first trip to the new continent.

Barcelona also has an Arc de Triomf which is an arch in the manner of a memorial or triumphal arch. It was built as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas.

Steve had read an article in the travel section of the NZ Herald online a couple of days ago and this travel writer said one of his favourite places to eat in the world was La Isabela in Barcelona. It is a roof top terrace tapas bar on the top of Hotel 1898. It was lovely up there and the food was delicious. The blackberry mojito I had wasn’t bad too! The view over Barcelona city was also worth it – a very relaxing evening had by all.

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More Esteemed Guests – Paris

Posted on June 7, 2014 by SUNGRL

Not only has the Queen been in town but we were also joined by the President of the United States, Barrack Obama and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin although apparently the two aren’t too keen on each other at the moment! Even our own Governor General Jerry Mateparae was in town to join the D Day commemorations at Normandy. He can be seen in the photo below assisting the Queen along with President Obama.

We have spent the last couple of days continuing to explore Paris – as I have said before there is so much to see both in historic buildings and monuments but also just in observing everyday Parisian life.

We went to the Eiffel Tower yesterday where Steve & Mel went all the way to the top. Carol got to the 2nd floor. Steve & I decided to go and watch the tennis on the big screen they had set up just below the Eiffel Tower and have our lunch. It was a very hot day so we didn’t last the whole match. We took the Batobus back to our apartment and prepared a dinner of roast lamb and roast veges.

This morning we decided to go the Rue de Rivoli. The Rue de Rivoli is one of the most prominent commercial streets in Paris that runs parallel to Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre museum. The street is renown for shops which carry the most fashionable name brands in the world. The ‘Rue de Rivoli’ name is connected to Napoleon’s 18th-century victory over the Austrian army in the battle of Rivoli.

I visited the tea department in the LE BHV Marais Department Store. They stock the Kusmi tea brand. Kusmi Tea is a brand of tea with headquarters in Paris, France. The company, which produces Russian-style teas and tea blends, was established by Pavel Michailovitch Kousmichoff in 1867 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Upon the onset of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Kousmichoff company relocated to France. The company has changed hands several times since then.

The company sells and markets a wide variety of blended and flavoured teas. Kusmi Tea’s Russian teas are blends of Chinese, Indian, and Ceylon teas, often flavored with bergamot, citrus fruits, cinnamon, or other scents.

You could smell each of the teas in little sample tins and they smelt divine so I purchased a few to keep me going over the next wee while.

We passed by the July Monument in the middle of Bastille. Place de la Bastille is one of the more well-known squares in Paris and occupies an important place in French history. This is where the Bastille Prison stood until 1789, when this ‘symbol of royalist tyranny’ was stormed on July 14 during the French Revolution. No trace of the Bastille prison remains but the square is still a place where Parisians go to raise their voices in political protest.

In the middle of the square stands the July column, commemorating the three-day July Revolution of 1830. yet another overthrowing of a French king.

We are now on the train – destination Barcelona.

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The Queen & I – Paris

Posted on June 5, 2014 by SUNGRL

We are back in Paris again – really loving using this city as a central pass through point on our European travels. We are staying near the latin quarter this time so started the day with a run / walk up to and along the River Seine.

Steve, Carol & Mel from NZ have joined us in Paris. Mel has been over in Blackpool competing at the World Ballroom Dancing Championships. She has a few days in Paris with us before she heads home and we head to Barcelona to start our cruise.

They have never been to Paris before so we were happy to play tour guides. We decided to get a two day pass on the Batobus which is a hop on hop off boat that goes along the Seine and stops at the main tourist spots. Our first stop was the Champs Élysées – we walked up one side then decided to detour to another Avenue where we had lunch.

When we first arrived at the Champs Élysées we saw all these French flags and Union Jack flags and wondered what was happening. At lunch time we noticed all these police vans and the Arc de Triomphe was a hive of activity. Whilst checking out a wine shop Steve casually asked what was happening and was told that the Queen was in town for a three day state visit.

She had travelled on the Eurostar that morning after unveiling a plaque commemorating 20 years of the Channel Tunnel. She is here for the 70 year celebrations of D Day at Normandy tomorrow.

Normandy landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, were the landing operations on 6 June 1944 (termed D-Day) of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion in history, the operation began the invasion of German-occupied western Europe, led to the restoration of the French Republic, and contributed to an Allied victory in the war.

Steve, Carol & Mel had come from spending a few days in London and never got to see the Queen so we thought we would hang around to watch her come down the Champs Élysées. It was a bit of a long wait but finally we saw the procession coming down. Some fairly non de script cars then came into view and at the last minute we noticed the Queen sitting in the back of one waving. Towards the end of the procession the maroon Rolls Royce that she had arrived in came past with only the driver in it – if she had been in there we would have seen her clearly. Damn French decided to put her in a French made car!

We then continued our tour down the Champs Élysées and waked back to the Batobus to come home. We passed the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dam which will be on tomorrows agenda. The Eiffel Tower has a big tennis ball hanging from it as the French Open is sill on here in Paris. It was another lovely day weather wise and as I sit here typing this at 10pm the sun is only just going down.

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The Simple Things – Switzerland

Posted on June 4, 2014 by SUNGRL

We have been very privileged to be staying with our friends Karin & Elvis in their home in Switzerland. They have been tour guides extraordinaire, great cooks and great company. We have had a great time with a little mix of everything from going up mountains, walking around lakes, going to football matches and just chilling at home.

It has also been nice doing some domestic things – Karin & Elvis have built a house so there are always lots of bits and pieces to do so Saturday we helped water blast the pool and mow the lawns. Karin & I ventured to the river and collected river stones for the garden. They both work elsewhere during the week so they went back to work on Monday so we were left to our own devices – I felt like a right domestic goddess this morning making rissoles for our dinner, organising breakfast and then making a picnic lunch. The simple things in life. Also being able to watch the French Open live is a bonus – no middle of the night viewing. Loved our day that we had there last week – so cool!

Yesterday we drove to Schwanden where Karin teaches at the high school – about 1.5 hours from here. She has invited us to attend her English class where the kids are studying NZ – how fortuitous! One of her students – Andre – had written us a letter last week to invite us. Anyway they are looking at the tourist spots in Rotorua so we have to join in the group work so they can practice their English. For those of you who have ever received a text or email from Steve you will know that English is not his strong point – who knows what they may learn!

The kids in Karin’s class range from 13 to 15 – they were all very polite coming up, shaking our hands and introducing themselves. We had to introduce ourselves to the class and remember to speak slowly so they could understand us.

We then played a game where they have these words on a card and you have to say what the other tense is, eg took and taken. I got the first few wrong – how embarrassing! Once you had 5 right you moved onto someone else – the objective for them is to collect as many cards as possible. It’s back to the drawing board if you run out of cards.

They then had the exercise to do about Rotorua – they had to read a travel writers blog and then answer some questions about what they had read. They did this in groups so Steve & I joined different groups – I stuck with my group but Mr Social was flitting from group to group.

We then had question time – the kids had prepared some questions prior to class. The first question was – do we know any NZ tongue twisters? We couldn’t think of any on the spot so moved on to question two – do you have a relationship! She was meaning are we in a relationship – we had to smile.

Steve had mentioned he played table tennis so the kids were all keen to take him on – some of them had their own bats because there are two tables at the school. Once the class had finished we went down to play – Steve had them all lining up to play while some of the others were playing a type of roulette handball which I joined in. It was great fun.

The kids then had another class as did Karin so we walked back to her parent’s place to catch up with them which was nice before Karin returned.

We drove back to Buochs over the Klausen Pass which gets up to 1,900 metres. There were some great views and still a bit of snow higher up. Some of the houses are built with a hill behind them so when an avalanche hits it just flows over them. We stopped off at this waterfall which was lovely. We then stopped in Altdorf which is in the canton of Uri (one of the first cantons in Switzerland and where Karin’s dad is from) to see the William Tell monument.

William Tell is known throughout the world. He’s the man who in Altdorf, under duress from the Habsburg Vogt Gessler, shot an apple from his son’s head with a crossbow and, with the second arrow, killed Gessler in the Hohle Gasse. But did WilliamTell really exist?

The answer is that there are no historically proven sources confirming his existence. Tell is a mythical figure, a freedom fighter and tyrant killer who is said to have lived in the 13th and 14th century. Tell-like figures also existed elsewhere. The legend of the apple-shot and tyrant murder first appeared in Denmark in the 13th century. Similar stories are well known in England too. The fearless, courageous man of the mountains achieved world wide fame as the eponymous figure in Friedrich Schiller’s 1804 drama “William Tell”. Since the end of the 19th century William Tell has been recognised as Switzerland’s national hero.

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Stanserhorn – Switzerland

Posted on June 1, 2014 by SUNGRL

Today we went up the Stanserhorn Mountain – it is 1,898 metres high. Firstly we took a funicular and then an open top cable car. It was a fantastic morning and the views all around were great. We had breakfast up there at the revolving restaurant. The open top cable car or Cabrio was amazing and the ride was quite exhilarating especially when it went over the four pylons that house the structure that powers it up and down the mountain.

The Stanserhorn mountain is located in the canton of Nidwalden close to the border with Obwalden, at 1898 meters above sea level.

In 1893 a funicular railway was built to transport people from the base of the mountain to the summit, with the upper section being replaced in the 1970s by a cable car. From the top, one can view as far as Alsace, France and The Black Forest in Germany.

In 2001, a revolving restaurant was built on the top.

On 29 June 2012, a new cable car CabriO was opened to the public, with a capacity of 60 persons in each of the two cars. Unusually, it has a double decker arrangement, and is claimed to be the first in the world with an open-air upper deck, which has standing room for 30 persons.

We had a good walk around after breakfast and then did a walk around taking in all the views. During the ride up and while you are on the top you have a great view to Mt Pilatus. Mt Pilatus is well known with the tourists that visit Switzerland – it has great views over Lucerne.

We also visited the Marmots. Marmots are large squirrels who mostly live in mountainous areas. Marmots typically live in burrows and hibernate there through the winter. Most marmots are highly social and use loud whistles to communicate with one another, especially when alarmed. Marmots mainly eat greens and many types of grasses, berries, lichens, mosses, roots, and flowers.

After visiting the Stanserhorn we went down to Stans which is the capital of Nidwalden and visited the Catholic Church. It was originally built between 1641 and 1647. Elvis is a fountain of knowledge in many areas so it is like having your own private tour guide. He pointed out the things that you will always find in a Catholic Church – statues of Peter, Paul, Joseph & Mary and pictures of the 12 steps from when Jesus was condemned until he was taken down off the cross.

They also had a statue of Saint Nicholas who is considered the Saint of Switzerland. He played an important role in bringing together the three original canton’s in Switzerland with four other cantons in 1481. The three original cantons were Uri, Suisse and Nidwalden – these were rural cantons and the cantons wanting to join were city cantons so there were a few differences of opinion.

Outside the church there was a statue of Arnold von Winkelried. Arnold von Winkelried or Arnold Winkelried is a legendary hero of Swiss history. According to 16th century Swiss historiography, Winkelried’s sacrifice brought about the victory of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Battle of Sempach (1386) against the army of the Habsburg Duke Leopold III of Austria.

According to legend, the Swiss initially could not break the close ranks of the Habsburg pikemen. Winkelried cried: “I will open a passage into the line; protect, dear countrymen and confederates, my wife and children…” He then threw himself upon the Austrian pikes, taking some of them down with his body. This broke up the Austrian front, and made an opening through which the Swiss could attack.

We then walked up to the college that Elvis went to – this college was run by the Monks until 1987 when the canton took over it’s running and administration.

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Football – Switzerland v Jamaica, Swissporarena, Lucerne – Switzerland

Posted on May 31, 2014 by SUNGRL

Karin & Elvis had planned a surprise for us on Friday night. We had an early dinner and had to leave for the train station by 6.45pm. We got off the train and saw all these people in Swiss hats, scarves etc… so thought we must be going to some sort of sport’s event. When we got closer to the stadium they told us we were going to see the Swiss Football team play Jamaica in a friendly match as part of the Swiss teams build up for the World Cup being held in South America from mid June.

The stadium holds 16,800 and there were 15,000 spectators for the game. We had these great seats 3 rows from the front and just along from the players and managers area. At half time we had to sample the Swiss sausages – I am not a sausage fan but I love Swiss sausages and mustard! I also had a Kaffe Fertig which is coffee with schnapps – another Swiss tradition when attending a football match.

Switzerland won the game 1 nil so the crowd was happy. Switzerland is ranked number 8 in the world and Jamaica is ranked number 82 in the world. A fun night had by all and an unexpected bonus on our trip to Switzerland. We even managed to get on the big screen – I took a photo of us up on the big screen – a new form of selfie – taking a photo of yourself taking a photo while on the big screen!

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Ticino – Switzerland

Posted on May 30, 2014 by SUNGRL

The weather forecast for the Lucerne area wasn’t very good so we decided to head south to the canton of Ticino which is in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. We went over the Gotthard Pass which was covered in snow and very low cloud. The Gotthard Pass connects the northern German speaking part of Switzerland with the southern Italian speaking part, along the route to Milan in Italy.

The pass played a significant part in Swiss history back in the 12th and 13th centuries when structures were being built to get across this pass and take control of the various areas surrounding the pass. There were various bridges built over the years but the terrain and conditions that these men were subject to made it quite difficult – one of the bridges crossing the River Reuss was named The Devil’s Bridge.

The legend of this particular bridge states that the Reuss was so difficult to ford that a Swiss herdsman wished the devil would make a bridge. The Devil appeared, but required that the soul of the first to cross would be given to him. The mountaineer agreed, but drove a goat across ahead of him, fooling his adversary. Angered by this sham, the devil fetched a rock with the intention of smashing the bridge, but an old woman drew a cross on the rock so the devil couldn’t lift it anymore. The rock is still there and, in 1977, 300,000 Swiss francs were spent to move the 220 ton rock by 127 m in order to make room for the new Gotthard road tunnel.

We stopped at the Devils’ Bridge to have a look – it was about 6 degrees with minimal visibility. As we came over the pass onto the other side blue sky and sunshine started appearing and the temperature rose markedly reaching 28 degrees after lunch.

We stopped at Bellinzona which is the capital of Ticino. We had a picnic lunch up on the castle.

We then headed south to Melide in Lugano which is also in the canton of Ticino to visit the Swissminiatur. Swiss Miniature is Switzerland on a smaller scale. There are 130 models of houses, castles and monuments in the open air, distributed throughout the 14,000 square meter park. The models have been recreated authentically – with great attention to detail – and are surrounded by thousands of plants and flowers.

The Swiss Miniature in Melide, which was opened in 1959, is the only miniature park in Switzerland. The detailed and authentic models include well-known sites such as the Heidi Village in Maienfeld, the castles of Burgdorf and Chillon, the Federal Parliament in Bern, and the Cathedral of Milan, the only model that can also be viewed from inside. Eighteen model trains travel between the buildings on approximately 3.5 kilometers of tracks. There are also operating rack-railways, cable cars, suspension railways and ships. Swiss Miniature is also a visual delight, since its models are surrounded by 15,000 flower species and over 1,500 trees.

It was really enjoyable and good to see some of the places that we had visited previously. Of course Karin & I had to take a ride on the miniature train : )

We then headed north again but this time we took the St. Gotthard Tunnel. The St. Gotthard Tunnel runs from Göschenen in the Canton of Uri at its northern portal, to Airolo in Ticino to the south, and is 16.942 kilometres (10.527 mi) in length below the St. Gotthard Pass. It is the third-longest road tunnel in the world after Norway’s Lærdal Tunnel (24.5 km), and China’s Zhongnanshan Tunnel (18 km).

In response to the automobile boom in Switzerland and the popularity of Italy as a travel resort, the Swiss government gave approval in July 1969 for the construction of the 16-kilometre Gotthard Road tunnel. The tunnel would be longer than any existing road tunnel, and would provide year-round road link between central Switzerland and Milan to be used in place of the Gotthard Pass.

The now widely used motorway tunnel was opened on September 5, 1980. It remains a single bore tunnel with just one lane operating in each direction. It has four large ventilation shafts and an additional side gallery between 10 and 18 metres from the main tunnel, having its own independent ventilation system in order to facilitate the cutting of a second tunnel, should future traffic levels require it.