Grüezi from Sachseln, Switzerland!

Grüezi! (Pronounced: "grew-tsi," meaning "I greet you" or basically "hello" in this area of Switzerland.)

We are staying in the small town of Sachseln along the shores of Lake Sarnen (Sarnensee), both of which are the geographic center of Switzerland.  Lucerne, famous for its wooden bridges and the Lion Monument (aka the weeping lion), is likely one of the most-visited Swiss cities and is just 23km to our north (roughly 14.5 miles).  To the southwest is Interlaken (meaning literally "between lakes") auf Deutsch) which is situated in the beautiful Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps.  Below is a photo we took while walking along the beautiful Sarnensee.

We've heard from the locals that this summer they've had an exorbitant amount of rain (you can tell, the rivers and lakes are VERY full - the water nearly covers lower lying benches and signs!).  With the rain comes lots and lots of snails and slugs!

We've lucked out with a few mostly dry days, one of which we took advantage of to hike along the Wanderweg (a hiking trail system running throughout Switzerland), specifically the portion known as the "Bruder Klaus Way" (Bruder Klausen Weg auf Deutsch).  Little did we know that Sachseln is known as a bit of a spiritual mecca because of Switzerland's only saint, Brother Klaus, who wandered and resided in the area centuries ago!

The hike was a bit different from our Colorado standards - some of the path included roads or was paved with asphalt, other portions had paving stones and yet other areas were wide dirt trails through forest and farm land.  We had a great time walking/hiking from the neighboring town of Sarnen to the rural/remote towns of Flüeli Ranft where Brother Klaus lived back to Sachseln.  We lucked out with temperate weather and no rain!

Both to save money and to enjoy a picnic-esque mode of life, for lunch we've been enjoying making sandwiches of freshly baked rolls, salami and local cheese.  Towards the end of our hike we enjoyed one of these lunches, along with a small bottle of wine, in Flüeli.  Yummy!

After a full day of wandering through the beautiful Swiss mountainside we walked to the neighboring town of Sarnen (about a 2 mile walk) for dinner and thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated catching a lift on the very efficient, although expensive, central Swiss train home.

Time for a bite to eat at the local gasthaus (guest house)!

- Kelsey

Enjoying Innsbruck

Innsbruck was great!  We used Airbnb to find a place that was a 5-10 minute walk from the downtown area.  The architecture in and around the city was incredible!  We spent the first night eating some delicious pizza at Die Pizzeria and then had a few beers at Stiegl.  Saturday was the first day after I got a full nights sleep so I was ready to go!  Thank goodness for getting over jet lag.

We bought a pass that granted us entry to most city museums/attractions called the Innsbruck Card.  The pass was good for 24 hours so we quickly began hunting down activities that interested us.  First we headed to the Kaiserliche Hofburg (Imperial Palace).  There, we quickly toured the Alpenverein-Museum (Alpine Club Museum) and part of the 25 imperial rooms.  The Alpine Club Museum was really cool to me.  They combined artifacts from climbing history with a brief history of alpinism in the Tyrolean Alps.  We didn't have time to tour all of the 25 imperial rooms as we were to catch a walking tour of the historic old town.  It was raining on us for most of the walking tour, which proved quite nice since it cleared out some of the tourists who couldn't handle the inclement weather.  I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures of the tour, but this one is from inside St. James Cathedral.

After the walking tour we strolled to the Museum Im Zeughaus (Zeughaus Arsenal Museum).  I was expecting a museum about the arsenal of Innsbruck, but was surprised to find a mix of geological, natural, and cultural history... all in German with no English translation.  This museum was cool, but a little harder to fully comprehend because... we don't speak much German.  However, I guarantee you, we know enough so we can always order beer.

Ein bier, bitte!

By this time we were getting tired (and thirsty) and began a search for food.  We walked through the city center and decided to look for food on the outskirts that were less touristy.  We found a place called UFO that served Mediterranean food.  It was good but a bit salty.  Then we headed to Stadtturm (City Tower) for a 360 degree view of the city.  After another beer it was time to call it a day.

Sunday we had tentatively planned on visiting the Schloss Ambras Innsbruck (Ambras Castle) and to take the Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen (Cable Car) to the top of the mountain.  We slept in a little and decided to cut out the castle.  Walking around the top of the mountain was quite touristy.  However, I have never summited a peak with such ease. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and eventually made our way to an Indian restaurant called Madhuban.  This was the BEST food I have ever had!  I ordered the Rogan Josh and loved every bite.  There was no way that any of my dish would be taken home for leftovers.

Monday we packed up and used the rainy day to travel to a little town in Switzerland called Sachseln.

And now it's time for pictures with no explanation!!!

- Dan

Relaxing in Innsbruck

Grüß Gott! (Pronounced: "gross got" to the best of my understanding, meaning literally "May God greet you," a greeting common in Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland.)

I should begin by clarifying: Wien is German (Deutsch) for Vienna.  Dan took Deutsch in high school and I took one course in college which I dropped when I realized I was failing horribly and switched to Spanish . . . So, between the two of us, Dan's high school Deutsch and mine from visiting Tyler several times, we are managing to get by!  Below is a photo which I interpret to mean "no horns in Wien."

Our Tour de Europa 2014 (my Spanish peaking through) began this past Friday afternoon when we walked into downtown Wien, fully loaded with our backpacks, to pick up our reserved rental car.  To begin, the rental car company didn't have a formal address, so we wandered around several blocks in the general area based on a map my brother had given us before actually finding the location.

After we arrived the staff was busy and friendly and we ended up with an "upgrade" from our initial reservation (a manual compact car that seated 5 with some luggage) to a brand-new manual "4x4" which was more like a small SUV.  I had concerns from the beginning, realizing that the smaller the car the easier to maneuver the small streets of old world Europe.  Additionally, even though I learned to drive on a manual (Saab 900s - the best car ever!!), it's been years since I've driven one for more than a few blocks.  Similarly, Dan had learned to drive manual while working for his last employer and had only driven on occasion.

All of this said, a brand new clutch + 2 people who haven't driven a manual in a long time, let alone an SUV manual = smoking engine!  Not even 9 blocks from the rental car company we had a smoking transmission due to stalling several times. . . The rental car fellow kindly walked the 9 blocks and found us, took a look to diagnose, admitted it was likely our driving which caused the "smoking engine" and drove us back to swap cars.  Dan and I were both much more comfortable the second time around: We ended up with a small Citroen and I ended up driving, being the most comfortable with driving a manual.  All in all an amusing but stressful situation!

It's so much fun driving a little sporty manual on the roads in Austria !!!

Nearly 5 hours after leaving Wien we found ourselves in Innsbruck on Friday evening.  We are staying with a really nice fellow we found on Airbnb who is likely our age and an Innsbruck native.  He is working on his PhD but "playing" it seems before writing his dissertation.

In our few days here we've enjoyed exploring the city center, seeing the beautiful architecture, and learning about Tyrollean history (the Tyrol is a culturally rich portion of the Austrian and Italian Alps that has existed for hundreds of years).  Below is a map of Tirol (auf Deutsch) from 1766:

Tomorrow we are headed to the lake town of Sachseln in Switzerland which is more or less in between Lucerne and Interlaken (which are respectively, more or less, north and south of Sachseln).  We are looking forward to exploring the city of Lucerne for a few days and also the mountains around Interlaken, Gimmelwald and Sachseln the other few.

Sigh.  I am fighting a small cold so have napped a bit today and am ready for some real "zzzzz's."  Guten nacho!

- Kelsey

Wien, sweet Wien

At last we've arrived in Wien.  The first day is always tough, but after 13 hours of sleep last night Dan and I are feeling pretty darn good!

Having slept late our first activity if the day was meeting Tyler for lunch at a yummy Polish-owned place.  He and Dan had the Wiener Schnitzel (which is typically flattened, fried pork this day in age) and I had a salad with ham and egg.  We've been learning a lot about the local cuisine and etiquette with tipping.  Fun stuff!

After lunch we wandered along the shopping street Mariahilfer Straße taking in the sights and sounds.  I had to restrain myself in my favorite clothing store H&M and have every intention of going back when I have more time...!

Next we found ourselves in the Museum Quarter where we walked into an art exhibit on cables and sound.  Dan felt unsettled and anxious because of the odd electronic sounds.  It was definitely very interesting!  There was a "bikini" made out of cables, similar to those in the poster below.  It didn't look too comfortable to wear . . .

After seeing cables everywhere we headed across the street and walked through the Maria Theresien Platz taking in the antiquity of the architecture.  Below is our selfie for the day, taken with the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum) in the background.

Continuing our walk, we wandered over by the Hofburg Palace, the center of the Hapsburg Empire until the early 1900's.  Perhaps we'll stop back when we have more time and explore the inside!  After scoping out the palace grounds we decided to relax in the neighboring Burggarten and take in some sun while figuring out where we were on the map.  We laid down for a few minutes and really enjoyed not doing anything, after all we are on vacation, right?!

In the end we weren't too far from Tyler's abode, so we've since walked home and are looking forward to making some curry for dinner and enjoying good company!

- Kelsey