A Final Whirlwind

We left Vienna in early March with a whirlwind of travel ahead of us - our final destination sixteen days later would be California. We first headed to Salzburg, Austria. I have wanted to visit Salzburg for years - the pictures you see of the city are enchanting. We decided to break up the train ride from Vienna, Austria to Switzerland and we booked one night in Salzburg along the way.

Looking down at Salzburg from the castle on the hill.

Sometimes when you visit a place, the idea of it turns out to be a bit better than the reality. Unfortunately for me, Salzburg was like this. The Old Town is lovely, nestled along the river below the castle above. The pedestrian streets are filled with both chain stores as well as a nice mix of unique traditional shops. There is a cute pedestrian New Town on the other side of the river that we enjoyed as well. But the grit of the city surrounding these smaller areas (especially the walk from the train station to our hotel) put a damper on the fantasy in my head about Salzburg. Despite this, we did enjoy our quick stopover. 

Logan's attempt at picture-taking in Old Town, Salzburg. He's our budding photographer.

One of the highlights of walking around the Old Town was our visit to Sporer, a family-owned shop that has been making flavored liqueurs since 1903. They sell samples for ~2-euro a piece. We both enjoyed tasting a handful of flavors; the coffee and black currant were some of our favorites. 

We headed up the steep funicular to the hill perched above the Old Town. There is an old castle, some museums, cafes, gift shops, and some leftover snow that Logan enjoyed. We had some drinks in a pub within the castle and enjoyed the fabulous views of the Old Town below. The funicular track is on the far right of a building, leading up to the castle above.

The funicular track is on the far right, leading up to the castle above.

On our short visit, we felt compelled to eat lunch at Europe’s Oldest inn/restaurant, serving people since 803 AD, St. Peter Stiftskeller. It was an upscale place with excellent service, and a history that has been documented for over 1,200 years!

We left Salzburg and headed to Switzerland to visit with my Swiss sister, Dani, and her family for the next ten days. It was so nice to arrive at Dani’s house! They had a nice guest room for us and they moved their son, Eliah, into his brother, Jonah’s room, so Logan had Eliah’s room to himself. There was a plethora of toys for Logan to play with, along with his two Swiss cousins. Logan was in heaven after months of traveling with only a few small Matchbox cars and no playmates.

Logan watching cartoons with his Swiss cousins.

For our first Swiss morning, Dani had a big day planned for us. Logan was having SO much fun playing with all the toys that he absolutely did not want to leave their house to be dragged around for some sightseeing. Dani’s husband, Guenter, kindly offered to stay home with the kids so that Dani could take Taylor and me around. I was hesitant to leave Logan as he hadn’t left our sides for seven months. I asked him multiple times if he wanted to stay with Guenter and play or come with Mommy and Daddy. Each time I got the same reply, “I want to stay!” So we kissed Logan goodbye and headed out. I believe I had Dani check her cell phone about fifty times over the next few hours to make sure that Guenter hadn’t called with any problems. No calls, no problems. Logan did great, played well, and didn’t miss us at all! I was relieved!

Meanwhile, while Logan remained home in toy heaven, we headed to St. Gallen to visit their beautiful church and the old Abbey. The St. Gallen Abbey had the most beautiful old library. For all of you Disney fans who love Beauty and the Beast, imagine the Beast’s beautiful wood library in his castle, but on a bit smaller scale. Gorgeous polished and carved wood, with ladders leading up to ceiling-high bookshelves of old books. It was beautiful, and unfortunately photos were forbidden, but I found one on the internet and posted it here for you to see.

St. Gallen Abbey library (photo credit wikipedia).

St. Gallen, Switzerland.

St. Gallen Cathedral, attached to the Abbey.

Before heading to our next destination on the day’s agenda, we stopped for some dark Swiss hot chocolate drinks at a chocolaterie near the Abbey.

Our next stop was the Appenzeller cheese factory and restaurant. I think I must be Swiss at heart: two of my favorite things are in abundance in Switzerland: chocolate and cheese! 

We first had lunch at the restaurant attached to the cheese factory. I had a traditional Swiss meal called rosti: shredded potato hash browns topped with cheese, ham, and a fried egg. It was rich deliciousness. Taylor had a traditional sausage called siedwurst, with cheese pasta (macaroni that was so good). After the lunch we did the factory tour and tasted three varieties of their cheese. We took a box of their cheese fondue home with us!

Cheese rosti.

Siedwurst and cheese pasta.

The last stop of the day was a local brewery to pick up some beers for the adults attending Eliah’s upcoming 2nd birthday party a few days later. Taylor enjoyed tasting a few of the locally-made whiskeys they had available.

While we visited with Dani and Guenter, they continued to make us traditional Swiss meals so that we could get a taste of the foods that locals enjoy. One of these dinners was called raclette. They have a special grill that they place on the kitchen table. Each person uses their own small, metal spatula (shaped like a miniature dust pan). You place a thick slice of cheese into the spatula and place it under the grill where the cheese melts. Then the melted cheese is eaten with steamed potatoes, pickles, bread, pickled asparagus and pearl onions, pineapple, cherries, sausage that was cooked atop the grill, herb cream cheese and seasonings like salt, curry powder and paprika.

Raclette dinner set-up.

Another meal we were served was a local cheese pie, which is exactly as it sounds. It was great with a salad and some crusty fresh bread.

A very traditional Swiss dinner is made up of cold meats and cheeses, served with grapes, pickles, and bread with butter.

We spent quite a few days relaxing at home, letting the boys play, and enjoying normalcy after months of traveling. One afternoon while Dani had school, Guenter took us and the boys across the border to Austria for some snow sledding in the Austrian Alps. Logan absolutely loved playing in the snow!

Guenter and Eliah about to sled.

Jonah and Logan enjoying some snow fun.

We got to celebrate Eliah’s 2nd birthday with Dani and Guenter’s families. It was great for me to meet Dani’s parents, Grandma, and one of her two sisters. I’d heard about them since Dani lived with me when I was in 8th grade, so it was great to meet them all in person. It was also very nice to meet and speak with Guenter's parents who spoke English well, as his mother was raised in Australia. 

Meeting Dani's Grandma, Dad, Mom and youngest sister.

During our stay, Dani and Guenter took us for a day trip to Lucerne. We had three little boys to entertain along with seeing the city, so we first went to an amazing Transportation Museum to tire them out. The three boys loved seeing the trains, cars, planes, cable cars, and boats. We were there for a few hours and then headed to downtown Lucerne. 

We walked around Lucerne, enjoyed a cafe by the water, walked along the famous old wood bridge, gazed upon the water tower, took pictures, and headed home. Lucerne was a beautiful city - I would love to return one day for more time, and an evening out (without children).

Another Swiss meal we had at Dani’s was cheese fondue with bread chunks, pineapple and banana chunks to dip too. One night Dani made a huge pot of Appenzeller cheese fondue and we ate until we felt sick. I swore I’d never eat cheese fondue again, but the funny thing is that a few days later, a craving kicks in and you want more!

Nestled between Switzerland and Austria is one of the world’s smallest countries: Lichtenstein. This tiny country lies twenty minutes away from Dani’s house. Since Taylor and I have an addiction to adding new countries to our visited lists, Dani kindly drove us to Vaduz, Lichtenstein for a quick afternoon trip. We ate apple strudel and kaiserschmarren and sipped coffees while sitting outside beneath the Lichtenstein castle (kid-free thanks to Guenter).

Apple Strudel, delicious!

Logan was fighting a cold for part of our Switzerland trip, so we had a few days of relaxing to let him get better. One afternoon while Logan slept, Taylor stayed home while I joined Dani’s family at the nearby Fieldkirch Wild Animal Park in Austria.

A highlight of our time in Switzerland was a short trip to Zermatt, Switzerland to see the Matterhorn. We took a seven hour panoramic Glacier Express train ride to Zermatt. The train is almost fully enclosed in glass windows so you can enjoy the gorgeous scenery along the way. The service was impeccable and the views were unforgettable.

We arrived in Zermatt and were swept away by the town’s charm. It seemed like the vast majority of visitors were there to ski beneath the Matterhorn’s glory. Arriving in Zermatt, your first view of the Matterhorn reminds you of being at Disneyland! We lucked out with clear weather and fabulous views of the mountain we came to see. 

View from our hotel balcony of Zermatt.

We took the Gornergrat-Bahn (train) up a nearby mountain to a viewpoint at more than 10,000 feet altitude with spectacular views of the Matterhorn. 

On the way up the mountain (about a 40 minute ride from Zermatt), we discussed getting a family photo with the Matterhorn behind us. After months of traveling, we have been amused and shocked by the lack of photo-taking skills of strangers when we want a family photo in front of a famous sight. Usually the person will cut off the top of the attraction, or block it by framing us in the way. I joked with Taylor that we will ask someone to take a picture and they’ll miss the Matterhorn all together. This would be a difficult thing to do, as the mountain stands alone like a silent giant.

We arrived at the top and were taken with the beauty of the snowy landscape, skiers headed down the hills, and the beautiful Matterhorn watching over it all. On the viewpoint is a hotel and attached restaurant, cafe, and half a dozen shops, along with various spots for great photo-taking. After watching an American family take a photo together, we asked the young lady to take our photo. She literally took a picture of us, and didn’t get the Matterhorn in it at all! I could tell by her angle that she was missing the Matterhorn…so I kindly asked, “Is the mountain in the picture?” At which point she laughed and said, “Let me take one more.” She corrected her position and we got a great shot! Taylor and I got a good laugh out of that one. No offense to any of my readers, but she was a young blonde lady, and that was a real blonde moment! haha!

Photo number 1, from the "blonde" lady. She missed the Matterhorn all together!

Photo number 1, from the "blonde" lady. She missed the Matterhorn all together!

The 2nd time she got it just right! :)

The 2nd time she got it just right! :)

After a snack with great views, we asked another stranger to take a family picture of us in front of the Matterhorn. He “missed” the mountain as well. 

A snack with a great view!

Another kind gentleman took this family photo...with the Matterhorn hidden right behind us!

We spent the rest of our time in Zermatt cruising the streets and looking into the various and numerous souvenir shops. We went to dinner at a great restaurant, and got our cheese fondue fix! 

On our way back to Dani’s from Zermatt we took a fast train which went through Zurich. We got off in Zurich for a few hours to cruise the city center. 

While I was in my masters program at USC, one of my fellow students was a sweet girl from Hungary named Dora. Dora and I always enjoyed spending time together and worked on our final team project together. Thanks to Facebook, we kept in touch through the years. Dora now works in Zurich, so while we were stopping for the afternoon, she met us for a quick cup of coffee before we took the train back to Dani’s. It was really great catching up with an old friend across the world from where we originally met!

Coffee with an old friend in Zurich, Switzerland.

When we returned to Dani’s, they had arranged for Guenter’s mom to come over and watch the kids so we could have a double date night out. We went to a great Thai food place and enjoyed some kid-free adult time!

Unfortunately, that wrapped up our time in Switzerland. It was time to pack up and head out. We loved spending quality time with Dani’s family, and have high hopes to visit them regularly in Switzerland over the years, as well as host them in the US. 

I'm going to miss my Swiss sister. It was so great spending so much time with her this last year!

We left Dani’s and took a train to Munich. Upon our evening arrival, we had a fantastic German dinner at a great beer garden restaurant. Logan is learning how to use the digital camera, and was able to catch a picture of Taylor and me with the beer hall in the background!

Munich, Germany.

Beer Hall for a great German dinner. Photo credits: Logan Rubatzky.

The next day we cruised all over the city, shopped and ate great food, then hopped on a plane ride to Reykjavik, Iceland. Although we only had 48 hours in Iceland, it was so fantastic that I am going to save that for a blog entry of its own. It was the last stop before we got on a plane back to the states, and surprisingly amazing. Stay tuned for our Icelandic adventure on the next blog!