susanna

HI Grasshopper: I just sent her an email and I said that I thought that I knew who she was through meeting you...small world. Where did you two travel to? Hey, how was Rome, never heard about it, hope it was great...where are you off to next? We loved Switzerland so much last year that we just have to return, but we wanted a year off just so we wouldn't compare the two trips, provence was a good alternative, loved it!

swandav2000

Judi Judi Judi!

Jealous -- yes!!! What a great trip report! Looks like you really hit some of the BEST of Switzerland. Tremendous pictures too! I'm so glad you liked Montreux!

s

P_M

Judi, those are lovely photos, it looks like it was a great trip. I went to Switzerland in August. Here are my photos if you care to see them:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v416/PamKM/

The first one is a picture of a fiasco that happened on the flight to Europe, but the rest are happy photos of my hiking trip to the Swiss and the French Alps. Enjoy, and thanks for sharing yours.

Judi

Thanks, Pam, and thanks for sharing your photos.

OMG! Did you have to go down the emergency slide? How scary!!

Don't you love those sweet Swiss cows?

I saw the early sun on the Eiger while on a train and couldn't get a photo. It is quite an impressive sight!

P_M

Judi, yes we did go down the emergency slide. I went on this hiking trip because I wanted excitement, little did I know it would begin at the airport in Houston!! I wrote a thread about it:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...+landing+on+BA

Except for this, it was an incredible trip. No regrets!!

Ingo

Oh Judi - thanks for this trip report. I am envious!

A question: What was the problem with the Golf Hotel Rene Capt in Montreux? I heard it was renovated recently and the location is excellent. It looked nice from their website also, so that I considered to stay there.

Your pictures are fabulous! Thanks for posting. Too bad you had so much rain in Solothurn/Bern.

Ingo

Judi

Thanks, Ingo. We thought Solothurn was an interesting town despite the rain. I'm glad we stayed there.

There wasn't much we liked about the Hotel Golf. It started with a surly young man at the desk when we arrived. We are pleasant people but perhaps he just doesn't like Americans. Anyway, our annex room was dreary and was on a lower floor next to the main hotel. Because the annex is set back from the hotel we had an obstructed view. My husband asked for another room to no avail and from the amount of people at breakfast it couldn't possibly be much more than half full. We overheard a gentleman ask another gentleman how his dinner was the previous evening at the hotel. His reply was that it was just okay.

We asked a sweet young woman at the desk the second day for a recommendation for dinner and she sent us to the Eden au Lac, never mentioning her own hotel.

We moved to the Eden au Lac for the final two days and were so glad that we did. It was a far superior room and breakfast and a more central location for 3CHF more per night. We ate at the hotel restaurant and were very pleased with our meal.

I sent S and Grasshopper exterior photos of our rooms in each hotel. Perhaps if they haven't deleted that email one of them would send it to you.

Ingo

Thank you again, Judi! I will definitely stay away from the Golf Hotel.

I am a little surprised, though, that the Eden au Lac was very nice. I have stayed there ten years ago (only two nights) and it was just okay, not good enough for their rates. Seems something has changed since then! So thank you very much for the detailed description!

Ingo

jmw44

Hi! What a terrific beginning to my Saturday! Thanks, Judi, for the report and for the pictures! (I even took at a look at your 2003.) Your photographs are wonderful, and to say I envy three weeks in Switzerland is an understatement. How lucky you are! If you have second and third thoughts, we'd love to read them. J.

Grasshopper

Holiday Greetings to all my Swiss Loving friends. And most of all, special wishes to those who might have some Swiss snow fall on them next week!

jmw44

And to you, Grasshopper! I've been snowed (metaphorically) under with mid-term exams, but I hope to be able to catch up with you good folks over the break. I received an e-Christmas message this week from the Panorama, and you can well imagine that my heart flew right over there. Oh I wish. What's everyone doing? I'm still driving across the Basin every morning and evening. The sunrise is lovely, and I don't even mind the mud from the sugarcane trucks all over the road. I listen to NPR and enjoy the very un-Swiss (FLAT) scenery. Love to all, J.

Ingo

Hi y'all!
Nice idea Grasshopper. Best wishes to you and all the Switzerland lovers.

It is snowing in Switzerland (and Dresden as well ). jmw - I am soaking up the atmosphere at the Christmas Markets. Simply magical.

I did not realise it is only 6 more days until Holy Night.

Cheers, Ingo

Judi

Thanks for reviving this, Grasshopper, and for the Holiday wishes. I will add my wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season.

J, I also received a Christmas email from the Panorama which also brought back fond memories. I hope you will enjoy your much deserved winter break.

Ingo, a friend just returned from a trip through the Christmas markets in Germany and has convinced me that I must do that one day. She said it was very cold, though. It surely must be magical!

Happy and safe travels to all who are traveling- especially to Switzerland!- over the holidays.

jmw44

Hello! S', I can't find a trip report, so I'm officially welcoming you back here. What can you tell us? (I can't access the Sentimental Journey thread, if that happens to be you.) Love to all, J.

swandav2000

Hi jw!

Well, I'm completely flummoxed -- if that's a word, that's what I am. I sent you a link to my photos by e-mail; I'm so so so sorry if you didn't get it!

There's not much to tell. On 21 Dec, I arrived and enjoyed hunting & pecking around Gstaad. On 22 Dec, I started out on a walk to Gsteig but after 40 minutes I didn't like the scenery (in the valley) and decided I'd take the bus to Gsteig on another day -- so I turned around. Hunted & pecked around Gstaad again. On 23 Dec, I went to Montreux's Marche de Noel. On 24 Dec, I went up to Eggli but was beginning to feel ill -- bad news about my cat combined with three days of cheese & chocolate really hammered my intestines. But that night I ate in the hotel's restaurant and had maybe the BEST meal of my life. On 25 Dec, I went into Gstaad to eat at the Chesery, but my intestines kept me inside the rest of the day; 26 Dec was worse and I was inside all day. On 27 Dec, I left for Kuesnacht, and thank God I was well enough to ride the trains (!!); 28 Dec with my friend in Kuesnacht; 29 Dec in Basel (& Arlesheim!) with Phil; 30 Dec I left.

Please let me know if you didn't get the link to the photos.

Hope you and yours are doing ok. I gather you're in the extra-busy mode. Let me know what's going on.

s