Tour 16 & 17 Bernina & the Engadine

Sunday we embarked on an ambitious driving tour with our handy Best Drives of Switzerland book. Starting in Davos we ventured to Guarda, Scuol, Mustair and then through a maze of FABULOUS mountain scenery in Switzerland, Austria and Italy on the best weather day imaginable. We ended up in St. Moritz before heading home. Guarda and Scuol have terrific buildings with preserved sgraffiti and tons of charm. Munstair is home to a UNESCO site: Church of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Johann. St. Moritz is a super swanky ski resort and is included in several James Bond movies. Check out the pictures: Guarda, Scuol, Mustair, Swiss car tour, Italy car tour...enjoy!

Swiss National Park

We had a terrific forecast for the weekend and thought we'd make the most of it by exploring a part of Switzerland that's a bit out of the way. The Swiss National Park is in the southeast part of the country and is the only national park in Switzerland. It was created in the early 1900's to protect the chamois that inhabit the area (they make an incredible noise and dry your car with no streaks). We did two separate hikes: number 2 and number 17. Trail 2 offered the best possibility to see animals (it's almost impossible to see any wildlife in Europe besides birds) and it didn't disappoint: 3 red deer (they were VERY far away) and 2 marmots! Trail 17 offered a history lesson about the surrounding area in 5 languages and had some terrific views. It's a beautiful park and we're all ready to come back to visit again. See the pictures here.

Nancy, France

Nancy, France is about 2.5 hrs NW of Basel in the Lorraine region and on this rainy day we decided to skip the cloudy mountain views and take in some French culture. The city is best known for its 18C architecture (recognized by UNESCO) and we could see why immediately. The main area consists of three squares: Stanislas (a palace square), La Carriere (originally designed for jousting matches) and Alliance (where the Habsburgs and the French met minds). The city is full of small squares, great parks and a fine collection of art nouveau buildings. Quiche Lorraine and macaroons both were invented in Nancy and they are also know for their bergamot oranges and bouchees a la reine. We were both sorry we weren't able to see it on a nice, sunny day considering that it was pretty fantastic even in the rain. On the way back we drove through Saint-Dié-des-Vosges where the first globe was produced with 'America' represented. Check out the photos!

Scottish Highlands

First up was a drive through whiskey country: Speyside malt whisky trail. It was great to see the different distilleries and unique chimneys that give them their flavor (along with the barrels they are stored in). What's a visit to Scotland without seeing Loch Ness? Robert claimed to see 'Nessie' several times as we drove along the famous lake, but you'll have to check the pictures for yourself. Next we drove across the country looking at many different lochs (lakes) and great landscapes (see this video)on the way to the Isle of Skye (the great glen and glen sheil were terrific). Skye is a beautiful area with lots of one lane roads, coastline views and cute sheep, but we didn't see Dolly. The next day we drove on the Road to the Isles and enjoyed the craggy landscapes and wastelands of the Scottish interior at Ben Nevis and Glencoe - it was really beautiful.

Along the way we learned many things about Scotland. The history of Scottish clans, their tartans and kilts - Thompson has several - were very interesting (although we got no firsthand insight into what they wear under those kilts). We learned about haggis, tatties (potatoes) and neeps (turnips), thistles, Shetland ponies, Scotch Ale and Scottish highland cattle too. No information was forthcoming about Scottish Terriers or Scotch eggs or our favorite Scottish beer, Gordon's which apparently doesn't exist in Scotland because we couldn't find it anywhere. Did I forget to say something about golf? Yeah, they invented that too - St. Andrews was really the only thing we wanted to see, but just didn't have the time. See all the great pictures here.

Scottish Midlands

We had never heard of it before, but decided to visit The Falkirk Wheel, the world's first rotating boat lift, linking the Union, Forth and Clyde Canals. As an engineering marvel the wheel was super interesting to experience firsthand - the site even contains remains of the Antonine Wall!

Next, a bit of history: Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument. Stirling Castle has been around for over 900 years and is surrounded by many battle grounds. In fact, Mary Queen of Scots was crowned here. We learned all about the Jacobites and Bonnie Prince Charlie. The Wallace Monument commemorates William Wallace who was portrayed by Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

We definitely wanted to take in a distillery tour so we chose Glenturret, the oldest distillery in Scotland. We were able to learn about how scotch whisky is made and enjoyed several wee drams of different types of single malt and blended whiskeys (Famous Grouse, Highland Park, Macallan, – we had a great time. That evening we stayed in Dalwhinnie which also has a terrific distillery. Robert took lots of great photos!

Edinburgh, Scotland

We started our visit at the Edinburgh Castle, part of which dates from the 12th Century. The Castle contains the Crown Jewels of Scotland, the Stone of Destiny, and Scottish Military Museums along with a great view over the city. Next we walked around the gardens and enjoyed a pub lunch in the ‘New Town’ which was designed and built in the 18th century. Afternoon brought lots of rain and wind but we took a guided tour through the Old Town and the Royal Mile, which connects the Castle and Holyroodhouse Palace (where the queen lives while she’s in Edinburgh). Afterwards we ducked in and out of the shops, and finally found a warm place for dinner.

The Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour was a terrific end to the evening (Edinburgh is the only UNESCO city of literature...J.K. Rowling even lives here now). Two actors walked us through the city wynds, courtyards, and closes of Edinburgh’s Old and New Town and we visited 4 great pubs along the way. 300 years of great writing and colorful characters of Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) among others. We stayed in Leith Links, the home of The Royal Yacht Britannia and the home of the Royal family.

On the last day we had some more time in town and took in the Firth of Forth bridge, Calton Hill and did a terrific ghost walking tour in the evening that visited the South Bridge vaults. Check out the pictures here.

Glasgow, Scotland

Glasgow was home to Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) who heralded an outstanding architect and designer who pioneered the Modern Movement. He was famous for designing every aspect of a project down to such details as cutlery, furniture and light fittings. We were able to visit several of his buildings: Hill House, Glasgow School of Art, The Lighthouse, and one of the Willow Tea Rooms. We had a good time visiting the sites and seeing what Glasgow had to offer even though we were only there for less than one day and found a very unique restaurant, Waxy O'Connor's. See the pictures here.

Liechtenstein

We're making the most of every weekend now and decided to spend some quality time in Liechtenstein. The country was founded in 1806, has a population of 35,000 people and is only 62 square miles. We stayed in Steg which is on a crazy windy, twisty road up into mountains. On Saturday we had perfect weather and hiked over 6 hours on breathtakingly beautiful mountain trails. The hotel had a terrific chef and we ate like kings after enjoying the view from our private sun terrace. See all the pictures here.

Switzerland - The Ring of Toedi

On Sunday we decided to enjoy a road trip and started Tour 15 from our Best Drives in Switzerland book. We stopped in several small towns and passed through many ski resorts but the main attraction of the day were the mountains and the valleys. The towns included Flums (with a 12 century castle and ancient church), Sargans (with a 13th century castle), Bad Ragaz (amazing resort town with several 4 and 5 star hotels) and Chur (the oldest city in Switzerland). We were in the heart of Romansh territory, the fourth official language in Switzerland behind German, French and Italian. Disentis, Andermatt and Glarus are popular ski areas, but there's not usually much to do or see unless you're skiing so we just waved as we passed through. The scenery was AMAZING and even though the drive took about 10 hours, we were both thankful to have made the journey. Check out the great pictures here: Bad Ragaz, Flums, Chur, Sargans.