Basler (Half) Marathon

Nancy (bib number 1818) has been training all summer to run the Basel Marathon, but my training fell short in the end and I opted to run the half marathon instead. The course starts just out of town and follows a lovely path along the Birs River. The weather was chilly (in the mid-40's) and it was overcast, but the leaves were turning and the 'fans' were cheering and ringing their cow bells in support of the runners. It was a great day overall and I managed to finish almost 20 minutes faster than last year. Hooray!!!

Weekend in Italy

Wow - what a terrific weekend! We ventured off to northern Italy for Robert's birthday and were treated to terrific blue skies, nice fall weather and some great site seeing. First up, we arrived in Stresa on Lake Maggiore to visit the Park of Villa Pallavicino. It was a zoo (see video) and botanical garden all rolled into one (any they even had 3 owls!). Next we took a ferry to an island in the middle of the lake to visit an absolutely over-the-top villa on the private island of Isole Borromee. We could not believe the scope of this magnificent palace and gardens complete with white peacocks! We missed the ferry back to the mainland and were forced to have a beer to pass the time (darn). We ate at a great hotel/restaurant in the town of Mergozzo to finish off our perfect day. Sunday we started in Arona to visit a huge statue that is only 30 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty - Coloso di San Carlo Borromeo (check out those EARS!). That riveting visit was followed by a visit to the most beautiful garden either one of us has ever been to - Giardini Botanici Villa Taranto. We couldn't stop saying things like - that's beautiful, look at that tree, check out that view...MAGNIFICENT!!! For our drive home we took a long journey through the Alps and over a couple of passes - there was light snow falling near the top. See pictures from our weekend here, and see what it looks like to drive in the Alps here.

Mallorca Spain - Part 1

The Spanish island of Mallorca is one of the Balearic Islands located just off the South East coast of Spain in the Mediterranean. Palma is the capital city with over 500,000 people including the urban areas making it the 12th largest in Spain. The history of the island includes Roman rule, a Byzantine period, and a Muslim period up to 1229. Today, the island is a favorite vacation destination for more than 20 million tourists annually, WOW! The island has plenty of things to do and see... Lay on the beach, explore many castles, drive along the coast and enjoy gorgeous views, spend a day in one of the small villages enjoying local food and wine, or enjoy never ending tourists shops full of everything you don't need! We did our best to do a little of everything. See our pictures here.

Mallorca Spain - Part 2

It's hard to believe, but we actually spent a few days relaxing! Yes, it's true, we actually laid on the beach and also lounged by the pool. It was our vacation after all! But because Mallorca has so many things to see, we also spent time sight seeing around the island. Walking around in the capital city of Palma took one day, we travelled on a tourist train another day, and finally we rented a car for two additional days to get us to places like Valldemossa, Deia, Lluc, Pollencia, Alcudia, Cap de Formentor, Sa Pobla, Manacor, Arta, Portocristo and every small village in between. We enjoyed beautiful coast lines, beaches, mountains, lakes, castles, small villages, cathedrals, olive groves, different kinds of citrus trees, sheep \ goats, a light house, and much more. Of course we made time for plenty of yummy Spanish food and wine along the way. A good combination of accommodation,weather, food, and sights made our vacation in Mallorca very enjoyable. See the pictures here.

New Blog Features

Last week, our visitor added a couple of great features to our blog. RSS feed allows you to subscribe to our latest updates - the information can be added to your i-Google home page or your MyYahoo home page. If you don't have a home page setup on either one of these sites, you can have our updates emailed to you at the email address of your choice. Either way, you can keep up to date on all of our Swiss Adventures! Check out both features on the left side of the page. If you haven't already discovered our Smug-Mug photo page or our YouTube page, you can check those out as well.

Another Visitor!

Last week, we had our last visitor of the year, Kevin P. With not too much time, and an open mind, we zigzagged our way through three countries in five days. Some of the highlights included: window shopping for watches (plus an actual purchase), the world's smallest hummingbird, cows on parade (see video), lack-luster food, terrific Alsace (french wine country) driving tour complete with wine, stork nests, unruly British youth at a terrific waterfall, NO HOT WATER!?!, Basel walking tour, perfect hiking weather at Jungfrau, MAGNUM BARS, warm pretzels, German wheat beer, sunny days with fall temperatures, luggage drama, great conversations, 160KPM on the autobahn, medieval french castle, world's largest cuckoo clock, black forest cake, tallest building in Switzerland, Rhine River ferry ride, the best of Bern-Lucern, local German wine, and the Audi A5.

All that, AND Kevin was able to add new features to our blog (see next post)! Danke, Merci, Gracias - you are welcome to visit ANY TIME!

Circus Nock

Have you ever attended a circus in a REAL TENT?!? Circus Nock is conducted in a tent with a terrific agenda. From the zebras, jugglers, tiger tamers, and acrobats we were wowed by fabulous performances for over 2 hours.

Kaiserstuhl: The German Wine Road

Kaiserstuhl is in the same general area as the famous French Alsace (just across the Rhine River) and thus shares the same micro-climate that supports dozens of wineries. We had a beautiful weekend and decided to take a hike through the vinyards. Each village in the area has serveral wineries, but they are usually only open to the public during the week. We did find one that gave us a personal wine tasting, Gleichenstein - we liked everything we tried, but narrowed it down to two bottles, made our purchase and then headed over to the Oberrotweil Wine Festival (there are TONS of wine festivals in the fall so when the mood strikes it's not too hard to find one =) We also stumbled onto a local specialty: zwiebelkuchen (literally onion cake) which was actually quite good. Check out the pictures here!

France: Yvoire (6/6)

Yvoire France is a beautiful medieval village located on the south banks of Lake Leman (a.k.a. Lake Geneva). We went there to visit their famous Garden of the 5 Senses, but stayed long enough for Robert to photograph the entire town. We had a lovely lunch over-looking the lake. It was a relaxing end to a fantastic vacation.

St. Bernard Switzerland / Aosta Italy (5/6)

Today we wanted to see more of the region and had several things on the agenda. First stop was gorges de la diosaz which was a 1.5 hr hike into a beautiful gorge only 10 minutes from Chamonix. Next we took a bit of a regional driving tour into Switzerland and had a nice lunch in Champex high in the mountains on a lake. Next up, St. Bernard Pass. This pass is famous for three reasons: 1) Saint Bernard and his charitable work, 2) the Grand St. Bernard Pass and the many famous people who have used the route and 3) for the dog breed St. Bernard which is said to be the product of an unknown cross between a mastiff, Great Dane and/or Newfoundland in 1708. The pass has a terrific museum that outlines the history of St. Bernard and the treacherous pass and also sports a kennel full of cute, sleeping, floppy St. Bernard dogs (only 1700 CHF if you want to purchase one). They had one dog out ‘on display’ that you could pet – a true gentle (drooling) giant. Read about ‘Barry’ – the famous sire of the breed. Our last stop was in Italy – Aosta. After reading about the Romans coming over the St. Bernard Pass, it’s not hard to imagine that there are several sights in Aosta where the Romans left some remains including an amphitheatre. The town had a lively festival going on (patron Saint Gratis day) while we were there and we also enjoyed a terrific Italian meal before heading back thru the Mont Blanc tunnel (31.50 Euro or about $44.00!!) back to Chamonix. See some then and now Italy photos as well as Switzerland photos.

France: Annecy (4/6)

Annecy was really a great find. It is located on a beautiful lake and has a wonderful old city center. We were able to stroll through a huge farmer’s market along a picturesque canal and visit the old city castle as well. They have several parks along the lake where the city has planted representative garden plots for different areas of France. The one thing about France that Nancy especially hates are the public toilets – one look, ladies, and you’ll see what I mean. One thing about France that Robert especially hates is the meat as it is usually string, chewy, fatty and generally tasteless. A truly enjoyable day (except for the bio breaks and mystery meat) – check out the pictures!

Nancy Turns 40!!

Well, it finally happened on September 5th – I’m 40. After almost a complete year of Robert razzing me about the big 4 – OH…I can now put it all behind me. We were in Chamonix, but Robert had given me my present before we left – two terrific paintings from a local Swiss painter. He was able to hang them in our dining room after we returned from our trip. I just love them! Now that I’m older and wiser I still wonder whether it’s true that for every grey hair I pluck out if two grow back in its place. Robert reminds me that I will be 41 before he even turns 40…FAB-ulous.

France: Chamonix - Mont Blanc (3/6)

Ski-town xtraordinaire with a fancy price tag to go with it – Chamonix does not disappoint. We stayed at a FANTASTIC chalet with views of the mountains in two directions, 5 minutes walk into town and 5 minutes walk in the other direction to the ski lift. Mont Blanc being the main attraction – the first day we took a hike along the south rim offers unsurpassed views of Europe’s tallest mountain. The second day we rode to the top of Aiguille de Midi, (see video) and took a tramway to a glacier (Mer de Glace), and ate lunch a-top the south balcony. Take a look as Robert’s great photos!

France: The French Alps (2/6)

The French Alps start close to the Canyon of Verdon and wind north east until they spill into Switzerland and Italy. We decided to drive thru the mountains to get from the canyon to Chamonix which took us over 4 passes and into a very beautiful part of France. We didn’t know it until we were passing thru that we were on the route of the 2007 Tour de France (see Briancon) because of all the writing on the road from fans encouraging the riders. We even passed through Albertville (1992 Winter Olympics site) on the way. The trip took a total of 11 hours (compared to 5 hours on the tollway). See the terrific photos!

France: Canyon of Verdon (1/6)

Also known as ‘the petit grand canyon’ the gorge/canyon area is in a remote part of southern France. We stayed in a great little hotel which overlooked Lac St. Croix and were able to participate in several different activities over three days: canoeing, hiking, and white water rafting. The water is incredibly beautiful in both the lake and the gorge (see video) and it was a delight to be in it as well as look at it from the steep hiking trail. The canyon is very large and has a road along a jagged rim which offers lots of different views. A paradise for hikers and anyone who enjoys the out doors. We also visited some nearby towns: Moustiers-Sainte-Marie and Castellane. You won’t believe how beautiful it is until you see the pictures!

Another Swiss Road Trip

Today we went on a driving tour from our favorite driving tour book. This one took us to several places: La Chaux de Fonds, the birthplace of Le Corbusier the world famous architect. The ‘maison blanc’ (white house) is located here (although we arrived too late and weren’t able to take a look inside).

St. Ursanne is a sleepy little town in the middle of the Jura mountains. We decided to visit because John Howe, one of two illustrators that came up with the artistic vision for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, lives there. Throughout the town they have fantasy creatures peeking over roof tops and coiled around the main bridge. They have a ‘treasure’ map you can follow to find all the installations. As an added bonus, there was a road race taking place and we got to see many Ferraris and other cars too. See all of the pictures from our Swiss road trips.

Laufen Switzerland

A short trip today... down the road 15 miles to the town of Laufen. A typical small town with nice things to see. The old city wall, the main shopping street, the river, and the church. While taking a walk in the surrounding hills, we were able to see some of an air show that was going on nearby. A nice small town that was worth the drive. You can see the pictures here!

Driving in Switzerland

Today we drove through Southeast Switzerland near places like Liechtenstein, Andermatt, the Oberalp pass, the Gotthard tunnel, Davos, and finally through Luzern on our way back to Basel. Of course the highlight was to see the beautiful scenery in the area. Snow capped mountains, green valleys, small towns, and lakes. We finished the evening with a yummy dinner over looking the lake and mountains near Luzern. You can see pictures from the day, and also from other driving tours in Switzerland by clicking here.

Yamato – Drummers of Japan

Robert it a HUGE drum fan as evidenced by his constant thumping on tables, doors, steering wheels, etc. Last year we got tickets to see the Basel Tattoo so this year we decided to try Yamato. This group is absolutely fantastic – the entire auditorium shook as the performers beat different sized drums. They also incorporated traditional Japanese guitar, finger cymbals, and gongs. Although the performers don’t talk they get the audience involved and had us laughing a lot of the time. Robert has now decided to be reincarnated as a Japanese DRUMMING tourist ;-)

Basel Gates & One Minute Movie Fest

We had a very eclectic weekend starting with Saturday. Basel used to be a walled city like many other cities in Europe. In order to control ingress and egress they had many gates that could be guarded and closed in case of attack. In 1859 the city decided to remove what was left of the wall and gates, but decided to leave a very small portion of the wall and 3 city gates: Spalentor, St. Alban-Tor and St. Johanns-Tor. Once a year the city opens these gates to the public so we decided to take advantage of their generous offer. Two of the gates house Fastnacht cliques where they can get together to socialize (both gates had eating areas, small kitchens and general purpose rooms). The largest, Spalentor, looked largely unused, but you were able to see how they raised and lowered the spiked gate made up of individual logs. Each gate has a clock and bells which mark the hour and quarter hours. Take a look at the pictures!

Afterwards we drove to Aarau to attend the One Minute movie festival. There were lots of weird, interesting and funny subjects. At the end of each 40 minutes we were asked to vote for our 3 favorites. You can check out previous year winners on the web site. Enjoy!