This spring, since Todd had the good fortune to be able to take a break between leaving Magnolia Hi-Fi and joining Tweeter in San Diego, we decided we might as well take advantage of it and go somewhere. We started throwing darts at a map of Europe.

Todd wanted to go to Rome at first, and Patty spent some serious time on the phone with airlines trying to round up frequent flier tickets there before realizing the dates we’d set had this little event called  "Easter" in the middle of it.  Nope, not flying into Rome...

We needed to do this on frequent flier tickets, and as it runed out our only option available was Zurich.  A nice place, but not our first choice....Fortunately we went with it anyway - and ended up renting a car and driving south through the Alps into northern Italy, east to Venice, staying a while there, then heading back north through the Alps, through Austria and back to Zurich.

We got lucky - it worked perfectly, and it turned out to be a great way to travel with a 10 month old baby...

Let’s go!
Limmat River, Zurich

We left Seattle April 24th, flying overnight and arriving in Zurich the next day. Stayed in a reasonably nice place called "Martahaus" - a step up from a youth hostel but not a big one - just a few blocks from the Limmat River.  Walking distance to just about everything there is to see in Zurich.

Limmat River, Zurich

St. Peter's Church

As a friend at work told Todd before leaving, Zurich's a beautiful place but a couple days there is just fine.  We spent two days wandering around looking at the sights and then packed up to hit the road south.
On the Limmat

View across the Limmat, early AM
Grossmunster Church

Grossmunster Church

Lake Luzern

We decided our next night would be in Interlaken, where we'd spend a few days and see some of the surrounding mountains.

En route we passed through the city of Luzern, and drove through a lot of beautiful countryside. Switzerland is a wonderful place for a driving vacation, incredibly picturesque...

Small town near Mt. Titlis

We decided our next night would be in Interlaken, where we'd spend a few days and see some of the surrounding mountains.

En route we passed through the city of Luzern, and drove through a lot of beautiful countryside. Switzerland is a wonderful place for a driving vacation, incredibly picturesque...
View from top of Mt. Titlis
View from top of Mt. Titlis

Views from Mt. Titlis

While we drove, we read the guidebook and decided to make a stop at Mt. Titlis, which is at the southern end of Lake Luzern in the Alps.

We took the cable car to the top - a spectacular view on a beautiful day!  Wish we’d brought skis!.

From there, we drove on to Interlaken, where we spent a few days exploring the area around there, visiting Trummelbach Falls (a giant waterfalls that drops inside a vertical cavern) and the Schilthorn - a restaurant at the top of the Alps with a gorgeous 360 degree view. You may recognize it from a James Bond movie...

 

Central Interlaken

Trummelbach Fall

Views from the top of the Schilthorn

From Interlaken we drove south to cross the Alps - and ended up going under them rather than over (too early in the season, passes closed...)  We put our car on a train and headed through a tunnel to the other side of the mountains - and on to Italy!

 

 

Join us, or is it time to go home?