Baker European Tour: Switzerland, Part Two

Whew, we had more visitors in town, but I'm still posting about Darren's family's trip!

After everyone arrived, we spent three days in Switzerland going to the Interlaken region and Zermatt.  On the first day, we went to the Swiss Open-Air Museum Ballenberg.  This outdoor museums sits on 160 acres and contains about 100 historic houses from all over Switzerland that were dismantled, moved, and reconstructed here.  The buildings are grouped according the region where they came from and you are able to tour inside most all of them.  The museum is located just outside of Interlaken on Lake Brienz. The forecast had called for heavy rain all day and as we were driving to the museum, there certainly was heavy rain, but we were fortunate that right where the museum was, it was not raining and even a bit sunny at times.  We spent most of the day visiting the different buildings and learning more about the different regions of Switzerland.

The home of a wealthy family near Bern built in the 19th century

The special types of bread made in all the different cantons in Switzerland

Goofing around inside one of the houses

An old house from the Ticino region

Most of the old buildings, as you can imagine, were farmhouses.  So to give the experience of rural Switzerland, some of the old farmhouses and buildings still house farm animals.  We saw chickens, roosters, pigs, horses, and goats.  There was even a section where you could go in and pet the goats.  Darren and I spent some time at the pen petting and feeding the goats as well as some rabbits that were there, too.

Nervously petting a baby goat

Some of us at the museum

The Richterswil House, built in 1780, was one of our favorites

After visiting the museum, we made our way over to the Jungfrau region because we were staying in a hotel there that night.  We parked our car at Lauterbrunnen and took the train up to Wengen to get to our hotel.  One of the rooms had a fantastic view of Lauterbrunnen valley!  Even with the clouds, it was still beautiful, but it did clear up for us the next day, as scheduled.

The view from the hotel room when we first arrived

The view from the room the next morning!

We spent the day exploring the Jungfrau region.  We took the cable car up to Mannlichen, and hiked over to Kleine Scheidegg.  Then we took a train up to the Jungfraujoch, which is the highest train station in Europe.

Taking the cable car up from Wengen

The view from the cable car

Roger made a friend!

Another great Jungfrau shot

A fantastic shot by Darren, it has everything I love about Switzerland!

The couples in front of the three famous peaks

The view from the train on the way up the mountain

The train travels through the Eiger and the Mönch to reach the train station

Me and Darren at the Jungfraujoch

The view from the observation deck, which looks back down at Kleine Scheidegg

The Baker family in the ice cave

Darren showing off our current home's flag

This next picture needs some explanation.  Switzerland, and specifically the Interlaken region, gets a lot of Indian tourists, thanks to its frequent appearance in Bollywood movies.  I learned about this from a recent NYTimes article.  So as proof that there are a lot of Indian tourists, Darren took this picture below. :)

An example of the massive amount of Indian tourists that visit the Jungfraujoch

After visiting the Jungfraujoch, we went back down to Kleine Scheidegg, then back down to Wengen to grab our stuff from out hotel, and then went down to Lauterbrunnen to get the car.  That evening, we drove from Interlaken to a town near Zermatt.  Part of the road was very windy, which meant it wasn't really fun for me, but the scenery was still beautiful.  We stayed in a town just outside of Zermatt because the home of the Matterhorn is a car-free zone.  

We all got some sleep and then woke up the next morning to head out and see Zermatt and the Matterhorn.  We took a train to Zermatt, then a train up to the Gornergrat peak (10,134 ft) to view the Matterhorn and some glaciers.  Darren took a video that shows the view from Gornergrat.

The view of the Matterhorn and the train we rode

From Gornergrat, all of us took a short hike down the mountain to see a small lake that has a nice reflection of the Matterhorn in it.  After that, some took the train back down to Zermatt, while some of us hiked most of the way down.

The Matterhorn reflected in the small mountain lake

On our hike back down

The hikers with the Matterhorn in the background

We then spent some time seeing the town of Zermatt before we drove back home to Zurich.  That was our quick, initial tour of Switzerland!

The cute town of Zermatt

Baker European Tour: Switzerland, Part One

Our month of August was packed full of visitors!  With so much that happened, I won't be able to cover every day in detail, so several days will be grouped together in one post.  This means I can't show all the amazing pictures that I want to, but it will have to do.  These posts will already be long enough as it is.

In the beginning of August, we had two of our good friends stop in Zurich to see us while they were on their own European tour!  I gave them my tour of Zurich and, after Darren got off work, we all went to Zeughauskeller for an excellent dinner.  The last three times we have seen them have been in foreign countries, so now we have a running joke that we can only meet on non-US soil.  Where are we going to next guys? :)

Our good friends from the US in front of Grossmunster

Then two days later, the first of Darren's family arrived.  Three of Darren's siblings and his parents came to visit us.  With everyone having different summer commitments, members of his family arrived at different times.  Darren's sister, Brittany, arrived first and we had a great first day hiking from Uetliberg to Felsenegg.  She was a trooper walking so much on her first day of jetlag.

The next day, another sister, Rachelle arrived.  Again, we still had a full day of activities to keep everyone awake, so off we went to the Zurich Zoo!  Our main reason for going to the Zurich Zoo was to see baby tigers!  Thanks to my most favorite blog ever, ZooBorns, I had found out that three Siberian Tiger cubs had been born in May at the Zurich Zoo!  Luckily, Darren's sisters were interested in seeing them, too. :)  When we first went to the tiger enclosure, the baby tigers weren't there and we were really sad we didn't see them.  However, we returned just a bit later and they were out playing!  I tried to get some good pictures and video, but they were running all over the place so these are the best shots I got.  I've also included some other highlights from our trip to the zoo.

Baby tigers!!

Baby tigers playing together

Brittany and Rachelle with a sleepy snow leopard in the background

No giant pandas at this zoo, but at least there was a playful red panda!

Baby monkey

Drama queen orangutan

On Saturday, no new visitors arrived so we did a day trip out to a place called Braunwald, which is a resort town above the Linthal Valley, in the area of Lake Luzern.  To get up to the resort town, you have to take one of the steepest railways in the world, which is a 64% incline!  It was amazing!

The view from the train to get to Braunwald

In Braunwald, which looks over the Linthal Valley

We didn't stay in Braunwald, but instead took a ski lift up to the top and hiked back down to Braunwald.  The landscape at the top was more rocky and dry, with large clouds hanging over the mountain peaks.  As we hiked back down, more green and more sun appeared.  The scenery the whole time was beautiful.

Taking the chair lift up to Gumen

Our picnic lunch at the top before starting our hike down

Brittany conquers the large rock while Rachelle and I stay on safer ground

Making contact with the locals

Our "Sound of Music" photo shoot, which is a must with every trip

After we finished with our hike, we took the long way home through the Klausen Pass and marveled at all the beauty along the way.  As we got closer to the top and the day was getting later, we ran into some interesting "traffic" on the road!

The Klausen Pass had some gorgeous views, we all loved it

Cow traffic!  What a fun and unexpected treat to see my favorite cows up close!

This little mini cooper was smaller than the cow, I'm sure the driver was a bit nervous

After our fun adventure on the road, we were close to Luzern, so we made a short stop there so Brittany and Rachelle could see it.  I never get tired of going to Luzern because it is so beautiful.

Me, Brittany, and Rachelle on the bridge

A fantastic shot by Darren of the bridge and Mt. Pilatus in the background

The four partners in crime

On Sunday, Darren's brother and his parents arrived and we gave the whole family a tour of his office and of downtown Zurich.

The siblings in a Swiss gondola, which is now used as a phone room

The family in downtown Zurich

Having others around means we can get some decent pictures of us

It was a great start to the trip and every one did a great job handling the jet lag.  The next day, we headed out to see more Switzerland sites, which I will cover in the next post.

Italy: Monday in Rome

We are back from all of our many travels with the Baker family and wow, did we do a lot!  But before I get to those adventures, I have to finish writing about our Italian adventure!  Our last day in Rome was Monday, August 1st.  Our first stop that day was to the Pantheon.  The Pantheon was built in the 2nd century AD by Emperor Hadrian as a temple to the gods, and is Rome's best preserved ancient building.  The reason is because it was converted into a Christian church in the 7th century, so it has always been taken care of.  At first, the Pantheon didn't seem all that interesting, but there are so many great details about it that we learned from our audio guide that made it a must-see for me.

The Roman Pantheon, which is now a Catholic church that still holds mass

First of all, this building is another excellent example of what fantastic engineers the Romans were.  The Pantheon is the largest unreinforced solid concrete dome in the world.  The dome also has amazing symmetry with it being as high as it is wide (43.3 m).  This architecture has been admired for centuries and was the inspiration for the designs of the Florence Cathedral (Duomo), and St. Peter's Basilica.  The opening in the roof is the only light source for the interior.  There is no glass covereing the opening, so water can get in on rainy days.  But those smart Romans made holes in the ground and tilted the floor toward the edges to allow the water to drain.

The opening in the roof is known as the oculus

The main altar in the Pantheon

The Pantheon is now also a famous burial ground.  One of the great Renaissance artists, Raphael, is entombed here.  Even though he died at the young age of 37, Raphael had already established himself as one of the most important artists of his time.  In his will, he asked to be buried in the Pantheon and the Catholic church gladly allowed it.  Also buried here are the first two kings of modern Italy, including the great King Victor Emmanuel II.  Now you can see why this building is so important: its history spans 2,000 years!

The tomb of Raphael

After touring the Pantheon, we walked over to see Vatican City, the world's smallest state.  We had bought tickets online to enter the Vatican Museum at a certain time, but we were early, so we stopped by St. Peter's Basilica first.

Crossing the bridge into Vatican City

In Piazza San Pietro, where St. Peter's Basilica is

The obelisk is a reminder of the Christians martyred near the obelisk in the Circus of Nero

After taking some pictures, we walked over to the Vatican Museum to see their collection.  The Vatican Museum is a weird amalgamation of old Pope's apartments and buildings with random collections of art and sculpture that the Popes each gathered over the years.  The real reason everyone goes to the Vatican Museum is to see the Sistine Chapel, though.  I don't know why the Sistine Chapel is in the museum, but that's where it is.  We weren't allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel (yes, we followed the rules unlike everyone else), so we only have highlights from other parts of the museum.

An open courtyard inside the Vatican Museum

A beautiful room in the Vatican Museum with statues and frescoes

My favorite room, which has maps of all different parts of Italy

Old map of all of Italy with some southern Switzerland

The famous School of Athens by Raphael

The staircase leading in and out of the museum is a cool double helix

Me in front of the Vatican Museum

The Sistine Chapel was amazing and lived up to all of its hype.  We spent about 20 minutes in the chapel craning our necks to view the ceiling as we listened to our audio guide.  I don't really have time to give a proper analysis of Michelangelo's work in this blog, so all I will say is that I have a new love for Michelangelo and I am glad I finally appreciate what a genius he was.  After leaving the museum, we went back to St. Peter's Basilica to go inside.

A Swiss guard at St. Peter's Basilica, they really still are Swiss

St. Peter's Basilica sits on the site of the supposed burial location of the Apostle Peter, after he had been crucified by the Romans.  The great church that we see today was built during the Renaissance and replaced the original church that had been built by Emperor Constantine, which was falling apart.  There is so much history and detail I could talk about concerning the basilica, but I'll just have to share the highlights.

Michelangelo was the original architect, but he died before it was finished, so Bernini took over

This massive canopy stands over St. Peter's supposed tomb

The feet of this statue of St. Peter are worn down by the touch of many visitors

Michelangelo's Pieta was completed in 1499, when he was 25

More cool Swiss guards

The statue of Peter in front of the basilica with keys in his hand

The windows near the top corner of that building are where the Pope's apartment is

After seeing the Vatican, it was time for us to pick up our luggage and head to the airport.  We made sure to stop and get some gelato before we left town, though.  It was a great way to end our trip to Italy.  We had a fantastic and spontaneous trip to Rome and I'm glad we went!