Author Archives: Meghan Pope

Droning On

Let’s face it; flying is not what it used to be.

We pile into a tube, we wait sometimes for an hour on the runway, and we hover with trepidation over a busy airport waiting to land. We do all of that increasingly on a jammed plane with no empty seats available for breathing room and staff that appears to care less and less about customer service. Then add to that the natural fear of flying that lots of people have.

My daughter, for example, is in a perpetual state of angst for the entire flight. My mate Sergio in Italy who flies all over the world has to close his eyes taking off. It’s understandable. When you think about it, it doesn’t seem natural that we are all sitting in a metal object watching videos and having a beer at 35,000 feet in the air knowing that this thing weighs, without the 200 passengers inside of it, about 770,000 pounds! So that adds a minimum, judging by today’s girth issues, another 40,000 to 50,000 pounds with the luggage! And there are only two engines that our lives depend upon!

Of course, it’s good to know that the incidence of imminent danger on an airplane is less than driving a car, walking to work, taking the train, or riding a bike. I get that but it still feels a bit weird. And then I read that with the increased sale of consumer drones, there is the ever increased likelihood that there will be an accident involving a drone and an airplane.

Consumer drones? Are you kidding?

In fact there was a drone incident just the other day at Heathrow Airport in London. A British Airways flight coming in from Geneva hit by a drone as it came in to land. Thankfully nothing happened but do we really need this kind of toy in the hands of casual consumers? It’s bad enough when a flock of geese gets sucked into the jet engines when the plane is landing or taking off. But to have a drone hit an aircraft either accidentally or not is alarming.

Let’s discount the isolated incidents of pilots who carry hangovers on the plane (thank goodness for the breathalyzer!) and the occasional crazy passenger who creates havoc with the flight attendants. Let’s not even mention the occasional flight attendants who create havoc with passengers! But seriously, who needs drones? The news that my son-in-law law just received a drone from his dad wasn’t reassuring either!

Let’s get drones back to what they are meant for….oh hang on….killing lots of people in faraway places without risking too much collateral damage. I’ve taken it off my Christmas list to Santa!

Image courtesy of http://aviationbuzzword.com/you-can-now-file-a-flight-plan-for-your-drone-operations-to-alert-nearby-pilots/

Visa Wars

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The European commission seems to be moving closer to deciding to implement a new visa hurdle for USA and Canadian citizens traveling through the European Schengen countries.

That excludes UK and Ireland, but the hotspots like Italy, Switzerland, Spain, France, and Germany will all be affected.

So what is it all about? Well, under US entry requirements, the US will not allow visitors from the European Union who reside in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, and Romania to enter without a visa. Under the EU law and EU prior agreement, there is a reciprocity between the EU and the USA and Canada that enables USA citizens to travel visa-free in the EU, and EU citizens to enter the USA via the visa waiver program using the ESTA protocol. Now in these complicated days, and partly because of Schengen, the USA is no longer prepared to except visitors from the countries specified.

The Schengen Agreement is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe’s borderless areas. It was signed near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg in 1985 and in 1990 a supplemental agreement proposed to abolish internal border controls and a common visa policy. The Schengen treaties were adopted into the European Union law almost 10 years later and today allow citizens and tourists alike to freely travel from country to country. The Schengen area operates pretty much like a single state for international travel purposes – no passport control at airports or borders. It currently covers 26 European countries and a population of over 400 million. The only opt-out countries are Ireland and the United Kingdom but Schengen is a core part of EU law and EU member states without an opt-out anymore. Any country joining Europe has to opt into Schengen.

So with the proposal of this new EU policy, of course everybody is up in arms. Really until the EU sorts out its Schengen borders, this issue could have a dramatic effect on USA tourism to Europe and probably would reduce down tourism to the Schengen countries by about 30%. How scary is that Europe?

Understandably, the USA is holding firm. It is election year and these are issues that nobody wants to touch.

In addition, the USA points out that the reciprocity between the principle players in Europe and the USA can stand alone. But the EU is having none of this. The European Parliament is very close to voting to institute a visa fee for all USA and Canada citizens that travel beyond Ireland and the UK. In other words, the EU commission is treating this deal as a big deal. The rights of all EU citizens whether they are Italian or Romanian have to be seen to be equal. The selection of some member states for visa requirements is considered to be anathema.

The USA has had a two-year warning on this but now this period has expired.

If the parliament votes to create this, it will cause confusion, madness, a loss of tourism, and simply add to the chaos of the current Schengen mess.

All of this comes at a moment when the Europeans are in a quandary. Austria has just introduced a “border management” plan at the Brenner Pass due to the current crisis. In addition, multiple spot checks are occurring on many frontiers throughout Europe. So while the letter of the law, in this case the Schengen Agreement, is a marvelous example of the freedom to move within a block of countries without passports or controls, the current migrant crisis has made this a can of worms too. Greece, Italy, and Spain are all the recipients of most of the migrants that come to Europe illegally. Their main goal is to move those migrants on. That is pretty easy through the Schengen Agreement which is why many border controls are being put back up.

This is the rub though – Americans are feeling a little a bit of trepidation about traveling to Europe anyhow with the recent attacks. Now if they have to buy a visa (goodness knows how long that will take as there is no infrastructure to do this) and then have to wait in long lines on passport controls, you have a mess beyond a mess. The cost of all of this will impact the approximately 50 billion Euro economy that tourism brings and that represents a lot of jobs! This is an export industry at the same level as the automotive sector.

What to do? The smart thing to do would let go of the “holier than thou” stance in Europe and continue with the near reciprocity that we have. If the Europeans stick to their guns, and the Americans stick to theirs, then you have a visa war as well as a migrant war and the economic consequences of that will have untold effects on European tourism and the European economy. Hardly a time to wage this kind of war when tourists are in shorter and shorter supply!

My two cents….let it be.

Image courtesy of http://www.myce.com/news/eu-commission-vp-says-copyright-legislation-is-a-factor-in-piracy-76314/

Roman Graffiti

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I am in two minds about graffiti.

Sometimes it is just senseless destruction of beautiful facades but more and more it gives voice to a neighborhood in change and transforms organically into art from Banksy and beyond. Graffiti stretches back through the ages. It comes from the Italian word “graffiato” which simply means scratched. It really starts like a primitive text message that hasn’t been deleted or expunged from the memory of the ages and it pops up on everything, especially Roman (usually with a clear statement and cause). It is found in Egypt, in Pompeii, in the ruins of Greece and Turkey, and in the tiny odd corners of Rome.

Recently in Rome, I took a little excursion based on an article I read in one of my favorite magazines, The World of Interiors. I headed to Testaccio which is close to the Protestant cemetery where Keats is buried and the Pyramid of Cestius by the Porta San Paolo. The pyramid is actually the only surviving Egyptian pyramid in Europe. It was built around 18 BC by some mad egomaniac who thought he was a pharaoh. Ego was in high supply during that period.

Testaccio, the Roman neighborhood that sits just behind the pyramid, is going through a bit of a Renaissance. New restaurants are popping up around what used to be the ancient Roman rubbish heap on the Eastern banks of the Tiber, now known as the Monte Testaccio. It developed some notoriety in the 1950’s when the filmmaker Paolo Pasolini sat at the top of this rubbish heap of remnants of old roman vessels that carried olive oil for a photograph. Now this area is a mix of trendy, bohemian, and authentic Roman.

My friend and fabulous Roman guide, Carlotta Boldrini, lives around the corner from here. Her hood now boasts a new painter on the block. The article was about these huge murals by Agostino Iacurci. While former markets and factories in Ostiense and Testaccio are transforming into trendy, gentrified eateries, cafes, bars, and apartments, this wonderful artist has pulled together the scruffiness and the neglect of a rundown neighborhood in the process of change and intertwined it with his sensational murals.

“As an artist, working outside deprives me of that air of sacredness that you associate with works in a museum,” he says.

Agostino takes on the role of integrating his art into the neighborhoods in spectacular fashion. His art is big and sits above everyday Rome with warts and all. His murals are as offbeat as a swimmer with cap and goggles above a fish shop. His equipment is simple: A sponge roller, a cherry picker and simple masonry paint. One day maybe some 2,000 years on, we will find some faded fresco by a huge skyscraper near a tiny pyramid and lament that Rome was once a city that you could walk around and get a decent coffee in a neighborhood bar.

Rome

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I love Rome.

From the moment I jump in the cab, there is a sense of gradual transition as you journey into this incredibly beautiful city filled with dust, cracks, and occasional garbage bags. It’s all here.

For me it begins as we pass the Sheraton Hotel. Out in the distance is Esposizione Universale Roma (EUR), a 1930’s modernist vision community of how Rome should be in the new world. It didn’t really work out that well but it left us some interesting buildings and now a trendy neighborhood with parks and metro access to both the beach and the center of town. That’s the other thing about Rome – it’s a beach city. The Roman port of Ostia is connectible by metro from the beach resort through Acilia and trendy living areas of Rome to the Colosseum.

Then for me the real transition begins. The first sight of any significance is the white marble Pyramid of Cestius outside Porta San Paolo gate. Then you make that turn up the Aventine Hill with the Palatine Hill facing you. Residential palaces in pink Roman stone look down on the vast field of grass that is the Circus Maximus, one of the largest arenas in the world during roman times.

It becomes frenetic and exhausting at this point with ancient fragments popping up every second it seems. The right turn at the bottom of the hill takes you by the Bocca della Verità (The Mouth of Truth). Opposite from that there is a Greek temple then a Roman temple and as the roads start to move around, you start to see what looks like the Colosseum but in fact is Marcello’s amphitheater, the Teatro di Marcello. Behind that is Octavia’s portal and the Jewish ghetto. On the right side lies the most glorious juxtaposition of stairways anywhere. There is the very subtle Capitoline Hill Stairs, the Cordonata, right next to the severe and steep medieval stairway that leads to the Basilica di Santa Maria in Aracoeli. On the right hand side beyond the stairways is the slightly incongruous, but ever faithful tourist site for lost travelers, the 19^th century wedding cake built to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1870 named the Vittorio Emanuele monument.

We are now in the Renaissance period with the Piazza Venezia with Trajan’s Forum on the right and I have disappeared into Rome before even my first cappuccino.

Rome Pietro Place Peter Jones Rome Steps Pietro Place Peter Jones

To Upgrade or not to Upgrade

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For all of those passengers that are lucky enough to sit in the business class or first class section of an airplane, you may well imagine how important you are to that airline.

Airlines are trying to sign you up for their frequent flyer cards, give you their Silver and Gold cards, and adorn you in incentives because you happen to be sitting in the part of the plane that makes money and they want you back. They are using all of their tricks to sway you in the decision to upgrade or not to upgrade. Those airline seats that you occupy have been well thought out and optimized for your comfort, convenience, and their dollars.

Not to say that if you are in the back of the plane, it’s all misery.

There is a trickledown effect due to the fact that the airlines are smarting up the front of the plane. After all, you do not want class warfare at 35,000 feet in the sky.

Well never mind because in the front they want your business and they are prepared to pamper you. But it is going to cost you money. A round-trip transatlantic fare in first class on British Airways costs between $16,000-$22,000, business class around $7,000, premium economy around $2,200, and lowly old economy about $1,500. So you can imagine how much money these guys are making on that tiny piece of space given the fact that you are sitting in the same cylindrical tube as everyone else.

When you look at that value proposition, you have to say that economy is a pretty good deal. I mean seriously, who is paying $20,000 for a first class seat when you can find a deal out there for $1,000 in economy. If you fly between London and Boston, you are on a 5 hour and 50 minute flight. I do not care how good the service is, I can always find a sandwich, a couple glasses of wine, and a decent movie or two to wind my way across the Atlantic while I think of how I saved $19,000 on a bit of extra leg room, a very average meal, and a wash bag that you wouldn’t even re-gift. Incidentally, in business class, the wash bag on most flights is something that amazes me even more. It’s like how could they design a bag with so much space and so little in it? Where do you find toothpaste that small? Why the socks? I have my own socks and if I go to the bathroom truly I am going to wear my shoes. Guys are messy!

So differentiating the front of the plane is critical to these guys.

There are three kinds of configurations at the front of the plane. There is the yin-yang design that BA employs, the staggered herringbone that Virgin employs, or the “stacked-V’ of other airlines. Have you ever wondered why if you are sitting in business class on a plane, such as BA, that you are facing a person that you do not know and awkwardly trying to figure out how to put the screen up between the two of you without looking to offend? Ever wondered why when on a Virgin plane that the shape of the seats is in a fishbone? It’s feast or famine here. You are either lying flat down or sitting straight up. There is no in between. Then there is the Delta setup where everyone mysteriously is fitted in a certain way so that you never actually see too much of the person next to you…thank God. The reason they do all of this of course is because they can give you more room, your own space, and more importantly they can fit more of you in that huge expanding revenue-generating area.

Designing airline seats for business and first class is an art within itself; creating a space that feels like your own space with a flat bed and video screen with endless options for watching TV and movies. Not long ago in 1995, British Airways introduced the first flat-bed seat in first class, and in 1999 introduced it to business class as well. Up until then, business class passengers had no advantage other than a slightly better meal. Nowadays the game is played around bed, board, and beyond! At the higher end, airlines compete for your business with lavish meals including caviar in first class. They entice you with a goody bag that contains scents, oils, and perfumes from boutique distributors. New 32-inch video screens (bigger than some we have in our kitchens) are being introduced into a private cabin. On real long hauls in first class you now get a shower (of course!) plus a potential for a double bed. Just when you thought you got your marriage around twin beds you can now bring it back again!

Image courtesy of DesignBoom.com: http://www.designboom.com/design/singapore-airlines-first-class-interior-design-by-bmw-designworks/

Stay Tuned for April Travels: Atlanta, Georgia and Reston, Virginia!

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Coming Soon!

I’m not a Virgin Anymore (Virgin America sold to Alaska Airlines)

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Virgin America has just sold out to Alaska Airlines.

Richard Branson, who owns only a clear 22% of Virgin America, felt so bad about it that he wrote an open letter concerning the takeover.

He could not do too much to stop it because some of his take was in the form of non-voting shares. This effectively reduced his influence in a sell deal to that of a spectator. Because he is not an American, according to USA law, he was never allowed to have majority ownership. Still, he remains optimistic about the airlines’ future. As he put it, “Besides the turbulence and headwinds, the journey remains thrilling and joyful and I look forward to more future flights with virgin America.”

In many ways, the takeover makes sense. Yes, Virgin is a great brand and Virgin America was a cool airline to fly on. The banter on board, the groovy lounges, the reception, everything was pure Virgin. The only weakness of the original Virgin America set up was that the curious bystander often wondered why they could not link Virgin America to Virgin Atlantic for international travel. Now with Alaska, they simply add much more domestic connectability.

Frankly, now that Virgin America sold to Alaska Airlines the brand is going to become diluted.

Alaska might be famous for its onboard cuisine if you fly in business, but beyond that it is pretty much bog standard. In other words, you get what you pay for. Alaska could only benefit greatly from the bounce of the Virgin brand as they go head-to-head with the Southwest and Jet Blues.

It’s all about consolidation. Airlines are making bigger profits, oil is cheap as chips, the seats are shrinking, the food is sucking even more, and Richard just walked away with a cool half billion dollars.

The same thing kind of happened on Virgin Atlantic.

In 2012, Branson said that he could not survive competitively unless he had an alliance. There was talk of aligning with British Airways and Singapore, but in the end it was Delta who picked up the mantle – the largest airline in the world married a virgin!

Essentially, Delta picked up all Virgin slots and 49% of Virgin Atlantic. It gave both airlines more access in a highly competitive market and it gave Delta a hot card to play against its transatlantic nemesis, British Airways. Imagine this, now there would be nine daily round-trip flights from London to JFK and Newark and 31 peak day daily flights to London! More importantly, for Delta fans, you get the chance to visit the groovy Virgin lounge as opposed to the abysmal Delta one where they won’t let you bring in a desperately needed sandwich because they are scared you will compare it to the rubbish you are getting inside. So there are benefits. Although currently Delta flies into Terminal 4 at Heathrow whereas Virgin is in Terminal 3, so you need to have a 10 minute limo service to connect you between the lounges! Not so good.

In the end, when we travel on Virgin, we buy the brand.

The brand’s God is Branson. It starts at the counter with the red suited flight attendants and the funky fishbone configurations in upper class on the planes. It is a kind of an antidote to British Airways and it worked. People became Virgin groupies. The lounges are the best and the people that work at Virgin all carry the brand with pride.

So how is the marriage going? It’s probably working well economically but I do get the feeling having dealt with both sets of staff that this marriage is definitely destined for twin beds at the very least and separate rooms in the future. Maybe that’s how marriages last!

Image courtesy of ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/virgin-america-alaska-air-merger/story?id=38143131

NOT JUST ANOTHER BUM IN A SEAT! (Airline Class Warfare)

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Incidentally, if you have not noticed, while the airlines are fawning over the front of the plane, and I mean fawning, (“Can I take you to your seat?”, “Would you like an espresso?”), in the back the seats are shrinking. By that I mean, they are putting more seats in and the width, depth, and pitch are getting smaller.

Planes that started out with a configuration of 167 seats are now putting in 179 seats. On most Boeing 777’s, what used to be 247 seats is now 289 seats. Guess where they are adding? In the economy section. They now have introduced the “skinny seats” to the airlines. Three-quarters of Delta’s equipment is running on a 17-inch seat width. What used to be the norm of a 32-inch pitch has now shrunk down to a 30-inch pitch; that is United’s new standard economy seat pitch. Plus what used to be 18 inches is now 17 inches in seat width. The only good news here is that the depth with the new skinny seats has grown from 22 inches to 24 inches by removing padding from the backrest and removing the extra paraphernalia from the back of the seat in front of you. They have even introduced skinny lavatories. Not the kind of place where you want to hang out with the Sunday newspaper.

Most recently on a British Airways flight, it cost me $55 to pre-book an economy seat for the transatlantic portion. It would have cost an additional amount for an emergency row. If I wanted to sit by the window, there is another surcharge. I have not even made it to premium economy yet! In other words, when you are sitting at the back of the plane with your cheap and cheerful ticket, they have plans for you – squeeze you in, don’t hang out in the toilets too long (after all it may be more comfortable in there than it is in your seat), and glance longingly through to the front of the plane where a carefully screened curtain keeps you at bay from those who want to have nothing to do with you!

But there is good news afoot.

There is a trickledown effect due to the fact that the airlines are smarting up the front of the plane and installing super cool video equipment.

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Airlines are upgrading their video selections, their live TV streaming, and fairly shortly we will be able to control our own entertainment through our mobile devices. After all, you don’t want class warfare at 35,000 feet in the sky. So for the most part when we sit in the back of the plane, the food is a little better than it used to be and there is always that faint possibility that if you travel enough or happen to catch the right person on the right day, you can get upgraded. Yes…the upgrade! That moment when your knees go wobbly and this person with all of the power looks at you and says, “We are a little tight in the back so we have some good news for you.”….Yeah right!! Dream on! Nothing happens for free anymore. Get back to those seats in the back and prepare yourself with Benadryl, beer, or Ambien. Who needs a flat seat when you have those things in your arsenal?! And for the extra $19,000 to sit in first class, my two cents are that the economy blues can be suspended with a few tricks. Bring your own headsets, a fabulous sandwich from a local deli, a neck rest, and sync into the comparative luxury of your new skinny seat, preferably equipped with knee guards to stave off the person in front of you. Don’t forget your Ambien!

Image courtesy of Ready Set Trek: http://readysettrek.com/class-warfare-infographic/

FIFA

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FIFA is the organization responsible for the governance of soccer worldwide.

It sponsors tournaments directly, like the World Cup, and is responsible for the adjudication of the game. The rules, the referees, and the technology that helps make decisions better. Under FIFA’s umbrella are the various worldwide regional bodies like UEFA that control the soccer programs and tournaments of the continents around the world. In other words, it is a pretty big deal!

So of course the scandal of FIFA over the past couple of years has created great focus on how much money moves in and out of the pockets of the various people who run this organization.

They make money on scams for tickets, bribes for tournament venues like the World Cup, not to mention, the extraordinary wages they get paid and the perks of being part of this secret society of FIFA. Thank goodness for the Americans. They came along, busted a whole bunch of guys, and currently have extradition notices on a number of the top FIFA officials that pocketed more money for one deal than most of us see in a lifetime. The chief executive of FIFA, his assistant, and the chief executive of UEFA have been suspended from anything to do with soccer for six years or more. These disreputable folks who have assaulted the beautiful sport of soccer and turned it into a mafia-driven money laundering vehicle, will probably get away with most of the charges and sit gracefully by their Swiss lakeside chalet houses counting their grubbily earned Swiss Francs. It is a pity because soccer is the fastest growing sport, it is a beautiful game to watch, and in America especially we are getting hip to the intricacies and fun of playing and watching this worldwide phenomena. So as I was driving from Tasch, Switzerland, to connect to the car train through the mountains, I could not help but stop the car and look out into the distance where I saw the Sepp Blatter Primary School in the town of Visp. Wow, I thought, this is where they teach the kids all of that stuff!! Seriously though, Sepp Blatter who was the head of FIFA until he was unceremoniously disposed is from the town of Visp. It is not a very special town but it is a main hub for the various trains that comprise the cog railway system and the high speed intercity trains that connect ski paradises to Geneva and Lausanne. I guess he also put a lot of his “hard earned money” into education. Amidst the mountains and the lakes, this guy even got into the primary school. At least some of the dodgy money went to a good cause! Let us pray for better days at the top of our beloved sport.

FIFA Pietro Place Peter Jones

Zurich

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I had never been to Zurich before and probably will never go back.

Last year I was in Lausanne and promised myself never to return! I added it to my list of boring places – Deauville, Trouville, Biarritz. Places that I was curious about but couldn’t muster up enough energy or desire to return. Cross them off the list and add them to Cyprus and a few other places that I have been inquisitive about and will not go back to. But Zurich…I am torn.

This year we descended upon Zurich because I had heard some great things about it. A good nightlife, diverse restaurants, and an overall beautiful city. We stayed in the Stork Hotel. A fabulous location in a great part of town. Café stools outside overlooking the river made it utterly charming and even with cold weather, they provided blankets! I loved this hotel. A pure Swiss scene with beautiful houses over the Limmat River, three towering clock towers, and an extraordinary museum, the Kunsthaus Zürich, packed chock-a-block with masterpieces through the ages. There was a lot of Giacometti, in fact the whole family of Giacometis, a fair amount of Chagall, and a splash of Picasso and other xtraordinary artists. It had the lot. It was slightly overwhelming!

There were the two principal churches in Zurich with their stained glass windows rendered more spectacular by the artists whose paintings I had just seen in the museum. The walks were pleasant, the streets and squares were made with lots of cobblestones, all extraordinarily clean. Everything spilled onto the lovely river, even the Bahnhof with its underbelly filled with shops and eateries was decidedly clean and accesible. And of course there were swans. Lots of them.

This is a city with enough to do if you plan two or three days max.

On the restaurant scene, there are expensive places that have an iconic history in Zurich folklore like the Kronenhalle. The food there is pure Swiss with rösti, lots of meat, and fabulous desserts. The ambiance is extraordinary. Original artwork is all around – a Chagall here, a Miro there. Not far away there is Brasserie Lipp, one of Paris’ most reputable brasserie’s transplanted into the heart of Zurich. There are less expensive options and of course a few pubs where you can grab a beer, a burger, and watch a soccer game. The nightlife was a bit thin and daytime was a little quiet. Everything was very orderly and very Swiss. The tram system was incredibly efficient and very clean. As I walked along the narrow alleyways by the river and crossed one of the smaller bridges to get to the Church of the Grossmünster, I thought of how civilized this place is. Probably a nice place to bring the kids up. It’s a bit like Vancouver. But I really do not think I could live here!

The Journey up Jungfrau

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The journey from Zermatt to Lauterbrunnen, up Jungfrau, was a feast of Swiss mountains, green pastures, and alpine chalets.

The descent on the cog railway from Zermatt to Täsch was on the Glacier Express. It was the first part of a journey that would take us around three and a half hours. Our final destination was Zurich and in between we would climb the Jungfrau, stop in Wengen, and pass the magical town of Lucerne. All of this within one day!

We were driving and so we had to figure out a way to successfully get from Tasch to Lauterbrunnen efficiently. The new Lötschberg Basistunnel is the answer. It is 36 km long. The train goes through the mountain with your car! It is a fairly easy process. You queue up, buy the ticket, and drive your car onto a long metal ramp of open carriages. Put the brake on, turn your engine off, sit in the car, and watch the world go by as the train takes off. Alps in the background, mountains looming, and then total darkness as you enter the tunnel! 25 minutes later you pop out the other side and you’ve just saved yourself four hours of driving. It’s that simple!

Eventually we got close to the town of Interlaken (between the lakes) and parked the car in Lauterbrunnen to catch the train that would take us up to Wengen. The train is a cog train and was full of skiers and tourists alike. In Wengen, which is the staging post and midpoint, the town bustled with activity. It was full of hotels, cafes, restaurants, and is the beginning point for all of the lifts that will take you onto the ski slopes of the Jungfrau with the Eiger mountain in the background. It looks like it has a decent nightlife and it is flanked by a number of open bowls so the light is good all day. Many of the colors of the houses are yellow ochre and as the sun drops down the colors against the cog railway and the snow is stunning. It is definitely a place you can hang out for a couple of days.

We changed trains, hopped on the Jungfrau cog railway, and before you know it we were headed up to the very top of Europe. The train stopped inside of the glacier two or three times so that we could take pictures. By that time we were already well over 10,000 feet!

At the Top of Europe, as they call it, we were at 11,782 feet.

Time for pictures and taking it easy as the altitude definitely affected your step. I had a dodgy meal in the canteen at the top, experienced the highly civilized toilets and got to walk through the glacier ice village. After we hung out for a while we caught the express train back to Lauterbrunnen. At the top of the Jungfrau you can see the possibilities of skiing over to the open, broad expanse of Grindelwald. The beauty of this area is that you can buy a pass that takes in the whole mountain….. and the skiing looked pretty good. It may not be as extensive as Zermatt, but it looked awesome to me, especially if you had grown up skiing the ice in Vermont.

A coffee at the bottom, a jump in the car, and within two hours we would be in Zurich for dinner.

The Mystery of the Matterhorn

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Zermatt, as a holiday destination, is famous for its skiing, summer walks through the open trails long left by skiers–and for extreme climbers it’s the challenging ascent of the iconic Matterhorn.

I have been to Zermatt many, many times but I have never actually visited the Matterhorn Museum. Even though I received a frosty reception by walking straight past the cashier’s desk without paying (oops), I was pleasantly surprised by the contents of the museum – but not surprised by the reaction I got from the lady at the desk. She had specially trained in unfriendly customer relations. No smile, only a suspicious smirk as she thought I was trying to skip around her! No credit cards are accepted here; just good ol’ Swiss Francs. It costs 10 Swiss Francs (approx. $10.15). Most days it is open from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm.

The museum depicts a mini Zermatt, with recreations of original houses, interiors, and a chapel, and shows how the town started.

But the biggest focus of all is on the drama of the first ascent of the Matterhorn on the 14th of July in 1865.

This was the story of the last unconquered 4,000 meter peak in the Alps. There were seven mountaineers, four of whom fell to their deaths during the descent after their climbing rope broke. The survivors were the British Edward Whymper, and two Zermatt mountain guides, Peter Taugwalder and his son who happened to be Peter as well.

There is a whole mystery attached to the tragedy. Depending on whether you are British or from Zermatt, you will likely get different versions from different sides. There is even a movie that recreates this climb which was shot in 1937 and includes scenes from “the deadly fall” following the first ascent. In the museum, the snapped rope is right there and some of the effects of the climbers that perished are in preserved cases. There are also Neolithic age things and a whole bunch of black and white photographs of the early mountaineers. The exhibition that was on was all about who caused the fall. Was it the dastardly English guy who came down to claim that he was the first to conquer the Matterhorn? Or the guides who may or may not have cut the rope to save themselves? The intrigue is brewing everywhere. To this day, it is the main talking point of the museum. If you ask anybody who has lived in Zermatt for a number of years, they all have their own version. What is absolutely amazing is that the climbers seemed to wear suits, hats, and mostly looked like they were heading out to dinner, not climbing the most difficult precipice in Europe! Everyone carried a sling of ropes around them but beyond that it was all pretty much down to the knowledge of the mountain. The fact that these guys even made it to the top in those outfits is testament to their skills, their endurance, and frankly their craziness. The museum is worth a visit if only so you can write a column like this. It is a perfect “who done it” and really very interesting.

The Glacier Express

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Switzerland offers a remarkable way to sightsee your day through the beautiful terrain: the Glacier Express.

No car needed. Just a slow moving, winding train that is Switzerland’s greatest ad for Narnia.

The Glacier Express is a regular scheduled year-round train service between Zermatt at the foot of the Matterhorn and St. Moritz in the Engadin skiing area.

No idea why it’s called an express since it is slow.

Built on a narrow gauge train, it takes over seven hours to cover just over 290 km (180 miles), at an average of around 24 mph. However, it’s very civilized inside and you can get a decent lunch on board in the restaurant cars. The views are breathtaking, blizzards and all, and it also offers the unique experience of climbing to 2033 meters up the incredible Oberalp Pass, the highest point on the line. It truly looks like Narnia along the way. At the end the train magically winds its way to the chic resort of St Moritz. All in a day’s work!

Prices are not that bad for Switzerland. Below are the rack rates.

Zermatt – St Moritz, basic fare:

149 CHF (€149) 2nd class, one-way

262 CHF (€262) 1st class, one-way

Glacier Express supplement:

(this must be paid in addition to

the basic fare or railpass)

33 CHF (€33) in summer.

13 CHF (€13) in winter.

Cost of lunch (optional):

30 CHF (€30) for Plate of the Day.

43 CHF (€43) for 3-course lunch.

Children under 6 go free; children aged 6 to 16 pay half fare but must pay the adult supplement.

The Glacier Express is run jointly by two private Swiss railways, the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (MGB) and the Rhätische Bahn (RhB), which also operate the regular hourly local trains over the same route. There is one daily Glacier Expresses in each direction in winter, but up to three daily Glacier Expresses in the summer. It is a great experience and I highly recommend it.

You can easily buy tickets online at www.glacierexpress.ch

The Strange Country of Switzerland

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Let’s face it – it’s a strange place. Encircled by beautiful mountains, Switzerland is famous for its scenery, cheese, watches, chocolate, skiing, drugs, and corruption…oops, I mean banking. A small bottle of water costs $5, a sandwich is $15-$20, and they think that they are doing you a favor!

It has a slightly dubious history. In World War II they pretended to be neutral but it was really a friendly outpost of Nazi Germany. Up until two years ago, most people kept a private bank account in Switzerland that was not traceable in any other country. It was thus a tax haven for the rich. It is the home and headquarters of football (soccer), the Olympics, and the Red Cross. It is also where Charlie Chaplin chose to live the remainder of his life after being kicked out of the USA for being a communist sympathizer. The Great Dictator! One of the most brilliant anti-fascist movies of all time.

So, why do I keep coming back to Switzerland? It is because I like the efficiency of the place. There are trains that climb up mountains on cogs, trains that you can put your car on to that hurtle you through insurmountable mountains and save you hours of driving, and toilets that are very clean compared to most of their neighbors. But most of all it is such a damn beautiful place with famous mountains jutting up above the clouds like the Matterhorn and the Eiger. It is just so stunning. Driving through the tunnels that have been beautifully carved in the mountains, I am aware that Swiss tunnels are the cleanest tunnels in all of the world, like they have a team of cleaners coming in at night to spick and span the walls. Not a wink of graffiti and the streets are clean.

So I guess that I have a bizarre love affair with the place. When I ski between Italy and Switzerland, I confess to loving the rösti, the raclette, and the fondue (really good for the cholesterol) a little more than the pasta. Yikes – what I am I saying?!

Every year I ski in Switzerland. I love the comfort of the place, the width of the slopes, the guaranteed snow, and I guess the Swiss are not that bad after all!

The Beauty of Sayulita

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What a pleasant surprise to discover that just 45 minutes south of Puerto Vallarta is a cool, laidback, surfer’s town called Sayulita.

Famous for its beach break, Sayulita has a guaranteed supply of mixed level waves, perfect for the amateur and pro together.

It feels that Puerto Vallarta has been attacked by the overdevelopment syndrome, but Sayulita, with its year-round population of around 2,000, has remained relatively unscathed.

It was first discovered in the 1960’s and was (and still is) a surfer’s paradise. The beach is a beautiful, huge crescent shape intersected by a river that seems to emanate from the jungle. Grazing by the river by an old plank bridge are horses and donkeys.

This is a town where the beach is the magnet. The beach is stacked in the center with surfboards, surf shops, and surf schools. You can rent everything from paddle boards to boogie boards. I sat under a very civilized umbrella easily rentable from Don Pedro – a restaurant come beach set-up where you can get fantastic grilled octopus and seared tuna.

Frankly, my idea of fun on a beach is to find a place like Don Pedro that sells umbrellas and lounge chairs and where I can get incredibly fresh and delicious seafood with a drink while watching other people do what I cannot do, namely surf and paddle board! So I watched expert surfers, beginner surfers (who wore beginner’s t-shirts), paddle boarders, body surfers, and just regular splashed types like me. At the far ends of the beach the fishermen and the pelicans went looking for their dinner. I’ve never seen so many pelicans diving in between surfboards in my life.

There are numerous tiny seaside accommodation places and at the end of the beach is a very nice, but not glitzy, hotel called Villa Amor which is where I stayed. Rooms range between $175-$300 per night for a one bedroom in high season. Sayulita is loaded with fantastic restaurants, taquerias, and a whole slew of funky bars that stayed open way after midnight. The crowd was mixed, cool, and very fit looking. Surfers usually are.

I love this place. The tiny shopping streets that stray off of the beach, the groovy restaurants, the mix of locals, old hippies, and newcomers. The beach had a freer feel to it.

If the beach was a spectacular white coral sand beach like the one in Cancun, it would have been ruined years ago with high-rises and packaged tours. This place never got there. A fiercely strong local citizenry protected it and the beach was funky enough to not pull the developers in. One of my favorite shops in Sayulita is Révolucion del Sueño which does an incredible trade with Zapata t-shirts made from beautiful soft cotton. My only tip to travelers who discover this place, don’t tell too many people.