Trip 39: Faulhorn II and Zermatt

Trip date: June 21 & 22, 2012

Redemption! One of my last weekends in Switzerland - one of my last chances to hike Faulhorn. Unfortunately it was nothing but fog and rain the whole time. Oh well, continue on anyways.

All in attendance: Kristen and Eric


Faulhorn (again)

It just had to rain! Eric came to Baden by ride share on Friday night. All hostels in Interlaken were full so we hopped on to 5:47 am train connections on Saturday morning from Baden to Wilderswil.

Picking up food and looking like sleep deprived zombies, we headed up with the nostalgic train up to Schynige Platte. Fog and clouds were thick but denial was high. We hoped that just maybe we could get above them and get a view. No such luck.

Last time the trail was completely snowed out at the half way point. This time the views were next to nil. It makes you concentrate though on the nearby beauty of flowers and nearby meadows though. It was still a bit unfortunate though - remember, this is one of the most beautiful hikes in Switzerland!

I think the most disheartening part were instances where we would come across a bench which overlooked nothing but a view of bright white fog. I can only imagine the serene mountain views which can usually be seen.

We arrived at the mountain hut and went in for some much needed warmth and overpriced tea. Then it was back up up up in the wet and the fog while wearing gender appropriate rain coats.

We reached the peak of Faulhorn! Celebration included eating some of this Rote Hexe (Red Witch) cheese we had brought.

Anticipated view vs. Actual view

A Canadian lesson is that we can never win all our weather battles. It was still a good day nonetheless. On our decent to First, the fog did lift just enough for us to catch a glimpse of Brienzersee. Cue 147829 well deserved photographs.

Then it was a snoozy exhausted and soggy train ride to Zermatt. We bought a 1 day travel pass (68 CHF with our halbtax) to cover our trains to Interlaken and Zermatt. On the way to Zermatt, they put you in fancy different trains with large windows so you can see all the beautiful small Swiss towns as you zip by.

We stayed in Täsch, a small town a single train stop away from Zermatt in a guesthouse (30 CHF each). Highlights include a warm shower, a balcony with a clear night of stars and a wall with animal pattern carpet.

Zermatt

The next day we took the train from Täsch to Zermatt. We began our hike from there towards Sunegga. There is an underground funicular which runs from Zermatt to Sunegga but the steeper/more challenging parts of the hike were definitely between these two points. Once you reach Sunegga, things are mostly very level.

We were lucky for it to be a clear day (in majority). We hiked along the 5-Seeweg to see the 5 lakes in the region. I made vegetarian salad rolls and we ate delicious German spreads and flat peaches for lunch. Cue: beautiful views of the Matterhorn - supposedly the most photographed mountain in the world!

Clouds came in and we decided that it wouldn't be worth the hike up to Riffelberg. On our hike down I encountered curious coloured goats which I looked at for an unnecessary tourist amount of time.

An exhausted train ride home to Baden. A well deserved sleep.

Thing I will do next time:

• Go to Faulhorn on a clear day!
• Go to the rope parks in Zermatt

Thing I loved:

• Hiking!
• The crazy blue water in Zermatt
  

Swiss Franc

A curious thing about Swiss' colurful money - the Swiss-franc (sFr or CHF) - is that instead of past heads of state and monarchy, the faces which grace the bills are of composers, artists and sculptors. The bills feature their popular artworks and the typical holographic and perforated security features. In that small diamond at each of the portrait heads is also a small text of the person in the tiniest font.

This tiny font is counterbalanced by the size of the 5 franc coin. The 5 franc coin is the Goliath of all coin currencies. It is so large that you will surely do a double-take the first time you hold one. Here is a picture I took of a 5 franc coin which I put it next to a euro-cent for dramatic effect.

It's size is so crazy that I wouldn't blame you if you kept one as a souvenir. Or used one to kill enemies in a game of bloody knuckles.

If you have ever been to Switzerland, you would probably agree that part of the Swiss culture is "having cash". Sounds weird? Let me explain.

If you walked into a bakery and bought something for 1.75 and only had a 100 bill to pay with, Switzerland might be the only place I know of where there is a 100% guarantee that there will be sufficient change and that all bills would be accepted with a smile. Only have a 1000CHF bill for you 30CHF purchase? No problem!

In Switzerland, you never need to feel guilty by paying small amounts using big bills.

Maybe that's because few things here are cheap.

Trip 38: Melt Festival (Germany)

Trip date: July 12 - 16, 2012

Melt festival is held in Ferropolis in Gräfenhainichen Germany. Ferropolis is an open air museum of mining machinery/excavators. The general theme of the festival is hipsters music meets electronic.

All in attendance: Tom, Kristen, Felix, Eric

My best friend from Canada did a year abroad in 2010/2011 in Lyon. This year I was the one to go away. He made good on a promise to meet me for MELT festival in Germany.On Thursday night, I flew from Basel to Berlin and met him at the Goldmarie - the same hostel I stayed in last time. This time we got a private room for 16 euros a night.

The night was spent sharing drinks, sharing pizzas and sharing nostalgic conversation.

In the morning we got German breakfast (hard boil eggs, miscellaneous cold cuts and cheese, sliced fruit and vegetables) and drank enough coffee to feel weird. We went to the East Side Gallery (thankfully it was not as cold as it was last time) before heading to the trainstation and going of to Gräfenhainichen - the town closest to the festival.

The novelty of not needing to drive to a festival has not worn off.

It also took me the entire train ride to learn to pronounce Gräfenhainichen.

There is a bus shuttle service from the train station to the festival. The weather was a bit rainy and mud traps attacked with every miscalculated step.

Highlights include:

• Germans who prepare infinitely more than I do for a festival - 3 square meals a day?!
• M83 and Flux Pavilion 
• Indian food stall which sold first-nation theme food
• German hipsters dressed like Aboriginal people
• Partying next to huge excavators
• Learning that the "beach stage" at any festival is always a good time
• Not getting rained on as much as we thought we would.
• Entertaining the idea about starting a tumblr photo blog about "Friends brushing teeth together at festivals"
• Germans drink at festivals like how Canadians use substances
• Learning about Rummelsnuff
• Getting a ride back to Switzerland with my friend Paul and his girlfriend where I did nothing but sleep and each dark chocolate french cereal for 8 hours. Their kindness also made it so I didn't have to catch a 5 am flight out of Berlin.

European festivals provide you with a crazy amount of comfort and luxury such as selling you camping stools and pavilions upon arrival and  having running water.

Weird German Music

I'm not one to make rash, abrasive and critical judgement on music but I think something needs to be said about the weird German music I keep getting exposed to.

During Urban Art Forms in Austria, hoards of festival crowds flocked to the stage for Deichkind. If you thought the Japanese were leaders in the odd, quirky and confusing - think again! Germans may be able to give them a run for their money. This music video is full of "what the fuck" goodness - just like their live set.

During Melt festival, I encountered an artist called Rummelsnuff. When I asked my friend what type of music he plays, the reply was, "Very special music". He is an old security guard turned into a hit sensation. He is very buff, very bald, very gay and very popular.

I don't get it.

Trip 37: Urban Art Forms Festival & Graz, Austria

Trip date: Thursday July 5 - Sunday July 8, 2012

With Canada's population density and short summers, it's no surprise that music festivals in Canada cannot generate the crowd and present the same quality of artists that can be done in Europe. We have a lot of heart in Canada and festivals back home are equally about the festival community as they are the music. However, I am taking advantage of my year abroad to attend the Urban Art Forms festival - the entire set list of this festival is equivalent to every drum and bass DJ coming to Calgary in the next 3 years.

All in attendance: Jason and Kristen

The festival is held this year next to the Schwarzlsee Lake in Graz, Austria's second biggest city after Vienna. It is such a luxury to board a night train and then take a short 15 minute bus ride to the festival ground. Good tunes and good dancing started on that night train from Zurich to Graz and did not stop until the ride home. No need to drive 10+ hours like back home - festivals are all rail/bus accessible!

Jason and I waited in the hot and humid line up to get in after arriving to the site. The most apparent difference between this festival and the festivals I have been to back home is the lack of people in outrageous costumes. But what this festival lacks in costumes, it makes up in alcohol consumption.

All shady spots by the lake were already taken by the time Jason and I arrived inside. We managed to find 4 French guys from Bordeaux and became good friends, good neighbours and most importantly, good dancing partners.

Festivals are usually held in the boonies in Canada so it felt really crazy to be able to take a 10 minute bus into town for shopping and supplies. Common to all German speaking countries, water here at the festival was more expensive than beer.

Highlights include:

• Blistering hot days spent snoozing by the lake
• Working plumbing bathrooms and free showers
• Incredible line up of artist
• Hospitality stage
• Yelling HELGA throughout the festival
• Chilling out by the Beach Stage
• Sunrise at the Minimal Stage
• Knowing enough German to make good acquaintances and enough French to make friends 
• Jason and I surviving on a diet of olives, pickles and energy drinks
  
  
  

Lowlights include:

• Pushing through the Drum and Bass stage which was indoors and an excruciating +45°C
• Insane Austrian heat

We even had time to visit Graz after the festival. We had 12 hours from the end of the festival until our night train (taking us directly to work, boo). Cool fact: Arnold Schwarzenegger is from Graz. In our post festival haze, Jason and I could do little more than eat copious amount of food at an "Asian" restaurant (eating our weight in Chinese stir fry and miso soup) and wander around the old town.

Graz is incredibly ornate but this is no surprise since ornate buildings seem to be the Austrian way. We walked up to the Schlossberg -  a castle with a great city view. Graz also has a lot of unique contemporary architecture including its Kunsthaus and Mur River Wooden Bridge.

Feeling pretty dazed, Jason and I decided to kill time by watching a movie. Choosing a simple movie is key when watching it dubbed in a language that you only sort of know. We chose The Amazing Spiderman which was the perfect level of understanding for A2 German. They also have crazy North American soda pop sizes too.

And then it was a long night train ride until arriving in Zurich on Monday morning and then setting off to work.

Trip 36: La Côte d'Azur, France

Trip date: Thursday June 7 - Sunday June 10, 2012

Enough of these city breaks - let's take an actual vacation. Where better than the French Rivera where language for me is no problem and our biggest responsibilities are to eat as much as we can (olives, duck, fruits, French pastries and maybe even scary cheese) and enjoy the Mediterranean sea.

Cities visited: Marseilles, Hyères, Porquerolles, Nice

All in attendance: Jason and Kristen

Jason and I flew into Marseilles on Wednesday night. What was eerie was being the only people from the airport to take the shuttle to the train station and off to Marseille. I guess it was because it was a weekday. We receive several stern warnings from our colleague Paul, who is from Marseille, about dangerous communities and crime in the city. We were lucky that in our dazed and lost wandering to our hostel, we avoided all of this.

MARSEILLE

We stayed at Hello Marseille hostel and shared a double bed in a dorm for a steep 20 euro. I can already see many hot sweaty hostel nights ahead because all we had this night was an un-moving fan and even in June, sleeping in would've been an impossibility. Hello Marseille is by le Vieux Port. There was lots of construction going on but we managed to find a cozy cafe to take a coffee + brownie to fuel us for the day ahead.

We walked through the old town (cue: narrow streets) and stopped inside Cathédrale La Major (also called by its shorter name Marseille Cathedral or its crazy long name Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille). Feeling lazy and overheated, we took a bus from this church to see Marseille's basilica  Notre-Dame de la Garde which overlooks the city on a tall hill.

You get a great view of the the city from above and a great view of the gold Jesus on top of the Notre-Dame. You can see Château d'If which is a church on an island not too far from the mainland. Inside the basilica is a bit unique because small models of ships and boats hang from its grand ceilings. It's also bright and colourful inside, not scary and foreboding like Gothic style cathedrals can be.

We left Marseille to go to Hyères, another town on the French Riviera taking the 18:38 train. We ended up missing our connection and having to take a bus into the center of Hyères where we set off to find out hotel without any maps or any clue.

HYÈRES

Hyères consist of a small town on the main land and a few islands (Îles d'Hyères). We attempted to find a hostel, campground or a Couchsurfing host but found no success. We ended up staying at Etap Hotel De Hyères, a hotel not to far from the old town for 24.50 euros each in a private double room. A room fitted with a television, private shower and AC - what luxury!!!

We took it easy the first night we arrived and settled down to an evening of fancy oven fired pizza and 2 euro wine while watching fear propaganda on CNN and Fight Club dubbed in French.

The next morning we woke up and found out we missed all early bus connections down to the port to take us to the islands. While waiting for the next bus connection, Jason and I wandered through the beautifully commercialized old town (shops and shops and more shops) and paid too much for fancy tea in a small cafe. Two islands are of interest in this area, Porquerolles and Port-Cros. Paul told us that Port-Cros has as astounding fish population which got us really fixated on the idea of snorkling. It is, however, much father than Porquerolles and when push finally came to shove, we ended up just going to the large island of Porquerolles for the day.

We rented bikes - and something I am not proud of but probably needs to be stated is that I really don't know how to ride a bike. Having never owned one (and never learned as a child) I can't really do more than really offbalanced straight peddling and dangerous and questionable turns. Wipe-outs and embarrassment in front of posh French vacationers ensue.

Cue: lazy days on beaches, reading books in the shade, snorkeling with over priced plastic equipment.

Snorkeling here was nice, a few fish here and there but probably nothing thrilling for anyone who's done it before.

We took the ferry back and then the bus and settled down for a share-no-expense fancy french dinner. I ordered duck and it was so tasty that I am certain that I will think of it many times in the upcoming future when I am eating greasy fast-food back in Canada.

MARSEILLE II

We were brainwashed by the over zealous hostel worker in Marseille about les Calanques - an impossible beautiful bay with limestone cliffs right near the university in Marseille. A few seconds on google was all it took to convince Jason and I that it was absolutely necessary to go back.

We woke up early and went back to Marseille, dropped our bags in a left luggage locker and off we went on a bus towards the University. We followed the small crowd who got off at the University parking lot and it was just a short walk before we could see the edge of beautiful light grey cliffs and impossibly blue water.

A whole day of picnicking and lying around in the shade. We should've brought shoes or watershoes because the cliffs were pretty rocky. Jason did more snorkeling while I ate olives, snoozed along the bay and read Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

NICE II

See my previous visit to Nice

We didn't stay the night in Marseille but got our stuff from left luggage and took the train to Nice. We both went in February for carnival so it was a revisit to a town we love instead of visiting a new city (such as Cannes). We spent the last night and last day of our trip in the Nice food market (buying lots of fancy sugars, dried tomatoes and crazy colour mustards), eating mussels and relaxing by the water. Cozy shisha bars on rainy French days.

This trip was the first one all year that truly felt like a relaxing vacation.

Things I liked:

• Beautiful weather, beautiful food, beautiful sights and relaxation

Things to do when I come back:

•  Go to Nimes, Cannes and Port-Cros