Bellinzona, June 16

Left Davos on time, headed for Filster, then towards Chur on the train, getting off at Thusis to catch the Post Bus towards Bellinzona- arrived right on time, and the hotel was actually right at the train station, so I dropped the bags off, and headed out to see the castles!

The first one is Castlegrande- right in the old downtown. A steep walk up through very narrow street - definitely pedestrian only. You can climb to the top of the tower, with access to it and the high wall from the first tower. In the last remaining building in the inner bailey, there is a museum on the historic aspects of the castle and the area. It also contains a resturant and a terrace, where I stopped for a drink. It was starting to get warm! I then headed out on the section of the "murano" - the remains of the castle wall - as it headed toward the river, and returned using the inner section of the wall, underground. After, I headed down to the town then started up to the second castle.

These castles were initially built and fortified by the Dukes of Milan - understandable as this is the area where the routes to and through the alps all converge.

 

 

 

 

The view down to Castlegrande from Montebello

Again, a narrow, steep walkway. However, this one then ends up running along the wall, and you come into the inner bailey of the castle, crossing the rail lines without even realizing it.

The museum in the inner castle here consists of archaeological finds from the region - quartz and stone flints, copper metalwork of all sorts such as pins, belt buckles, and decorations, along with pottery.

 

 

 

Montebello from above

The next castle up is the the highest of the lot, the last one built, and the fastest built - it only took about 6 months to construct. The castle bailey here contained a little restaurant, and the museum was one of a modern sort- it contained a pictorial story of a guy's 9-month hike along the "Amber Road" running from Austria to St. Petersburg. The photos were interesting, though the explanation of what the amber road was/the historic part of the route was definitely lacking.

 

 

 

Of course, by this time, I'm hot and sweaty as i've climbed to the top castle - but looking out, there are houses still far further up the hill - amazingly high up.

Then the walk down the hill, back to the hotel for a shower, clean up and went to the resturant for a drink. Figured out my timing for the trip to Zermatt, and went to sleep!

 

Davos, June 13

Today started with a repeat of yesterday's breakfast - including another kiwi. We had a set of two rounds of talks, then broke for a sack lunch and a free afternoon. I choose to do the "medium" hike - the 10 K, up and down, but mainly down. It was a railway to the top of the hill, at a pretty extreme grade.

The trails are extreemely well marked, and need to be because of the number that wander in and out all along the route. Our route was S. to Frauenkirch. Most of the hills are ski hills in the winter time - and in fact at one or two places the remains of last winter's snow was clinging to the ground. The view of the valley is quite spectacular, and there was still a lot of snow melt running down the hill.

About halfway along the route, there is a great view down into the valley so you can see back towards the north-east and see the town of Davos, and the lake at the far east end of the valley. According to the topographical map, this is at about 2000 m in elevation.

 

Our goal - the Frauenkirch. This is actually from below, as the trail dosen't take you directly to it. The main goal was the bus stop across the street which allowed return to the town without having to walk! Made the round trip easier, as I took it all the way back to the road where the hotel is located.

just before this, there was a farm where the cows were out grazing, wearing those bells! You could hear them well before you could see them, but unfortunately no photo due to lack of a good shot.

As mentioned previously, I pass a farm heading to the hotel, and so can at least show the Swiss cow, even though these ones aren't wearing the bells. After a rest in the room, headed back for the evening session, the Keynote speaker being Tom Cech. Off to sleep now, as there's another whole round tomorrow.

 

Davos, June 12

First full day of the conference, and first breakfast at the hotel- had a bag delivered to the door this morning promptly at 7:30' with 1/2 L milk, a bag of ground coffe and one filter, a little bag filled with 3 fresh rolls, all different from one another, 2 little jam jars and butter pats, and a kiwi. The coffe was great - with the coffee maker I actually had enough to have a cup, then fill my tumbler - more than I can say I've gotten anywhere else. The kiwi was also the only fruit I saw all day. However, we did see some greens at dinner since they had lettuce, a carrot slaw and another slaw that I think was like a turnip, but am not sure - I have to ask HJ tomorrow if he can tell me.

Most of the day was filled with talks, and my poster was this evening - ended up chatting with about 5 people, but spent 2 hrs doing so. In fact, Lora Leigh, I even had Marit Nielsen-Hamilton stop by for a chat! As well though, think a good connection was made with a post-doc from Seattle who I will hopefully be hearing from after the meeting. Headed back to the hotel at 10:15, and note as I'm writing this that I'm down to 4% battery so think I'll go plug in. Tomorrow afternoon is a planned hike, so hopefully I'll have some good pictures to show.

Davos, June 11

Started this morning checking out of the hotel and heading over to the hauptbahnhoff (train station) where I dropped my bags into a locker. I then went to the Landsmuseum across the street - this is a Swiss National museum that covers the history of Switzerland. There was a really cool tin sioldier set up, she's cribbing a key siege of a town with over 40000 soldiers, a series on the changin 'living room' ; some from medieval times to ones representing the decades since the turn of the 1900's.

After, I headed over to the train to catch the IC towards Chur. It was easy to tell the numbers headed to the conference, as first they were the ones carrying the poster tubes, then we were the ones all headed 'en masse' from the train in Landauart to the. Connecting train to Kosters, then to the bus to Davos (since the train tracks under construction). They seemed to be ready nor the numbers as there were three busses waiting. No problems checking in, though rain came down all afternoon.

Checked in to the conference, and headed to the first session with no time to spare. Posted my poster at the coffee session, so am set to go for tomorrow afternoon. Dinner was in a beer garden, where we were greeted with the Swiss horns playing as we headed into the tent. Bratwurst, cheese and meat for sinner - little fruit or vegetable in sight - in fact one guy said he grabbed the garnish just so he could have some greens...

20 min walk back to the hotel, then recharge for tomorrow!

 

Zurich, June 10

Started this morning heading out to Rhinefalls,since it was raining figured might as well see something that might get me wet. It was about 1:15 to the train station in Neuhaus am Rhinefalls, which is on the north side of the Rhine. About a 1.5 km walk right next to the Rhine takes you down to the falls - and with any large falls you hear it well before you see it. The area is in the midst of a very wet spring (see flooding news in Germany), so the falls have twice as much water as they normally do heading over it. Thanks to Heather from Arizona, I am actually in this photo!

After the little boat trip by the foot of the falls, walked back up to the top, crossed the rail bridge to the south side and Schloss Laufen. A little museum about the history of the castle, a bit jumbled as it went by impressions and views from diaries, so there was no linearity to it. However, each chair was representative of an era, and had information as to who would have used that chair type, which I found more interesting. Walked down the point for the view from the south side - a much closer viewpoint! The noise and volume of water is huge. An elevator ride back up to the castle (included in ticket!) and I walked along the south side of the river back to the bridge at the rail station. This side is more of a hiking/mountain biking trail, and due to the way the river curves is a 2 km trek back.

Headed back to Zurich with the intent of seeing the Swiss National Museum, but since it's actually closed on Mondays, have put that off to do tomorrow morning before getting on the train to go to Davos - good thing it's tight next to the train station. So, instead I stopped at the Coop grocery and got sunscreen and a yogurt - took the tram back down to the lake, had a snack,at the lakeshore. Since I don't think you should eat two day old bread in Europe, I fed the remainder of the rolls to the swans- they were pretty aggressive when feeding, but also were intelligent enough they knew when I had no more!

After, took the tram #6 from one end to the other - Bahnhof Enge to the Zoo. Went from the edge of the lake to the top of the opposite hill by the University and Hospital complex. Actually a really good way to see a bunch of different neighborhoods. Did not go to the zoo itself (cost and it was closing within an hour), but it turns out the FIFA world headquarters are right there- soi walked down to the gates, looked at the fields and headed back, to reverse the journey.

 

Zurich June 9, 2013

Started off with a really nice breakfast - fresh bread, meats, cheeses, yogurt, muslei, coffee - and only noted on the way out I could have made myself a boiled egg! Something to look forward to tomorrow. Rained heavily overnight, today looked like more rain in the forecast - luckily, only had one short sprinkle- I guess just having the rain coat pulled out and put on was enough to prevent the full on shower.

Went down to Rapperswill-Jona, about 35 minutes by train, south of Zurich to see an old schloss (castle), which I saw from the plane window as we were arriving. The castle has been occupied as a Polish museum of one form or another for about 100 years. Surrounded on 3 sides by the lake, perched on a hill, with 2 churches right next to it. as well, there is a wooden walking bridge which crosses the lake here - been a crossing on the lake here since the 1500's by my reading. You can tell it was a toll bridge by the toll booth perched about 50 yards in from the west side. The walk to Hurden takes about 30 minutes, you see a lot of water fowl.

To head back, I took the ferry - a 2 hr trip along the lake, which stops at most of the towns along the lake shore. A lovely different view of the towns. Once back, headed for the Fraumeister, the church I couldn't go in yesterday as there was a wedding. This church has 5 windows designed by Marc Chagal - they are very lovely. As I just had a yogurt for lunch, I picked up bread and cheese and salami and am sitting in the courtyard in front of the Grossmunster, someplace around here ( I can't tell exactly where), has a violin playing.

With rain predicted, I neglected sunscreen. Mistake as I now have a sunburn after the last two days!

 

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Zurich June 7, 2013

Swiss bells at airport

 

Started the trip at 4:45 am Friday with a cab ride to the airport, landed in Zurich at 7:45 am (all times local!) after getting a good view of the alps. After grabbing bag, headed over to the main terminal, got my sim card from Swisscom, popped it in and got connected. Then, downstairs to grab the SwissPass and off I went - headed to the hotel to drop the bulk of the bags, and was in the main core by 11. Spent the next hours walking the central core, and people watching.

View from the church spire

Did climb the Grossmunster Church spire for a view - and by the time I headed back down the steps, there was a choir practice that had started, so sat and listened for a while. Violins and voices in an acousticly great space. Lots of people out for their Saturday afternoon shop/stroll. Weather was blue sky and warm - and having left rain, was well appreciated. Headed back to the hotel and officially checked in at about 4. Ended up trying out the bend with an impromptu nap. Had picked up salami, cheese and roll at grocery for lunch, so finished that off as dinner.

 

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