Sep 302019
 


Another warm week of work, but fortunately not as bad as the previous couple and it stayed at 25 or barely above most of the time. Good thing no excuse is needed to run down to the Aare River, take off your shoes, and dangle your toes in the cool water.

It’s also a good thing no excuse is needed for ice cream!

One particularly beautiful evening went for my usual run, but paused at the top of the super long climb at the end to take in the view from the Bundeshaus. Bern is seriously ridiculously picturesque!

One final day off before heading home (three days out of 22, I’ll take it!) and it was forecast to be absolutely gorgeous and cloud free down south so I decided to risk it and go see the Matterhorn!

Took two trains to get to the streets of Zermatt, but once there I was amazed I’d heard relatively little about this charming little car-free town. Yes, it was a little on the touristy side (and I’m told it’s even more so in the winter when the skiers come to town) but it was still super charming!

Plus, from the streets of Zermatt on a clear day you can very easily pick out the Matterhorn!

It was about a 15-20 minute walk from train station to the cable car station where you can start heading up to the Klein Matterhorn Paradise (Little Matterhorn Paradise) which is where you get a view of the real Matterhorn. Only way up the Matterhorn itself is mountaineering!

In the SBB railways app it looked like a series of four cable cars to get there, but not really – it was one cable car with three stops (total of nearly 30 minutes!) and then one final panoramic cable car to the top.

The line for cable car tickets was longer than I expected and took nearly 30 minutes at 11am, and I was amazed for over $100 how many people wanted to go up. I know lots were buying tickets to get off at intermediate stops, but still! Quite a pricey day.

The ride to the first transit point was pretty long, but how can you complain when you’re treated to views like this the entire time!

Finally arrived at the transit point for the final cable car to the top. At 9,642 feet above sea level the Trockener Steg station is about the same elevation as the Diavolezza mountain where I had lunch nearly two weeks prior. Only one more cable car and 3,000 feet of climbing to go!

Incredible view from the cable car of the Matterhorn when getting close to the top of ride!

Glacier nearing the top of Klein Matterhorn:

Finally – the summit! What struck me was that this stop was about 3,000 feet higher than Diavolezza, but it was noticeably thinner air…slightly dizzy and harder to breathe…I could definitely feel the altitude!

I felt like sitting down and relaxing a bit would be just the thing to adjust to altitude…but I’m not sure having a rösti covered in cheese, bacon, egg, and washed down with a beer was exactly the smartest idea!

After eating, I went for a trek through the glacier caves. Carved into the Klein Matterhorn there were all sorts of tunnels and ice carving…but even a bit of walking in here was pretty challenging and made me a bit dizzy!

Finally, I felt like I’d adjusted just enough to head to the lookout point. Heeeey Matterhorn!

At 26F it was quite a bit chillier up here!

But despite being in shorts once again (did you expect anything else from me) I didn’t notice the chill at all, because the views were absolutely breathtaking!

Panoramic view from the lookout…Matterhorn and all.

Starting to get a bit chilly, and feeling the thin air, I decided heading back towards sea level would be a good idea after nearly three hours at altitude. Back in the cable cars for the hour or so long trek back down to Zermatt.

Amazing glacier view on the way down.

The cable cars just keep going and going….it was an amazingly scenic ride. Not great as someone who doesn’t like heights, but…

roaring river Matter Vispa

lots of tacky souvenir shops

stopped for a snack

After ice cream it was time to begin the trek from Zermatt back to Bern. First Zermatt to Visp on the meter gauge railway and then from Visp to Bern via one of the longest railway tunnels in the world. It really was a slick trick, and very convenient!

I may have to come to Zermatt again, for two other “famous” railway trips. One is the Gornergrattbahn Railway which rises almost 5,000 feet in 6 miles from Zermatt to the top of the Gornergrat at 10,300 feet!

Next is the Glacier Express which goes from Zermatt to St. Moritz and is supposed to be the most scenic railway in Switzerland. Unfortunately, you pay through the teeth for the privelege, and from what I understand it’s full of tour groups….so maybe that will wait.

I’m back in Switzerland in a few weeks, however, and maybe the Goernergrat will happen….

The day was also Swiss National Day, and I got back to Bern just in time to see the fireworks from the University of Bern right atop the railway station:

The last few days in Bern were quite a bit cooler with temperatures only about 25C – it figures it always seems to happen like that where the nice weather arrives just as you’re getting ready to leave!

One last run along the gorgeous blue Aare River…

…then it was off to Zurich for the night before flying home…for just under four days before heading off to South Africa for work. Coming up next!

Sep 282019
 


I admit going into this trip I was a bit nervous about 23 days in one place. It would be very busy with work, but I should have my weekends free. Question was if they would be interesting or if I would be sick of it and just want to get home. I went into it determined to make the most of it, and hoped that time would fly by!

You know it’s a good sign when you get to your hotel, and the sign in the elevator knows you’re coming:

The nice thing about the middle of summer in Switzerland is that the sun sets quite late, so even though I didn’t leave work until a bit after seven most evenings it was still plenty light to walk around.

One of Bern’s nicknames is the “City of Fountains” due to the more than 100 fountains around the city. An even more interesting fact: the water that comes from them is very pure and drinkable. Definitely nice to have when it was over 30C and hot most of the time I was there. Just three of the many fountains:

The Zytglogge – a famous clock in the center of Bern. It was funny watching the tour busses drop people off, they stay 10 minutes waiting for the clock to strike the hour, everyone takes pictures…and they all pile out again.

Bright blue skies even in the evening – and I love the way many of the streets in Bern were lined with flags not just of Switzerland, but also of the Canton of Berne.

Over the week I came up with a running loop that was about 6km – perfect for a little late evening exercise after work and a great way to enjoy a really scenic city…as long as you don’t mind dodging tourists!

The Aare River and the old buildings really made it feel like wandering in a storybook fairy tale:

Many evenings people would set up tight ropes across the river. As some one majorly uncoordinated I was super impressed with the balance these guys and gals had!

The sun set pretty late in Bern, but when it did, we were treated to some gorgeous sunsets. Usually when you’re below mountains sunsets are less stellar, but there were definitely a few really nice ones!

Ended up with one day complete free on the first weekend, and I’d spent all week researching places I might go that might not be TOO touristy, so I bought a full day train pass figuring I could decide then at the last minute where I would go.

I was glad I had, because I found a mountain I had never heard of before – Diavolezza – in the far southeast of the country. It would take over four hours each way by train, but since I do love a good train ride it sounded like a great day trip…even if I would have to get up at 6am to get a start on the day!

After changing trains three times, I was finally in Landquart ready to catch the Bernina Diavolezza Express train for the short ride to the base of the Diavolezza. This was a panoramic train that goes into Italy, but I would only be riding it for a short distance, which had a supplement of like 10 francs for the panoramic car. Well worth it!

The cable cars to the top of Diavolezza only left every 30 minutes, and I had just missed one, so I had a chance to relax and wait. Return tickets for the cable car were 36 francs and were not included with the railways daypass, but it seemed a reasonable price to get up to 9,770 feet above sea level!

Once to the top there was an outdoor viewing deck, with absolutely spectacular glacier views:

Lunch with a view on the observation deck. Some delicious rösti and a Bernina Beer while enjoying. I had worn shorts and a hoodie since it was 33C in Bern, but up here on the Diavolezza it was only 5C….but given the strong sun I was perfectly warm while eating despite being in shorts.

After spending about 90 minutes on the top, it was time to ride the cable car back down and catch the train. Glacier lake on the way down:

Catching the train back to Landquart:

The views from the train were absolutely spectacular:

Decided since I had the daypass I would stop off in Zurich since it was more or less on the way, and have some drinks before heading back to Bern. But first, while changing trains, I had to get some Mövenpick ice cream!

Then one more train before the train to Zurich. Not too uncomfortable inside:

After drinks in Zurich it was back to Bern – another week of work awaited, and hopefully also another weekend adventure!

Jul 222016
 

After getting to bed around 1am it was nice to be able to sleep in a bit. We didn’t have a ton on the agenda for today since it was mainly just a bit of final sightseeing around Ashgabat before a late afternoon flight to Mary. First stop was the Tolkucha Bazaar, otherwise known as the Altyn Asyr Bazaar. It was opened in 2011 to replace the old bazaar, and like so many of the new buildings in Ashgabat it was built to resemble something. The most famous product for sale are the red Turkmen rugs, so the buildings of the bazaar were of course built in the shape of a common patter on these rugs.

Unfortunately, photos are not allowed in the bazaar, and frankly I thought the whole place was a huge letdown. Nothing terribly interesting for sale – lots of computer gear and such, a small area selling fruits/vegetables, and tons and tons of clothing. Nothing interesting, however…I was hoping maybe for a fun Turkmenistan t-shirt or something, but nothing at all. Looked to be mostly surplus clothing from the US/Europe. I did manage to get one shot of the area between some of the buildings, mainly to prove there were at least some people walking around:

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Perhaps the most interesting part of the bazaar was trying to park, because there were hundreds and hundreds of cars dropping people off and picking them up. There were certainly lots of people walking around, and maybe our guide failed to show us the most interesting part of the bazaar, but I failed to see the attraction to local citizens as there wasn’t even a lively place for common products that we could see.

Our guide was seeming a bit puzzled by what more he could show us for the rest of the day, so I asked if we could go take pictures of the “World’s Largest Indoor Ferris Wheel” that we had driven by the previous day. He agreed that would be a good idea, so off we went. View of the ferris wheel from the car park:

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A little perspective on how big the thing is…nearly 300 feet high:

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There were maybe 10 other people there – I can’t imagine this thing makes any money. Waiting in line to ride…total cost was maybe $3 or so for a 10 minute or so ride:

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View from about halfway up:

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Inside mechanics:

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What we didn’t know, is the ferris wheel is part of the “Alem Cultural and Entertainment Complex.” This meant there was a giant arcade and video games. Ian couldn’t resist one of the driving games…I’ll let him comment on just how awesome he did…

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I mean seriously, how can you resist a shooting game called “The Hillbilly’s” [sic] in the middle of Turkmenistan?

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There was also some terrorist/hostage game, which Ian had to take a crack out. Only a few innocent hostages perished:

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After spending an hour there, our guide suggested we go to the Ashgabat Cable Car. It’s an approximately 4km long ride from the city of Ashgabat up into the Kopetdag Mountains which form the border with Iran. Waiting to board:

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View on the way up:

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Once we got to the top, the view of the mountains was great:

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We had lunch at the top, and sat enjoying the outdoors for around an hour before taking the ride down. A short way into the ride down we crossed this strip of land. This was the “first line” defence zone between the old Soviet Union and Iran. It’s still barbed wire on both sides of the strip, and there are guard towers and motion sensors. Since so much of the border is mountainous and difficult to patrol this is meant to be a buffer zone for anyone who made it this far over the border:

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By the time we got back it was time to head straight to the airport for our domestic flight to Mary. We were hoping for a bit of drama that might mean one of their few flightworthy old Soviet planes would be pressed into service, but it was not to be. Check-in was very easy, as was security. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before it was time to board.

Turkmenistan Airlines flight 131
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (ASB) to Mary, Turkmenistan (MYP)
Depart 17:20, Arrive 18:00, Flight Time: 0:40
Boeing 737-700, Registration EZ-A008, Manufactured 2009, Seat 20D
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 115,112
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,305,249

The plane was hot. Very hot. It was nearly 110F outside, and the ground air conditioning unit wasn’t working despite this being a relatively new 737. We finally found out where all the people are in Turkmenistan…apparently on board our completely full plane:

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Mini bottles of water and candies were passed out, and there’s not much else to say about the quick 40 minute flight. It was super bumpy due to the warm outside temps but nothing too bad. Maybe it just seemed bad because we were so far back, and I can’t remember the last time I sat behind the wings! Both coach and business class had pictures of the President to watch over them. Supposedly it’s rare to see the 737 on this route, and they normally run economy-only 717s on the route. Had I had the option, I would definitely have paid the extra for business class since the one way economy ticket was under $40!

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Welcome to Mary Airport…picture of the President greeting you on the rather long walk (maybe 200m or so) into the terminal building:

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Mary Airport from the car park.

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Now it was off to the hotel to enjoy two nights in Mary!