Here starts a series from our recent three week long Switzerland adventure. A trip of a lifetime… One that has been near the top of my bucket list my entire life! Actually, we also ventured into part of Germany and France as well. For the most part, we traveled by train using the Swiss Travel Pass which gave us access to board almost all trains and buses. We elected to each carry an Osprey Porter 46 liter travel backpack (which was within airline carry on specs) and a daypack (under seat compliant and for daily exploration), therefore avoiding to have to check baggage. The daypack is designed that it can attach to the travel pack when we wanted to have hands free walking through airports, train stations, to/from hotels. We were probably carrying about 35 pounds of stuff each. Kind of like backpacking without the camping.
Preflight
We left Reno on May 31st and drove 5 hours to San Fransisco to reduce travel hours the following day.
We were up at 6:45 am at our hotel alongside the bay in San Francisco. It is 3:45 pm in Zurich… Going to take some big readjustment to the internal clock!
We have all morning for whatever before heading to the airport for the 4:25 pm flight to Copenhagen (12 hrs.). Then a 3 hour layover before the flight into Zurich. The hotel room coffee is just meh, so we will get cleaned up and take a walk along the bay to a nearby coffee shop. Breakfast at Gigis Cafe. About a 3/4 mi. walk.
2:19 pm finally through airport security and waiting at the gate. 2 hours till take off…
Copenhagen to Zurich
After a slight departure delay from San Francisco and 9+ hours of flying, we have made it to Copenhagen for the layover. The flight to Zurich has been delayed 40 minutes… Not too bad but ugh! I hate airline travel! With any luck we will finally be in Zurich somewhere around 5 pm. Then we will pick up our rental car and head for the hotel for some much needed rest.
Zurich to Schwangau
We were up at 5 am for a quick hotel buffet breakfast. Then off for the 3 1/2 hour drive to the Bavarian region in Germany to tour two 19th-century fairy tale castles. Neushcwanstein (more info) and Hohenschwangau (more info).
It was a very warm and humid day. And we struggled hiking the steep mountain, while sweating profusely, up to the Neuschwanstein castle. It was in a truly amazing location and straight out of a fairy tale. The tour was short but sweet and I of course got reprimanded for taking a phone photo, inside the castle, which is strictly prohibited!
Then we hiked back down the mountain and up another to tour the Hohenschwangau castle which had beautiful terraced gardens with fountains. Just as we left Hohenschwangau, the skies opened up and a torrential rain started. We huddled under an awning of one of the local shops with other tourists and Harmony helped the shopkeeper bring in her goods that were getting soaked in the driving rain.
After checking in at our nearby hotel, we crashed in bed for some much needed rest. When we woke, we drove to a nearby Hofbrau and were lucky enough to catch a show of local Bavarian folk dancers complete with Oompah band accompaniment! Doesn’t get any more real than that!
Back to the hotel to rest up for the following day where we would drive back to Zurich, drop off the car and hop a train to Lucerne…
