The travels of BBQboy

October 12, 2009 – Mt. Pinacle in Quebec’s Eastern Townships

Gee, we figured having Mt. Pinacle all to ourselves on Thanksgiving Monday. We’ve been coming here for years and have rarely seen anyone. So it was a bit of a shock to arrive at the park’s parking lot (Harold F. Baldwin park) and see; 1) two new port-o-potties and 2) a lineup at the portopotties. We hadn’t even started on the trail and there was a crowd!

One thing I’ve noticed this year is that the fall colours are not as vibrant as they usually are. Maybe because of the rainy summer followed by a relatively warm fall followed by a sudden drop off to near zero temps? I don’t know.

One of the things that really pisses me off is the general lack of respect among people. Even in the forest there should be etiquette. Examples: 1) you don’t walk up someone’s ass. I’m walking/talking to my girlfriend, I don’t need you 5 feet behind me coughing your H1N1 or filling my air up with cigarette smoke (another point: you come for a walk in the country, why the heck are you smoking?). Either fall behind a bit or pass and move on, I don’t need the pressure of having you up my ass. People like you are why I like to escape the city. 2) another example of etiquette is that people coming down the slope have priority over people going up. Give them room, the footing going down is more precarious than that going up. That also goes for your snot-nosed kids and your dogs. 3) My biggest peeve: I don’t need to hear about your life when I’m on the mountain trying to breathe some air and relax. Why do people feel like peace and quiet means they can talk even louder that they usually do? We arrived at the summit to this gaggle of middle-aged women, all going quack, quack, quack in loud voices. Please just shut the f___ up.
Anyway, enough of my rant.

So it wasn’t maybe our best excursion to Mt. Pinacle – still a good time though and the views are great. Below is the view of Mt. Pinacle from the little beach across the lake (Lake Lyster).

July 7 – I’m finally getting around to a summary of our May trip to Europe.

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Itinerary

Everyone asks what our favorite places were on this trip and I always have a tough time with that one because it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Lauterbrunnen and the Berner Oberland (in the Swiss Alps) were the geographical highlight, Venice was incredible culturally and architecturally and we really enjoyed the way the Italians love their food and wine (we want to come back to Italy). Bacharach is a fairy tale German town with great white wines, it was almost perfection for us.

I would go back to any of the places above. I would also go back to Regensburg (where I met up with my mom). The biggest itinerary regret that I have is that we didn’t build in a couple of days in the Berchtesgaden / Lake Kognissee area, would have loved to do some hiking there. Also wish we had spent another day in Reutte exploring the castles and hiking.

Biggest disappointments: Lucerne without a doubt. The town of Fussen was nice but the castles in nearby Hohenschwangau were overrated tourist traps.

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General impressions

Lissette (who had never been to Europe prior to this) commented sometime during our travels that “Europeans have a really good quality of life”, refering to the ease of travel (trains were fabulous – more on that later), overall cleanliness and organization, the natural environment, and standards (and even pricing) of food. I’ve been to Europe many times but the last time was almost 20 years ago. I don’t know if North America has slipped or if Europe (Western Europe to be precise) has progressed at a faster rate during that time, but I had the same impression – the overall standard of living in Europe has surpassed North American standards. It just seems richer.

People: Europeans have a reputation as brusque and even unfriendly. We visited 4 countries and while we noticed general differences, we never encountered “unfriendliness”. The Italians are the easiest to like; outgoing and relaxed. I found that initial contact with Germans felt like an awkward first date at times; they don’t always smile initially or make eye contact and they can be a little short. But after the initial contact we found they warmed up and were very friendly and helpful. We got to really like the Germans. I can’t really comment on the Austrians because we didn’t spend much time there (although they go to great lengths to distinguish themselfs as Austrians and not Germans). The Swiss? Hmm… they make great chocolate and must work really hard because Swiss towns/cities die after 6pm…

Below: Public toilets can be found in most places – unlike North American public toilets they’re really clean.

Train travel

In Montreal they’ve been talking about building a train line from downtown to the airport for the last 30 years (it’s 20 km from downtown to the airport). All levels of government point fingers at each other and in the end nothing ever gets done. I’m sure we won’t have any public transport out to the airport even 10 years from now…

In my first posting for this trip I wrote about planning train travel in Europe and the pros and cons of rail passes (I initially had my doubts that they were worth the hassle). My experience is that they are totally worth it; passes do save you money, plus you get to sit in 1st class.

For all that I had heard about train travel in Europe, I was still surprised by how comfortable and hassle free it was. Sitting there, in comfortable seats, watching the world going by was a pleasure in itself. Trains had restaurant carriages, clean toilets (I keep talking about clean toilets but you just don’t get very many clean toilets when traveling). First class seats even had electrical outlets so I could plug in my computer. Trains were on time, tracks were well identified at train stations, help was always there if required. We were just blown away by the ease and comfort of it all. I would never travel Europe by any other means.

Hotels

I researched hotels using a mix of Lonely Planet, Rick Steve’s “Best of europe 2009” Guide, and Tripadvisor.com. I pre-booked all hotels which I believe was the smartest thing to do on the whirlwind kind of trip we had. All the hotels were aesthetically fine, but we were in some cases disappointed with outside noises; the most common problem we encountered was that hotels didn’t have AC (even expensive hotels) – so we’d open the windows wide and would at some point wake up to drunks yelling loudly / dropping beer bottles or cigarette smoke wafting in…We found our hotels in Heidelberg, Munich and Venice particularly loud. Next time I would bring industrial-strength earplugs. Apart from that (oh, and I shouldn’t forget the bitchy Hotel des Alpes in Lucerne) we were pretty happy with the hotels on this trip.

Planning resources

I’ve mentioned Tripadvisor.com for hotels. Lonely Planet is good for logistical information but weak in recommendations (everything is “quaint” or “lovely” or “ideally nestled between majestic peaks” – you can read the whole guide and still not figure out where to go). I never bought a Rick Steve’s guide but gave it a shot and really like the detailed advice. He’s got some really good opinions and recommendations, not just on where to go but restaurants /hotels to stay at for unique experiences. I wish he would tone it down with all the self promotion though, you can’t go anywhere in Europe without seeing Rick Steve guides / videos, or “recommended by Rick Steve’s” posters or seeing the dedication to Rick Steve’s in the museum in Reutte (and is it just me or do you get sick of seeing pictures of him wearing those nerdy polo shirts? and the goofy haircut?). Nevertheless, I think his guides are a very good resource in planning any trip to europe.

Summary

We wouldn’t change much about the trip we had (the weather could have been a bit better in the first 2 weeks though..). The great thing about Europe is the great cultural and geographic diversity within a relatively small region (relatively as compared to North America). We met some nice people, saw beautiful places, and enjoyed lots of great wine and food.

Next: Some hikes in Quebec. Still looking for some recommendations!
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/BBQBOY/hikes-around-montreal-help-needed-please.html

Heidelberg was our last stop on our European trip. It’s a pretty city that actually reminded us of Salzburg – about the same size and population, a large castle with great views overlooking a river spanned by several bridges, lots of pretty churches…it really seemed a bit of a déjà vu (with the exception that buildings in Salzburg were mostly white with black roofs versus the ones in Heidelberg which have reddish roofs – actually everything looks reddish in Heidelberg).

Our highlight was the Philosophenweg (Philosopher’s way), a path on the hills on the northern side of the city. The path is lush with greenery and gardens and has great views over the Old Town and the castle. We walked it on our first day and thought Heidelberg must be a wonderful city to live in.

The next day we walked the old city and visited the castle, finding both pretty. If you sense a bit of disinterest in that description you’re probably right – on closer inspection Heidelberg didn’t enthrall us. Too many tourists and too many tourist shops and tourist restaurants. We found it didn’t have that “Germaness” that attracted us so much to places like Regensburg, Fussen, or Bacharach – it just got lost among the touristyness of it all (I think I just invented a new word there..). But I think my perception is also skewed by the fact that 1) Heidelberg was our last stop (I think our minds were halfway home at that point) and 2) we didn’t sleep well in Heidelberg (more on this further down). So maybe I should be more generous to Heidelberg, it is actually quite a lovely city…

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We stayed at Hotel Hollander Hof while in Heidelberg. Perfectly located, beautiful hotel, amazingly friendly staff. But I’m giving it 2 out of 5. And that is being generous. Why? Again, like in Venice, they didn’t have AC – we had to open the windows to get some air in the room. Our window was 4 floors up over an Irish pub. 2 nights of shouting and laughing and smoke drifting into the room – it totally ruined our stay. For 125 euros a night there is no excuse: if you can’t get sleep (objective #1 for a hotel room) then there is no reason to recommend the hotel.

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The primary reason we finished our trip in Heidelberg was logistics. Lufthansa has a shuttle service (“shuttle” – it was actually a mini van) from the Crown Plaza in Heidelberg directly to Frankfurt airport starting at 5:30 am. It got us to the airport in an hour and a half where we took our Air Canada back home.

* Air Canada is affectionately called Air Confusion. I call it Air Crap. If being: a) useless (and proud to be) and b) bad-tempered were qualities, then Air Canada and its personel would be the #1 in the world. On behalf of all Canadians, I apologize to all foreigners flying AC.

Auf Wiedersehen Europe!

Bacharach is a small town situated on one of the most scenic stretches of the Rhine river. It is about an hour and a half from Frankfurt, or about 15 minutes away from Bingen (the nearest “big” town). This stretch of the Rhine is dotted with castles and small towns that historically made its money from the tolls extracted from vessels passing down the river. The area is also know for its white wines which are harvested from the vineyards that line the hills along the river.

We absolutely loved Bacharach. It is a charming small town with friendly people, historic old buildings, cobblestone streets, and a big old castle with nice views on the river. Eating and drinking here were fantastic and a highlight of our trip. It is also a great base to take a cruise down the Rhine and take in the castles along it’s banks.

Photos from around Bacharach:

Eating and drinking in Bacharach

All the vineyards along the Rhine make Bacharach a great place to do wine tasting. We found 2 places that had wine tasting facilities – Fritz Bastian’s Weingut zum Gruner Baum (next to the Altes Haus), the most popular one, had a wine tasting carousel of 16 different Rieslings for about 10 Euros. The wines were very good. The 2nd option, Weingut Toni Just Hahnehhof, was even better in our opinion. Although you only get 6 wines (for I think 8 Euros) the glasses were bigger and – in our opinion – of better quality. But they are both really worth visiting and since they both serve their own wines, trying both out gives you more variety. We actually liked one of the wines at Toni Just Hahnehhof so much that we bought a bottle (4.50 Euros) to bring back to Montreal.

We usually had lunch at the restaurant of Hotel Burg Stahleck in the shadows of the church. They make great thin-crusted pizza – Alsatian Pizza – with feta cheese. Superb. We would have it with a bottle of one of our favorite wines (above – a 2007 Bacharacher Wolfshohle).

For super we would eat at the Altes Haus (above left), the oldest building in town (1368) and the best restaurant in Bacharach as far as we were concerned. Great food (they have a great vegetarian ravioli), the service is good, great decor, and fantastic wine (another of our favorites- 2007 Riesling-Hochgewachs Halbtrocken).

The Altes Haus holds special memories for us, was just a great place.

Castles along the Rhine:

We didn’t just eat and drink, we also took a cruise down the river (they serve Riesling on board as well) and saw some of the main highlights between Bacharach and St.Goar: Schonburg castle (below, partly red), Pfalz Castle (below – white castle), Gutenfels castle (in background of Pfalz), the Loreley (large cliff overlooking river – not pictured here).

Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar (about 10 km, or 45 min by boat from Bacharach)

German bathroom humour…

She must be worried about getting the Schwein flu – either that or she’s a superhero masquerading as an idiot..

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We stayed at Hotel Am Markt in Bacharach – 65 Euros for a double room, the cheapest on our trip (Great being back in Germany after expensive Switzerland!). We stayed in Room 2 which is the only one with a balcony. Comfortable, clean, no frills but cheap – 4 out of 5 considering everything. And right accross from the Altes Haus!

Bacharach might not have been as WOW as some of the other places on this trip but it ended up as one of our favorite spots (along with Venice and Lauterbrunnen – all for different reasons). I would definately come back.

Next (and final) stop: Heidelberg

Ah, yes, what pretty pictures. But Lucerne was like a vain woman – shallow, boring, self-important, and expensive. And if you look again it’s not really that pretty. It gets worse when the lights go off – because (again to my analogy) nothing happens after dark. Then you realize you’ve spent all this time and money and basically got nothing. You got shafted. That’s how we felt about Lucerne.

Sure, there’s a few nice views of the famous wooden bridge and the lake. There’s mountains in the distance. But after that there’s not much. Buildings and architecture are boring. Churches are boring (we’ve seen some nice churches on this trip – Lucerne’s are plain in comparison). The fort walls are not worth the 15 minute walk because they are also boring. Boring, boring, boring.

But what really angers me about Lucerne is the way they so unashameably rip off the tourist. Again, just like some beat down skank trying to squeeze its last bucks out of your pocket because she knows that her looks are fading and you won’t be back again. The ‘tourist stretch’ is on the lake side next to the chapel bridge – the restaurants there all screw you with their prices. 35 Swiss Francs for a plate of pasta? Come on. The thing is that everything in the old city closes down in the evening, by 8 pm there was nothing open except for those lake side restaurants. Except McDonalds. I havn’t eaten McDonalds in 5 years but we did in Lucerne. Screwed up my stomach and I was stuck on the pottie the next morning squeezing out some golden nuggets – that basically sums up what I thought of Lucerne.

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Then there was our hotel, Hotel des Alpes. Mini bar: 4.20 SF for a small bottle of Sprite, 5.70 SF for a small bottle of Heineken. Everyone knows they’re going to pay more from a hotel mini bar, but 3 times the price? (we went to the market at the train station and picked up a Sprite for 1.30 SF). They have no shame in shafting you. Then, on top of it all, our hotel was the unfriendliest of any hotel on our travels. They wouln’t even look up when we passed reception. A couple of old ladies at reception were so dour and mean-looking I was afraid to walk by without a cross in my hand and garlic around my kneck. Expensive and unfriendly – 2 out of 5.

Lonely Planet recommends Lucerne. Trip Advisor names it one of the 100 Best destinations in the world in 2008. I just don’t get it…

Statue outside the train station – you know what he’s saying right? (“wait, don’t leave without me…”)

Next: Bacharach, Germany

June 1, 2009 – Lauterbrunnen is situated in the Berner Oberland, an area in Central Switzerland containing some of the country’s highest peaks. Lauterbrunnen itself is in a valley full of cascading waterfalls coming down from the surrounding mountains. It is a gorgeous location.

On our first full day we took a hike on Schilthorn side of the valley (Schilthorn is famous for the James Bond movie “On her Majesty’s Secret Service” which was shot here). We didn’t go far up because of iffy weather: cable car from Lauterbrunnen (806 m) to Grutschalp, hike from Grutshalp to Murren (1650 m) and Gimmelwald. It’s a flat walk of 2 hours and is supposed to be really beautiful – but we had a cloudy day and unfortunately didn’t see anything (the down side of being in the mountains).

The next day was beautiful and we went on the other side of the valley, first to Wengen (1350 m – very pretty small town with great views) and then further up (by train) to Kleine Schneidegg (2061 m) which was mostly covered by snow. From Kleine Schneidegg one can take the train further – up to the top of Jungfrau to the highest train station in Europe (3454 m). We didn’t see the need to do that though, first of all it’s really expensive, plus we didn’t really want to see more snow (we see enough in Montreal).

Lauterbrunnen was a great base, a pretty town with easy access to everything. On a cloudy day you can walk the valley floor, passing farms along the way (majority of locals are still farmers) and looking up at the waterfalls (there are 72 in the valley) and the snow covered mountains in the background. Was a really sweet spot.

We passed 2 1/2 days here and we both agree we would be back to this area. The only recommendation is that it’s maybe better to come after mid-June as many of the trails were still snow-bound when we came in late May.

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Hotel Staubbach was great. It’s an old hotel but they do everything right. Free coffee/tea, a large tv room with books/movies/games, cheap wifi. It was home away from home. I know one of the owners is American and you can see the influence – all the little perks that we havn’t seen anywhere else on our trip. Americans are the kings of that kind of stuff. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful. It’s worth paying a little extra for the valley view. We give this hotel 4 1/2 out of 5 which is the best rating I’ve given any hotel on this trip.

So we felt a little sad leaving. Next stop: Lucerne

Geneva is not a tourist town and doesn’t really have to many highlights as such. It is a pleasant city though, situated on Lake Geneva (also called Lac Leman) with the mountains all around. More than that, Geneva is vibrant; lots of different nationalities, a reflection of all the international organizations headquartered here. There’s lots of money – you can smell it- with tons of expensive stores and chic restaurants and bars. But, and I found this suprising, Geneva is a small city. Suprisingly small.

I was here primarily to meet one of our customers. I’m used to visiting places as a tourist – it was actually great to be taken around by locals. And not just locals, but locals with expense accounts. Frankly, Geneva is so darn expensive that we would not have experienced the city the same way. We were taken to an a fashionable restaurant in Carouge (the equivalent to Montreal’s Plateau Mont-Royal district) and were treated to 5 courses of incredible food and wine. The restaurant was packed – even on a Wednesday – and the crowd was a mix of business people (there was a table of Sikhs, and another of muslims close by) and locals on an evening out.

We had a bit of time the next morning and took a walk, seeing the ‘Jet D’eau’ (water jet – I told my Geneva friends that I had seen the “fountain” and they kind of blanched and held their steak knifes a bit tighter) and visiting Cathedral St-Pierre for impressive views of the city. These are the tourist highlights of Geneva. Not really a city that I would recommend for a visit, but I can imagine Geneva as a nice place to live considering its location on the lake and i’s surroundings.

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We stayed at the Hotel Edelweiss Manotel. Fantastic (more that we expected) but pricey. Again, lucky we were on a company expense account. Damn this city is expensive!
The best place we’ve stayed in, but considering the expense I’ll just give it a 4 out of 5..

Next place: Lauterbrunnen and the Berner Oberland.

We stopped in Montreux for a quick stop on our way from Venice to Geneva. Highlight: Chateau de Chillon. We didn’t see it though – all I have are pictures from our hotel room overlooking the lake…

It was one of those days where nothing went right and where several days of poor sleep in Venice caught up with us. We arrived in Montreux in the late afternoon, tired, but honestly also a bit sad leaving the “tropics” of Venice for the rain of Montreux. Finding a store that sold food took an eternity (for the record, there’s one on main street next to train station). I also had to find an internet place for some work related stuff. Again, searched everywhere and got more and more frustrated. I threw one of my shit fits where I turn into the Incredible Hulk.
We eventually ended up drinking beer and having a picnic in the hotel room. Montreux just didn’t rub me the right way.

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We stayed at the Splendid Hotel. The room was very nice (and expensive) – but the place had a weird dead vibe. Staff a bit strange (or maybe just typically Swiss). It was like a zombie hotel, but with a nice view. I’d stay there again but would bring lots of wooden stakes for the zombies. 3 1/2 out of 5.

May 27, 2009 – Every corner of Venice is another painting. Three days we walked the city, usually getting lost. Tons of alleys, little bridges over canals, squares with churches. The detail is everywhere and the beauty of Venice is that it hasn’t changed with time. You have to see the main sites (St. Marks’ Basilica, Piazza St. Mark, Doge’s Palace, Campanile, Rialto bridge) but much of the attraction is to just walk around and explore. The city is deceivingly large – in 3 days I would guess we saw 10% of the city, and that’s not including the other islands like Lido and Murano.

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Venice: (very) brief history and interesting facts;

May 24, 2009 – Berchtesgaden is a small town situated in the Alps about an hour from Salzburg (it’s actually across the border in Germany). It’s a beautiful little village known for the Eagle’s Nest, the summer lodge built for Hitler on top of one of the mountains (in actual fact he spent little time here – Hitler had vertigo and didn’t like heights much). Berchtesgaden is also supposed to have an interesting war museum. We got to see neither of these sites though – the Eagle’s Nest opens in mid May because of snow conditions high up, and we just didn’t have time to see the museum.

Below: Eagle’s Nest with high zoom from lake

We were here to visit Lake Kognissee in the Berchtesgaden National Park. The lake is 8 km long and was carved by glaciers – they advertise it as a German “fjord”, surrounded by mountains and waterfalls.

An hour by train from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden, then a bus from the Bahnhof to Kognisee (5km – not far, but the bus doesn’t come by often so you have to plan it well). It’s a beautiful trip all the way, full of green fields with yellow flowers, streams, and mountains.

Kognisee is a tourist town, a kitshy ensemble of souvenir stores and cafes and bars leading to the dock where there were also a few hotels and guesthouses. At the dock are electric boats used to take tourists down the lake. The town is kitshy, but still cute. And surrounded by beautiful nature.

Below: Town of Kognissee (and stuff for sale)

We took a boat, descended the lake up to St. Bartholema (the main stop on the lake, known for it’s small church). There we had lunch and also had a small walk along the shoreline of the lake. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time – we got back on the boat, circled the end of the lake (more mountains and waterfalls), then came back to Kognisee.

Knowing what I know now, I would have organized a night or two here. There’s plenty of hiking and some interesting sites in nearby Berchtesgaden – good for at least 2 or 3 days. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I would have stayed here and visited Salzburg as a day trip instead of the other way around. Unfortunately our visit was short and we made our way back to Salzburg after spending just an afternoon here. We don’t regret it though, was a fun day in nature.