Tag: #billsmale

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Torino (Turin)

Torino is known for the rename of a Ford model “Grand Torino” (Clint Eastwood movie as well), but also for the Shroud of Turin. It is a city of big, long buildings laid out in a very orderly fashion according to some grand plan, not like a city built around a medieval castle or town. What it does have is a nice collection of Egyptian artifacts you will see in another phlog and cheap, tasty pizza, at Mister Pizza, 6 Euro or slightly more. The name sounds like a franchise but this is a nice, family run parlor with surprisingly nice/spicy flavors.

I think they are Sicilians, maybe from Trapani
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Rotenboden-Mountain View

Going up to Rotenboden, not the top of the train, was 110 Euro/person. you can go on a more expensive gondola to a glacier for a different view
someone was busy
this glacier will disappear in the near future
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Zermatt-Door to Matterhorn

another day, another town. but this town was on my bucket list

Zermatt is at the foot of the mountain range that includes the Matterhorn. We stayed at the Hotel Bahnhof, right next to the station, and turned out is the hotel many Japanese mountain climbers stayed for decades. A plaque on the outside memorializes their thanks to the hotel’s support and kindness.

You pass through Interlaken to get to both the Eiger and the Matterhorn
A real Swiss Chalet
Obviously an Irishman was buried in the church cemetary
real fresh water
by horse or electric taxi?
the Matterhorn is, of course, the main attraction
a place to life? work?
some old remnants
this old tree might get arrested
a real tourist town with many expensive watch companies displayed
everyone loves chocolate
more than potatoes? how about Rice-a-Roni?
Hotel Bahnhof
you can fake the scene
or see the real thing from your hotel room
old slate roof
run river run
a place to tether your horse
mind the warning signs
covered train rails to get to the viewpoint
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Cable Car to view Eiger

Grendelwald is the tourist town, access point to some Swiss alps, a famous one- Eiger, made famous in the Clint Eastwood movie “Eiger Sanction”, based on a book by Trevanian. Eiger is among mountain climbers’ top challenges. We stayed atop a 25 minute cable car ride at Grendelwald First, a place with spectacular views, something i recommend you experience. The hotel has a few private rooms but is mostly dormitory style with some inconvenient multi story facilities. Bring a big suitcase filled with cash ready to pay Swiss prices. But as a tick on the bucket list it is well worth it even if you just sit and enjoy the views for a few days. these 3 posts are from this area.

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Small Town – St. Gallen, Switzerland

Swiss beer is very nice

St. Gallen is a very beautiful and old town frequented by tourist. We stopped here to visit a friend who was born in this town and is now living here at least temporarily.

In the morning we prep our stomachs with the “included” hotel breakfast and make a sandwich for lunch (budget living)
The main Catholic church in St. Gallen
Very old buildings
small is beautiful
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Konstanz (Germany) – Kreuzlingen (Switzerland)

a foot demonstration
clean and colorful, typical Swiss train

Konstanz, Germany is on a beautiful touristy lake on the border with Switzerland. We found it cheaper to stay across the border 50 meters than to have a hotel near Konstanz station. The Swiss town is Kreuzlingen and as typical with Switzerland everything but the hotel was more expensive than in Germany, double in many instances. We found Konstanz to be a much more beautiful environment as well. A thing to remember is the currency difference. Euros are not used in Switzerland or Liechenstein. They use Swiss Francs. Now the US Dollar, Euro and Swiss Franc are about equal, give or take a few pennies so it’s pretty easy for merchants to accept the neighbor’s currency and make the calculations. Another thing to note is prepaid phone sim cards don’t cross this border without subscribing to some special, and expensive, roaming service. So I just bought a Swiss sim and switched back when back in an EU country. The signal disappears 5 meters from the border. Those phone companies surely are jealous about a few pennies.

ST. Stephan has some old murals. Note that many of the 17th century churches were built on top of or to expand 13th century churches.
german sausages
Munster Unserer Lieben Frau is built on old tunnels designed for pilgrims.