July 24, 2012

Lucerne: Blue Balls and Cow Bells

That got your attention, huh.  Well, its not what you think.  (OK, maybe it is but that’s not the point.) 

For the last 20 years, Lucerne has been the home of two music festivals: the Lucerne Festival, which is for classical music and the Blue Balls festival, which is decidedly not, as the name might suggest.  It was mere serendipity that my stay in Lucerne coincided with some of the best groups playing here during Blue Balls and both last night and tonight, I took in several bands playing at the various venues, all strung along the u-shaped waterfront facing Lake Lucerne.  Several of the groups were quite good (if fashion-challenged), most playing a bluesy/folky rock with a little bite and no little swing.  Most were Swiss or German but, interestingly, the lyrics were all in English.  It was funny to hear the bands talk in German between numbers and then sing in English.  I guess it’s a commercial decision that maximizes their commercial appeal.

The concert venues were all surrounded by tents offering a wide array of food choices, from traditional Swiss grilled meats to Tibetan and Mexican food, along with drinks and beer, of course, although Heineken had the sole rights to beer sales at the festival.  Not surprisingly, the festival was crowded with all sorts, from families to boomer-era geezers like me, almost all pretty clean-cut with fewer tattoos and extreme styles than one would see in the U.S., although that is characteristic of the country as a whole.  A couple of not-great Blue Balls shots from my iPhone.

Lucerne and its surrounding region is astonishingly beautiful.  The city has preserved much of its 16^th and 17^th Century architecture.  Many buildings have elaborate paintings filling large portions of their external walls along with hand-carved  hanging signs displaying a sigil or guild of the business or family within.  A covered wooden bridge cut across the small river that separates the more modern downtown and train station area from the old town with its older buildings, shops and a plethora of lakefront hotels, most dating to the early 19^th Century, when Lucerne first became a major tourist destination for Europeans and Brits.

My first night in Lucerne I took in some of the Blue Balls acts and had a pleasant outdoor pizza dinner overlooking the river; eating outside, for a New Yorker, is always a pleasure and the weather was perfect.  Here is a typical lunch plate of cheeses, pickles, salami and ham, salad and the local brew.  Yum.

Lucerne at dusk.  The first is the famous covered wooden bridge crossing the river and the latter two show Mount Pilatus, which looms over the city.

The next day I bought a day trip excursion to Rigi Mountain, one of many day trips available in Lucerne, many involving trips on Lake Lucerne.  A side paddle-wheel boat took a large crowd from the pier just across from the train station (Switzerland is so efficient!) to a small town at the foot of Rigi.  We passed a number of posh small resort towns lining Lake Lucerne, filled with elaborate hotels and large private residences and condos, some small beaches (lidos) and numerous parks, churches and docks.  Scooting off the boat, I made for the train that would take me partway up and sat on the window facing the stunning views of the lake.  The train was the first cogwheel train in Switzerland; today the Alps are filled with them, along with gondolas, cable cars and other conveyances up the mountains.  I got off at the first station, some 1500 vertical feet and two hours below the summit at about 6,000 feet, to get my first taste of hiking in the Alps (although Rigi is small by alpine standards).  The trails were well-marked, even surfaced and lined with many benches, most bearing the names of donors (a la Central Park in New York).  The views were great, of course, and you can see some of them below.  After a hot lunch of goulash, I took a roundabout route around the mountain to get back to my starting off point.  Along the way, the serenity was challenged only by the cacophony of cow bells, the characteristic sound of the Alps.  After alighting the cog wheel train at the bottom, I jumped on the boat ride back to Lucerne.  A perfect introduction to my trip and a welcome change from the clouds (and pain) of Zurich.

July 24-25

Meirengen-Schwartzwaldalp-Grindelwald

These are real places, not tongue-twisters.

Yesterday began with a train ride to Meirengen, the meeting point for the trip.  A small train took me past startingly blue alpine lakes nestled in steep valleys.  Despite the high season, these lakes were serene, undisturbed by big power boats, jet skis and overbuilding.  A refreshing change from how we treat similar lakes in the U.S.

The hiking leaders and group met at the restaurant opposite the train station and we all got acquainted.  The leader (for the first half) and owner of Alpinehikers, Troy Haines, is a friendly, relaxed but experienced and knowledgeable guide who first fell in love with the Alps over 20 years ago.  His colleague, Matt, has spent less time in the Alps but has lead many tours, especially in the Grand Canyon and other Arizona parks for several years.  Both, of course, are impressively fit, calm and easy to chat with.

The group has two couples and two single guys (in addition to myself); all seem bright, friendly and with easy senses of humor.  A good bunch, I think.  We headed off to our first hotel, a very small inn in Schwartzwaldalp, a couple of thousand feet (and a frightening taxi ride) above Meirengen.

Our first night was at the Schwartzwaldalp Inn, a comfy inn surrounded by brooks, trees, mountains and, of course, cows.  Our dinner was delicious with a main course of local turkey, which is unexpected here but was all dark meat and very flavorful.  The next day, clear and warm, took us over a steep climb to First, overlooking the Berner valley and a range of grey peaks covered with snow and glaciers, including the Schreckhorn (really), the Finstaarhorn, the Monch, the Jungfrau and the famous Eiger.  We ate at over 7,000 feet, enjoying the jaw-dropping views and sandwiches accompanied by crisp glacial water.  Through the afternoon, we slowly wended our way down towards Grindelwald, one of the best known hiking centers in Europe.  Arriving at Bort, after 13 miles, we gladly hopped onto a gondola into the center of town and our hotel for the night.  Dinner was unremarkable but we enjoyed an herbal type of schnapps as a digestif, which was kind of like drinking Herbal Essence but actually pretty pleasant.  A sound sleep after our first day, cooled by breezes (no A/C here) and a brief shower.

This area of Switzerland is crisscrossed with hiking and mountain biking trails, gondolas, cog trains and chair lifts, an enormous and very efficient infrastructure allowing great flexibility in designing hiking, skiing or biking trips of every description.  It is worth many return trips.  The Swiss are very active and fit; we saw many young (3-4 year old) kids out walking with their parents, developing life-long habits of exercise and enjoyment of the outdoors.  In the States, we cart kids from car seats to strollers; its no wonder that obesity is such a problem in the U.S.  On the other hand, the Swiss smoke like chimneys.

Tomorrow, we are off to Wengen and then Obersteinbock (which has no internet or, for that matter, hot water) so no posting until at least Saturday, when we arrive at the cliffside town of Murren for a more relaxing couple of days.  Till then, maybe these photos give a slight sense of the majesty of these mountains.

Two of the men in our group are retired, one slightly younger and one slightly younger.  They seem contented with their lives and with not being engaged in more than private pursuits.  As much as I have enjoyed these past months, and those to come, I don't sense that I am ready to give up on a more active work life.  The trick is to find work that I enjoy and can devote my energy to along with more relaxing ways of spending time.  The hiking has been a tonic for me but I also sense that future travels should include exposure to other cultures in a broader way, not merely in their holiday context.  Food for thought as I begin to think about the fall.