Day 21 – Grand St. Bernard, Martigny, Interlaken – our own grand tour

This day was the conclusion of our time in the French Swiss Alps. We had to leave our chalet by 9 am and decided to make the most of the day by visiting all the places we had missed out on so far: The pass at the Grand St. Bernard (with its St. Bernard dogContinueContinue reading “Day 21 – Grand St. Bernard, Martigny, Interlaken – our own grand tour”

Day 16 – Hike #2 and soaking at Lavey-les-Bains

After our first day of hiking, I figured we’d now be ready for another day of exploring the Alps in the traditional “Eva-style” of hiking: spending half the trip going up, up, up and then the second half making our way back down… Turns out, I didn’t check in with our youngest family member, whoContinueContinue reading “Day 16 – Hike #2 and soaking at Lavey-les-Bains”

Day 20 – Lake St Leonard and Barryland

We had a pretty easy day today—no hiking, by design.  Started with a trip to Lake St. Leonard—supposedly Europe’s largest underground lake. Neat atmosphere, but honestly, after Mammoth Cave and Carlsbad Caverns, this was a bit underwhelming. Next we drove to Barryland, which was unique and fascinating. This is the home base of the foundationContinueContinue reading “Day 20 – Lake St Leonard and Barryland”

Day 12 – Goodbyes and Hallo Maus & Elefant!

Today was both sad (leaving the home of our friends) and exciting (starting our trip toward Switzerland). As our rental for the next two weeks, we picked up a solidly German car (Passat) with much needed American conveniences (Automatic & AC) and promptly got stumped by the “Navi” which did not let us plan anyContinueContinue reading “Day 12 – Goodbyes and Hallo Maus & Elefant!”

Day 10 – U6 next stop: Ancient Egypt

Munich may be best known for beer, sausages, and Oktoberfest, but in my book the city scores even higher on the scale of all things visual art.  Five different large museums (three of them called “Pinakothek”) cover art from the Renaissance to today. And then there are the specialty museums that cover other eras andContinueContinue reading “Day 10 – U6 next stop: Ancient Egypt”