Clousie

Although I've been home from Switzerland for a week, I'm still going through travel withdrawal. We had a well planned out trip and did as much as possible while still trying to just soak up the culture.

Didn't get up tight about being recognized as an American since that was pretty obvious. However, did try to enjoy and respect the differences, not only between us and the Swiss people, but also those of other travelers we met.

Haven't seen too many posts from our regular posters on Switzerland when I most need to "talk" with you. Hopefully, you're all involved wiht great travels, too.

Really need to start thinking of another trip, but guess I must look forward to another school year to replenish the coffers.

Does anyone else go through travel wihtdrawal when you return home? Probably that's one of the factors that keeps this board so active.

Grasshopper

Cousie, There's a thread for people like us http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34415370

Welcome aboard. In the meantime, a great way for you to relive the experience is to do a detailed trip report. There are lots of us who would love to see it.

swandav2000

Hi Clousie,

I'm popping up for a minute from my little dungeon of summer school teaching to echo Grasshopper's welcome! It lightens my day to share your delight in Switzerland's scenery & culture.

I really hope you follow Grasshopper's suggestion to relive your trip by posting a detailed trip report (with pictures???) -- you will probably enjoy the effort, and I know we will enjoy your descriptions!

Yeh, one of the best ways to "live" temporarily in Europe is to spend time researching and writing responses to questions here -- that's the draw for me, anyway! I also really enjoy planning for my next trip, even if it's months away; I linger over every detail and savor almost every step of my planned day.

Well, welcome to the fans of Switzerland, and I sure hope we get to hear more from you!

Hello GH!!

s

Melnq8

Post a travel report! That way you can re-live your holiday, while sharing your adventures with the rest of us!

I've just finalized our plans for a trip to Switzerland in late November. Yeah, I know, no one goes in November, but that's part of the fun! We'll have the whole place to ourselves....

Clousie

Thanks for the comments and sharing my feelings about Switzerland.

I did post a brief report on our trip under "Comments on Switzerland Trip," and if anyone has any questions or comments I'll be happy to expand on it.

Really did love reading swandav's detailed report of the group trip to Engadine. The comments about the great meals and table settings, as while as the duvats, had me saying,"yes,yes."

I know the thread about the support group for Switzerland has been around for a while, but could someone please fill in some gaps for me? Think Ursala and Chris are Swiss and jmw is from New Orleans (?) but what about everyone else? Swiss, US or other? BTW I'm from New Jersey.

Looking forward to sharing many thoughts on a wonderful country.

Nidwaldner_Chris

Hi Clousie, I thought about you the weekend (I think) you were in Engelberg. The weather turned out okay then. Nope, I'm actually American (raised in MI), I've been living in Stans nearly 4 years. There is a surprising number of UK (my spouse is Brit) and US expats working here at Pilatus (the airplane manufacturer-you may have seen the airstrip). For your next trip to Switzerland I highly recommend you visit the Aletsch glacier area (Bettermeralp) do the hike from Bettmerhorn for the most amazing views of the glacier and the Matterhorn in the distance! Also consider exploring the Swiss National Park in the Engadine, the areas around
Les Diablerets, Gstaad, The Oeschinensee above Kandersteg, and Saas Fee (the Gsponer Höhenweg is a wonderful hike). I've hiked the entire Swiss Alps Pass route and could go on and on. Exploring Switzerland by foot is truly the only way to see the country-you don't see nearly as much by limiting yourself to only the tops of cable car stations. The next big hike I want to do is the Tour de Muverans in the Vaud Alps.

I don't think you made it to the Fürenalp area in Engleberg? The hike to Blackenalp is great. I was there last week and the waterfalls are really gushing with all the glacier melt water. I hiked Pilatus on Sunday and it was sunny and hot.


http://www.aletsch.ch/

Melnq8

Clousie - just read your trip report - sounds like you had a wonderful time. We'll be taking a similar route in November - Engelberg, Zermatt and Grindelwald. We've stayed in Zermatt before, but we're trying out an apartment this time.

We've been to Grindelwald many times, but we've not yet stayed there, so this will be new for us. Normally, we'd stay in Murren or Wengen, but because we're going in the off-off season, we figured it would be a good time to hang out in Grindelwald without the usual tourist crush.

Engelberg will be completely new for us - I've read alot about it on this board, so figured we'd better check it out. Can you recommend any particular restaurants there?

While not a regular contributor to the Switzerland Support Group, I really enjoy reading the thread.

Like Chris N., I'm an American expat, but unfortunately, I don't live in Switzerland. I'm stuck in Kuwait! All the more reason I yearn for those snow covered Alps and rolling green pastures! (not to mention pork and other products verbotten here in Q8)

swandav2000

Hi Clousie (& other new friends here),

Thanks for your kind words about my Engadin report. Yes, after seeing this post here yesterday, I went back and read your comments about your trip. But of course as a greedy and needy fan of Switzerland, I'd like more. More details, more food, more descriptions of sights that floored you or that lifted you, etc. So if you're ever in the mood, I for one would love to hear about as much detail as you'd care to give. But only if you're in the mood!

I'm an American citizen now living in the US, but my dad worked for Aramco and I grew up as an expat in Saudi Arabia (know what you mean, Melnq8!). My first experience in Switzerland came as boarding school in Montreux in 1968, when I was 13. It just stuck. Now the rest of my life kind of centers around my attempts to get back "home."

Ah, me.

s

Melnq8

Swandav -

Small world! We lived in Saudi and worked for Aramco from 1993-1996. I was always envious of the American kids who grew up there, "forced" to go to boarding school in Switzerland!

Clousie

Had to trade in the mountains of Switzerland for the mountains of New England last week so haven't had a chance to answer some of the questions people asked here. Getting above tree liine on Mt Washington did remind me somewhat of the alpine areas of Zermatt, but not the views in the distance.

Sorry one of my posts popped up twice. Didn't seem to go through the first time and now there're two.

Melnq8: I'm interested in hearing where you'll be staying during your November trip. We loved the Hotel Catherin in Engelberg and Welschen Hotel in Zermatt. Both were in quieter areas of town, but perhaps in November, that won't be a faction. Please let us know how you like it at that time of year.

Didn't really come across any great restaurants in Engelberg. Our friends liked the Engel Restaurant so we ate there twice, but I really wouldn't reccomend it. Our best meal--a delicate cream of vegetable soup, puff pastry shells with tiny veal dumplings in sauce, pork fillet with madeira reduction, spatzle, cauliflower polanaise and creamy coffee ice cream--was available for half board at the Catherin.

In Grindelwald, we also did mostly the half board meals, but thought the C&M (Cafe and Mehr) had rather good selections, not to mention a great view from their new deck.

Chris: I'll copy your reccomendations for areas to hike. I really do like to find other trails away from the crowds, but even the ones we did were certainly better than battling the hoards in the towns. Bachalpsee really was quite inundated though. Last time we were there, I remember eating lunch with the cows and only running into another person, who happened to also be from NJ. This time it was almost hard to find a place to sit. I wouldn't doubt that it was later in the day this time.

bob_brown

I have gone through that withdrawal 4 times and I know what you mean.
Start planning the next one. That is my therapy.
I have a little over a month before I get there again, and I am getting restless for the tine to pass.

jmw

Clousie, try cooking some of the recipes you associate with your trip. That always gives me a couple of hours of 'almost being there'. And needless to say, visits to empathetic threads like the Engadin ones and the SGFTWLS help remarkably. J.

Melnq8

Clousie -

We looked into staying at the Hotel Catherin but it's closed in November.

We ran into a lot of closures,(no big surprise there) but finally found a few options - we'll be staying at Hotel Sonnwendhof in Engelberg, Casa Vanessa in Zermatt (apartment) and an apartment at the Hotel Eiger in Grindelwald.

We usually stay at the Hotel Biner in Zermatt, which is open year-round, but decided to try out an apartment this time. We found that in the off season, apartments can be rented for just a few days instead of the usual week.

We were in Zermatt and Murren last year in very early December. We did some winter hiking and sledding. Only one hotel and two restaurants were open in Murren at the time of our visit. We had a great time and felt like we had the whole village to ourselves.