Liechtenstein 5/3-7/3

I checked out from Zürich the next morning, and arrived in Liechtenstein in the early afternoon.  I spent the afternoon wandering around Vaduz, with the first stop being the Rheinpark Stadion Vaduz.  The girl in the reception was really nice, invited me to training on Wednesday, and went the extra mile to make sure that I would be able to pick up an FC Vaduz shirt on Wednesday, with the name and number.  She also took me out into the stadium proper.

The View from my Hotel, (lookng south) you can see Balziers:

The Western Stand of the Rheinpark Stadion:

I then went along the Rhein. There were placards at distances representing the solar system, with the gaps between the placards to scale with the solar System; I got to Jupiter, with Saturn 550+ metres further on when I left the river. I saw the first bridge built over the Rhein in the area. I went to McD’s in Triesen for Lunch, then back to Vaduz where I saw the Parliament Buildings and the Cathedral.

Looking south from the Eastern Bank of the Rhein:

That night I had dinner at the Älplërösti, where I had a bit of a problem with the German menu!

Triesenberg Rathaus: (my hotel was in Triesenberg)

The next day I went into Schaan, wandered around for a bit, and had yummy Weißensandwich bread for lunch. As I was walking around Schaan, a bus drove past, and it was driven by the driver who had dropped me off in the morning, I assume he recognised me, as he gave me a hearty wave. One of the things I love about the country.
A House in Schaan:

I went back to Vaduz, where I looked at model trains for Dad’s birthday (I want to get something like the train that brought me to Liechtenstein). The shop also sold Warhammer, and they had all these old models that haven’t been in production for years, and they also had a ½ price sale, which was so amazing, I settled for 1 blister of an old lot of models. I also went to the Landesmuseum in Vaduz, which was really interesting. It covered the history of Liechtenstein, and the history is tied into that of the Major European powers of the 18^th-20^th centuries more than I realised.

Vaduz Rathaus:

The Main shopping street in Vaduz

Vaduz Cathedral

For dinner that night I had a French “Steak au Poivre”

My Hotel in Triesenberg:

Next morning, I bought the train engine and some rolling stock for Dad, and went to the Post Office to send it, so it would get home not too long after his birthday. Then I had lunch and went to the FC Vaduz training that I was invited to on the first day. After that, I caught the bus to Feldkirch, and took the train to Bregenz; the train was running late, and I just made my connection to , and went from there to München.

 The Centre of Vaduz, as seen from the Lookout near Schloss Vaduz:

The South of Vaduz, as seen from the Lookout near Schloss Vaduz:

The Middle and East of Vaduz, as seen from the Lookout near Schloss Vaduz:

The North of Vaduz, and the Medieval part of Vaduz, as seen from the Lookout near Schloss Vaduz:

Schloss Vaduz:

Vaduz, and Schloss Vaduz, as seen from near the Rheinpark Stadion:

Blog Post, 05/03/2012 – Switzerland

I’ve spent this last week travelling around Switzerland. I arrived in Geneva, then went to Bern via Nyon, then Basel, and I finished off in Zürich. 

Geneva – 27/2/12 to 29/2/12

I left Portchester station at 10:22am Monday 27/02, bound for Geneva; however I had a few stops to make along the way. The first stop I had to make was in London. I alighted at London Waterloo Station; I then caught the Bakerloo line to Oxford Circus, where I switched to the Victoria line, bound for Kings Cross, St Pancras International.  From there I caught the Eurostar to the Gare du Nord in Paris (I wasn’t next to a friendly German this time, just a French girl who slept most of the time), then I had to catch the Green Paris Metro line to the Gare de Lyon. I was planning on getting some traditional French cuisine for dinner while I waited (i.e. McDonalds), as there were stores next to the Gares du Nord and St Lazaire; however there wasn’t one at the Gare de Lyon (boo hiss), so I paid a ridiculous price for a ham and cheese baguette (a pretty rubbish one at that), and a drink.  I then had a 3½ hour train to Geneva station, which wasn’t bad – I even got a free dinner (paid for with my first class ticket); but train food is just like aeroplane food unfortunately – I even had food that was one day from its expiry date.  Needless to say, when I arrived at Geneva station I was a very happy chap. 

Lake Geneva

The hotel I was staying in was situated just outside of the Old Town of Geneva.  I arrived there, checked in and basically went straight to bed.  The next morning I headed into the centre of Geneva, mainly to the Post Office and the Tourism Office.  At the Tourism Office I got a map and guide of the city. There is in Geneva (and Bern, Basel and Zürich) a route through the old town that shows you the best that the town you’re in has to offer.  I followed that route pretty thoroughly and I had a great time doing it.  When I got to the Cathedral St-Pierre, I paid 4 Francs to walk up to the top of the spires.  The view from the top was just amazing.  I was planning on going on a boat tour of Lake Geneva, but it was booked out when I arrived, so I bought a cheaper, more edible way of “remembering” Geneva – that’s right, chocolate.

The view of Geneva from the Tower of the Cathedral

Nyon-Bern – 29/2/12 to 1/3/12

The next day I left Geneva for Bern; however I did have a small detour to make. I stopped off at Nyon, a town on the shores of Lake Geneva, where the HQ of UEFA is located. I left my luggage in a left luggage locker, and had a bit of a wander. When I got to the UEFA HQ, I went in to see if there was a tour of the building available, but alas there was not. On the plus side, they had in the foyer all of the trophies of UEFA competitions, including the Champions League and Euro trophies. I got pictures of all of the trophies and winners’ medallions.

The View of UEFA HQ from the Street: Lake Geneva is behind:

After lunch in Nyon, I caught the next train into Bern. I had to make one changeover, but it went really smoothly.I arrived at the Youth Hostel Bern at around 3:30, and I checked in immediately. I decided that I’d spend the rest of the day relaxing at the hostel.

The Liechtensteiner Fussball Verband (the Liechtenstein FA) Logo:

The Champions League Trophy

The Champions League Winners Medals:

The next day in Bern I went to the Museum to see the Einstein Exhibition, then had a look around the old town and saw the Bear Pits before having lunch. In the afternoon, I went to the Rifle Museum. Off to Basel next - Mum and Dad have friends there and were going to see if they could recommend somewhere for me to stay, or even put me up; but Mum got her geography and dates mixed up, and booked me for Zürich by mistake. Luckily, my hostel was able to get in touch with the Zürich one to change my booking; but by the time we’d sorted all that out, it was too late to make a booking for Basel, so I’ll just head off there and hope I can book when I arrive.

 The Parliament House in Bern

One of the Black Bears of Bern

Basel – 1/3/12 to 3/3/12

The train to Basel was sold out for half of the trip, so I had to sit on the floor by the door – not the best way to travel. When I got there, I went to the desks at the station to see if I could book into one of the two-star hotels, but they were both sold out; but the second one also handled a four-star, so I checked in there instead! 

 The Rhein River:

The next morning I went and wandered around the old town.I went to the Pauluskirche, then to the Marketplatz and from there to the Mittlere Brücke over the Rhein.I crossed to the East Bank and wandered along the Rhein, where I crossed on a little boat ferry. I got off at the Cathederal, and from there I went to St Albans Kirche and the St Alban Gate, and also saw a part of the town walls.I then returned to the hotel.In Basel they speak both Swiss German and French – and in Maccas I heard the manager speaking both German and French in the one sentence!

The Ferry that got me across the Rhein: 

 The View of Bern HBF from my Hotel Room:

Zürich – 3/3/12 to 5/3/12

I left Basel the next morning for Zürich, and arrived to find that the re-booking had been mixed up, and they had expected me the previous night, so I was charged for the night I missed and had to book another night at the end. :-S

I spent the first day in Zürich relaxing, and did my washing.I was unable to get a ticket to Verdi's Othello, which was showing the second nght I was there.

The View of  Zürich from the Universität

 

On the second day I followed the route of the Old Town on the map, with a small diversion up the hill to the University.In the evening I went to see Don Carlo at the Zürich Opera, and had a great time.I was standing in line with a Lithuanian couple – the girl studies in Zürich and the boyfriend in Paris.The opera was great, and then the older couple sitting next to me, who were Friends of the Opera Company, invited me to the backstage shindig, where I met the cast, and got some autographs in my program.

The Beginning of the 2nd Act in Don Carlo 

Blog Post 13/02/2012-17/02/2012: Paris.

I’m posting this a long time after the event.  In fact, I’ve just spent 10 days R&R back home in England, and I’m on my way to a Frencher, more Neutral version of Germany (Switzerland, home of the Cuckoo Clock).

My last post covered the Normandy Beaches.  After Normandy, I went to Paris.  I arrived mid-afternoon on Monday 13/02, so after locating the hostel, and dumping my bags there (Check in was from 16:00), I went to the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.  I went up to the top of both monuments, the views were quite amazing, especially from the Eiffel Tower.  I actually thought the Eiffel Tower itself was somewhat (read: way) overrated, but it was still enjoyable enough. 

The Arc de Triomphe 

 the Eiffel Tower

 The View from the top of the Eiffel tower, I walked all the way to the 2nd level.

I spent the rest of the evening relaxing at the Hostel.

My plan for the next day was to go to the Palace of Versailles and the Forest at Compiègne, where in the Hall of Mirrors in the Former, Bismarck and other German dignitaries declared the German Empire and the Country of Germany into existence, and in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed.  At 11:00hrs on 11/11/1918 in a clearing at the Forest of Compiègne, the German High Command signed the Armistice, ending the Great War of 14-18.

Versailles was amazing, I wandered around the Palace, and I got my photo taken at the spot where in the painting of the Declaration of the German Empire (which is the background of my iPod, iPad, and my Laptop) Bismarck was standing. 

I spent some time wandering around the Garden, but due to the extreme cold, the bulk of the garden was closed, but from what I could see, it looked rather amazing. 

Me at the spot where in the picture, Bismarck is standing (taken at a different angle)

From Versailles, I went to the Gare du Nord, where, while I was waiting for the train to Compiègne, I went to the Tourist Office, to enquire about any Museums at the site.  I found out that the site is a museum, which is closed on Tuesdays (Story of my trip), so I went back to the hostel for an early night.

My final full day in Paris started at the Sacre Coeur, which is a 5min walk from the Hostel.  On the way up, I got accosted by some men to buy an African friendship bracelet, I managed to avoid buying one on the way up.  When I got to the church, there was a busker with a violin, playing a very French sounding piece of Music, that I recognised from the movie Amelie, which is one of my favourites.

Sacre Coeur

On the way back down, one of the men selling these bracelet things, wouldn’t give up, so I relented, thinking that it would cost me a couple of Euros.  (they make it as well).  After he finishes making it, he asks for a “donation”, I get my wallet out to give him €2, he asks for €, saying that the Americans give him €20, I flatly refused to give him any notes, especially as he had more money than I did, however, 2 of his friends walked up, and they surrounded me, and all “persuaded” me to give him at least €10, when no one came to help after I used my loud voice to say “I’m not giving you my money”, I gave up a precious €10, just to escape.  This whole event really pissed me off, and I had a foul mood for quite a while.  My next port of call was the Louvre, after I got in, I decided to go see the Mona Lisa, which, despite people complaining about it being “too small” is the size I have always expected it to be.  I was then going to go see the “Declaration of the German Empire” painting, however, in true trip bastardry, that wing is “closed on Wednesdays”, and considering the whole gallery is closed on Tuesdays, makes me wonder what the French do most of the time.  Surely, if the whole gallery is closed on Tuesdays, then have the whole gallery open the rest of the time?!?!?!? *rant over*

the entirely normal sized Mona Lisa

After the Louvre, I went to Notre Dame, which was not as impressive as I was expecting, rather like the Eiffel Tower.  St Pauls in London is much more impressive than Notre Dame, hey; even the “Notre Dame” in Bayeux is more impressive.  All that being said, it wasn’t that bad, although they charge an arm and a leg to go up the spires, so I declined that.

The final place I went to was the Musée d’Armie in the Invalides the Museum was really interesting, I went to the Tomb of Napoleon, I also had a look at the Exhibits of the 2 great wars, Lousi XIV-Napoleon III, and I finished there by going to a display room with models of different Fortifications and Fortresses in France.  I spent most of the time having a look at the displays, I was rather fatigued by this stage of the trip, and I didn’t really have much energy to read all the displays.  With that done, I returned to the Hostel and packed my bag, as I had booked a ticket on the 10:00am Eurostar.

Napoleon's Tomb.

a Kaiserstandarte from WWI

The trip on the Eurostar back was really good, I was next to a German girl, and we got on like a house on fire, which helped make the trip fly by.

Blog Post 13/02/2012 Carentan, Bayeux, Caen and the Normandy Beaches

Blog Post 13/02/2012 Carentan, Bayeux, Caen and the Normandy Beaches.

As I write this I'm crawling through the French countryside on a train (snowfall has slowed the train right down) headed for my final stop in France for this trip, Paris.
My compartment.


Since my previous post I've been to Carentan, Bayeux, Caen, Ouistreham, and the Normandy beaches, Sword and Omaha. I arrived in Carentan in the evening of Tuesday 07/02, I had 2 nights there before heading off to Bayeux, 1 night in Bayeux, then 3 in Caen.
Bayeux Cathedral.


I spent my day in Carentan having a look around the town (Carentan was an objective of the 101st American Airborne on D-Day), I was planning on going to St-Mére-Église, but I missed the bus, (1pm, and the next one was at 6) (St-Mére-Église was the objective of the 82nd American Airborne on D-Day), so I spent more time looking around Carentan. It's a nice, small town, and it certainly was a nice, if not cold, day looking around.
The town hall in Carentan (and no, I was not drunk when I took this!)


The next morning I caught the train to Bayeux, where I looked around the medieval part of the town, which is really nice, with a big Cathedral as well. I then looked at the Bayeux Tapestry, which is bigger than I was expecting, it also covers more of the story before the battle of Hastings, which I thought was very interesting. After the tapestry I went to the British Cemetery, and had a look at the outside of the Battle of Normandy Museum, which was closed for the winter (just for a change), but had a Sherman,


M10 Tank Destroyer


and a Churchill Crocodile (a Churchill tank with a hull-mounted Flamethrower replacing the hull-mounted BESA machine gun.
Probably my all time favourite tank (the base Churchill, that is)


They were pretty impressive up close and live, I felt like a kid in a candy store. The cemetery was very sombre, it was one of the largest I'd visited up to that point, the only larger ones I can think of are Tyne Cot and Langemark in Ypres, and the American Cemetery in Normandy.
The memorial at the Bayeux war cemetery.


The next day I went on a tour of Omaha Beach. The tour started from Bayeux, just after lunch, went to Pointe-du-Hoc, Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery, and the German Battery at Lounges-sur-Mer, and finished in Bayeux at 6pm.



Point-du-Hoc:
The first stop of the tour was Point-du-Hoc, which was a headland that overlooked both Omaha and Utah beaches, it housed a battery of 6-Inch guns, which had been bombed by the RAF, but the bunkers had been rebuilt, this time with roofs. This meant that it had to be taken, a task given to a company of US Rangers, the only problem was the battery was at the top of a 100-foot cliff.
You read about how difficult it was for the Rangers, but nothing can prepare you for the reality. Those cliffs are high and steep, not to mention windy.


Omaha Beach:
From the Pointe-du-Hoc, we travelled to Omaha Beach proper. When we arrived at the westernmost exit of the beach, the guide explained that the water was higher than on d-day, the difference between the the day I was there and the 6th of June was about 300ft, which when you see the size of the cliffs and the bunkers that remain really show you a) how bloody inaccurate Saving Private Ryan was, and b) how bad it would have been on the day.
German bunker on Omaha


The way the Germans designed the Atlantic Wall was to create lots of cross and Enfilade fire, the best reason was that it made it easier for the bunkers to provide each other with fire support. Saving Private Ryan has people being mown down by machine gun fire while still in their landing craft, the positioning of the machine guns in real life would have made that impossible, the other big thing that SPR got wrong is they had too many casualties, if one believes the movie, then one would have thought that there would have been 60-70% casualties, in reality there was only about 10%
A part of the Beach.


We then went to the American Cemetery at Omaha beach, I had a look at the chapel there, and a few of the graves, I also helped to lower and fold the US Flag. I'm not sure what else to say except it was so large. Oh, yeah, when I was walking along some of the graves, there was a French school group, and some of the girls were being less than respectful, and when one laughed at the top of her voice, I walked over and (in front of their teacher as well), lectured them that "this is the grave where thousands of American troops died to save your country, so why don't you show some bloody respect!?" they at least had the decency to look abashed. (don't worry, the lecture was given more from the anti-French than the pro-US side of me :-P)






From there we visited the village of Port-en-Bessin, which filled the role of Ouistreham in the movie "The Longest Day", (I visit Ouistreham the next day), the reason that it filled the role in the movie, was Ouistreham had been largely destroyed during the battle, and Port-en-Bessin still had a lot of the old style buildings required for the port (as well as space to erect the casino on the waterfront).



The final stop was the intact battery at Lounges-sur-Mer, which like the Pointe-du-Hoc, was a cliff top battery, but this one was further back from the edge of the cliff, and was not entirely completed by the 6th of June, and this caused it to have no real effect on the battle.



That evening I went to Caen. I actually caught the same train as a lovely couple of Americans (mother-daughter) from the tour, so I had a great day all up.

The next day I caught a bus to the real Ouistreham, where I wandered around a bit, saw a museum built in a German blockhouse, from there I walked along Sword Beach to Lion-sur-Mer, a village about 1/3rd along the beach. It was cold and windy, with snow on the beach (and frozen sand) and I had forgotten to put thermal pants on, so my legs felt like blocks of ice for most of the day. I caught a bus back to Caen in the mid afternoon, and spent the rest of the day planning what I was going to do in Caen on Sunday.



A rather rusted M7 "Priest" self propelled artillery


Sword beach


On Sunday, I walked to the Memorial de Caen (mainly because I couldn't find the bus stop, but it was a nice walk),


I spent a few hours walking around the memorial, which I found to be interesting, especially as some of the displays really needed to update their facts (I left a note in the suggestion box saying exactly what needed to be done first).
Hawker Typhoon in the memorial


From there I caught the bus back to Caen, where I wandered around the Castle in the town before making my way back to the hotel to pack for Paris. The castle was where the British assault on Caen started from.


That brings me to today, on a train for Paris. I'll blog about Paris at the end of my time there.


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