Howdy
Well, this weekend was supposed to be a roadtrip with one of the girls, Dawn, from the Chicago office to Switzerland by hiring a car and seeing the sights as we drive around. Well, Dawn arrived, the car hire was fine, we whacked in Zurich as our first destination into the Sat Nav and set off. Problem: It was snowing like a champion outside which made visibility poor and pretty much rendered any sight seeing as we headed south out of Stuttgart useless.
However, the drive was not without its charms. I will state loudly and clearly right now, that German Autobahns are the best roads ever. My car, a diesel, yes, diesel E90 BMW 330d was awesome. Came with heated leather seats, sat nav (in english!!), panaromic sunroof and I got the wagon so loads of space. Let me tell you, that car, cruises nicely at 140km/h, brilliantly at 160km/h, rock solid at 180km/h and is a blast at 200km/h. Weather conditions, traffic and the desire to live stopped me from going any faster...this time. The trip back, from the border of Germany to Stuttgart, I would slow to 140 and cruise between 160-180km/h for over 200km's. Awesome. Did I use a lot of fuel at that speed? Nope, averaged 7.5L/100km. Love it.
In case I didn't tell you, i love the autobahns. The fact we don't have any in australia is a joke. Anyway, yeah, it snowed almost the entire drive down to our first stop, Zurich. We went out and had dinner, few drinks at a few pubs then called it a night friday. Saturday we got up to, you guessed it, snow. Not letting that bother us, we set out to explore Zurich, umbrella's getting used the whole day. Still ended up soaked and cold. Zurich has some great shopping from what i could see, few historic churches/art galleries, Lake Zurich is nice and that's about it.
Next stop for saturday night - Interlaken, a little ski resort nestled on the edge of the alps, between two lakes. Drive there was horrendous. Snow everywhere, roads were slippery and snow again reduced visability of taking in the scenery. Averaged probably 30km/h for a very long time. Trip that should have taken say 2 hours, took 4. Got there and found a nice little hotel after visiting a couple that were way too expensive then went had dinner, few more drinks in a few more bars, then again turned in. It actually stopped snowing by dinner but was at it again by the time we walked back to the hotel.
Sunday I got up and headed for the Jungfrau railway (bahnen). After, get this, 2.5 hours and three trains, I arrived at the stop of the highest railway station in Europe, Jungfraujoch, at 3454m above sea level. Of course, it was snowing again all day and i got up there only to find my views were limited to about 3 feet and everything in my camera lens was white. Result, i have maybe two photos that will be crap, but another experience. I guess I'll just have to go back in the summer when it's a clear day. Another 2.5hrs down the mountain and it was time to head home to Stuttgart.
We dropped quickly via Bern on the way home and drove around for about 30mins but conscious of time, pressed on. I let Dawn drive to the border (where our passports weren't even checked) before I took over for the german autobahn leg :D --> she wasn't nominated as a driver so she really shouldn't have driven for all those reading this thinking that was incredibly chauvinistic on my behalf. I'm sure my thoughts on the drive home on the autobahns have been documented enough but just in case, the german autobahns rock.
Another fridge magnet collected (i'm getting one from everywhere i go), another country visited. Next week, i'm joining some members of the austrian office on a ski tour so i'm off to Vienna.
Stay tuned, pics have been updated.
Cheers!
Dave
Well, this weekend was supposed to be a roadtrip with one of the girls, Dawn, from the Chicago office to Switzerland by hiring a car and seeing the sights as we drive around. Well, Dawn arrived, the car hire was fine, we whacked in Zurich as our first destination into the Sat Nav and set off. Problem: It was snowing like a champion outside which made visibility poor and pretty much rendered any sight seeing as we headed south out of Stuttgart useless.
However, the drive was not without its charms. I will state loudly and clearly right now, that German Autobahns are the best roads ever. My car, a diesel, yes, diesel E90 BMW 330d was awesome. Came with heated leather seats, sat nav (in english!!), panaromic sunroof and I got the wagon so loads of space. Let me tell you, that car, cruises nicely at 140km/h, brilliantly at 160km/h, rock solid at 180km/h and is a blast at 200km/h. Weather conditions, traffic and the desire to live stopped me from going any faster...this time. The trip back, from the border of Germany to Stuttgart, I would slow to 140 and cruise between 160-180km/h for over 200km's. Awesome. Did I use a lot of fuel at that speed? Nope, averaged 7.5L/100km. Love it.
In case I didn't tell you, i love the autobahns. The fact we don't have any in australia is a joke. Anyway, yeah, it snowed almost the entire drive down to our first stop, Zurich. We went out and had dinner, few drinks at a few pubs then called it a night friday. Saturday we got up to, you guessed it, snow. Not letting that bother us, we set out to explore Zurich, umbrella's getting used the whole day. Still ended up soaked and cold. Zurich has some great shopping from what i could see, few historic churches/art galleries, Lake Zurich is nice and that's about it.
Next stop for saturday night - Interlaken, a little ski resort nestled on the edge of the alps, between two lakes. Drive there was horrendous. Snow everywhere, roads were slippery and snow again reduced visability of taking in the scenery. Averaged probably 30km/h for a very long time. Trip that should have taken say 2 hours, took 4. Got there and found a nice little hotel after visiting a couple that were way too expensive then went had dinner, few more drinks in a few more bars, then again turned in. It actually stopped snowing by dinner but was at it again by the time we walked back to the hotel.
Sunday I got up and headed for the Jungfrau railway (bahnen). After, get this, 2.5 hours and three trains, I arrived at the stop of the highest railway station in Europe, Jungfraujoch, at 3454m above sea level. Of course, it was snowing again all day and i got up there only to find my views were limited to about 3 feet and everything in my camera lens was white. Result, i have maybe two photos that will be crap, but another experience. I guess I'll just have to go back in the summer when it's a clear day. Another 2.5hrs down the mountain and it was time to head home to Stuttgart.
We dropped quickly via Bern on the way home and drove around for about 30mins but conscious of time, pressed on. I let Dawn drive to the border (where our passports weren't even checked) before I took over for the german autobahn leg :D --> she wasn't nominated as a driver so she really shouldn't have driven for all those reading this thinking that was incredibly chauvinistic on my behalf. I'm sure my thoughts on the drive home on the autobahns have been documented enough but just in case, the german autobahns rock.
Another fridge magnet collected (i'm getting one from everywhere i go), another country visited. Next week, i'm joining some members of the austrian office on a ski tour so i'm off to Vienna.
Stay tuned, pics have been updated.
Cheers!
Dave
Post a Comment