Test Drive

Let's see how this works as far as pictures and videos are concerned. We'll go back to an earlier trip to Europe, in fact, the one with Mary Joy's last German organ recital. We ended that journey with twelve days in Ireland. Here is one of our very favorite trip pictures, taken on Skellig Michael on June 30, 2006. The weather, unusually for that rock in the middle of a watery nowhere, was perfect.




Looks good.

Eight days earlier, in Switzerland, we had driven from Unterseen to Grindelwald and taken the gondola up to Maennlichen.

Here is the Maennlichen station, with the Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau (Ogre, Monk and Maiden: three old friends of ours, whom we expect to see again on our next trip) lined up behind it. A vicious Ogre indeed--this is the infamous North Face of the Eiger, on which dozens of climbers have died.








We then walked back down to Grindelwald. Here's a video of Mary Joy meeting some local inhabitants (you've heard of the "Black Irish;" these are the "Brown Swiss"):




It works!

Switzerland

The itinerary for our summer trip is now finalized. We've been to Switzerland almost every year since we got married--Mary Joy has relatives there (her great-grandfather emigrated to Wisconsin from Unterseen). We didn't get there last year, so this year it's a must.


As in 2006, Mary Joy has been invited to play an organ recital in Germany. Rather than have that hang over her during the trip, the idea is to get there at the very beginning, with several days for practice and to get used to the organ. Then, we can relax during the rest of our vacation.


Figuring a little over three weeks for the entire trip, with four nights in Germany and about a week in Interlaken/Unterseen and Zug, that leaves about a week-and-a-half for wherever else we would go. We've never really spent time wandering around Switzerland: why not get railpasses and see more of the country?

Getting there and back has turned out to be more of a hassle than expected. The airlines are making up for last year's lost revenue. So, all in all, we'll spend most of the time in Switzerland, but have four days in Germany, pass through some scenic parts of Italy in getting to and from Lugano, take a few days in Ireland coming and going, and spend a last night and day in Chicago before getting back to Minnesota.

Start

Okay, here we are. I've started this blog as a way of keeping in touch with family and friends while we're on vacation. It is also a way of journalizing our trips. At our extreme advanced ages (59 and 54) and with our experiences piling up, it's difficult to keep track of everything we have or haven't done on our various trips.

Of course, inflicting one more blog on the world requires a certain amount of chutzpah. And even though the purpose and audience for this blog are limited, we certainly don't expect everyone we know to be following our adventures minute-by-minute, on the edge of their seats. In fact, we would be perfectly happy if no one at all reads any of it. It is only a way of keeping in touch with whoever wants to know where we are and what we're doing.