Esmaning, Bavaria

March 20, 2022

Finally a view of the Alps without clouds. The pilot on the flight from Lisbon to Munich pointed out the view of Eiger Mountain near Grindelwald, with continuous views of the Austrian and Bavarian Alps. On landing, I noticed an Aeroflot Russian plane parked in a distant part of the tarmac, presumably grounded when the EU closed its airspace to Russian aircraft. I wonder how the crew got home.

Central Munich is about 45 minutes from the airport, which was a bit far for a 5 hour layover. I saw a town on the map 15 minutes away by train. The small castle and garden at Esmaning were a short walk from the train. It was quiet on a Sunday morning with birds singing and woodpeckers pecking. Many families were out for a bike ride. I tried a local drink, Russ, a combination of wheat beer and lemon soda. 

Esmaning was just right to get away from the airport (1).

(1) On the train ride back, a family with luggage suddenly dashed off the train one stop before the airport. The ticket checkers had come on board and the family, presumably, did not have one to check.

The Esmaning Castle

In Esmaning

First time I have seen a bike tube vending machine

Russ

Back to the airport

Lisbon & Cascais

March 19, 2022

There are a number of ferries crossing the Tagus River in Lisbon. After figuring out which ferry accepted the Metro card, the ferry crossed to Cacilhas and back with splendid views of Lisbon from the river.

The weather was warm and sunny after a week of clouds, rain and haze, so there were long lines of tourists waiting to take one of the old trams that clatter up and down the hills on the city's narrow streets (1). I had been on the Lisbon trams before, so I sought an alternative to the long lines.

There is a rail line from Lisbon to the seaside town of Cascais, which was filled with people getting out of the city for the day. A sign for Boca do Inferno beckoned, which was reached by a nice stroll. The views of the sea encouraged lingering (2).

After climbing up the Cascais Harbor Light, the ride back to Lisbon was in the gathering darkness. The final event of the day was at Teatro Nacional do São Carlos. The Opera Company was staging Puccini's La Boheme, which was very well done.

(1) The trams of Lisbon are the tourist equivalent of the cables cars of San Francisco (a).

(a) But completely different technology. As the names suggest, the San Francisco cable cars are propelled by cables under the street that run from a central powerhouse, while the Lisbon trams run on electric motors powered from overhead wires.

(2) Perhaps for too long. I did not leave enough to freshen up, so I went to the opera wearing a black T-shirt from a metal festival 

View of Lisbon from the ferry

The ferry on south shore of Tagus

Lisbon Trams

Cascais Harbor

Lisbon Landfall Light

Boca do Inferno

Not today, thankfully

Cascais seaside

Harbor Light, Cascais

View from lighthouse in Cascais

Teatro Nacional de São Carlos

At Theatre Nacional São Carlos

Die Zentralbahn

March 18, 2022

When checking out this morning, I noticed a large picture of the town behind the front desk depicting soaring Alpine peaks glistening in the sun. I commented how nice Leysin looks when it's not cloudy. With an ironic smile, the clerk agreed, but said it was often cloudy.

Basel was the destination today. I could get there in a few hours with 2 train changes, but it was almost the same price to get an all-day pass to the whole Swiss Rail network, so I took the scenic route. 

The MOB (Montreux Oberland Bernois) railway (1) is a narrow guage line running up the hill from Montreux on Lake Geneva. They happened to be running their special "La Belle Epoque" reproduction 1890s coaches this morning (2). This line is a steep adhesion railway (i.e. normal, non-rack railway), climbing away from the lake on a series of long switchbacks. The summit tunnel crosses the watershed between the Rhone (flowing to the Mediteranean) and Rhine (flowing to the North Sea), and the Cantonal/linguistic boundary between Francophone Vaud and German-speaking Fribourg (3). While a pleasant journey, the Alps were obscured by clouds.

The Central Railway (Die Zentralbahn) follows a series of steep-sided lakes from Spiesz to Lucern. While still cloudy, this was the highlight of the rail journey. In Meringen, there was a good view of Reichenbach Falls (4). A watershed is crossed at Brünig Pass east of Meringen. The normal train becomes a cog railway to effect the crossing, before descening to Lucerne (5).

Arriving at Lucerne, there were ferry boats just across from the train station. My rail pass worked on these also, so I hopped aboard for an hour to see the lake.

The day ended at a hotel near the train station (Bahnhoff SBB) In Basel. The No. 1 Tram was right outside the door; No. 1 must go someplace interesting, so I hopped on and went to the end and connected with a tram that goes to Germany (6). I walked through Germany to the pedestrian bridge to France, then back on a bike & pedestriation path beside the Rhine to Switzerland, then grabbed the No. 12 train back to Bahnhoff SBB. About 4.5 mile walk; just the thing after sitting on trains all day.

(1) There are a wide array of different organizations running  trains in Switzerland, including  Federal, Cantonal, Regional, and private companies. I think MOB is private. Most (but not all) of the lines accept the all-access pass. Thankfully, every line I took today accepted my pass (although I was never quite sure until they scanned my ticket).

(2) Thankfully, the suspension system on the coaches was modern.

(3) In a very Swiss sense of politeness, when in Vaud, the French for next stop: "Prochaine Arret" came first in the station  announcement, while the German: "Nächster Halt" came second. Crossing into Fribourg, German came first, French second. We recrossed into Vaud, French first, then into Bern Canton, German first again.

(4) Where Sherlock Holmes was pushed to his death by Professor Moriarty (or so we thought). I had thought the location was fictitious  until I looked at the map.

(5) The whole journey from Montreux to Lucerne is known as the Golden Pass Line, although at least four different trains are necessary to cover the distance. From west to east: Narrow guage MOB to Zwiesiman, standard guage Bern Cantonal train to Spiez, standard guage SBB train to Interlaken, narrow guage Zentralbahn to Lucerne.

(6) While the tram line continues into Germany, I got off at the last Swiss stop to walk across. 

Leysin Grand Hotel Station

View of Leysin

Station in Leysin. The name basically means Green Mountains in French

Descending on rack railway

Vineyards on descent to Aigle

Train across the narrow valley near Aigle

The Belle Epoque Train cars at Montreux

Climbing up from Lake Geneva

On board the Belle Epoque cars

In a tunnel. Note the indirect lighting

Dual guage track at Zwiesiman

On Lake Speiz

Not today (too cloudy in the mountains): Train to Grindelwald

Lake Brienz

Note Cantonal flags, which were ubiqitous in Switzerland

Reichenbach Falls

At Merigien

Luzern Station

Luzern

On Lake Luzern 

Poster on ferry. Rough translation: "Mask is a must, coffee is optional"

At Bürgenstock Ferry dock. Note funicular track in background.

Glimpse of the sun on the Basel Train

Mural of Lake Luzern at Basel Station

Near the Bridge of Three Nations

Leysin (Canton Vaud), Switzerland

March 17, 2022

The Train de Grand Vitesse (high speed train) (1) from Paris was about 1/2 hour late getting into Lausanne on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. The view of the snow-capped French Alps across the lake would have been spectacular from the lake-side cafe if not for the haze.

The train ride along the shore of the lake (known as Lac Lémain locally) through Montreux afforded almost continuous (but hazy) views of the French Alps and the lake until our arrival in Aigle.

Here I switched to the narrow guage rack railway (2) ascending to Leysin. The narrow guage train starts by travelling through the town's streets (like a tram) for the first km or so. The train then reverses end (to keep the heavy engine at the rear) and ascends 3,435 ft in a little over 3 miles (3). The terraced vineyards and houses looked comical given the angle of the train.

Checking into the lodge, I was told that mask mandates and vaccine checks were lifted as of today (4). Hanging out on the balcony by the hot tub and sauna, I heard French. Italian, and German being spoken by three different couples; I was in Switzerland (4) and at a place where the Swiss go for the weekend. I had Swiss fondue for dinner; a first for me. A glass of Bailey's was a good nightcap on this St Patrick's Day.

(1) I happened to be reading a book called Slow Train to Switzerland. The author retraced the travels of a Victorian Englishwoman to Switzerland in 1863 based on her journal.

(2) Generally known in North America as cog railways.

(3) While the train gained height, it lost temperature. It was 17°C (63° F) in Aigle and 8°C (46° F) 4 miles away in Leysin.

(4) I had secured both a Swiss Covid pass a French Pass Sanitaire (a). Up until this point in my trip, nobody had asked to see them.

(a) The countries recognize each other's covid certificates, but you never know. 

(5) The fourth official language of Switzerland is Romansch.

First light in Paris

Murals at Paris's Gare de Lyon of French cities you can visit by rail

At Aigle

Through the streets

Hillside vineyards on south-facing slope

My camera was parallel to the ground

End of the line: Leysin Grand Hotel Station

Looking to the West, Leysin

Former Grand Hotel. now a school for the children of plutocrats