While spending 3 days in Beaune, France, we took a day trip to Dijon via the Burgundy wine region. Although the vines are turning to fall colors, grapes remain on some vines and picking continues. Wine touring here is completely different than Napa. The wineries are numerous, often smaller family owned and do not offer tours or tasting. When we asked about tastings, some locals told us that we could attempt to find a chateau winery and knock on the door. We did self tour this one very old winery, featuring grape presses dating back some 600 years. To Glenn's pleasure, an antique auto club came driving up, Glenn having me pose with his choice. We drove on to Dijon and were disappointed to find that almost everything was closed on Sunday. Thumbs down Dijon! Thumbs up to Lyon, France where we spent one night. Lyon is lovely with a great walking area. Our self portrait is taken from the Notre Dame of Lyon hilltop. By the way, for the first time during our travels, we went to the movies and saw "the Informant"........it was more interesting to stare at the french sub-titles than watch this awwwwwful movie.
Only 50 minutes from Interlaken, we stopped in Bern, Switzerland stored our luggage in lockers and strolled the medieval, but very commercial town of Bern. Back on the train, three hours later, we arrived in Beaune, France, Friday night. We love the town of Beaune, it's so charming and walkable. This morning we strolled the outdoor farmers market (cheese, meats, breads, fish, vegetables, etc.) and picked out our lunch. Beaune is in the heart of the Burgundy wine region, where the famous international wine auction is held here every November. The wine caves of Patriarche was our wine tour of the day. For 10 euros, we tasted 13 wines, all self poured. Unfortunately we didn't like any, but we both thought this was the most awesome wine tour and tasting we had ever experienced. The tunnels kept going and going, filled with unlabeled, dusty wine bottles, spanning the decades. We were told that the wine is labeled as released because the humidity was not good for the labels. Walking through the dark tunnels, we came upon the tasting section, wine barrel tables lit by candles. You just stop and pour.
Another day trip, this time only a 10,000 foot elevation mountain peak. Schilthorn is known for the early James Bond movie "Her Majesty's Secret Service". This trip took only 2 hours to get there, on two trains and four suspended cable cars. Switzerland is quite picturesque, just like seen in a movie, so the journey is quite enjoyable. On the last cable car ride up, the cloud cover was very thick, at one point no visibility and then suddenly a break through the clouds. Stunning! The wind was mild on this day, so although cold, we were able to stay outside longer. Funny, you'd think we never saw snow, it was fun. The Matterhorn peak is visible from here. This Schilthorn area is skiable. On our return back to Interlaken we took a stop at Trummelbach, 10 waterfalls fed by the glaciers, falling inside a mountain. There's an elevator inside the mountain we rode up.
Interlaken is a quaint little town between two lakes with beautiful scenic snow capped mountains surrounding the area. We stayed three days and took daily side trips. From our hotel window, we could see the glacier called Jungfrau and because it was visible, it seemed like a good day to venture over. Jungfrau is 11,500 feet high and refered to as the "Top of Europe". After a 2 1/2 hour train ride, with the last 30 minutes riding inside a tunnel in the mountain glacier, we emerged to below zero celcius temperature and winds. Burrrrr! We were above the clouds, so the view was clear and stunning. There was also an ice tunnel with ice cravings, a permanent structure. The floor and sides of the tunnel, all ice, was amazingly smooth and not slippery. Of course, on a train stop on our return, Glenn is seen here considering his next meal.
Always be prepared with the basics……food in Ziploc bags, wine, flashlight, antacids, hand sanitizer, IPOD speaker……These items came in handy during our 14 hour overnight journey on a Soviet era, Hungarian train. The journey began fairly smoothly; we settled into our private sleeper suite (closet size) and enjoyed many laughs. A visit to the toilet proved interesting (see photo). Upon taking a seat, a breeze was felt. Interestingly enough, one could see the train tracks below. We were tempted to drop a note down…get us off this train (this is where the hand sanitizer came was useful)! As Roz entertained with her singing, Glenn studied the posted sign posted above the window not to through any bottles out the window and thought out loud “Why is it ok to defecate on the tracks and not ok to toss a biodegradable out the window?” Before bed, we were informed that the custom and passport patrols would enter the sleeper train…..12, 2, 4 am with a gentle (ha ha) rap on the door with their night sticks. Now we have traveled all over Europe, crossing borders without passports or check points. When booking the sleeper car trip from Budapest to Venice, little did we know that we were crossing two non-EU countries…..Croatia and Slovenia. Border crossing coupled with a train engineer and his heavy brake foot at so many stops that made you feel you were going to fall out of bed, this sleepless in Budapest train ride was one for the memory books. Our train trip a day later from Venice to Interlaken, Switzerland in comparison was heavenly, first photo above.
Played at being a tourist in Budapest in the morning; mixed with the locals and international community in the afternoon at the Thermal Turkish Bath House. We steamed, saunaed, and sat in the varying tempered Thermal whirlpools, 35 hot and cold in total. Lost count along the way. Enjoying Budapest, but looking for a change of food.....Eastern and Central European food is very similar but Glenn is enjoying the Goulash. Leaving on a night train tonight for Venice, Italy trying to make our way to Switzerland. 
Well Vienna is certainly more picturesque than these photos show but we haven't downloaded those pictures yet. The biking tour dropped us off in Vienna on Tuesday morning and we taxied over to the Hotel Bristol (what a beautiful hotel in the center of town). The Concierge at the hotel became our best friend. I strode up to him and told him we have been traveling for 5 weeks and need some services (I'm sure he thought we were coming off the mountain!). So basically Tuesday was like any other day at home.....dry cleaners, laundromat, postal service, haircut for Glenn and a hair dye touch up for Roz (hated him for taking that picture). I'm sure we were a sight walking back and forth through the elegant lobby with our over stuffed backpacks and onto the trolley. But we have enjoyed the past two days touring the palaces and museums as well as meeting up with 11 of our biking friends for dinner. We have just returned (Thursday night) from the Vienna Opera House and seeing La Boehme in a balcony box nonetheless. We had met a fellow Californian gentlemen that told Glenn that the Opera wasn't so bad and is wasn't. We're inexperienced, who knew, but each seat had a little translation screen so we were able to follow along. Vienna is renowned for music of all types, so we made like Europeans and enjoyed the show along with the beautiful surroundings of the building. It was a moment!
The last two days of the biking trip were as great as all the others. We enjoyed a ride on a River Barge on the Danube River, used as our transport over to the Austrian countryside. Aside from being a cool morning, we enjoyed the scenery and a ride through a river lock (like the Panama Canal). The weather was warm and enjoyable once the morning fog lifted. We mostly rode for these two days along the Danube River and the last day riding through the wine country as well. It was picking season for the white and red grapes. The local red grape/wine is St. Laurent which we have shared and drank our way through many bottles. This biking trip was wonderful, with an amazing group of travelers we now call friends. We all had a secret cyclist during the trip, picked on the first day and giving us reason to mingle and learn about each other from the beginning. The last night we all made presentations along with a little gift. What a delightfully humorous evening we enjoyed.
Saturday's 22 mile ride was perfect. Our hotel is situated at the crossing of three rivers: Danube, Inn and Ilz. We rode along the river Inn all day. It was cold in the morning as the fog lifts from the rivers but as the sun broke through, we began shedding layers. We crossed over to Austria, enjoyed a picnic along the river prepared by our guides and then headed back to Germany.
