We've been back 4-days now from our two-plus week long trip to Germany and Switzerland. It was a great experience and we enjoyed it very much, in spite of a few problems. We spent the first four days in Germany chasing down my wife's (and her sister's, who went along with us) family heritage in the German state of Westphalia. Her family left there in 1815 for a new life in America. We then moved over to Berlin for three days, and enjoyed seeing the sights of that famous city very much. After Berlin, we journeyed to Switzerland for a twelve-day Tauck tour of that country - with much time spent in the Alps. The Alps are spectacular - like the Tetons on steroids! Railroads played a big role in our vacation. We landed in Dusseldorf from Atlanta on Delta, and connected with the Deutsche Bahn right at the Dusseldorf airport. The German DB train system is spectacularly good - clean, fast, frequent trains, smooth riding, on time, easy to use, low cost (via Eurail pass). Makes Amtrak look pathetic. We went Dusseldorf-Bielefeld via a DB ICE express train - that route is through highly populated areas, so we got up "only" to about 110 MPH. The several day trips to Caroline's "home" town were on a local, a nice little diesel powered train, three-four cars. The main-line DB trains are all electric powered. Our next trip from Bielefeld to Berlin was on another ICE express - we got up to 252 KM/hr (156 MPH) on that puppy - smooth as silk. We were in the diner having lunch at 150+ MPH, and the drink glasses barely vibrated. Spectacular! At the end of the Berlin stay, we took DB to Geneva, Switzerland to meet up with our tour. That took almost all day, and was a very nice experience. The Swiss railroad system is also very good, but falls short of DB by quite a bit. But, throughout Switzerland, I kept seeing these freezers advertising an interesting Nestle frozen ice cream bar for sale at the railroad stations (Bahnhofs) all over Switzerland. See the attached pic. Seems only right, eh? The trip back home was tough - 23 hours bed-to-bed from Lucerne to St Louis via Atlanta. I told Delta they need to get faster airplanes! We did have two unfortunate problems. Western Europe is rife with petty crime. As we connected from DB to the SwissRail train in Olten, Switzerland, I was the victim of a pickpocket attack. Fortunately, I felt him remove my wallet, and I quickly turned around and grabbed the little *%$!@&! He quickly dropped my wallet and ran off like the scumbum he is. I suffered no loss. Later, upon our return, Caroline's iPhone was stolen from her checked suitcase at the Zurich airport while her bag went through the "security screening" at Zurich prior to loading the luggage on Delta. Go figure! Western Europe is a great place, but they have some very serious problems. Overall, we had a great time, and the many rail trips were one of the highlights. Unfortunately, this trip resulted im my having to miss the frisco.org meeting with many of you, plus I also missed my 50th high school class reunion. A case of bad timing for sure! Ken
I loved riding the trains around Europe. I used to take short out and back trips on layovers just to ride them. U.K., France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy. Great times!
We had a great trip. Actually, I enjoyed Germany even more than Switzerland, but the Swiss Alps were terrific. We rode on a total of 19 trains (not counting those at the Zurich and Atlanta airports!). Ken
