Final Thoughts
Final night. Packing. Trying to remind my iPad not to speak to me in German. Eating fantastic gelato.
Just some final thoughts on the region.
Everything in the region has symmetrical architecture. I suddenly realized that I have more pictures of long straight hallways with arched ceilings and doors opening regularly off the corridors than I have from anywhere else I’ve ever been! Switzerland, Austria and Germany do seem to like things orderly even in the most ostentatious of buildings, inside and out.
Bikes. Bikes are everywhere. But aside from Zermatt, where there are no cars, the cities are flat, making it easier to use bikes rather than fight the traffic. Nobody wears helmets or spandex, nor do they advertise everything under the sun on their clothes when they ride. Nor do they ride the latest and greatest bikes. Most of the bikes are nothing to look at, they just get people around. They are simply a mode of transportation, not something to make a statement. There are double decker parking garages at the train stations, and simple bike racks everywhere. It isn’t unusual to see a group of people walking together chatting, and somebody walking a bike. It can look just like something out of 50s Americana!
Tastes. All the food in all three countries tends to be on the heavy side. It got heavier the more towards Germany that we travelled. Nothing ever needed salt. Everything was very well flavored. Lots of gravies and hearty sauces the more we travelled towards Germany, with that country using the most. The meats are excellent, and the sides tend towards the plain type – potatoes and breads. Switzerland had the most variety, and you could find Italian anywhere, but I don’t suppose that’s a very big surprise. The bread everywhere are excellent and varied.
The descriptions in English on the menus are hilarious. They tend to include things like ‘boiled meat in gravy’. Very basic. Doesn’t necessarily sound appetizing, but I didn’t ever have anything I didn’t care for.
Drinks in Germany and Austria tend towards the dry, not the sweet. You can get American sodas here like Coke and Fanta, but their own local brands are juices with soda water. I asked for lemonade, and the waitress steered me towards an ‘Orange Splash’. She said the lemon would be bitter. The orange was great. Schweppes Bitter Lemon actually is a very popular drink in the area. I got a Cranberry Splash that actually tasted more like wine than anything else. Even the pastries are not as sweet as you would expect, either. Lots of spices and fruit in them, with less sugar.
Another odd thing – all the way throughout the trip, from Switzerland to Germany, during all of the train rides, I’ve seen small, two story, rustic towers at fairly regular intervals on the edge of the tree lines. They were on four posts, with a small, maybe 8×8 house on top, with a ladder. I would have thought that they were playhouses, but there were too many of them, and they were too much alike. I also thought they might be some kind of watchtower, but they were too low. I finally asked the guide on yesterday’s tour. He told me that they were hunting hides. And that made perfect sense once he explained it.
The hunting hide made another kind of sense, as people in the Alps regions and the bordering cities seem to be far more cognizant of where their food comes from. They just seem closer to the whole process. Even in the cities, everybody has small kitchen gardens. Trout does not come filleted – you get the whole fish, head and all. Pig knuckles, and other cuts that would be odd to American tastes are regularly on the menus.
Of course, all of this is a generalization, but these are my overall impressions of the trip. All and all, a very interesting, fun and informative trip. Travel is indeed mind broadening. People are people everywhere, but how culture and habits have developed differently is fascinating. I’ve enjoyed seeing the similarities and the differences.
With the exception of Vienna, I would revisit any of the places we have gone to, and even there, if the opportunity arose, I’d likely go back. I feel like we have just brushed the beginning of what every city has to offer, and an extended stay in any of them would be welcome.
But it’s time to come home, and I’m looking forward to getting back to my real life, seeing friends and horses alike. One more looonnnnngggg (10 hour flight) travel day, and we will be back in Vancouver BC and heading home.
Thanks for reading my thoughts!
More miscellanous pictures:
