Cycling Across Switzerland - June 28 - July 7, 2009

I arrived in Geneva on June 28, 2009. John, the tour guide met me at the airport and took me to the hotel, only a block from the train station. Geneva provides free rides from the airport and free local transportation during your stay. Can't think of any US city that does that.



We had dinner at a restaurant on Lake Geneva. One of the courses was horse meat, which I tried, but it definitely did not taste like chicken. On the way back to the hotel we stopped for gelato, one of many for the week.

This is the group I traveled with - Damoi, Todd, Debbie, Cole, Diane, Billy and me. Ed is missing from this picture, since he preferred more difficult routes most days. Unfortunately Demoi fell and broke his collar bone on the third day, and had to return to Korea for surgery.

Here I am climbing one of the many hills of Switzerland. On day two I was talked into taking the harder route which finished in a five mile climb in pouring rain. I was not a happy biker that day. I soaked in a hot tub for half an hour before feeling normal. Of course the gin and tonic didn't hurt.

Every day, our other guide, David, provided us with a fantastic picnic lunch. This is one of the spots he chose during the journey. David always made fresh salad, a choice of meats, fruit, local cheese and of course - chocolate. You needed energy while burning 8000 calories a day.

Vineyards covered the landscape as we neared the end of Lake Geneva, and our steep climb to a local winery. We relaxed and enjoyed wine, cheese and sausage. You can see France across the lake.

The highlight of day 3 was a stop in Gruyere. Not an easy climb to the village, but well worth it. Here I am at the local watering hole.

I took over 1000 pictures during the trip. There must be a few, like the flowers above, that will make it to canvas.

During our daily rides, we saw many beautiful waterfalls. This one was on the way to Interlaken and then Wengen. We were glad to get to the hotel in Interlaken, and park our bikes for two days. We reached Wengen by taking two steep train rides, and then walked to the hotel - no cars allowed.

With a day off from cycling, I took a cable car to the top of a mountain, and walked a three mile mountain pass, covered with beautiful flowers. The photo above shows the Swiss Alps in the background.

Following my hike through the mountains, I took the train back to Wengen.

The next day we arrived in Lucern, which most of you can tell from the landmark bridge pictured above. There was also a great farmers market around the lake on this Saturday morning.

During my previous cycling trips to Europe, I always missed the sunflowers. We were lucky this time, passing many fields of the yellow flowers.

In the town of Rapperswil, I saw one of the most colorful cemeteries ever. It was almost like they had a contest to see who could create the prettiest grave. We pictured all these widows planting and tending the flowers every day, to see who would win the blue ribbon.

Switzerland has an amazing system of bike trails throughout the country. We took route 9 from western to eastern Switzerland. The path is a total of 504 km, or about 310 miles. I guess we averaged from 45-50 miles a day.

Here I am on one of the final days of the ride. Notice the sign behind me - a 25% grade. I must admit, I only rode halfway up the hill, and walked the bike the rest of the way. Many in the group did climb the entire hill without stopping.

Here's an old wooden bridge, which leads to Liechtenstein. I walked across the bridge, stepped on dry land, so I can now add another country to my list, which now totals 63. My goal is to reach 100. That evening we stayed in a small countryside hotel, and had one of the most amazing meals ever. It compares to the best restaurants in the world.

After finishing our ride we turned in our bikes, had another fantastic dinner and prepared for our journey back to Geneva. We broke the train ride into two segments, stopping in the Swiss capital of Bern.

We had lots of rain in Bern, but I caught this flower scene during one of the sunny moments.

An one final word for Switzerland - CHOCOLATE