Christmas makes me think of Lermoos

If you like the smell of fresh pine, Lermoos, Austria is for you.

Lermooos is a tiny village tucked in the hills of the Tirol region of Austria, right across the border from Germany.  Its one of those places you don’t find unless someone tells you about it.  My wife and I visited Lermoos  in September, 2007.  I found it to be a rarity in this day and age:  a getaway destination that has a certain serenity to it.  It isn’t easy to find.  If you blink you miss it.  There are two resorts in the town and more are apparently coming, but even these current resorts are modest in their size.

This place has a smell that is simply amazing.  I have been in the most amazing parts of Switzerland and never have a smelled anything that screams Alpine more than Lermoos.  The views were wonderful.  Lermoos sits in a valley beneath the formidable Zugspitze mountain, home of various Olympic skiing events during the Innsbruck Winter Olympics of 1964 and 1976.  But the views pale in comparison to that one sensation you can’t see.  I wish I could can that smell and have it during this time of year because I don’t think I could put 100 Christmas trees in a room and come close to that smell.

Lermoos is southwest of Munich, Germany and northwest of Innsbruck, Austria.  Labeled on this map is Lermoos, Fernpass (apply named because the place is a sea of fern trees), Imst which is the nearest train station (the line runs between Zurich and Vienna), and Neuschwanstein (King Ludwig II’s castle which served as the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Cinderella’s Castle and Disneyland.  Lermoos is about 20 minutes south of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany which in my opinion is a German version of Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Where to Stay
If you’re going to Lermoos, you can always stay at the Silence SportHotel Zugspitze.  The manager, Hans speaks adequate English and will take very good care of you.  They’ll put you on their mailing list so you can receive their annual brochure which is 81% German, 9% Italian, 9% French and 1% English.  The brochure usually comes with a nice picture of their spa, complete with a nude woman in their luxurious sauna.  My wife Jessica always says she could do so much better for their English if they would let her write it.   Their English sometimes reads like a script from Borat.  Also, for those who don’t travel to Europe much, half-pension means room and breakfast.  Full-pension is room and breakfast and dinner.

Silence SportHotel Zugspitze

There is a new trendy resort in Lermoos called Mohr.  We spent an evening in their bar.  Its a very nice place.

Maybe one of these days we will get to go back and experience the sensations that Lermoos has to offer again.  Until then, that smell will always remind me of Lermoos, Austria.

Longest Afternoon EVER

We’re here in the airport in Newark, NJ waiting for our connecting to Nashville. Its 5:30 PM local time and we have been up for 15 hours and the sun has been up the entire time and its not going down for some time. The fumes are starting to kick in as the fuel tank that has been driving us for so long has finally run dry. While I sit here, bitching and moaning about it, it isnt as bad as traveling the other direction and all the fun we had for the past 24 days was completely worth the feeling we are experiencing at this time.

We are about to post the remaining pictures to our website. Check them out when you have a chance.

Roma: 05.10.2007

So here we are, on the last day before we return to Amsterdam. On Monday we return to America and on Tuesday we return to work. Its been a crazy 3 weeks and I will spend plenty of time over the next few weeks reflecting and sharing the intimate details.

Buona Notte from Roma…

Day Whatever: Lake Como, Italy

So I’ve kinda lost track of what day we’re on. I think its 19, but who cares. We are currently in Bellagio, Italy which is a picturesque lakefront town with views of the snow-capped that billionaires compete to acquire. Its 100% Italy, with a little feel that is not as Italian as say Florence, Rome or Naples. Our hotel is in Lugano, Switzerland, but everyone speaks Italian there too. I prefer the Italiano to the Deutche. Ti capisco un poco d’Italiano.

Here’s some pictures of the last few days in the Berner Oberland of Switzerland and today in Bellagio.

Happiness in Mürren, Switzerland

Us in Bellagio, Italy about 2 hours ago. It is wonderful here. Wish you all were here.

As I sit in this Italian Internet bar listening to Gordon Lightfoot singing the Edmund Fitzgerald, I must tell you that we go to Florence tomorrow and Italy on Friday and internet will probably be sparse, so my next post will be on Saturday. Until then, ciao.

Austria & Switzerland

This is my last update for a while. I have doubts about our ability to get internet access from here on out. We are currently in Zurich and are about to head to Lauterbrunnen, which is located in the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland. We will be 10 miles from the tallest peaks of Europe. Since the last update, we have been in Lermoos Austria at an resort area called Zupsitze. It is offseason and was very quiet, but all the people were so nice and the food was so good. We got to see King Ludwig II of Bavaria’s castle which served as the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Cinderella’s castle at Disneyland. That was pretty neat. It set so high up. The train ride through Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland was beautiful. Here are some of the pictures:

The castle

A view from atop the castle

Lermoos, Austria in the morning

Lermoos, Austria

The train to Zurich

Days 11 & 12: Munich

So we’ve been in Munich about 36 hours now and it is quite a festive place. Fortunately for us, our apartment is so convenient to Oktoberfest, but is far enough from the madness that we get away from it. The first night here was nice. It was about 60 degrees and dry.

Yesterday on the other hand, was about 50 degrees at most and completely wet. But, despite the rain, we’re making it just fine. We sat on a carousel bar for the longest time to stay dry. At around 4 pm, we went into the Hippodromm tent where the pictures below were taken.

Oktoberfest is a very fun atmosphere… everyone is having a good time and just enjoying life.

Days 8 & 9: Paris

Trying to catch up. Not a whole lot to say at this point. We are in Munich and it is raining, so I am going to throw up some pictures of Paris at night now.

Day 6: London

Our last day in London and you could really spend a month here and not see it all, but I feel that we did pretty well for being here less than 48 hours. Jessica is still a little under the weather and it has held her back some, but we had a pretty good day.

The first stop of the day was the Tower of London, or the White Tower as it was called in the old days. The tour was fascinating and the relics of nobility from the past were amazing. Jessica enjoyed marvelling at the crown jewels. I personally enjoyed see the White Tower itself and all the armor and arms of the royal guard. We spent about 2 hours here and I would recommend it to anyone who visits London.

Jessica outside the walls of the Tower

The White Tower

Tower Bridge

Our next stop was Westminster, where we took a quick look at Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. Our stop here was brief, as Jessica was wearing down a bit and need to rest. So we hopped back on the tube and returned to our hotel, which was a good thing because I started to have a migraine right when we got off the tube at Earls Court. We laid down for a few minutes to rest.

Big Ben at Westminster Abbey

In the evening, we headed up to the theatre district to see We Will Rock You, a musical based to the music of Queen. Jessica wasnt that big on the storyline and it was a bit cheesy, but I think we both enjoyed the music. It was quite entertaining. Afterward, we we south into SoHo and found a cute little Spanish tapas restaurant and had some tasty Spanish dishes. It was a nice change of pace.

Well, today is another travel day. We hop on the EuroStar at 10:10am, which is a train that will take us to Paris in about 3 hours. Yes, it goes under the English channel for those of you back home who can’t fathom such a thing. I can say as I write this, we have safely passed under and are now in France. It should be fun, brushing up on what little French I learned in school, which is not much at all.

Day 4: Dublin (No Ennis)

So, our trek to Ennis never happened. We were on our way to board an 8 a.m train west and halfway on our walk to the station, I noticed that I did not have my passport which was essential to validate our rail passes. We turned around and by the time we got back to the apartment, there was no time to get to the station. Not to mention that Jessica has come down with a bit of a cold, so she slept all morning and I plotted ways to get to Ennis without wasting the entire day. The only option was to pay about $300 to change our flight out from Dublin to Shannon, which is 15 minutes from Ennis. We opted against this and spent most of the day shopping and roaming around Temple Bar and Grafton Street. It was unfortunate, but probably will spell Jessica a quicker recovery than had we made the effort to travel 3 hours each way, and that is far more important as we still have a great many things to see.

So our time in Ireland is done and now we move on to London. I leave you with a few sights from Monday.

Day 3: Dublin (Revisited)

So today was the day we were going to travel to Ennis, but we got a late start and plans changed. We did my Dublin favorites today, Guinness and Oliver St. John Gogarty’s. If you ever come to Dublin, don’t pass up the Gogarty. It is 3 levels of endulgement. The first floor is a traditional irish pub, the second is a pub with the best traditional irish music and the third is the best in Irish culinary fare.

I can say this much. I didn’t think I’d see Riverdance break out in this pub, but it did.

Some of the musicians were less than amused but they played on anyways. The old man on the right was Jessica’s favorite. The young man on the far left (not visible in this pic) was his grandson, which we thought was really cool.

Tomorrow we march on west to County Clare and the land of the Ennis clan. Until then…