Sazburg turns out to be another wonderful experience. We have an ample buffet breakfast daily , included in our room rate ($65 euro a night) and we even have our own private courtyard. We purchase Salzburg cards which provide us with free entry options at a variety of locations. Highlights end up being the Hohensalzburg Fortress/ castle which hovers over the city and the Museum of Natural History. Once again, the Altstadt is spectacular. We also venture to the ...

I was on Skype with mum the other day and I was lamenting the fact that Loretta and I would be spending the 7th Nov, our anniversary on the train (7 hours) from Luzern to Salzburg, Austria. We are 30 mins from Salzburg and I am feeling that today is one of the most exhilarating days of my life. Yesterday, I thought it couldn't get better than Luzern, but our train journey leg from Zurich to Salzburg through the Alps is so incessantly mind-blowing that I have to r...

I was on Skype with mum the other day and I was lamenting the fact that Loretta and I would be spending the 7th Nov, our anniversary on the train (7 hours) from Luzern to Salzburg, Austria. We are 30 mins from Salzburg and I am feeling that today is one of the most exhilarating days of my life. Yesterday, I thought it couldn't get better than Luzern, but our train journey leg from Zurich to Salzburg through the Alps is so incessantly mind-blowing that I have to r...

Luzern, what can I say? After a day and half, we have to say that it is the highlight so far, perhaps pipping Carcassonne for all round impressiveness. Luzern is stunning. The city is so incredibly beautiful : ancient timber bridges crossing the canal ; a huge stunning lake flanked by towering mountains that graduate rapidly from a plethora of contrasting, variegated orange, red, yellow and green vegetation at the base to snow covered around half of the way up; A...

Breakfast again delivered to our door, we walk to Geneve SBB railway on a staggeringly warm late Autumn morning. Today's forecast for Basel, today's destination, is 17 degrees. Our winter coats are generating saunas that will hopefully cause us to shed our baguette, cheese and salami-laden midriffs. We were intending to catch the 10.14 train to Basel, but a 9.14 fast train is just about to depart, so we jump on in the nick of time with Loretta having to force the...