Tuesday August 6th

Yesterday was a good day. Today was even better. Today I fulfilled a 20 year old dream. I visited Schilthorn aka Piz Gloria.

I don't know how to explain this to people that are not huge fans of James Bond, but Schilthorn really is the number one Bond location (to me at least). I can not think of any place more iconic, exotic and thrilling to go in my quest for Bond locations (the new MI6 building in London might come close in iconic, but hardly in exotic nor thrilling).

I actually feel a bit empty inside right now (but the joy to have been there easily overcomes the emptiness).

ANYHOW - this is what happened today:

I took the cable car + train to Mürren just before 10am. Going up there I am really enjoying the sights. Switzerland is one of the most beautiful countries I have even been to - it might even be #1.

I walked through the small village of Mürren and got to the next cable car that would get me to Birg (you know - that was how far Campbell got when trying to follow Bond).

At Birg it was time to get the cable car to Schilthorn. This was it. Finally! The moment I had been waiting for so long.

Now some information; since the opening of Schilthorn (which happened after the James Bond movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' was shot there 1968/69) they never played heavily on the Bond-card, but that has changed now.
As of 2013 they go all out and have a large OHMSS-exhibition (under the old helipad) and many 007 things to buy. I wasn't sure if I would like that or not, but in my opinion they haven't crossed the line to cheesy (but were close several times).


My joyness were all over the place when I walked around up there, many things had of course changed in the last 45 years, but some had not - for instance the stairs were basically the same:

but restaurant was...not:

The helipad is not used any more, but still looks pretty similar:

and so on...

It's really hard to describe my feelings, but I was very happy (did I mention that already)?
I had some food in the revolving restaurant (48 min/round) and of course I bought some souvenirs.

Naturally I also looked a lot at the scenery which really was amazing:

I spent around two hours up there I think.

Then it was time to head down again; I took another route back to Lauterbrunnen; this time via Gimmelwald and Stechelberg (pitstop for 'The Amazing Race' 14x01 for all you who do not care).

The reason for this was two-folded.
1) Another Bond location:

2) I wanted to see the Trümmelbachfälle; 10 waterfalls that is inside the mountain. You can actually go inside the mountain yourself and see them.

This I did, and it was really nice to see (a must if you ever come here!).
I tried to take pictures, but none of them made the waterfalls any justice - and it didn't have the roaring sound that completely filled the caves (the videos I made had the roar, but still no image-justice).


Then it was back to the hotel. I had actually planned to do some paragliding this afternoon, but unfortunately it was not to happen. Maybe I can do something else another day.


Oh yes! I asked the hotel manager about the Swedish Hockey sign outside the door and apparently Arne Norberg (the director of the "Swedish Hockey Pool") stayed at this hotel many times with his family and was friends with the manager here.
Didn't sound to me that it had that much to do with hockey though, more about business.

Wednesday August 7th

No plans for any Bond sightings today, but still a busy schedule.

I got up before 8am so I could go to Jungfraujoch early (the train takes two hours one way).

Unfortunately it was cloudy with a slight rain, but I was worried about not being able to see the view, but the weather forecast told me that tomorrow would be worse so I figured I might as well do it today.

Even though there were no clear sky, I still had a beautiful view from the train.

I travelled past Wengen, changed trains at Kleine Scheidegg and went up this amazing train ride.

The train to Jungfraujoch goes seven kilometres totally inside the mountains of Eiger, Münch and Jungfrau. It has two stations inside the mountains where you can get off and look out through several panorama windows.
Fortunately it was currently good weather conditions at this altitude:

Then we reached our final destination; Jungfraujoch, a tourist site - as well as an research station (weather, environment etc).

I walked around the station and its tour. Unfortunate the weather up here was lousy again. It was cloudy and windy with rain so you couldn't see anything at all.

I still went out there to have a look though.

Note: When you go to Jungfraujoch, unless you are a viking, I suggest wearing warm clothes - especially in bad weather conditions like this.

I was the only one in the whole station wearing only t-shirt and shorts - and I still got out to have a look (many others peeked out the door and ran screaming back in again).
I think there were a few people thinking there were a mad man running loose.
It wasn't warm, but the coldness here never really bothered me.


Continuing the tour, I got to the Eispalats - a place that went through the side of the mountain and directly into the glacier outside. Inside the glacier they had cut out these maze-like tunnels - and in the walls they had made several ice figures.

The Eispalats was really cool and alone worth the trip up (I mean, how many can say they have been inside a glacier?!)

After this I took the two hour train ride home again.
The part inside the mountain takes 30 minutes + the two stops at the panorama stations going up (five minutes each). Amazing accomplishment - and it was all made a hundred years ago!

Btw; why isn't this railway in the "Seven technical wonders of the modern world"??? It should!

Back home, another adventure waited. I had signed up for some canyoning this afternoon.

I went with a company called Alpin Raft (they also do other things besides canyoning) which were very good - I highly recommend them!

They had a few options of canyoning and I have chosen the shorter 3,5 hours tour, since I didn't have time for the longer ones (later I learned that the canyoning themselves were almost the same length, it just took longer to get the other canyons).

 I went with two families from the US and our two tour guides from New Zeeland (Bez & Reuben) (plus the photographer Tat) and we had a great time!

We repelled (around 9 meters), jumped (highest jump was about 6 meters) and slided down this canyon called Saxeten (I would guess the canyoning-part of the tour took almost two hours).

Very, very fun! :)

After this exciting trip I headed back to the hotel for some blogwriting, reading - and fooding.

Thursday August 8th

Today I went to Grindelwald for my last Bond location for this trip.

This is a small scene, where Bond if hunted by SPECTRE, but run into Tracy at the ice skating rink.

I did find the place where the skating rink was (with Hotel Regina in the background) - joyness!

Unfortunate the other part of the scene where Bond runs past Hotel Oberland can not be copied.

Apperently the Oberland building has been teared down and it's now a smaller building containing a sports shop:

After this I went back to Lauterbrunnen.
And since it has been raining most of day - and I am all out of plans - I am going to stay in my hotel room the rest of the day and read.
It is vacation after all...  :)

Friday August 9th

Time to go home.

I went up early to catch the 07:33 train to Zürich Airport.
At the gate, I apparently had the company of the whole Juventus football team (not that I am interested in football, but others might).

I flew to Düsseldorf where I had a five hour layover, but then I was on my way home to dear old Gothenburg.

It's always nice to be home again, but this vacation was superb. I want to go back!

A Bondian Summery

It was amazing.
It was fun.
It was overwhelming.
It was beautiful.
It was amazing (did I mention this?).


My travels are usually pretty good - but this was one of the best (so far =)

It started out as a pure James Bond-trip, but a lot of other things got into the mix as well.
The most memorable being of course Schilthorn/Piz Gloria, the amazing performance at Bregenz Seebühne - and perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever been to; Lauterbrunnental.


As for the Bondian stuff; I have "always" wanted to go to Schilthorn - and finally I did.
Getting to Bregenz was a fun diversion (but a no-brainer when I realized it wasn't that much a detour).

But I did have some considerations before making this trip; should I really do it in the summer?
Bond was there in the winter! Everything should be more "authentic" with snow around! And I could get some skiing going, which is always fun!
Afterwards, I think I can say I did the right thing. The Alps are beautiful in the winter; but wow - it's more so in the summer.
Another concern was where to stay to have the best access to the things on my ToDo-list. Again, Lauterbrunnen proved being the perfect choice (which was mostly luck and less planning).
The other villages I considered would have meant more travelling to see it all. Lauterbrunnen was smack in the middle of it. And it was a very nice village too! :)


So... what should you see if you ever get here?
Well, if you like Bond, Schilthorn is a must. If you are a crazed fan like me, the place where Bond tried to call London is the least you should do (it's on the other side of the road from Hotel Staubach in Lauterbrunnen).
Non-Bondrelated stuff I recommend here is of course Jungfraujoch. The train ride, the view (or so I am told...) and the Eispalats was really worth the trip up there.
Also you should check out the Trümmelbachfälle.


So what did all this cost?
About 16,500 SEK (around 1800 EUR).
I must say, although not cheap, it was slightly less than expected - considering I was on a fancy opera and did a lot of train travelling back and forth during my six days abroad.



Oh, and did I mention that Lauterbrunnental was beautiful and you should go there?

You really should.

How the The 7s came to be - and transformed itself to The 21s

I have had an idea for a new Travel ToDo List for a while now; "The New Seven Wonders of the World" (there is only one wonder remaining of the Ancient World; the Pyramids - and I have been there).

The seven wonders are the Great Wall of China (already on my B-list!), Petra (Jordan) , Christ the Redeemer (Brazil), Machu Picchu (Peru), Chichen Itza (Mexico), Colosseum (Italy - I have already been there, but will probably revisit it) and Taj Mahal (India).


I pondered this back and forth for a long while, but eventually I agreed with myself - and decided to do it!!


However once I had made this decision, I started reading more about the wonders - and how the new list came to be.
Apparently an organization (The New7Wonders Foundation) set out with a list of 200 potential wonders and made a shortlist of 21.
Then the people of the world would vote for their favourite. The top seven monuments got on the list.

So here began my concerns... A popularity contest?

I read further and saw that some countries didn't care at all about this contest, some openly criticized it - while other countries forcefully helped out (realizing that being on this list would no doubt result in an extra flood of tourists).
I read about Brazil opening up toll free numbers you could use to "Vote for Christ" - and sending out text messages to all citizens reminding them to vote.
I read rumours about Jordan producing 14 million votes on Petra - which is impressing from a country with a population less than 7 million.

I didn't like what I read at all - it didn't feel like a "real" list - I wanted a list made by experts, dagnamit!!

So what to do?


I began to read about the shortlist of 21 monuments and which monuments was on there.
I realized that I had already seen some of them (Big Ben, Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower). Some I had already plans on visiting (Red Square and Stonehenge). And some I had been thinking of visiting some time in the future (Ankor Wat and Hagia Sophia).

So here my mind started to write checks my body might not be able to cash.
Should I really do this?
After some battling within my mind I decided; what the heck, why not?!


So this is the official post:

I am going to see all 21 monuments that was presented as candidates for the New Seven Wonders of the World.


The list is of The 21s:

Great Wall of China (China)
Petra (Jordan)
Christ the Redeemer (Brazil)
Machu Picchu (Peru)
Chichen Itza (Mexico)
Colosseum (Italy)
Taj Mahal (India)
- - - - - - - - - - -
Acropolis of Athens (Greece)
Alhambra (Spain)
Angkor Wat (Cambodia)
Big Ben (England)
Eiffel Tower (France)
Hagia Sophia (Turkey)
Kiyomizu-dera (Japan)
Moai (Easter Island, Chile)
Neuschwanstein (Germany)
Red Square (Russia)
Statue of Liberty (USA)
Stonehenge (England)
Sydney Opera House (Australia)
Timbuktu (Mali)



Fun times! :)

Thursday April 25th

Vienna Calling

I have one final item on my "Travel To Do - A List" - and it's about time to finish that list off.
Today I am heading for Vienna (or Venice as it's apperently called in Swedish), a city I wanted to visit for some time now - not sure why, but I have the feeling it's a city worth checking out.
I flew there via Berlin and got to Vienna International Airport in the afternoon.
I choose not to take the speedtrain (City Airport Train), instead I took the ÖBB, which turned out to be a bus. It was about half the price, with not much loss in time (although the traffic stretched that time a bit).
But it wasn't really that bad and I finally got to Vienna (the stop was called Schwedenplatz so that's not bad either).

It's really hot here, around 27 degrees. I didn't expect that (my bad). I probably should have brought some shorts with me.

I then took the U-Bahn to Stephanplatz, where my hotel was. I didn't find my hotel right away so I walked around the Stephanskirchen (which is located in the middle of Stephanplatz)

After walking 358 degrees around it; I found my hotel (which was simply called "Hotel am Stephansplatz").
It was a nice hotel, very much into eco, fair trade and similar things - I like.
I got room 303, which looked like this:

I can even see Stephenkirchen from my window.  :)
I didn't stay long, instead I walked out again, looking for:
1) A tourist information, which I could collect different leaflets and
2) a restaurant to eat and look through the leaflets mentioned in 1)

I found both and start looking for things to see I didn't already have on my list while I was eating my wiener schnitzel (what else?). I also had the Austrian version of potato salad, which wasn't that nice. But always fun to try.
After the stomach was satisfied, I went to see my first tourist-thing.
And I might be the first tourist ever in Vienna to start with this one; the Gasometers.
The Gasometers are old gas tanks (four of them) which is now converted to a mall + offices and apartments (at least it looked like it).
It was also the site where General Koskov was taken in the Bond movie 'The Living Daylights' to be put in a Harrier aircraft and whooshed away to England after escaping from Russia.





I couldn't quite make out the angles from the movie, since it was filmed in the dark (or more likely had a "night-filter" on the cameras), but I did easily recognize the buildings.

So the experience was a good one, but far from orgasmic.
I hope to do better at the next location I'll be visiting.

After I was done at the Gasometers, I walked around a little in Vienna and stopped by the hotel for a bit before I went out for some dinner.

Now I am tired, I need to get ready for more walking tomorrow.
Good night!

Friday April 26th

Woke up around 8am. Had some breakfast and made myself ready for yet another day here in Vienna.

It didn't take long after I'd left the hotel that I realized it's going to be another hot day. Sun was really burning within minutes - and this was at 9am!

Anyway; first thing on the list today was to visit Schönbrunn Schloss.

It's a nice place to see - and a small scene from 'The Living Daylights' were shot here - and I found the exact spot. :)

After this joyous start of the day I went to the Tiergarten, which is on the premises of Schönbrunn. That fact - and that the zoo is apparently the oldest zoo in the world, were two reasons I didn't really had high expectations. I though it would be along the lines on Central Park Zoo in New York.

But boy, was I wrong. It was actually very big - and one of the best zoos I have ever been to!
I highly recommend it if you ever go to Vienna.

The had a rain forest house (similar to the Universeum in Gothenburg, just slightly better) which was nice.

There were a room with bats and I went to check it out. And discovered that there were no cage - they were flying freely in there!
I will never again make fun of someone who is panicking over bats!
After the initial chock left me though, it was quite interesting to stand there with bats flying around my head.

Other animals at the zoo!

Giraffes:

Hippopotamus:

Tigers:

Ant eaters:

And the cutest picture of the day, a sleeping koala bear:



After a few hours at the Tiergarten, I walked to the Technical Museum, mainly to see their Robot Exhibition!

They had other fun stuff as well; I especially liked their experiments they've set up so you could play with. :)


After this I headed back to the city of Vienna again and tried the Butterfly House!
Why not, heh? (maybe one of the reason was that "Schmetterling" must be the most beautiful word in the German language).

I paid my 6 EUR, went in - and melted away. It was hot like an oven in there - but during the few minutes I could stand it, I did see some nice butterflies. :)

There is one small, small scene in 'The Living Daylights' where I had no clue where it was:

Luckily the tourist information could help me out and directed me to the Maria-Theresien Platz, where I found it:

Pretty good, right? :)

This was just next to the Museum of Natural History so I went in there.
They had one of the "Body Worlds Exhibitions"which is always interesting. I did see one, a long time ago in North Carolina, but I didn't mind looking at it again. And this one had the poker playing bodies featured in the Bond movie "Casino Royale"! Bliss! :D

The rest of the museum was also good, they even had a moving dinosaur - which moved pretty good (it wasn't like other horrible mock ups I've seen before).

But as always in these museums, the parts with "exotic animals" aren't really that exciting any longer since you have seen many of them alive.
Heck, I saw most of them alive earlier today at Tiergarten!


Anyhow, heading towards the hotel now to relax before heading to the Prater tonight, I went into the National Liberty - one of the most beautiful libraries in the world (I am just guessing about that part, but I have never seen anything like this before:

In the evening (around 6pm) I went to the Prater, which is an amusement park in Vienna. It's open 24/7 and the entrance is free.

Of course I wanted to go there to check it out, but it was also a place where Bond and Kara went in 'The Living Daylights'.
One scene I never thought I would find in real life was when Bond and Kara just arrived in Vienna:

But, by accident, I walked out of the underground through a side passage and what do I see when I reach ground level? This:

Lucky me! :)

And then I walked into Prater.

Walking around there I realized that while the park is owned by the city, all the rides, games and restaurants seemed to be owned by privates companies. The state of them differed, some were really run down and some were brand new. Several houses and lots were closed. When I was there, there were almost no visitors at all in outer parts of the park (although they did contain rides) so those are apparently not very good places to set up your business.

I planned to find the rides that Bond and Kara took during their visit, but it was very hard to find them. I guess they were all redesigned or replaced in the 30 years it has been since the movie was made (and I guess that really is a good thing).

I did find two things though - at least I think this might be the monster that scared Kara:

Today:

And also the Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel) is still there of course:

I did go up in it (and looked down, just as in the movie) and it was a really nice ride.
Movie:

Me:

What other rides did they have then?

Well, it was this scary one, called Black Mamba:

See that little carriage way up there? There's people on it. And it turns up side down, while the big arm (the mamba I presume) goes round and round...
I did not go on that one.


Another one was the Praterturm; a "normal" chairoplane (Swedish: slänggunga):

It's the highest chairoplane in the world. It's 117 meter high. That is an insane amount of meters when it comes to chairoplanes.
I did not go on this one either.




What I did try though, was the "Volare", a roller coaster in which you ride vertically - you lie down the whole ride.
It wasn't too bad of a ride, although my head kept banging into the side of the carriage all the time when it twisted and turned.

Before I left the Prater I ate a pizza at the Pizzeria L'inconto. The pizza was good, the service was not.

Got home around 10 and am still writing this at 1am. Soon time for bed.

[update: publishing this at 3am - writing these blogs takes time!]