Travels with Tavish

The 25th began with a train ride from Innsbruck to Bolzano, Italy.  The last part of the train ride, as we entered Italian wine territory, was very pretty.  The tracks wove between large hills crowded with rows and rows of grapes.  Upon our arrival in Bolzano, we had a small fiasco with our accommodations; we booked a place online that was an apartment rather than a hotel (not sure how it ended up listed online).  We eventually found ourselves at the Bolzano Youth Hostel which was cheap and provided adequate amenities.  We had the best pizza of the trip (so far) at a small pizzeria near the center of town, took it to go, and ate in a park.  Gelato (for 1 Euro!) of course followed the pizza dinner. On June 26th, we embarked on a bus journey to Ortesei bound for the Dolomites.  We reached Ortesei and rode a (very expensive) cable car up to a peak called Seceda.  We hiked around the area for many hours and got some incredible views of the Dolomites...

I have not posted for a long time due to lack of computer access for the last couple weeks, but I am now back in Zurich and will post about my recent travels in two or three installments. On June 21st (feels like a really long time ago), Greg, Seth and I took the bus from Innsbruck to Mutters and hiked up to Nochspize.  The hike took about two and a half hours each way and had an elevation gain of between 700 and 800 HM (height meters).  The last segment of the hike was labeled as "for experienced hikers only" and it definitely earned its rating.  The trail was steep and gravelly and even included a couple small (5 meters long) snow fields that were yet to melt.  At the summit there was a beautiful view of the city of Innsbruck.  After traveling back to Innsbruck, we went out for a nice dinner where I had some very good Wiener Schnitzel with lingonberry jelly. The three of us commenced our hut hiking adventure in the Karwendel Mountains on June 22nd. ...

On Tuesday (6/17), we took the train from Zurich to Munich, a four hour ride.  Upon our arrival, we located our apartment we rented through Airbnb, about four stops away from downtown on public transportation.  We walked around downtown Munich to work up an appetite then had a traditional meal of bratwurst and potatoes (in the form of fries) at a beergarden in the English Garden, a huge inner-city park.  We would return to this park later in our stay. We began Wednesday with a trip to the BMW Museum.  We had high hopes, but unfortunately the museum turned out to be 80% propoganda and only 20% cars/engines.  Found on one of the informational signs: "The design of a BMW M vehicle is the perfect symbiosis of power and aesthetics.  The intense relationship between the driver, engine performance, and the road is inerpreted as pure emotion.  The result is an athletic design that embodies both the power of the engine and motorsport as a whole."  After ...

We took it easy on Saturday (6/14) after our previous long day in Luzern.  I am grateful for the opportunity to sleep in while staying in Zurich—none of us has a pressing agenda.  We spent the morning fixing Seth’s freezer.  The freezer door did not close because of a huge ice buildup (due to the door not being fully closed).  It was a vicious cycle of freezer ice.  It took almost an hour to vanquish the solid ice blocks, and now the freezer looks great.  We then took a trip to the grocery store to gather supplies for dinner including some fresh produce.  We made turkey-and-vegetable curry.  The turkey had been in the freezer for months (it was mistaken for chicken when purchased) so it was good to use it up.  The curry was really good and full of vegetables.  It was also nice to throw some fresh produce into my Swiss diet 90% composed of bread, dairy, meat, cereal, and chocolate. On Sunday (6/15) we woke up early for a hike. ...

Seth and I went on a long hike on Wednesday (6/11).  We took a train and a bus to get to the canton of Glarus, southeast of Zurich.  The hike was my most difficult hike since Glacier National Park last summer—about 1300 meters vertical.  The last portion of the hike to get to the peak of the mountain consisted of an unmarked trail.  We could not find this trail at first and instead attempted to scale the steep grass straight up the hillside.  We climbed for about twenty minutes before deciding that we could not make it to the top continuing in our current direction.  We crab-walked back down the hillside and eventually found the trail.  It was a great view from the summit.  We had a well-deserved lunch of bread, meat, cheese, and chocolate before returning to the base of the mountain.  The lake near the bus stop was chilly but we took a quick dip before heading back to Zurich. Greg Hof, a friend from Seattle that lived with Seth at UW l...

I arrived in Zurich in the early morning on Saturday (6/7).  Seth met me at the airport and we took the tram back to his apartment.  He had warned me about the Swiss food prices, but the visit to the grocery store was still shocking after traveling in India for a month.  I consumed a multitude of foods that I had barely seen for a month—milk, muesli, white bread, ham, hard cheese, mustard, and lettuce.  The food is really good and “normal,” but it remains to be seen if Swiss food can top Indian food.  In the afternoon, Seth, his friend Michael and I carried a framed double mattress from Michael’s place to Seth’s place.  This included a walk down a big hill to the station, a ride on the train, the tram, then a short walk to Seth’s apartment.  It was an adventure, and now I have a mattress.  For dinner (after a nap), we went to the Zurichsse, the lake in downtown Zurich for a swim and some bratwurst. On Sunday (6/8), Seth and I hiked in Appenz...

On Tuesday (6/3) we traveled from Kerala to Delhi.  Our flight had a layover in Mumbai, so it was a long day of travel.  For some reason, we had to go through security again upon arrival in Mumbai.  We are still unsure why, but the best explanation is that flying domestically in India is much less structured/regulated than in the US.  We took our second flight and drove to our hotel in Delhi.  On the way, we drove down the “embassy road” where we saw the embassies of many countries next to one another, including the good old US of A.  I almost went out for street food with a few friends and my professor, but he said we should not lest we get sick before seeing the Taj.  We postponed for another night and instead ate at a really good restaurant. My group toured Delhi on Wednesday (6/4).  We began by visiting Gandhi’s cremation site.  It is a simple monument, “just as Gandhi would have wanted it” according to our tour guide.  Next we...