VWs at GI

We visited Governors Island this past weekend, the weather was great in the shade. Went to see the Volkswagen Traffic Jam a Classic VW car show, a Civil War encampment and a Contemporary Classical concert. The Volkswagens were great to see, the Civil War dudes put on a great show, but the concert was just not our cuppa tea.

When I was growing up, we had a red VW Beetle, we had purchased it from my uncle's neighbor, had it for a few years and now another uncle has it rusting away in his backyard. As it turns out my spouse of almost 30 years also had a VW beetle in her family while growing up. Seems like almost everyone I mentioned the VW car show to either had one or had a friend who owned one.

The show had most models present, but I did not notice any squarebacks(station wagon) or fastbacks.

Dune Buggies

The classic fiberglass body version

Dual Cab

Karmann Ghia

Beetles
 

Camper

Travel? Why not! The Glacier Express

The Glacier Express is a Swiss Rail Journey between St. Moritz and Zermatt that takes about 8 hours. The official Glacier Express description is as follows, "It is a day trip through untouched mountain landscapes, glamorous health resorts, deep gorges, delightful valleys, 91 tunnels and across 291 impressive bridges." We have traveled to Switzerland before and I can attest to the beauty of the Swiss landscape, towns and villages. A short version of the Glacier Express can be chosen, leaving from Chur instead of St. Moritz, but why cheat yourself. Seat reservations are required and food is available at your seat or in the dining car.

Altitude Profile

The Glacier Express runs summer and winter except from October 31 through December 10. The Non-Express version of this trip would involve up to 3 changes, non-stop is more relaxing.

I would travel from St. Moritz to Zermatt and spend an additional day in Zermatt. I have visited Zermatt before, but would like to go back.

Travel

• 8 hours non-stop, NYC to Zurich Airport.
• 20 minutes Zurich Airport to Zurich.
• 3 1/2 hours from Zurich to St. Moritz via rail. (change at Chur)
• 8 hours Glacier Express (9AM-5PM winter and summer)
• 3 1/2 hours Zermatt to Zurich airport via rail. (change at Visp)

Geneva could be an alternative gateway city, but is 6 hours from St. Moritz, so an option would be to fly into Zurich and fly out of Geneva.
Departure times of the Glacier Express make it a prerequisite to spend the previous evening in either St. Moritz or Zermatt.

Sights

Zurich - Largest Swiss City.
The Zurich Card provides free public transport and free access to all museums for just 20 Swiss Francs for a 24 hour period.

• Zurich Succulent Plant Collection (Free, 9AM - 4:30PM daily)
• Botanic Garden
• Uetliberg - Mountain look out, access from Zurich via the S10 train
• Swiss National Museum (next to the Zurich Main Rail Station)
• Beyer Watch and Clock Museum
• Lake Zurich by Boat

St. Moritz - Sunny Holiday Resort

• Piz Nair, mountain views from 3057 meters, via 2 funiculars and a gondola.
  

Zermatt - Home of the Matterhorn

• Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, mountain views from 3,883 meters (3 gondolas)
• Sunnegga, mountain views via a funicular through the mountain
• Matterhorn Museum
  

Souvenirs

• Swiss Army knife
• Swiss Watch
• Swiss Chocolate
• Swiss Absinthe
• Jet Lag

World-wind Itinerary
Depart NYC PM
Day 1: Arrive Zurich, evening in St. Moritz
Day 2: Glacier Express, 9AM from St. Moritz, arrive Zermatt 5PM, transfer and sleep in Zurich.
Day 3: Depart Zurich, arrive NYC

More Relaxed 5 Day World-wind Itinerary
Depart NYC PM
Day 1: Arrive Zurich, evening in St. Moritz
Day 2: Glacier Express, 9AM from St. Moritz, arrive Zermatt 5PM, stay the night.
Day 3: Full day in Zermatt, second evening in Zermatt.
Day 4: Full day in Zurich, evening in Zurich.
Day 5: Depart Zurich AM.

All photos from the Glacier Express website.

If only he could use his talents for good and not evil

I had this big hard plastic ball that our previous dog loved to play with and which our current dog could care less about. There was a threaded 1 inch hole where one would add water or sand to slow down the speed at which the dog could bat the ball around the yard. The ball happened to be on the work bench one day and next to it was lying a threaded copper fitting that sort of fit the threaded hole in the ball, I don't always get to clean up after completing a project. So I had this idea to make a fountain. I toyed around with just placing the ball at the end of a copper pipe and connecting the hose to it. But then I bought a low flow pump and the path was paved towards building an actual fountain. For some reason I had a few of these flattened glass marbles (proper term is "glass gems") lying about and thought that they would look good affixed to the ball. So I bought a few bags from the $1 store and started gluing. I used GE Premium silicon glue. Do you know how long it takes to glue a bags worth of flattened glass marbles to a ball and how much area it covers? Answers: a long time and not much.  Do you know about this gravity thing and sloped surfaces? Well, because of that, I could only work on small sections at a time.

Here is the ball half covered in flattened glass marbles. I artfully sprayed the ball with some gold paint to give it some class. Don't worry it gets better.

Here it is viewed from the top, looks done, it wasn't.

I finally finished covering the surface of the ball and started seriously thinking about what I would use as a reservoir. And how I would support the ball over the reservoir, and run the electric. I picked up a bucket, an old chamber pot, I contemplated making a reservoir out of ferrocement, I looked at plastic tubs and even a wooden whiskey barrel. Ended up that a friend had found a fully function fountain with a sphere at the side of the road and had brought it home. Only drawback for her was that there was a leak. She offered, I did not decline, I fixed the leaks and came closer to the fountain of my dreams.
Wanting to preserve the existing sphere that came with the fountain, I looked for a platform for my flattened glass marble sphere and any other fountains of fancy I might come up with in the future. The final design decision was to use a polyethylene (PE) cutting board cut to fit the fountain opening. I did not attach the ball to the platform, just rested it in the hole I had cut, seen in the following photo. The PE was easy to work with and was plenty strong.

See the pretty ball, I had some turquoise colored rocks (from the $1 store) to spread around the base and hide the white PE base. Guess what, those bags of rocks didn't go far either.

And here it is months later, the fountain in a stop action photo.

And finally for those without an imagination or in need of a pee,  a world premier video.

July 2011

July 2011, not bad, attended 4 BBQs, only drank German Beer this month (OK had an American brew on the 4th), watched the Tour du France while drinking Pastis, watched 3 Formula 1 Grand Prix races (UK , Germany, Hungary). It was hot, it was busy work wise and I can't believe it is almost over. Only 5 weekends left in the Summer.

The only beer I have purchased and drank since we got back from our Munich/Salzburg trip has been German.

We only visited the Hofbrauhaus and the Spatenhaus in Munich. So there are plenty of Brewery Beer Halls/Gardens and other sites to see if ever I get back to Munich. The related websites for my July Beers.

Paulaner

Spaten

Weihenstephan

Hacker-Pschorr

HofBrau

Garden additions.

Delphinium - purchased at Snug Harbor plant sale, Second round of blooms. It is doing well on the south side of the house.

Mini-Coresposis - alpina 'Alba' in a trough. It seems to self seed, so far I have pulled out and discarded the new plants, but I think I may start a new cluster somewhere else on our massive estate.

Butterfly bush - pretty flower stalk, but I ain't seen no butterflies

And it is so huge that I think it will be gone soon. It just dwarfs it's fellow plants in the Peony Patch.

I have quite forgotten about rocks almost all month. Early July they were still being moved back and forth. Magically, around July 9th the rocks were moved and seem to have stayed there.

Forth

Back

July 21

July 29

It is nice not to have to worry about pulling into your driveway and hitting rocks that were not there in the morning. I'm sure the pause in rock movements is part of some sinister plot.

June Flora and Fauna

Edelweiss in trough.

Genetian Gracilipes in trough

UFO

Erodium in trough.

Phlox (2 of 5 left, planted May 2010)

Geranium cinereum 'alice'

Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

Southern Wild Turkey (Melikadrikus GruppoCampari)

Jack Daniels (Now we're talking)

Jack D Honey liqueur, on my to buy liqueur list. Will try making Mint Juleps with it and straight over ice.

Vacation Time

I don't wear a watch, I work with computers and carry a cell phone. The only time I wear a watch is on vacation and it is my dad's Timex indiglo 24 hour. Though on this trip I needn't have bothered.

 

St. Sebastian, Salzburg.  Right next door to our hotel, bells tolled every hour, but thankfully not all through the night.

 

Andrakirche seen from the Mirabel Gardens. 

 

Old Town Hall, Salzburg. 

 

 Kollegienkirche, Salzburg. 

 

Hohensalzburg Castle Courtyard, Salzburg.

 

Schloss Hellbrunn Courtyard, just outside of Salzburg, 15 minutes by bus 25.

 

St. Peter's Salzburg. 

 

Somewhere in Salzburg. 

 

Heiliggeistkirche, Munich. At the north end of the food market, didn't visit this church, but did visit the market. Wish we had a market, they had meats and cheeses and produce and juice bars and flowers and plants and a beer garden under Chestnut trees.

 

St. Peters, Munich

Glockenspiel & Clock Tower on Neues Rathaus, Munich. We caught the 5PM showing. It goes on rather long, second time around one of the knights gets de-horsed.

Theatinerkirche, across from the Residenz in Munich.

 

Frauenkirche, Munich. The other tower was shrouded in scaffolding. The bane of our Cathedral viewing vacations. 

It was a very relaxing vacation apart from worrying about transport connections and The Icelandic Ash cloud which ended up not to be an issue.