Love & Light and everything bright...

FROM MAUI, HAWAII

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Touring the Dolomites, Austria, Lichtenstein... Back in Zurich

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ZURICH, Sep 20 - We had originally intended to return back to Zurich via Milan, Lugano (on Lake Como) and through southern Switzerland.  But a business friend of mine from New York, whose was born and raised in Bolzano in the Dolomites (the mountain range between Italy and Austria), suggested his home town is a "must visit" place.  So after weighing pros and cons of our driving options, Elizabeth and I decided to forget Milan and Lugano and head straight north from Verona (see the above map).

It was a beautiful drive on a gorgeous morning.  The farther into the mountains we got, the clearer the air and the more scenic the views.

One thing that surprised us was how many vineyards were clinging to steep mountain slopes at relatively high elevations (left).  But I guess the days are warm and the nights cool, which is typically what they need to produce good wine grapes.

Bolzano

Bolzano (Bozen in German) is a scenic city of about 100,000 mostly German-speaking people nestled on the banks of the river Etsch.  Up until the end of World War I, it was a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.  But since Italy fought with the Allies in that world war against Austria and Germany, it annexed that region of former southern Austria as sort of a war booty.  Yet, even after almost a century later, one still hears mostly German spoken in Bolzano streets.

We took the above photos in the town's center - Walther Square, with a statue of Walther von der Vogelweide, a German minstrel - for the benefit of my friend Erich.  The Bolzano Cathedral, also a part of the town center, was originally built in the 12th century and completed in the 14th.  Alas, such work is never really finished.  As you can see, the Cathedral is undergoing yet another renovation right now.

Just as we started to take these pictures, the bells of the ancient cathedral started to belt out an invitation to a Sunday service.  They were the loudest church bells I have ever heard.  Check it out...

  Bolzano Church Bells, recorded by Bob Djurdjevic (Sep 20, 2009) (0:49 min)

Later, we also attended a part of the Sunday church service there (right).

One of the "must visit" places in Bolzano, according to my friend Erich, is the Restaurant Kaiserkron ("Emperor's Crown" in English translation  above left).  It took us a while to find it, even though it is close to the main town square.  Alas, it was closed on this Sunday morning.  So we just took a picture of it (left) and sent it to my friend.   Along the way, though, Elizabeth did find an interesting Christmas tree design in one of the shop windows that she said she might emulate at our home in Hawaii (right).

Innsbruck, Austria

Beautiful mountain scenery continued as we drove from Bolzano to Innsbruck (Austria)...

We decided to stop and check out another Alpine city that has hosted two Winter Olympics (in 1964 and 1976).  We found the center of Innsbruck in a carnival-like atmosphere.

After finally finding a parking space, we looked across the river where the crowd seemed to be gathering.  We also heard the sounds of military bands playing "um-pa-pa" music.  Check it out...

  Innsbruck Military Parade - recorded by Bob Djurdjevic (Sep 20, 2009) (1:00 min)

As we crossed the bridge and started to mingle with the crowds, I asked two Austrian cops what kind of a festival this was.  They said it was honoring the Austrian defense forces.

You can see them displaying the colors in the two left shots.   But our priorities were a little different.  Being lunchtime, we crossed the street to another part of the square where a free-wheeling market was taking place...

... and the bratwursts were sizzling.  After lunch, we took a few more pictures of this pretty city and headed west, toward Switzerland...

... enjoying the pretty mountain scenery along the way.

Lichtenstein

Somewhere along the way, right after Feldkirch (above right), we crossed from Austria into Lichtenstein. 

As has been the case with all international borders so far, there were no immigration of customs controls here, either, just a sign reminding the travelers of an Old Europe whose time has passed.  Only the  black car license plates (middle left) and the red-and-blue flag (middle right) would hint to a visitor they were in another country.

Otherwise, the scenery in Lichtenstein was the same as that in Austria or Switzerland.  European borders, over which so many wars have been fought in the past, are now completely open. 

As I gazed at the mountain ranges around us, I contemplated the irony that the U.S.-centric so-called "New World Order" (NWO) has brought about.  America, once the "land of the free," now has immigration and customs controls that are as tight as even the defunct Soviet Union.  Sadly, that's the case even with borders between us and our northern neighbor, Canada, the frontier that had been as open once as the European borders are today. 

I felt saddened to see symbols of autocratic regimes gradually shift from east to west and wrest the freedoms away from a nation that once championed the idea to the world.  It's even sadder that our fellow citizens seem blithely unaware of the major shift that has taken place in their lives in the last 20 years since the fall of the Berlin wall.  Which is exactly what the American "ruling class" (NWO) wanted to achieve with their "Dumbing Down of America" policies (published as my 1997 Washington Times column "Dancing 'Round the Golden Calf" warning about it).

Back in Switzerland

Soon we were back in Switzerland.  Beautiful vistas that surrounded us quickly replaced the geopolitical thoughts that clouded my mind for a few minutes.  What you're seeing above is the scenery around Walensee, another pretty lake that lies on the eastern approaches to Zurich (see the map at the top of this story).

After a few more cow pastures, that finally gave Elizabeth a chance to photograph some Swiss cows, a prelude to Swis cheese :-), we returned to our point of origin - Zurich.

After checking into our airport hotel (left), we took a train to downtown Zurich and the lake.  It was a lovely late afternoon.

Unlike the last time we were here when the weather was sort of gloomy, we found hordes of people milling around the lakeshore's boardwalks.  And then, implausibly as it seemed given our location, I heard the sound of Peruvian flutes.

"That's Inca music," I said to Elizabeth excitedly even before I could see the musicians (top right).

   Zurich Peruvian Music, Part 1, recorded by Bob Djurdjevic (Sep 20, 2009) (1:05 min)

  Zurich Peruvian Music, Part 2 - recorded by Bob Djurdjevic (Sep 20, 2009) (0:37 min)

And that's all she wrote from our 10th day in Europe, the last full day before flying back to the U.S. (New York).

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