Ten things I learned in Bern and Küsnacht…

Featured photo is of the train as we left Bern…

Now that I’ve finished writing my exhaustive and detailed blow by blow of our trip to Switzerland, it’s time to write my usual ten things I learned post. I like to make these posts for those who just want a quick summary of our trips. They’re also kind of fun to write, and a nice way to sum up our travels. So, here goes…

10. If there is a heat wave threatening, reconsider traveling by train!

We got home last Saturday by the grace of God! A week ago, temperatures were north of 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately, our train was only about 12 or 13 minutes delayed. Other travelers were not as lucky. We’ve heard stories of people in East Germany and outside of Paris who were stranded for hours. Extreme heat affects train travel, and can turn your ride home into a nightmare. It turned out fine for us this time, but it could have been a real disaster. It’s best to leave in the coolness of the morning hours, if you must travel by train when it’s very hot.

9. Bern has an astronomical clock that was influenced by Prague’s astronomical clock!

Bern’s astronomical clock, located on the Zytglogge, is a centerpiece in the city. Prague’s clock, Orloj, is a bit older, as it dates from 1410. However, the clock in Bern has a mechanical system that still functions as it did in 1530.

8. You can easily go swimming in Swiss lakes and rivers!

Switzerland is very friendly to those who like taking a dip. We visited Lake Zürich and the Aare River, and we noticed both bodies of water hosted eager swimmers who sought to cool off from the blazing sun. I waded into the Aare River, wishing I had a swimsuit on. When we went to Lake Zürich, I enjoyed the lake every day! There are some areas that are privately owned and offer facilities, but I also noticed plenty of public areas, especially at the lake! You don’t have to pay at the public areas, but there also aren’t any facilities like changing rooms or lockers.

7. Tina Turner was a big fan of Rico’s cosi, and was a regular patron there, when she was still alive.

Bill and I dined at Rico’s cosi when we visited Küsnacht. The next day, I heard a woman covering Tina Turner, and remembered that Tina lived in Küsnacht for years. I ran across an article in People Magazine, and the owner of Rico’s was quoted. He said she was a friend, lived about 100 yards from the restaurant, and used to dine there all the time!

6. This cool Parmesan grinder is apparently only available in Switzerland… bummer. 🙁

*I hope to buy one on a future trip to Die Schweiz.*

5. Bern has a special relationship with bears. They even have cute little almond flavored cakes shaped like them!

*This one was a parting gift from our hotel, when we checked out.*

4. The Sonne Seehotel is NOT air conditioned. In fact, air conditioning is very rare in Switzerland.

This is actually not something I necessarily learned on this trip. I knew air conditioning was rare there before we went to Switzerland. However, air conditioning is especially uncommon in Switzerland, even though it is not outright banned. You can read about why by clicking this link to an article about the politics of air conditioning in Switzerland. Personally, I think they are soon going to have to change their ways. The hot weather is getting more severe every summer. Fortunately, the lakes and rivers are nice and cold.

3. I really like fregola sarda. I also like Risoni.

When we visited Zimmermania for my birthday, I chose a fish dish that offered fregola sarda as a side. I didn’t know what fregola sarda was until two weeks ago. I now know it’s a type of semolina pasta from Sardinia. It looks like large, pearl-like couscous, although I enjoyed it a lot more than couscous. The pasta has a nutty flavor that marries well with fish!

I also tried Risoni with my perlhühn dish at the Pavilion Restaurant at the Sonne Seehotel. Risoni is the Italian name for orzo pasta. It looks like grains of rice. In the United States, the pasta is called “orzo”, but in Italy, it’s called Risoni, which means barley.

I’m going to have to see if I can buy some of both of these pastas. I really loved them… especially the fregola sarda.

*The little round balls are fregola sarda.*

2. Sometimes less expensive restaurants offer much better dining experiences…

Dining at moderately priced Falken, and then dining at expensive Rico’s cosi, makes me realize that one doesn’t have to spend a lot of money for great service and good food. While Falken isn’t a cheap restaurant at all, we’ve been there twice and, both times, left there very satisfied. And it was significantly cheaper than Rico’s cosi, which is much vaunted, and priced accordingly. I didn’t necessarily learn this truism just on this trip… but it was definitely driven home by our different experiences at these two restaurants.

And finally, 1. It pays to double check a city’s event schedule when you decide to visit.

In Bern, there was a city party going on over the weekend of my birthday. I love a good party, but the city fest kept us awake at night. If I had known that event was going on, I think I would have chosen to go somewhere else and saved Bern for a different time.

Of course, this isn’t the first time something like that has happened to us. In 2019, Bill and I decided to go to Inverness, Scotland to meet a cruise. We stopped in Edinburgh, on the way… completely unaware that we booked during their annual Fringe celebration. The city was a total madhouse. The Fringe made our hotel very expensive and uncomfortable. I would definitely not want to do that again, even though the Fringe was interesting. Moral of the story– ALWAYS check to see what’s “on” in a city you’re visiting. I like a good party as much as anyone does, but I also like to sleep at night.

So that about does it for our latest visit to Switzerland. I will be writing another post later about last night’s wine stand!

adventure, C.G. Jung, Lakes

Older and wiser in Die Schweiz… (part nine)

On Tuesday, we had plans to visit what I now believe is my favorite restaurant in Küsnacht, Falken. We went there last fall, and they served a soup as an amuse bouche that I couldn’t stop talking about for weeks!

In terms of his classes, Bill told me they would be less intense. He’d be done with them by about 5:30 or so, and then we’d go have dinner at 7:00 PM. Of course, we started our day off with breakfast, where I tried Eggs Benedict, and Bill had something whose name I can’t remember right now… I know I didn’t want it, because I think it had truffles in it. I’ll ask him what it was, later. He said it was his favorite breakfast item. Edited to add: it was called the Amer Ritter— brioche, ham, egg yolks, and truffles.

The photo on the far right is the chilled egg salad we skipped on Monday. I’m glad I got to try it. It was delicious and refreshing. I want to make it at home, now! The three tiered etagé, is also in the photo.

After breakfast, we parted ways. I did some writing, and then headed down to the lakeside for a peaceful afternoon. If I recall correctly, pretty much nobody annoying was in the “beach” area, except for me. But the hotel staff did put up a curtain that blocked off a large portion of the garden. They had a private event.

The one visit I remember, besides the swans that showed up after my brief swim, was the Stadt Zürich steamboat. I made a video for my husband’s daughter. Bill and I took a long lake cruise on her sister, Stadt Rapperswil, last fall! I didn’t see the Stadt Rapperswil last week. Maybe she’s in “dry dock”.

She was built in 1909!

Check out these swans. I hear they mate for life. I tried to get good photos, but I was too lazy to get up and take proper shots…

I worked on reading Entitled all day, sharing some of the most shocking passages with Facebook friends. Former Prince Andrew and his ex wife, Sarah Ferguson, really are pieces of work, even if Andrew Lownie’s book is only half true!

After a few peaceful, idyllic hours spent by the lake, watching birds and fish, I headed up to the room to wait for Bill. Then, once he arrived, we got changed and walked to the restaurant, which is located in the actual town area of Küsnacht. It’s maybe ten minutes away, if you walk slowly, like I do.

We were seated outside. There was a young couple with a very friendly and cool dog. Just after we sat down, an American woman sat near us. She turned out to be a fellow Jung Institute student who had traveled from the Dallas area of Texas. We didn’t speak to her, but Bill later saw her in one of his classes. She spoke of her fears that after the Trump regime ends, there will be a lot of traumatized people, and not enough people to counsel them!

An English speaking Italian couple sat at the table next to ours. They, too, were from the Institute, although I think one of them might have been an instructor. They kept looking over at us curiously. I don’t know if it was because they wondered if we were going to the Jung Institute, or they were just impressed by what we ordered.

In any case, the amuse was once again delicious. This time, it was a soup made with parsnips. I have developed a real fondness for parsnips since I’ve been living in Europe again!

Bill had the special soup, which was made with saffron. I went with a salad that had chopped eggs, bacon, Italian vinaigrette, Parmesan cheese, and Iceberg lettuce. I kind of wish I’d gotten one of the soups on the menu, instead. I don’t usually like salads that much, but I thought I’d prefer something cool. In retrospect, I might have preferred gazpacho, or even the coconut lemongrass soup.

Bill had sea bass (Wolfbarsch) for his main course, while I went with three varieties of ravioli. I almost didn’t choose the ravioli, because one of the varieties was made with veal, and I don’t like to eat veal if I can avoid it. But most of the ravioli was vegetarian, with lime or spinach fillings.

Then, for dessert, we had what we had during our first visit– Crema Catalana for me, and cassata for Bill. The Crema Catalana is a lot like creme brûlée, except it’s lighter and thickened differently. It was delicious! Bill loved the cassata, too. There were other desserts that were appealing, but they were the kinds of things one can get at a lot of restaurants. I haven’t run across many places that have Crema Catalana or cassata.

Then we finished up with a Hennessy brandy for me, and a grappa for Bill… just because we enjoy that restaurant so much!

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and decided to enjoy another glimpse of the lake… I got a few photos of the walk back. I’m sure it’s not easy for the locals living in Küsnacht, especially at this time of year. The big signs warning against noise and littering cracked me up. They like to discourage the riffraff from acting up!

That about does it for Tuesday, June 23rd. It wasn’t a super exciting day, but I did enjoy the relaxing lake, and the rest I got from hanging out by the lake.

C.G. Jung, short breaks

Ten things I learned in Küsnacht…

Featured photo is of that amazing soup we had at Falken last week. I need to seek out a recipe for that. It was a mind blower!

It might not be easy to come up with ten things I learned in Küsnacht, since it is a part of Zürich, and this was our third trip to that city since 2021. But, I’m going to do my best, because people seem to like these quick and dirty wrap ups of our travels. So here goes…

10. Sonne Hotel is very convenient to the C.G. Jung Institute.

When Bill and I visited Zürich over the summer, we looked into book the Sonne Hotel, since it was so highly recommended by others. It was booked solid! But now that we’ve stayed there, I know firsthand how easy it is to walk to the Institute. Tina Turner’s former estate, Villa Algonquin, is also very close!

9. The Junior Suite at the Sonne Hotel is huge, and offers lovely views of Lake Zürich.

I’m glad I sprang for that room, if only so I could watch the boats on the lake. I could have sat in that room all day and watched activity on the lake and the changing weather. I don’t think I would have ever gotten bored.

8. The Stadt Rapperswil steamboat is worth the price of admission.

When we decided to take our lake cruise last week, we didn’t know that we would be on the Stadt Rapperswil, which is a steamboat that was built in 1914. It was really fun to take that particular vessel around the lake. I also thought it was more comfortable, because instead of hard plastic chairs, there were wooden benches to sit on. But it’s not a shuttle boat, so if you just want to go from point A to point B, you should take a shuttle boat.

7. Sometimes being a go-getter pays off!

Both Bill and the dark haired lady at our hotel showed me that sometimes in life, you just need to go for it! Exciting things can happen that will change your life.

6. Küsnacht is relatively peaceful.

Compared to Seefeld, where we stayed over the summer, Küsnacht is like an oasis of calm. I noticed there was a lot of traffic there, but it wasn’t nearly as noisy!

5. It’s fun to have a boat stop right outside of your hotel.

I loved that we could hop on and off the boats right outside our hotel. Talk about convenient!

4. Falken is currently my favorite restaurant in Küsnacht.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal at this restaurant, which is within a six minute walk of the Sonne Hotel. I learned what Cassata and Crema Catalana are, and now I want to learn how to make creamy red pepper based soup that tastes of nachos…

3. Don’t try to smuggle meat, tobacco, or booze into Switzerland.

We weren’t trying to do that, but we’ve heard horror stories of people who were caught doing it. And we were stopped by a border guard on the way in, wanting to know if we had any contraband.

2. If you dine in Switzerland, you will be able to tell where everything you eat was sourced.

I noticed on all the menus, there were notes about where everything came from. Perhaps your fish was from Germany, or you ordered a steak from Ireland. I guess that’s a local law. Maybe it has to do with this…

And 1., Every time I go back to Switzerland, I like it a little bit more.

The first time I visited Switzerland, back in 2008, I didn’t really like it that much. I thought it was clean and beautiful, but something about it seemed a bit soulless. But since then, I’ve been back a bunch of times, and every time I go back, it appeals more to me. Maybe it has to do with having a lot more money now than we did in 2008… But then, I guess the C.G. Jung Institute might change that for us… not to mention the U.S. government.

Well, that about does it for my Küsnacht series. I did enjoy visiting Switzerland again. I have a feeling I’ll be getting to know it even better, if things go the way they look like they’re going. But we’ll see what happens. For now, I’m grateful for the memories of this past trip, and the beautiful photos and videos I managed to take, not to mention the people we met and the smiles we enjoyed. There seemed to be even more smiles than ever this time. I hope it’s a good omen.

Thanks for reading!

C.G. Jung, short breaks

Four nights of “Sonne” in Switzerland… (part four)

By Saturday morning, I was starting to look forward to going home. But we still had a full day in Switzerland and no big plans for how to spend the time. Bill said the weather would probably be turning later in the day, but on Saturday morning, it was sunny and temperate.

We went down to breakfast and sat in the first dining room, as the breakfast area was full of people. Obviously, Friday was a big day for people checking in, as the room was bustling! The family with the German Shorthaired Pointer was also there. I got a kick out of the “grandpa”, a funky guy maybe Bill’s age, who was rocking red socks and bright orange shoes. Once again, I admired their beautiful dog, who was lying on the floor near their table. We heard him and another dog before we went down to eat. Later, we saw the family with a Schnauzer, who I guess wasn’t as laid back as their GSP was.

The table where we sat wasn’t the best, since people kept coming in and out. But at least no one slammed into my back, and I didn’t have to look at myself in the mirror!

After breakfast, we decided we’d just hop on a boat and take another boat cruise. Yes, it’s true that we took a boat cruise when we visited in July, but I really didn’t feel like going into the city and pounding the pavement. I wasn’t in the mood for crowds. Given that the boat stop was just outside the hotel’s doors, it was just too perfect to get on a long lake cruise and take photos. So, that’s what we did… but the coolest thing about that decision was that we took the 12:47 cruise from Küsnacht, and it wasn’t like the last boat we were on. We lucked into taking the 100 year old steamboat “Stadt Rapperswil”. In almost all ways, it was better than the last lake cruise we took, back in early July.

A short video showing the machinery of the boat, as well as a later boat in the swells of the lake during a storm!

I took some photos on our four hour cruise, which started and ended at the Küsnacht stop, rather than Bürkliplatz, which is the big pier near the inner city of Zürich. While we were waiting for our boat to arrive at 12:47, we noticed the dark haired lady from breakfast. I don’t think she saw us.

There was also an American couple, the female half wearing a Budapest sweatshirt. When we got on the boat, she annoyed the purser by asking if they could get off in one stop, as they wanted to go to Zürich. What they’d hoped for was a shuttle boat going to the city, but they got on the long cruise going to Rapperswil, instead. The guy was willing to work with them, but I could tell he was irritated as we paid our first class fares. This cost about 86 francs (for both of us), but it was basically a pass for ALL boats and trains until 5AM Sunday morning.

The below photos were taken before the weather turned to shit. We had lunch onboard. I made the mistake of having a burger, which I didn’t enjoy, as it didn’t taste like the Angus beef it was supposed to be. I think Bill had a salad. I wish I had, too. At least the fries were good. I didn’t finish the burger. The Stadt Rapperswil was much more comfortable than the other boat we were on, back in July. I really liked the bench seating.

We were getting close to Küsnacht when it started to sprinkle. We responded by moving inside, sitting at the end of the dining area with a half liter of white wine. Looks like Halloween is catching on in Switzerland, as there’s a costume party planned for the boat…

We made dinner reservations for a restaurant in Küsnacht called Falken. To be honest, I kind of wasn’t in the mood to go there. The weather was bad, and I was kind of wanting to just spend a quiet evening in… But, as it turned out, Falken was a really excellent restaurant, well worth the trip in the rain. By the time we started walking there– maybe about a six minute walk from the hotel– the rain had mostly ended.

It’s good that we made reservations, because the restaurant was pretty full, a good sign of its quality. And Bill and I both really enjoyed the food. He had scallopine with a light port sauce and a side of roasted potatoes, and I had chicken with lemon and garlic and a side of herbed risotto. I loved the “amuse” they sent out, a rich, creamy red pepper soup that had kind of a “nacho” flavor. I’d love to learn how to make it for the rainy, cold weather that is coming soon. And the best part of the meal was dessert– Crema Catalana for me, and Cassata with maraschino for Bill. Falken was definitely my favorite of the restaurants we visited on this trip.

We finished up dinner at a reasonable time and walked back to the hotel. Then we got into bed and listened to a video made by Bill’s daughter. We responded to her while in bed– at about 9:30 PM– and then enjoyed our final slumber at Hotel Sonne.

The next post will be the last one of this series, and it will include the story of the most “surreal” thing that happened on this trip!

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: Falken

Ten things I learned in Bern and Küsnacht…

Older and wiser in Die Schweiz… (part nine)

Ten things I learned in Küsnacht…

Four nights of “Sonne” in Switzerland… (part four)