What a beautiful photo, Suzana, You definitely found the perfect location to capture the mountain and lake setting of this wonderful golden church in Locarno. I'd love to be walking down that winding path right now!
Hello! We have been to the heartland and Locarno, two weeks in each place. We enjoyed them both. We took the bus up each of the valley's out of Locarno. We also took the lifts to the top of the mountain in Locarno. I have slide shows of all the five…
Tell us about one of your favorite places to stay on an Untour. Do you have a favorite host? Apartment? Village?
Favorite place: an incredibly charming city of Leiden.
Favorite host: Herr Tanner in Oberhofen on Lake Thun in Swiss Oberland. His house is surrounded by a bed of stones he's collected over the years hiking all over the Alps (he must have done a lot of hiking!). He wanted to make sure I take with me one stone of every color and shape. They were white, yellowish, reddish, greyish.... Each about a size of a palm. All I could think about is how heavy my suitcase is getting with each color... Now I love looking at them at home.
Do you have any special interests or hobbies that you follow when you travel?
I have a drink in bars of old European hotels. There is so much history there. (And free peanuts!). Topping the list are Hotel Adlon in Berlin, Ritz in Paris (Hemingway Bar), and Hotel Bellevue on Lake Thun in Switzerland.
When you upload photos to Untours Cafe, you are also giving Untours permission to use the photos in their promotional material (with credit to you)
I left my hat and umbrella at the ticket counter at the Interlaken train station. When I returned several hours later, they sure still had both there, but I had to pay CHF 10 to retrieve my things because they have already been processed to be sent to the central Lost and Found in Bern, and so the fee, I was told, was to cover some clerk's time for processing and 'undoing' the processing of my items.
Which Untours have you already done?
Swiss Hearltand, Swiss Oberland, Leiden
What advice would you give others considering an Untour?
I agree with you about Leiden -- it really is the perfect size. Busy enough to have a lot of restaurants, cafes, and other city stuff, but small enough get around on foot if you want to take a stroll. We especially liked the green market! I'll have to find and put up my picture of a local taking a whole herring in one bite....
In response to your comment about a friend where my name came up. Unless it specified New York, most of the hits you will get for "Jay Cloidt" are for a sound-engineer and composer in the Bay Area of California. While I believe we share a common great-great-grandfather, it sounds like it was his name and not mine that you found. It's a really rare name, but there are 2 of us in the US. Sorry I couldn't help you.
- Jay in New York
Hi Suzana, I am glad you are my friend. We had a wonderful time. My pictures are pretty elementary, but as soon as I figure out how to put them on the internet, you will understand. My title is going to be the Adventures of Gigi in Switzerland. That little dog was great....up and down those hills, ;\pulling me all the way. I am going back because we had such a good time. Ginny in Florida
G'day Suzana! Thanks for taking time to react to my Aussie sketches. Yes, we were in Australia & New Zealand most of October, on a "tour tour," and, despite the drawbacks of being herded on a bus we covered more than 7,000 miles by air & on the ground, from Sydney to Melbourne to Alice Springs & Uluru (Ayers Rock) to Cairns to Great Barrier Reef, then on over to Auckland & lots of wonderful places on both the North and South Islands. Even though we're great supporters of Untours, that concept wouldn't work in a nation/continent where the distances are so vast. The tour company, Tauck, does a fine job ---- if we have any complaint it's that their tours are too luxurious, therefore missing close contact with the locals. Cheers and Good on ya! Bob