2009 Swiss birthday trip

 

Who wouldn't like to stay at a village like the above even if that's just for a few days? Certainly not me. Ladies and gents, let's go back in time with a little help of today's AI upscaling and join me while I undust my 2009 birthday trip to Switzerland.

(spoiler: the above image was not upscaled thanks to the mighty Sony C905 phone I had back in the day)

So here I am, November of 2009, inside the plane at Athens airport waiting to take off:

As you see it's such a sweet dusk with soft colours in the sky so I'm taking the chance for some shots while the plane taxis towards the runway:

Takes a while to line up for take off and now it's already dark:

There's a good reason why I always sit by the window:

Destination: Zurich. But I'm not staying there. That's where my friend David will pick me from as he'll be my host for the next few days. Very kind of him cause this means he had to drive all the way from Rehetobel where the lovely house he rents is.

Look at my cute bedroom:

Just in case your jaw is no the floor wondering how my C905 managed to take such a good picture in low light back then, you have to thank today's AI for that (Capcut specifically). Here's the original:

I even have a Mac at my disposal:

David tells me to not bother shutting it down but just switch off the power instead. Gotta admit I'm impressed this thing survived such a habit for that long but Macs are better than PCs in some ways, back then at least.

Fancy some living room view? Be my guest:

Every single day the view is different cause weather can vary a lot so I am lucky enough to get various version of this. Here's some of them:

With a view like this I get inspired for the perfect breakfast to escort it: I warm some cow milk, melt in it some Swiss chocolate and apply a but of pear honey. Orgasmic. Especially since Swiss cow milk is real cow milk and not white water like the one they (still) sell in Greece.

As you can imagine I fell in love with this house in a heartbeat:

I guess you'd like to see the village at this moment right? Let me walk you around Rehetobel:

The above is a panoramic outside the house. What I love though is how the landscape contrasts with the snowy Alpine peaks in the background:

Here's another pano with the house on the left end:

The whole country actually is a masterpiece and Rehetobel is not that much of an exception. Though I will discover the rest of this masterpiece during the next years on my bike, now in 2009 I just walk around Rehetobel enjoying shades of green occasionally peppered with some white in the background:

The view from the top of the local hill is stunning:

As I walk back down I meet this lovely pony:

Switzerland already feels to me like a fairytale and it's just my first moments. Little I knew how outstanding my next Swiss experiences would be over the next years.

Lots of grass in Switz:

And lots of cows hence you can see bathtubs in the yards like this one:

This one can hold enough water like this but hey, they do a good job decorating them right?

Who wouldn't fancy a terrace like this?

Especially with a view like this:

However, David is still looking for something (even) better then this so I escort him to his appointment with a realtor in order to see a house at another village several kms away. We meet with the agent, a beautiful smiley tall lady who takes as in her Audi Q7 to visit the house. You didn't expect her to arrive in a Ford Fiesta right?

So we make it to the house which is even larger than the one David currently rents and reasonably priced by Swiss (hence often non affordable) standards but needs a lot of repairs so I later suggest David to pass it. It has a pretty old piano inside though but David is not a player so that won't change his mind:

Neither will the (unsurprisingly for Switzerland) great view from its spacious yard:

Back to Rehetobel. Remember I told you about the view from the local hill? I am talking about Gupf. There's this top restaurant and guesthouse at the top:

With some interesting decorations:

David tells me that Michael Schumacher gave them 10 millions (or so) to buy it but they denied. That's 2009 or earlier money...

Truth is that it's a top location offering 360 view and top service, food wise too:

Unfortunately we didn't try the food but hey, gotta leave something for the next time right?

Here's me trying a selfie before the selfie hysteria:

In case you wonder where I put my phone, the wooden swing you saw before was my tripod.

David drives me through Lichtenstein where we enter this park for a walk:

A lovely place where we're lost in these tall trees in the absence of urban noises:

One day David had some commitments in Geneva so around halfway at Kriegstetten we make a stop at this nice place for some lunch:

Gotta admit the food was more than value for money. Sorry for the lack of "before" pictures but we were both too hungry  and it was too delicious to wait:

Even on a non photography friendly day and time like this you can tell how nice is it to drive around Geneva's lake:

Even at night:

St. Gallen is not far from Rehetobel so we visit it one day with David. Not Bad at all:

Sorry for this titled one but couldn't fit the whole cathedral in it. Still didn't manage actually😂:

In St. Gallen I find my most value for money shoes ever. David wanted a pair not me but when I saw those sweet hiking boots at only 60 euros my decision was made at lighting speed. We pay double if not more for such stuff in Greece.

Driving in snowy Switzerland in November near dusk can look like this:

And here we are at the French border (at La Cure):

Le Brassus:

Not sure on which wall I found this but isn't it lovely?

And speaks for itself big time🙂

We take a ride up to Trogen as David had to pay some bills at the local municipality. While I picture the Krone Hotel/Restaurant at the main square,

David is opposite side doing his things when a lady arrives in that blue Rav4:

(Sorry for the messy image, that's a pano from my phone)

Turns out she's actually some short of traffic police of the local municipality and starts issuing a ticket for David's car. Well, sort of as this is not actually his car but a replacement from the garage his own car is at for service. I try to explain her the whole situation, that we are living in a moment and that's not actually his car but her English are too poor to bother with me. Plus I guess that's all too Mediterranean excuses for a Swiss village. We shared laughs with David when I saw him the ticket later.

Not as many laughs though when later on the highway David turns to me in full surprise saying "the car died!". "What do you mean?" I respond. "I have no power!". I look at the fuel gauge and it reads a reserve plus something. We are forced to stop on the side of the road on a straight were cars are speeding in total dark around 10pm. David puts all 4 blinkers on which is Switzerland means beyond emergency. Therefore a car stops shortly after asking us if we are OK. We tell them we're fine and we've called the assistance already. Don't expect this to happen in Greece or so many other places. A couple of minutes later police stops. We repeat them the same story. Now it's time for the road assistance which arrives in the shape of Santa Claus. Really, they guy was a perfect fit for a role in a kids movie. Same everything except a thick white beard. He first greets both of as with a warm handshake and as warm smile, then goes straight under the car and knocks the fuel tank. I tell myself "yeah, we already thought about that" but the guy is obviously more experienced than us and brings some fuel from his truck since the tank sounded empty as a cave. So it was all just a faulty fuel gauge. David's fault to not notice that the fuel needle wasn't moving at all but he is excused on a replacement car. I drive for the rest of the route back home.

Switzerland is known as a top expensive place but having some of the most expensive supermarkets in Greece I find the Swiss ones very OK. I can't praise enough the guy who thought a magnifying glass would be a nice add on to shopping carts:

I mean, I don't need it, yet at least, but imagine how the elderly would appreciate this. We still don't have it and I think I haven't seen it again around Europe.

Thanks to David I manage to see Ebnat. The local gorge is sweet:

We also have a nice lunch at a hilltop restaurant with 360 view:

Pity I can't recall where cause the view was so nice even on a gloomy day like this:

This was for sale on our way back:

Looked pristinely clean like it just rolls it's wheels out of the factory.

Nice food is easily found around Switzerland. Even at this biker's bar we had a really nice one:

However, the real epic time was when David invited friends for Raclette at home. Here's the before picture:

Very before actually since we haven't even started grilling yet.

So that's it with this flashback, here's a video with various clips I shot then and managed to make them (partially) watchable with some AI upscaling:

See you one the next one!