Glacier Paradise

Happy 4th of July! We are in Switzerland  So is Robben Ford  Today’s forecast was rain in the afternoon, so we started early. Planned to go to Gornergrat, but changed to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise. Matterhorn was so beautiful in clear blue sky 

 So glad that we didn’t go there yesterday. It needs some preparation because it is cold! 

Gondola ride!

Matterhorn was getting closer! 

It’s funny. Matterhorn has many faces  First, it looked like the face was on the tip of the top triangle. 

Then it got huge lips 

Matterhorn kissed me 

We transferred to the much bigger lift. 

We made it! 

First we went to the viewing platform. Matterhorn was below us! 

Different mountain. Let’s see what was the name 

The platform was small. 

Snow looked like hale we got in March. 

At this time, our hearts were beating fast and we were short of breath because of the high altitude. I continued to have dizziness and a slight headache. 

Glacier Palace was cold! 

The slide wasn’t slippery 

Photogenic time of the day! We went back to the deck before we left. Unfortunately Matterhorn was already partially covered by clouds. 

Looking down 

Then the helicopter came. 

Because of the pressure I felt in my body, I couldn’t eat at the cafeteria. We went one station down to have lunch. 

At Trockener Steg. Unfortunately this is only picture we have of us at this location 

I wanted to eat big hash browns and German sausage. 

Still we felt tightness in our chests, so we stopped one more level down. 

Schwarzsee is a must do stop! So beautiful 

Why guitar in the middle? 

I saw three lakes (one was more like a pond ). I tried to find mirror images of snow mountains. 

I left Ken way further back to explore more. Can you find him in this picture? 

Fish in the little creek. 

Heidi were gathering these kinds of flowers on TV. 

The guide book says Scharzsee is where you can see Matterhorn the closest. There is a house. Can you find it? 

Might as well stopping all stations  We ate at Furi. Zermatt is too expensive to eat. A regular dish costs between CHF 34 ~ 50. We better eat before Zermatt. 

Came back! Still great weather. It was supposed to rain at noon, then changed to 5pm.

I missed goats  Later rained really hard. Mountain weather is unpredictable. 

Matterhorn

Another reason why I chose to travel in summer other than Montreaux Jazz Festival was goats!  Only limited time in July and August we can see goats walking on the street in Zermatt. Special kind called blackneck goats. I love Heidi. Always wanted to see Peter drove goats to the mountain. Here they were coming! 

Girls were Peters 

Yuki chan almost came to me 

Not many! I expected more  Still fun! They were so cute  I will see them everyday during our stay! I thought this was the highlight of today because weather wasn’t good. I just planned to do landry and stay in the hotel because Ken wasn’t feeling very well. 

Bahnhofstrasse, the Main Street. 

We had to go out while they cleaned the room. We just walked toward Matterhorn. 

This statue scared us every time we passed it! It looked real 

As we went closer and closer to Matterhorn, the weather was getting better and better.

We still haven’t seen a full Matterhorn yet. Some parts were always covered by clouds.

Ken was feeling better at this time still smiling. 

We went to Matterhorn Gracier Paradise station. A lot of people were buying tickets. We knew it would rain and my clothing wasn’t warm enough, we decided to take a chance on weather and go there tomorrow or Friday. I still wanted to do a light activity today. Then a city bus gave us a free ride to the tram station. Sunnegga was only three minutes away from Zermatt. Great place to visit for a short time! 

Wow  Incredible view!!!

I read that we had to walk about 20 minutes to get to Lake Leisse, but it was right there! I think the tour book meant from Gornergrat line. I planned to hike. We need exercises specially for Ken to fix irregular heatbeat. Again we didn’t have to walk much. Lucky Ken 

So beautiful! 

Trying to catch upside down Matterhorn in the reflection.

Many tadpoles and one frog we saw. 

Ken stopped smiling after this picture. 

I waited and wasted photos to get a full Matterhorn shot, but it was taking long. I went to get lunch. 

Then alphorn players! 

German food looked good, but someone was eating pasta appealed me more. Good! Much cheaper than eating in Zermatt! 

Not quite but this was as full as it got today. 

Endless beauty

Day 3 in Switzerland. This country amazes me. It has endless beauties. Gorgeous weather! What a big change from last night’s thunder lightenings!

After checking out the hotel, I was hoping to do a cruise to Chillon castle. Ken was hungry but I was glad that we didn’t eat before and made it to this dining cruise. Last minute plan worked well 

A short after taking off, already the castle  We chose to stay in the ship and eat instead of the castle tour 

This chicken dish was included in the price. I love their mushrooms, which are the same kind as the last night’s soup. 

I love this roomy dining area. Felt luxurious 

I realized that we were going to pass Freddie Mercury‘s dock house! I gave up on visiting there because of our limited time schedule. How nice we were able to find it from the boat! We rushed to upstairs. 

There you go! Too far haha! 

Our hotel.

This hotel’s location was the best. The train station is in front, the center of every point of interests, and non obstructed lake views. Visiting in spring would be way better so that we could sit in the sun without air-conditioning. Still regret that I couldn’t take a good picture at the restaurant 45 because of the up tight server. I think breakfast would’ve been very nice but we slept over 

Bye bye Montreux Jazz Festival! 

Train ride to Zermatt. 

The train kept going up the steep hill. 

Arrived! 

Nice hotel! Friendly staff! Nice room! I didn’t expect to have a balcony so I was vey happy to have a big one. There is a little couch area that Ken can practice guitar at night. I should, too 

I love this town  Everything is cute! 

View from our balcony. Matterhorn was still hiding. Hope the weather gets better so that we can see goats walking. 

Smoke on the Water

Ever since I read Deep Purple story on the book, I wanted to visit Lake Geneva. Finally my dream came true for my birthday! Ken gave me a nice card. 

I reserved this restaurant for my BD dinner. 

We were going to have lunch there also, but it wasn’t air conditioned. Since the waiter was very nice taking our photos, we just had cocktails. Still got sweated. 

We heared a live guitar music. We thought it was from this restaurant, but actually it was from down there by the water. Nice jazz standards. I enjoyed it, but Ken was laughing because his level of playing was way better. 

Is this a candid camera  We almost thought that he did this on purpose to make us laugh! 

Good cocktail. 

We walked along the lake where many venders in the tents selling clothings and accessories. Today’s agenda is Queen: find Freddie Mercury’s statue and go to the casino. 

Found it! 

We tried to buy a cheaper liquor at the grocery store, but they didn’t have any  This is just a Mini Cooper. Comparing the size how small the original one is. 

Too hot! I had to soak my feet in the water. 

I wanted to swim, but I couldn’t afford getting any more sun tan and freckles 

A huge swan! 

Hopefully we can take this tomorrow.... depending on the weather. 

This casino is supposedly that Frank Zappa was having a concert when the fire happened. Ian Gillan saw the smoke on this lake from the fire. Deep purple was supposed to do recording there, but it was moved to the hotel we are staying now. That’s why I booked the hotel. Deep Purple is my rock root and my life was influenced by them a lot. I thought it was perfect to celebrate my big BD here.

Ever since I saw a CM of Noevir cosmetics, I have been a fan of Freddie. “I Was Born To Love You” was such a beautiful and strong song to impress me in my youth. Love Queen! This Queen studio experience was free in the casino. I never read exhibitions in museums lol. 

Cardboard mixer lol

Restaurant inside the casino. 

B.B. King’s Lucille. 

Too hot outside. Nobody was there. 

Heading back to our hotel for the dinner reservation. 

At a souvenir store. 

I never wear regular t-shirts. I wish it was a women’s cut. 

I want the biggest clock, but it weighs tons! 

So we made in time for our dinner reservation. I expected to have the best view table reserved for us since I informed them beforehand that it was for a celebration. A server took me to the hottest table that doesn’t have the cover  I asked for the covered table and found the perfect spot. However he denied our request saying the table was for three people! Why don’t you take one silverware away? I checked other tables, but all tables for two were not covered. I started to be pissed off. We would finish eating by the time other people show up. The restaurant was empty! I repeated that we were celebrating tonight and insisted the nicer table. Even though our request was accepted finally, my upset feeling didn’t go away because when we checked in this hotel, the same thing happened. I requested the highest floor, but the request was declined and it took way long time to reply me. They basically do NOT listen. I was tired of appealing my Big BD. We left the restaurant and decided to go to other one. Walking toward Montreaux Jazz Cafe, there you go! Fairmont! That’s even better! Air conditioning! The reception lady was nice and reserved the best table for us. We went back to the hotel until our reservation time. It worked out better. We bought a cake on the way back from the casino. We needed to buy a lighter. 

Cute 

Perfect size! It was delicious! 

I would prefer a restaurant with nice servers to one with servers with attitude even it has a better view. Seabass Chirashi yum yum.

This was the best green pea soup! 

Main dishes were so so. 

I didn’t expect to receive a complementary BD desert. Nice surprise!

We have been doing very good weatherwise so far. There were thunder lightenings. I have never seen these many lightenings in my life  Scary first but got use to them. Nice thunder lightning show from our balcony.

Hoping tomorrow’s weather is good. 

Montreux

Flew in Switzerland yesterday. Sitting on the balcony, writing this blog while watching mountains with snows on the top contrasting from blue green lake surrounded by European castle-ish buildings. I thought celebrating one of my most special days in my life by Lake Geneva would be nice! 

Late lunch at Montreux Jazz Cafe. 

Guitar player room.

It was like 95 degrees with humidity. I got sweated so much and had to go back to the room and take a shower. The view from our room.

With jet lag, we managed to go to Janet Jackson’s concert! Ken almost slept over, but I told him that I wanted to catch the opening. Good that we made it! His favorite Quincy Jones introduced Janet. 

I love Janet Jackson probably the best among a few female artists I love. Good that all songs were familiar and old school medley. She did most of my favorite songs including Black Cat except If. Hard dancing stage performance was getting hard on her. She had to take a break. 

After the show, we tried to look for free jazz, but no jazz  Most of musicians who perform with an admission fee are from States. 

I had a weird dream. I couldn’t get up early and missed breakfast. I would like to read nice BD wishes and reply each FB postings but we’d better do some activities before afternoon showers. 

Friendly bird. 

Walking in Reykjavík

Checked out Lagoon Room.

Today we went to the city for a couple of hours and did what the lady at the front desk suggested: visit Harpa and eat Iceland’s traditional food. We got off the shuttle at Hallgrimskirkja, the biggest city mark of Reykjavík, so that we didn’t get lost for the return shuttle. 

I bought a super light backpack at this store. 

Love the backpack! Perfect for traveling. It folds up.

Viking city. I almost bought a small figure of Vikke. I loved the cartoon when I was a child.  

Music store. 

Lol

Almost his name 

This is where we stopped to get local beer and Iceland’s fishy traditional food. 

We ordered sample platers. Fermented shark was really strong! Tasted like blue cheese, natto, and dead fish at the same time  I knew Ken hated it   I liked it 

Famous punk museum. I just bought a hoodie. 

Harpa, music hall! 

Beautiful inside!

The whole city can be seen in a couple of hours. We did great on time  On the way back, Ken was joking that the architect could suggest a serious saving by using walls instead of windows

Back to hotel to chill for an hour until the next destination. 

These beautiful purple flowers are everywhere. 

Blue Lagoon

I planned my huge birthday trip since last October. I can’t believe it’s already the time! We are in Iceland! Hot spring lovers’ dream, Blue Lagoon! Luckily it was on our way to go to Switzerland. Stopping over Iceland was cheaper. Might as well take an advantage of it  Weather forecast was all rain marks, but we brought California sun with us again. It was a great weather! The sunset time is midnight  It is almost the time. Still light and I can’t sleep! 

The trip started not very good. We kept being bothered by assholes. A guy who sat behind of me in the airplane was a prick. He pushed back my reclined seat even I asked for it. He gave an excuse saying his knees were on the way. He isn’t even that big  We were pushing the seat back and forth for a while. Also we have never flown an airline which doesn’t offer any complementary meal nor snacks  I was so hungry and had to spend money on expensive terrible cold food from the airplane. There were many waitresses, I meant stewardesses  doing nothing and were eating a much better meal set in the back! Anyway we went through other assholes also but I stop complaining here. 

We arrived too early. First we had breakfast at the hotel. Nice! Finally happy 

The view from the breakfast area.

Our hotel!

After the breakfast, we walked to Blue Lagoon and stayed there five hours until the check in time 

On the way to BL. Beautiful

Somehow I knew this would be our room!

Here we are! (Ken’s hair ).

Men and women’s changing rooms were separated and I made Ken wait for more than half an hour. He was grumpy and started complaining that he had to take too many pictures of me. The reason is that his photos suck  It takes one good picture out of 300 

Everybody gets free mud masks. 

As Ken complained That I take too many photos, I left my iPhone in the locker. Then weather got really nice and photogenic. I went back to get my iPhone. The locked locker which I made sure that it was locked for four times was unlocked  Nothing was missing. 

I got sun tan with no make ups. Looks terrible 

Beautiful sceneries 

Finally check in! The view is great! 

Lava on the hallway.

I bathed in Silica Lagoon by myself because Ken had enough bathing today  After about one hour I realized this lagoon was better than Blue Lagoon! Very private and water was bluer with thick silica mud in the ground. Besides a little waterfall was so calming so I persuaded Ken to join me. I thought it was good for his athlete foot  Again I brought my iPhone. It was photographic time of the day! 

My fav pic! 

My iPhone’s water proof case was too dirty  A blue dot on the picture otherwise a killer photo! 

This is the picture I took at midnight. 

Still light. Summer Iceland never sleeps. 

Bubble and Carltons

I didn’t do much for Ken’s birthday, so we decided to go see his favorite guitar player’s 50th gear anniversary show. Good that he played on weekdays so that musician fans can come 

The early show was sold out and we bought the second show. Last minute I saw this hotel on the ad  I wanted to stay in a bubble and spend a night in iceland. But this is in Hollywood! Luckily it was available and I booked it  It is on the top of mountain. Since it was too hot during the day, we had to check in after 5:30pm. It was remodeled a part of somebody’s property. The owner works for a TV show called Extra. He said Lady Gaga lives right there. 

This is the second bed just in case the bubble is too bright. 

When we go inside, we have to make sure that the first door is closed before we open the second door in order to keep the air pressure. 

Just saw the weather forecast. The pollution level was higher than normal. No wonder the view is smoggy or foggy 

Only 10 minute drive to tonight’s show! 

I like the painting on the sidewalk. 

The 335 and Hammond organ are 50 years old, bought in 1969! Same as me! During the performance, photos and recordings were prohibited. I realized no matter what 11 o’clock show is always sleepy. Without Larry’s and Travis’s solos, I almost fell in sleep  They were mostly jamming songs which Greg suggested and Larry had to read charts. Only last couple of songs were the famous Crusaders’ and Larry’s songs. Still great show!

Ken decided to sleep in the house. I am by myself sleeping in the bubble. In the morning, a garbage truck, lawnmower, and birds chirping were so loud, I couldn’t sleep! Besides this bed doesn’t feel leveled. I went inside the house to sleep  It was too foggy to see either sunset or sunrise anyway. 

Bye bye Sky Bubble! 

Lady Gaga’s ?!? 

Round and round

Today my head was even dizzier from last night’s accident. Wow it is taking for a long time to get normal  So scary what I have been going through. Still I met my friend and did some shopping. I know her for over 35 years so I was so looking forward to seeing her. 

We love doing shopping together. Luckily Harajuku wasn’t as crowded as we expected. While having a head feel like round and round we walked around. I bought ice cream packs to keep my head cold and my friend got the melted ones bring home for her boys 

Taking two breaks helped. The second place was soufflé place. It was very good. 

A big bear! I’ve got to show this to Kenny 

My friend and I see each other once every two years whenever I go to Japan. We usually stay til almost midnight, but today I had to come back earlier to rest my head. The hotel agreed to pay for my CT scan. 

This is what I got today. When I saw this first time, I thought who the heck pays over $50 for this stupid big squeezy stuff and brings back to US in the suitcase  After I saw this, I got obsessed to buy this. My friend suggested buying a cheap backpack to carry it. It was a great idea! This can be a perfect pillow for my current head condition! It Works perfect!!!

And I got this cute guitar head pouch!

Tomorrow, I also will see my old friend and am looking forward to it. Hope my dizziness will be gone. 

Bumped my head

Arrived in Japan last night. The flight was good with good food and good flight attendants, but the young guy sitting one next to me was coughing and blowing his nose constantly  I managed not to get a cold from him by wearing a mask. A lady next to him was wearing her mask, too! He should be the one who needs the mask  Checked in the hotel. Familiar view.

Breakfast was very satisfying. Sitting on the balcony all by myself and eating, I was having a great time until I fell at the exit of hot spring bath  I hit my head on the concrete surface so hard! I got a 6 centimeter bump on my head! I was dizzy , my right hand was moving weird, and had a short memory loss, I decided to go to see a doctor. I almost took an ambulance cuz it is free in Japan. I didn’t feel like paying for a cab. I was just angry at the hotel that they should pay for it! After all I took a train  and costing me $200 for the CT scan. The doctor said the blood is outside of skull so 99% I will be fine. Whew!

I planned many things to do today, but I completely lost my motivation. After the doctor’s office visit, I was gonna sit outside and enjoy greens and weather around the emperor‘s palace but it was hot! With a slight dizzy head, walking around the station. 

Ended up with having a lunch  Nothing was appetizing me, but this one did. I didn’t want to go to a crowded place, I was the only one in the restaurant 

The food was so so. After recharginng my energy, I was gonna go back to the hotel to rest. When I bought a train ticket, I realized my planned destination was the same fare as going back to my hotel. I was heading to the planned destination  

Walking on the musical instrument street with a bump on my head, I looked for a travel guitar. Checking many small guitars. Some of them won’t stay in tune, others I can’t even do bending, and so on. Too bad that the Ultraman painted zousan had a tuning problem  I wanted to buy from a nice girl assistant. I almost bought a zousan with a special paint but I am glad that I didn’t! The sales guy had an attitude and it didn’t even have the case! I went back to the first store. The guy was nice and I bought the first zousan I tried. I used to sell this guitar when it was new  Shimokura gakki is good 

Came back to the hotel already so that I can rest and practice.

Before leaving US, I got a severe food poisoning and just recovered from the fever of 101. I think I need to buy a travel medical protection for my future Switzerland trip. 

So my right arm was weird because I also hit my elbo and forgot about it. And my short memory loss was from punicing. Just getting old