Start Route 66 Chicago to St Louis by train

We left Chicago on a 7am train bound for St Louis.  The train travels mostly alongside the road that is Route 66.
The train trip took about 6 hours and there was plenty of great scenery from the train along the way.

We arrived in St Louis in the early afternoon and checked into our hotel and set off to explore the town.

The first thing you see as you arrive in St Louis is the Gateway Arch.  A 630 foot shiny steel monument next to the Missisipi River.

You can take a tram ride to the top of the Arch.  Colin did go up the arch.  I looked at the ''tram'' which is a tiny compartment with no windows and they are 8 cars connected and travel up inside the arch to the viewing windows at the top and then you come down again in the tram.  I didnt like the idea at all.  It takes 4 mins to go up and 3 mins to come down again.

We visited the beautiful old Courthouse.  

One of the most important cases, Dred Scott and his wife Harriott,  ever tried in the United States was heard in St. Louis' Old Courthouse. The Supreme Court decided the case in 1857, and hastened the start of the Civil War.  

We visited Forest Park which is a huge park just outside the city centre of over 1000 acres. We took the metro to get there.  We bought a day pass for $7 each and that entitled us to ride the metro, the Downtown shuttle and the Forest Park shuttle.  It has beautiful gardens, museums, a golf course, the zoo and several ponds and fountains.  The shuttle bus has two routes and we took both of them.

We also visited the National Blues Museum.  That was really interesting.  It tells about the history of Blues music which began in the cotton fields.  It houses a lot of memorabillia, photos of famous Blues musicians and singers and displays of intruments and costumes worn by famous musicians.  You can create your own songs and put them to music.  There was even a Pianolo there.  A Pianolo plays music on a roll and you operate the foot pedals and air is driven thru the music notes punched into the holes and plays the tune.  As a child I remember my aunt had a Pianolo and we used to play it often.  

The old Courthouse

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Colin under the Arch

Dred & Harriott Scott

View from the Gateway Arch

Route 66 sign

Me in Forest Park

Old Courthouse

Courtroom where Dred Scott had case heard

Chicago

After our few days in Switzerland we flew to Chicago and arrived there late in the afternoon and spent several hours in a long queue waiting to go through Immigration.
Finally we reached the end of the queue and were called up to the booth by a very grumpy official who fingerprinted, thumb printed and photographed us, stamped our passports and then grumpily said goodbye.  No welcome to America.

We took a shuttle bus into the city and our hotel which was located beside the river and we had a lovely view of the river and the city skyscrapers which looked beautiful lit up at night.

We fell in love with Chicago.  It has lovely wide tree lined streets with rows of flower beds brimming with beautiful colourful blooms.

The city is clean, the people are very friendly and helpful.  Someone would always come up to us if we were looking at a map to ask if we needed help.  We didnt see any graffiti.  The river is lovely and there is a lovely riverside walk with cafes, bars and restaurants where you can dine overlooking the river.
There are river tours and river taxis and you can also hire a small boat on the river.

We had a two day hop on hop off bus ticket which we used to take us to all the sights.  Millenium Park is beautiful and in the middle is  the silver Cloud Gate sculpture, known as the Bean. where crowds of people have their photo taken in front of the reflective surface.

Navy Pier has the Childrens museum.  It is located on Lake Michigan and you can take a  cruise on Lake Michigan from there.

Magnificent Mile is the famous shopping area and all the big brands are there.  It's nice just to walk along and window shop.

You can go to the top of Willis Tower for fabulous views and walk out on the skydeck.  It was for a while the tallest building in the world but the Burj al Kaliffa in Dubai now has that title.  The locals will tell you it is Seers Tower but spelt Willis.  We ran out of time to go there.

We had 3 days in Chicago and that was definately not enough time to see everything.  There are so many museums, science museum, planetarium, Shedd aquarium and others.  We didnt get to any of them.

Riverside walk

On the hop on hop off tour

Us with Lake Michigan and the chicago skyline

The ''bean''

Millenium Park

Abraham Lincoln and the common Man

Chicago by night

Overhead trains

Switzerland

Just minutes away from where we were staying with family is  Kyburg Castle and the Kyburg covered wooden bridge.  Kyburg Castle was owned by the Hapsburgs and is a small but very pretty castle nestled in a picturesque wooded area.  The covered wooden bridge is historic and reminded me of the type of bridges you see in American movies.

We then drove to the village of Appenszell. The village of Appenzell and the Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden are situated in a singularly beautiful landscape of rolling hills. The region is known for rural customs and traditions such as the ceremonial descent of the cattle in autumn and cultural events such as folk music and rustic dances, as well as hiking tours in the Alpstein region.

While we were there we witnessed a yodelling concert.  A group of men and women yodelling, but it was different to what you expect.  They had terracotta bowls in which they had placed coins that spun inside to the bowl and then they harmonised along with the sound of the coins in the bowl.  It was mesmerising.

The town itself is small with beautifully decorated and colourful shops and houses and cobblestoned streets surrounded by tall mountains.

After visiting the town we drove to Brulisau to see the cable car that takes hikers, paragliders and such to the top of the mountain.  We watched many paragliders making their descent.

Colin would have loved to ride the cable car but it was late in the afternoon and too late to make a return trip on the cable car.

Kyburg covered wooden bridge

Yodellers in traditional costume

Mountain men in traditional costume

Appenszell

Appenszell

Appenszell

Yodellers with the terracotta bowls for harmonising

Cable car 

Paraglider

Mountain views

Switzerland

The UK part of our trip ended in Bath and on our last day we drove from Bath to Heathrow and returned our hire car and then flew from there to Zurich.

Colin has a cousin in Zurich and we stayed with them for 3 nights.  They live in a small country village of Weisslingen not far out of Zurich.

The scenery there is magnificent.  On a clear day you can see the Alps.  They have had a lot of rain over the summer and the countryside is a vibrant green rolling hills dotted with cows wearing gigantic cow bells.  We were lulled to sleep every night with the gentle tinkling of cow bells and the ringing of the local church bells on the 1/4 of the hour.

We visited the village of Rapperswil in the canton of St Gallen  The town of Roses, the Riviera on the upper half of Lake Zurich.  The quaint alleys of the medieval old part of town are interesting to stroll around and window shop in the many shops.

Overlooking the town, the Rapperswil castle is perched high on a hill and is home to a Polish museum. From up here you have breathtaking views of the lakeside and surroundings. Rapperswil earns its name as the town of roses owing to the more than 16,000 roses that flower in the rose gardens of the Capuchin monastery and on the "Schanz". The latter is a rose garden for the blind with particularly fragrant roses, the names of which are written in brail on guide panels.

We ate our lunch of fresh bread rolls filled with ham and cheese on the terrace  in front of the castle overlooking the lake and watched the life savers participating in some sort of carnival,  swim from a small island in the middle of the lake back to the shore.  We were unable to go into the castle as there was a function on, possibly a wedding.

We then drove to another breathtakingly beautiful village, Einsiedeln.  In the middle of the town is the Abbey.  It is a 1000 year old Benedictine Abbey and is on the pilgrim trail.  Absolutely breathtaking inside.  It is incredibly beautiful but unfortunately no photos allowed.  I bought a postcard as a momento.  

A lot of people come to worship the Black Madonna. The famous statue of Mary and her son Jesus in the chapel of Our Lady close to the main entrance of the abbey church was carved in the 15th century and is venerated by the pilgrims inside the Holy Chapel.

From there we drove to the car ferry and took the small 10 minute ferry from one side of the lake to the other and drove into the old town of Zurich.

Rapperswil

Rapperswil

Rose Garden with vines Rapperswil

Roses Rapperswil

Rapperswil

Rapperswil looking at Lake Zurich

View of Lake Zurich from Rapperswil

Einsiedeln Abbey

Statue in front of Abbey

Cloisters at the Abbey

Me with Pete & Susi on the car ferry

Car ferry on Lake Zurich

Bath

We spent a week in Bath and rented an apartment about 10 mins walk from the centre of town.

Bath is a town set in the rolling countryside of southwest England, known for its natural hot springs and 18th-century Georgian architecture. 

Home to some of the nation's grandest Georgian architecture.

Honey-coloured Bath stone has been used extensively in the town’s architecture, including at Bath Abbey, noted for its fan-vaulting, tower and large stained-glass windows.

A famous resident of Bath was Jane Austen and fans visit Bath regularly, especially for the annual Jane Austen festival.  Festival goers dress up in Regency costume and in past years we have been in Bath during the festival and watched the parade through the streets.

Bath is the only place in the UK where you can bathe in naturally hot spa water at the Thermae Spa Baths located in the centre of town.  The spa water is about 35 degrees in the pools but comes out of the ground much hotter than that and is cooled.  A visit to the Thermae spa is a must.  There are two pools, an open air roof top pool and a pool indoors on the lower level.  There are also treatment rooms for spa treatments and there are saunas and steam rooms that are included in the entry price.  It is so relaxing to laze about in the pools with a pool noodle.

I visited the Assembly Rooms where there is a fabulous costume museum showcasing fashion from the 1700's to the present day.  Several rooms of clothes.  It was a much bigger exhibition than I was expecting.

Just simply wandering the streets of Bath is lovely.  The shopping is excellent.  We visited the Botanical Gardens and saw a steam fair setting up.  

From Alexandra park on the top of Beecham cliffs you have a magnificent view of the Bath skyline.

The Royal Crescent and the Circle are also worth a visit.

The Roman Baths are about the most famous attraction in Bath and we have visited them in the past.  The Pump Room is popular too and has a lovely restaurant.  You can even taste the Bath water which is vile, but you should do it at least once.

We took a boat trip along the river to Bathampton and back again on a lovely sunny day.  

One Sunday we walked from Bath to Bathampton along the canal for about 5kms watching the narrow boats navigate the locks.  We had lunch in a pub called The George and walked back again.

On a Sunday it is lovely to sit on a deck chair in the parade gardens and listen to a band playing in the rotunda.

Bath is well located to visit nearby towns and villages and one day we did a day trip to Cheddar Gorge.  It is a limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills where it is thought the Bath spa water originates from.  The road meanders amongst the awe inspiring rugged cliffs and there are a few caves that you can visit as well.  The town of Cheddar is lovely with lots of cafes and shops.  There is a cheese factory and shop and the cheese is aged in nearby caves.

There are plenty of walking trails and you can climb Jacobs Ladder, a series of steps leading to the top of the gorge for magnificent views.

Bath is definately one of my favourite places in the UK and a place we have back to several years in a row.

Parade Gardens Bath

Parade Gardens

Us in Sydney Gardens

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Narrow boat on Kennet & Avon Canal

Costume exhibition in the Assembly Rooms

Assembly Rooms

Pultenay Bridge by night

Pultenay Bridge by day

Steam fair

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Bath skyline from Alexandra Park