Robert Grisham Posts

Our first trip to Chicago was a little over six years ago. Since that time we’ve been back almost once per year. I took the boys by myself five years ago. It’s still hard to believe that I pulled that one off. The next three Decembers Mandy and I took quick trips, coming to realize that if you can get over the cold, it was a great time to travel due to affordable hotel rates and the Christkindlmarket. And then this summer the four of us spent a couple of days there before going to Switzerland.

Several months ago Mandy heard that the musical version of The Notebook was premiering in Chicago this fall. She is a big fan of the book, movie, and of Ingrid Michaelson, who wrote the music and lyrics. So we booked tickets, flights and a hotel for one night.

Before getting into the specifics of this trip, let me tell you some reasons we have made such a habit of going to Chicago. First, it’s a quick nonstop flight from Memphis. Second, the food is great. Third, Southwest’s flight schedule enables us to get there in the morning and leave the next night, meaning we get most of two days there yet only stay one night.

This past Friday morning we got the boys off to school, finished packing, and drove to the airport. We opted for the $6/day economy parking over paying for two Uber pickups. My roundtrip flight set me back 16,000 Southwest points. Mandy’s flight was free since we have the Companion Pass this year and next.

We landed in Chicago around 1pm and then took the Orange Line train downtown. You can get a public transportation day pass for $5. This includes the train from the airport, plus trains and buses downtown. We walked a couple of blocks to Shake Shack (always a winner), then walked a couple more blocks to the Hyatt Centric. One night there cost us 15,000 Hyatt points, which I transferred from Chase. Note: if you’d like to know more of my travel hacking strategy, check out this page.

After resting for a bit we walked four blocks to have dinner at Quartino, our favorite restaurant in Chicago. As is my custom, I ate a bit too much, but it was ok, because we needed to walk a few blocks in order to catch a bus to Navy Pier, which is where the Chicago Shakespeare Theater is located. The Notebook was fantastic. The venue, music and performances were top notch, and I’m sure it is going to do great on Broadway.

On Saturday morning we chilled out at the hotel for a few hours. At 11:00 we checked out, left our luggage at the hotel, and walked a few blocks to RL Restaurant, another of our favorite restaurants. It’s all about the ambiance in this place. You’ll have to see it for yourself, but check out the link for a few photos.

From there we had a few hours to shop on Magnificent Mile, but since neither of us were that into shopping at the moment, we hung out at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, where we enjoyed good coffee, a pastry, and some time to catch up on reading.

Our final hours in Chicago were spent on an Architectural walking tour that I booked through Airbnb Experiences. Mandy and I highly recommend this. We learned so much about Chicago, explored places we would have never discovered on our own, and saw some amazing architecture and art. Our favorite stops would have to be the Chicago Cultural Center and the Chicago Athletic Association, which is now a Hilton hotel. Check out this video about the Chicago Cultural Center.

Mandy walked a couple of blocks to the train station, and I walked back to the hotel to get our luggage, then took a bus to the train station. From there we took the train back to the airport, took the short flight to Memphis, and were back home by 11pm. We were pretty tired, but it was a great trip!

Our Switzerland adventure has come to a close. We arrived back in Chicago at 6pm CST, which felt to us like 1am. We watched part of the NBA Draft, and I think we were all asleep a little after 8pm, which means that I’ve been up since before 4am! I’m currently in the lobby of the Hyatt Place where we’re staying, and me and a few other guys are eagerly awaiting the coffee to finish brewing!

Being up means that I can write my last blog post. We only had one full day in Zurich, but I think we really made the most of it.

After breakfast we visited the FIFA Museum. It’s such a well done museum. We all really enjoyed our time there.

After that we ate lunch and then went to the Lindt Home of Chocolate. Oh my.

We purchased our tickets online, and we had a set time to enter. Once we entered we went through different exhibits on how chocolate is made, and specifically the Swiss connection to chocolate. After that you come to a room where you get to sample liquid and solid chocolates. A second room has various Lindt chocolates you can sample.

You can tell by this last photo that Micah really loves chocolate.

We got to walk off our chocolate calories in Old Town after this.

We ended our day by visiting Fraumünster, a church that was founded in 853. During the Reformation Zwingli often preached in this church. Today the church is famous for its Chagall stained glass. I was afraid that the boys would be sick of museums, but they enjoyed the audio tour.

In closing, I’m really grateful that we could spend this much time in one country. Traveling in a foreign country has its share of challenges, and there were times that we were tired and lacked patience with each other, but I’m grateful for the memories that were made!

Over the last few days we’ve been listening to quite a bit of Queen. Why is that? Well, it’s because we spent two days in Montreux. In the center of town is a statue of Freddie Mercury. Montreux was his second home, and it was where the band recorded seven of their albums.

Montreux is a charming town on Lake Geneva. Whereas Zurich, Lucerne and the towns in the Lauterbrunnen Valley are German in language and culture, Montreux is French. I’m pretty amazed by the Swiss people, most of whom speak at least two languages. Key words there are “most” and “at least.”

As I write this, Memphis is experiencing much hotter than normal weather. But when I write that it was really hot in Montreux, understand that this is a hot without central AC. We stayed at Hotel Splendid. I had requested a lake view room, and boy did we have that. But we checked in around 4pm, and the blinds had been left up so that we could see the amazing view. This also meant that the sun had beating down on the room for the past few hours. For our close to 40 hours there that room felt more like a sauna than a comfortable hotel room.

That’s all of my complaining. We did have a fun time in Montreux despite the heat. Highlights included eating gelato several times, going to the Queen Studio Experience, swimming in Lake Geneva, and visiting Chateau de Chillon. Here are some photos!

We had a few hours to kill between checkout in Wengwald and check-in in Mürren, so we took the train to Lauterbrunnen, left our luggage at the train station, and then took a train to Brienz. From there we took a ferry across Lake Brienz to Hotel Geissbach. Geissbach Falls is there.

Four years ago we did the ferry cruise and saw the bottom of the water fall. We didn’t realize that there was a hotel until we saw it on the Amazing Race. This time we took a funicular up the mountain and saw the hotel plus more of the water fall. Both are impressive.

We checked into our apartment in Mürren. After getting settled, I went to get a few groceries from the Coop. We had some sausage and cheese, so I bought some fresh bread, and we had a nice little picnic dinner.

On our first full day in Mürren  we did the flower trail. This was a favorite from last time we were there. Unfortunately the hidden playground was closed. That evening we hiked down to Gimmelwald and had pizza at the local hostel. We then took the gondola back up to Mürren.

The next day was a highlight for me. I took the train and then cable car down to Lauterbrunnen, where I rented an electric bike for the morning. My plan was to ride through Lauterbrunnen, then ride up the mountain to Mürren. After riding awhile in the mountains, I would ride to Grutschalp and take the cable car back down to Lauterbrunnen. Unfortunately, once I was ready to start going up the mountain, my directions led to a trail with lots of stairs. I couldn’t figure out where to go, so I improvised.

I biked back through Lauterbrunnen, and then kept going to Interlaken. I met others who were doing the same ride, so we helped each other navigate from time to time. The trail is next to the train track and the river, so the entire ride was beautiful. Interlaken is around 800 feet below Lauterbrunnen, so that made the ride tons of fun. It’s also why I decided to take the train back to Lauterbrunnen.

Once I got back Adam decided he wanted to do the North Face trail by himself. He did it much faster than when we all did it. Then we went out for dinner at the Eiger Guesthouse. They had great pizza and pasta.

Next up is Montreux.

We are a little over halfway finished with our Switzerland trip. We spent five nights in Wengwald, in the same chalet where we stayed four years ago. The photo above is from this spot steps from our door that we just can’t get enough of.

On our first full day we met up with Josh, Ginger and Patrick Spickler to hike what is probably my favorite hike. We met up in Wengen, took the cable car to Männlichen, and hiked to Kleine Scheidegg. Here are a few photos.

That evening, Mandy and I took the train to Wengen to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary over some yummy fondue.

The next day was a rainy day, but we did make it down to Lauterbrunnen, where we took in lots of great waterfalls, including Trümmelbach Falls. That evening we hiked up to our favorite spot and the boys built a fire. We also got to celebrate Adam’s 17th birthday. It feels so weird to even type that.

On Wednesday morning we took the train down to Lauterbrunnen, then rode a cable car up to Grütschalp, followed by a train to Mürren. We took a funicular up to Allmendhubel, where there’s a fun view and awesome views. From there we set out on the North Face trail. It was a tough but rewarding hike. At one stop we purchased some amazing cheese and sausage.

It was unfortunately a little rainy our last full day in Wengwald. I decided to do a solo hike from Männlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, but once I got up there I found out that the trail was closed. So I camped out at what is now my favorite coffee shop and caught up on some reading. The boys hung out in their room. No matter where you find yourself, the views are inspiring.

After five nights in Wengwald, it’s time to move on. You can tell by this photo that Micah is sad that we’re leaving Wengwald. It’s ok Micah. We’re heading to Mürren next!

As we were planning this trip we were looking for somewhere to go in between the Zurich airport and the Jungfrau region. We had a few options, with Lucerne being one of them. We went with Lucerne, but it was mostly just a precursor for what was to come. I have to say that my expectations were much too low. This is my kind of city. As much as I love where we’re heading today, I don’t think I could live in a carless village for the rest of my life. But a city like Lucerne totally fits me. The population is around 80,000. At the center of the city is a beautiful train station. And from there hybrid buses can take you anywhere you want to go. I may not be up for a carless village, but perhaps a carless city! There’s also a river running through the city, complete with wooden bridges dating back almost 700 years.

It’s 8am, and I’m sitting on the rooftop terrace of our apartment. The photo above is my view. The only sounds I hear are birds chirping and church bells ringing. It’s wonderful.

Here are a few photos from this part of our trip. In a few hours we board a train for Interlaken.

Today is post #1 on our epic summer adventure. Our trip will take us to Chicago and then on to Switzerland. In Switzerland we’ll spend time in Lucerne, Wengwald, Murren, Montreux, and Zurich. If you want to know more about the planning of this trip, check out this post.

We began our vacation with a quick trip to Chicago. Here are our smiling faces as we were getting ready to leave Memphis International Airport, which, by the way, has undergone a fantastic renovation. Top notch!

While in Chicago we did some of our favorite things. We ate at Quartino.

We went to Navy Pier to ride the 200 ft Centennial Wheel.

And we went to Millenium Park to see the Bean.

On Wednesday night we took the train to O’Hare for an overnight flight to Copenhagen, and then, after a quick layover, a second flight to Zurich. I don’t like overnight flights. As much as I’d like to sleep, I just can’t do it. The boys on the other hand did quite well.

What you see there is a pillow, then Adam’s head, then another pillow, and then Micah’s head. Aren’t they sweet.

We are currently in Lucerne, about to go out for the evening. My next post will feature this awesome city.