Zürich (EN)

As for my photos: honestly, it became too much of a pain to individually upload each photo onto "Blogspot" and write captions. So, I created an album on Photo Bucket, which uploads my pictures very quickly, and it's a lot easier for me (there is a link some below).

At the beginning of the week, I went to Zürich, Switzerland with Tracy and Kristen. The city and the trip were both amazing. We arrived on Feb. 28 (Monday), and we stayed until March 2.

As for the trip, it was about 4 hours on train from Besançon to Zürich (two stops - Mulhouse Ville and Basel/Bâle). We left at 9 a.m. Monday morning and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night.

Monday: After arriving, we went to the hotel (a bit of a distance from the train station and the city). It was really cold! For snacks, we went to a nearby supermarket and got some awesome cheese and bread. For dinner, we had some Swiss pizza. After exploring the town, that was it for the night; it was way too cold.

Tuesday: We explored the city - churches, stores, etc. Starting at 2:30 p.m., we took a tour of Zürich: first, the bus drove us throughout Zürich to different sites and the nearby cities. Afterwards, we climbed a mountain in a cable car for other views of the city, the lac and the mountains all around. Next, we drove the bus onto a ferry, parked, and crossed the river (in the bus, on a ferry)...awesome (and weird). Finally, we drove next to the lake for a view of the "Gold Coast."

Photos of Zürich

Wednesday: This day was awesome. We went to Zürich Zoo. I will post numerous pictures of the zoo, so I'm not gonna talk to much about it. After the zoo, we took the train back to Besançon.

- Matt Lipinski

Fort de Bregille, et Chalezeule (FR)

Samedi, le 19 février, j'ai fait la randonnée avec Tracy. Nous sommes arrivés au début du sentier environ 12h45. A l'exterieur de Besançon, il y a plusieurs forêts et plusiers sentiers ! Tous ces sentiers sont très beau !

Nous avons commencé avec un très (trop) grand escalier. A la fin, il y a quelques rues. A la droite, on trouve le Fort de Beauregard avec une vue magnifique de Besançon.

Plus tard, à la gauche, on trouve un chemin qui s'enfonce dans la forêt. Après la forêt, on arrive enfin au Fort de Bregille. C'est un grand fort qui est très vieux. Nous avons trouvé de nombreux sentiers autour du fort.

Fort Beauregard

Fort de Bregille

Puis, au derrière du fort, nous avons traversé le "grand desert". Vraiment, il semble un peu comme un desert.

Le Grand Desert !

Juste après, il y a plusieurs sentiers. Quelques chemins vont vers Centre-Ville (Besançon), et quelques chemins vont vers des petites villes (comme Chalezeule et Boissy d'Anglas).

Pour un fait plus amusant et intéressant : dans ces forêts, il y a des stations pour faire l'exercice. Après nous avons compris l'objet/le but de ces stations, nous avons bien ri. J'ai affiché des photos au-dessous pour donner des exemples. Nous avons marché 3,5 km dans cette forêt. A la fin, nous avons vu une vue incroyable du Doubs (la rivière) et un vieux château détruit. A côté de ce lieu de vue, on trouve Chalezeule, une vieille et petite ville. J'ai pris une photo d'une belle église dedans.

A Chalezeule !

Les vues du Doubs

Les renseignements !

Le vieux château détruit

C'est moi !

L'église chez Chalezeule

Nous sommes retournés chez nous vers 17h. La météo et les vues étaient extrêmement belles ! Je suis retourné tout seul hier (lundi) et j'ai pris des autres sentiers. Pour l'instant, c'est tout ! Amusez-vous avec les photos.

- Matt Lipinski

The Fort de Bregille, and Chalezeule (EN)

Last saturday (Feb 19), Tracy and I did some intense hiking. We arrived at the start of the trails around 12:45. On the outskirts of Besançon, there are tons of trails, forests, etc. All the trails are beautiful.

At the start is this obnoxiously long staircase, of course. At the end, there is an intersection of a few roads. To the right is Fort Beauregard, with an amazing view of Besançon. Afterwards, to the left, is a road that turns into a trail which runs through the forest. At the end of the forest...we finally arrived at the Fort de Bregille. It's a huge old fort, with tons of trails all around it.

Fort Beauregard

Fort de Bregille

Then, behind the fort (after lots of scenery that looks like Helm's Deep from LOTR Two Towers), we crossed the "Grand Desert" (that's the French name, even though it's the same in English). Really, it did feel like a desert.

The Grand Desert !

Right after the "desert," there are a lot more trails through the forests behind him. Some of the trails go towards Centre-Ville (of Besançon), et some others go towards tiny towns (like Chalezeule and Boissy D'Anglas).

Now for something actually hilarious and interesting: in these forests, there are work-out stations. No, I'm not kidding. After the second one, we understood the purpose of them, and had a surprisingly really good time with these ridiculous things. I put some of those photos below for example. We walked 3.5 km (2.5 miles or so?) through the forest; at the end, there is a big lookout point with a wonderful views of the Doubs river and an old destroyed castle. Next to this lookout point is Chalezeule, an old and small town. I took a photo of this cool lookin' church there.

To Chalezeule !

The views of the Doubs River

Information (assuming you can read French...)

That old destroyed castle

Moi

The church in Chalezeule

So, that's about it. We returned to our dorms around 17:00 (5 pm). The weather and the views were ridiculously good. I went back yesterday (Monday) and took some of the other trails. I was there for about 7 hours yesterday! For now, that's it! Enjoy the photos.

- Matt Lipinski