Lost travel photos Shaken Not Stirred

Larry at Piz Gloria on the peak of Schilthorn  - Switzerland

Travel photos.   There are few things I enjoy more than travel photos.  I love taking them.  I love coming home and editing my photos.  I love posting them on the Internet and in blogs.  And I love looking at them over and over many times after my vacation ended.  Each time I view them I relive the experience of the trip all over again no matter how long ago the actual trip happened.

If you know me at all you probably know I am a huge James Bond fan.  And I have visited many James Bond movie locations in my travels.  I don't go out of my way to visit Bond sites, but if I am in the area and one is near by I do want my photo taken there.  In 2003 I got to visit one of the Holy Grail sites for Bond fans.   I was in Switzerland with my then partner.  I let him know with no question that while we were in Switzerland that I had to see Piz Gloria, Blowfeld's fortress from the movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  Piz Gloria is a rotating restaurant on top the peak of Schilthorn towering above the tiny Alpine community of Murren.   It's very isolated.  It is not easy to get there.  It is not one of those places where you can take a train, walk out of the station and say there it is.  You have to plan your way to get there.  There are no roads to reach Murren.  There are no cars in Murren.  We had to take a train from Bern to Interlaken Switzerland.  From Interlaken we took a train  to Lauterbrunner. Then from Lauterbrunner we had to take the narrow gauge train up the mountain to Murren.  The train station is at the north of the village.  From there we had to walk through the beautiful village of Murren to the Schilthornbahn .  This is a mountain cable car that takes you to the peak of Schilthorn  at 10,000 feet in the Alps.  There is also a stop and change in cable cars half way up at the station called Birg.  So you have to plan and prepare your journey if you are going to Piz Gloria.

Larry at the Schilthornbahn station of Birg

It was one of my favorite all time travel experiences to stand on the top of Schilthorn and see Piz Gloria. And it was such a wonderful photo opportunity. Neither my ex partner nor I had digital camera's at this time. We were still taking photo using film. And with film you can't take hundreds of photos to bring home and edit and delete the bad ones. You only have a few chances to get the right photo and then hope it turns our well when you get it developed. We ended up with a couple of good photos of he and I together at Piz Gloria and I had a couple of him alone at the location. It never dawned on me until we ended our relationship two years later that I did not have a photo of me alone at this Holy Grail of Bond fandom. I only had the photos of he and I and of him alone. So I have spent years angry at myself for never having my own individual photo taken at Piz Gloria. It was just a stupid mistake. 

Every time some one chats about Piz Gloria in one of the Bond fan groups I get angry all over again because I don't have of photo of myself to share with the group proving I had been there. And as each year passed I realized more and more that I would probably never have that opportunity to return there and take my photo. Last year my husband Mark and I went to Switzerland. It was my first time back since the trip with my ex back in 2003. I really wanted to return to Piz Gloria and take that long lost photo. But it was just too difficult. We were no where near Bern or Murren on this trip. And it would have been really out of our way to try and get there at this time. Although that was a disappointed I was still thrilled to be back in Switzerland and share this wonderful country with Mark. We visited my favorite city of Zurich. We went to several other mountain peak restaurants much like Piz Gloria. And I made sure to have solo photos taken as well as photos with Mark this time.

Mark and I at Uetilberg overlooking Zurich

Since the beginning of this new year it's been a very cold winter. I have spent a lot of time inside my house. I decided to take the time and organize some of my junk that I have need to sort through for a long time. Right now I am working on my home office. It's a bit of a disaster. I have a closet full of old scrapbook papers and supplies that I have not used in over ten years. I am taking them all to Goodwill. Hopefully some one will find good use for them. I also found several boxes of old photos. A lot of these were very old family photos. So I decided to scan them and share them with my daughters. Also in the box was several envelopes full of photos that I realized had been taken by my ex. I remember when we broke up almost 13 years ago now that I had gone through all of our photos and divided them up. We had duplicates made of all of our photos together so I took half of mine and left them with him and then took half of his duplicates and brought them with me. I really had no desire to look at old photos of him and I at the time so I just put them all in a box and packed them away when I moved. I had never really looked that close at his photos before as I was usually more interested in the ones that I had taken not ones he had taken . I was really surprised at some of the photos and have scanned them to save digitally. And then suddenly there it is. A photo of me at Piz Gloria. I did not even remember him taking the photo. All these years being angry at myself for being so stupid about not having a photo taken and now here it is. The photo at the top of this blog is me at Piz Gloria from this collection of photos. The one above of me at Birg is also from this collection. I was really happy to see them. And seeing the Alpine peaks of Schilthorn seems kind of appropriate with all of the cold weather and ice outside. Below is one last photo of me at Piz Gloria. I will be using this in conversations in James Bond facebook groups and posting it to my Flickr account also very soon.

Larry at Piz Gloria

There is one last photo of me sitting inside the rotating restaurant having lunch. I will post it below. There is only one problem. I am not holding my James Bond martini in the photo. Can you believe that. I am so mad. No martini photo shaken not stirred. How stupid could I be. I will just have to find a way to get back to Schilthorn and Piz Gloria again. I guess some people are just never satisfied. Hey Mark can you book those tickets for Murren?

Switzerland Deja Vu

Larry 10,000 feet in the Alps on top of Schilthorn

 When I to took my first trip to Europe I was with my ex partner.  He and I had not done a lot of traveling in the past other than family vacations with our individual families.  He was scheduled to attend a conference for his job in France in the city of Marseilles and he asked if I wanted to join him on the trip.  All I needed was my airfare and money to spend.  The hotels would all be taken care of with his expense account for the trip.  He said it was a three day conference and we could plan a weeks vacation around the convention. I was so excited.  I wanted to see Paris.  But the conference is in Marseilles he replied to me.  Yes, I was aware that it was in Marseilles but Marseilles is in France and Paris is in France.  It did not matter to me that they were at different ends of the country. They were in the same country.  And I was not going to France or even to Europe and not see Paris.  So we went to Paris and then on to Marseilles.  For the next seven years we traveled to Europe each spring to attend this big medical conference in different cities and countries each year.  These were my first traveling experiences outside of the United States.  With each trip I was fascinated with the cities we visited.  I learned a lot about the culture and the history of each country we visited.  And with each experience I came home with a feeling of having discovered some new and wonderful.  Nothing seemed familiar to me.  I was a stranger in a strange land drinking up the knowledge and the beauty all around me.  I never felt at home.  It always felt foreign and fascinating to me.   Then I went to Switzerland.

Switzerland was never on my dream list of places I wanted to visit.  I never really thought much about Switzerland at all.  It was just Switzerland somewhere in the middle of Europe.  I was thrilled when his conference sent us to Italy.  It was a real fantasy to finally get to see ancient Italy.  Likewise with the Netherlands and Amsterdam, Cologne,  and Copenhagen.  But when he told me the conference was to be in Switzerland I was a bit let down.  I was glad to be able to continue to take  the annual trip to Europe.   But I was not thrilled about visiting Switzerland.  The only thing I really wanted to see in Switzerland was Piz Gloria the location where the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service was filmed.  

Piz Gloria high above the village of Murren

We planned the trip with little excitement.  We made arrangements to see Bern, Basel, Zurich, Geneva, and of course Piz Gloria.  The conference was in the remote village of Les Diablerets high in the Alps in the western French speaking part of Switzerland.

Les Diablerets

The strangest thing happened.  The moment we departed our plane in Geneva I was spellbound. Something felt very comforting and very familiar.  I could not quite figure out what it was or why I was feeling this way.  We boarded the train in Geneva and headed to Bern.  I could not stop staring out of the windows watching the villages and mountains go by. Switzerland  just captured my spirit and I felt completely at home.

Bern

The ten days passed  way to fast.  I wanted more time.  I did not want to leave.  To this day over ten years later I can still just close my eyes and be instantly transported back to Switzerland.  I find it strange.  I don't necessarily believe in reincarnation.  And I have no ancestors who came from Switzerland.  So there is no reason I should have felt so at home there.  But who knows.  Maybe I did live there in past life.  Or perhaps my mother's German ancestors originated in the Swiss area and migrated up to Germany and I felt some connection through them.

Perhaps it's because there is a Samson fountain in Bern.

Larry Sampson at the Samson fountain in Bern

The beautiful village of Murren

Or maybe I just fell in love with the beauty of the small villages.

I still feel like there is a piece of me in Switzerland.  I want to return one day soon and spend some more time there.  Maybe I will figure out the connection.  Or maybe I will be more confused.  But I do know there will be a certain satisfaction to be able to return and continue the journey.

Chateau Aigle

And I know that a glass of wine from the vineyards at Chateau Aigle is waiting for me on my return.  And perhaps there, all will be revealed to me.  Switzerland deja vu.  

Chasing Elephants with Elsa Martinelli

I posted the photo above on my Facebook page while I was traveling in Bangkok, Thailand.  I received several comments with a quote from the song One Night In Bangkok.  Hey Larry, One night in Bangkok and the worlds your oyster.  I don't know if the world is my oyster or not.  But I do know that I love traveling and seeing the world from my own unique perspective.

Growing up travel was not a option for the average person.  Traveling to Paris was a once in a lifetime experience that people saved up for most of their lives.  The times were different.  Airline travel was a luxury for the wealthy.They wore their best clothes for the flight.  Gourmet food on real china was served to those fortunate enough to be able to afford to airfare

.  I remember watching the 1962 Walt Disney film "Bon Voyage" at the State Theater in Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Fred MacMurray took his wife Jane Wyman and their children to Paris.  The didn't use an airline of course.  That kind of tourist travel still was not frequent.  The took a large ship to Paris.  I remember Fred and Jane talking about this being a trip of a life time for them.  They had saved for years for this one time experience.  I watched the movie with great envy.  I wanted to be with Kevin Corcoran while he led his father on a wild chase through the sewers of Paris.  I wanted to dance with Michael Callan and Deborah Walley on the left bank.  I was Kevin Corcoran's age but I really wanted to hang out with his older brother Tommy Kirk as he explored the streets of Paris all alone without his parents.  But most of all I wanted to see this wonderful city they were visiting and share in all of their misadventures.

1962 was a big year for movies for me.  It is also the year that James Bond was introduced to the movie audiences.  Dr. No was released in 1962.  And as a ten year old I sat back and was once more transported to foreign destinations that were far removed from any place I thought I would ever get to visit.

Traveling became a reality for me through the movies.  James Bond took me to many exotic and fascinating locations.  I followed Peter Ustinov and Melina Mercuri to the Topkapi Palace in the movie Topkapi.

 I followed John Wayne to the plains of Africa in Hatari and watched the baby elephants chase Elsa Martinelli  through the camp ground.

Going to movies truly did make the world my oyster.  And I never had to leave my seat at the State Theater.  For $.25 I got to see the world and fantasize about traveling and having wonderful adventures.I traveled with Elvis and Gidget to Hawaii. Then I once more went with Gidget.  This time to visit Rome. The movies were my travelogue.

  I remember my mother watching Doris Day in That Touch of Mink.  Doris lived in New York City and shared an apartment with Audrey Meadows.  I remember my Mom talking about wanting to actually see New York someday.  New York is only a three hour bus ride from Maryland but in 1962 that seemed such a great distance to my mother and she never did get  to New York.

I look back now and realize how fortunate I have been to have my world opened to me not just through the movies any longer, but through personal travel.  I have taken Bond, Gidget, Elvis and even Elsa Martinelli and her elephants with me.    The memories of their adventures stay vivid with me when I visit the locations from their movies. And now I return home with my own memories and travel stories to enhance those I remember from the movies.  I wish my Mom had gotten to New York.  I think she would have been happy that I got chase the baby elephants like Elsa Martinelli.

Fantasy Travel with Bond, James Bond

Guincho Beach, Portugal near Cascais - Location of the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" a photo by litlesam on Flickr.

The first James Bond movie came to the little theater in my home town in 1962.  I remember seeing the previews while at a Saturday matinee.  I had never heard of James Bond before.  But the preview made the film look very exciting.  The announcer said in a very excited voice that Dr. No was the first in a new series of James Bond films.  I think the words "first in a new series" created some sort ovief thrill to this ten year old boy.  There was something exciting about being able to experience the first in a new series.  So the next Saturday I lined up at the State Theater in Havre de Grace, Maryland with my twenty five cents for admission and entered a new world of excitement that continues to fascinate me to this day 50 years later.  

 I know that my love and my desire to travel has it origins in these movies.   Growing up, I would sit in the dark in that little movie house and James Bond would whisk me away to exotic locations that I knew I would never be able to experience on my own.  To my family traveling meant a two hour drive to Ocean City, Maryland once a year for a long weekend at the beach.  Every year, the same beach, the same hotel, the same boardwalk, the same amusement pier.  But as I sat on the benches on the boardwalk and gazed out at the ocean, in my mind I saw places like Gincho Beach.  Gincho Beach where James Bond met the Countessa Teresa Del Vicenzo in the opening sequence to On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  Gincho Beach where Bond fought with the villain out in the waves of the ocean just off the coast of Portugal.  Yes, my mother was probably sitting next to me arguing with my father.  My father was probably looking off into the horizon, ignoring my mother,  with his own fantasy that had nothing to do with any of us.  And my sister was probably there wanting to move on to something more exciting and not just sit here staring at the shore line.  So reality would set in and we would move on  to the smell of Thrashers french fries, cotton candy, and the noise of the carnival like boardwalk.  

As the "new series" of James Bond films continued to explore more exotic locations and the story lines grew more and more fantastic I grew into adulthood still nursing the fantasy to see some of these places in reality.  Travel was an extravagance in the 1960's.  It was much too expensive for a family with a modest income to even think about world travel.  I grew up.   I got married.  I had the American dream of the house, the yard, two children, the dog and the mortgage.  And James Bond continued to travel and to entice me.   This year I am turning sixty.  Its the fiftieth anniversary of the first James Bond film this year also.  There is a new Bond and new adventures.  This year the new Bond film is filming in locations in Turkey.  Of course Turkey is one of those fantasy sites for me.  So although I have been able to travel as an adult and I have been able to see some of the exotic locations I experienced in the Bond movies, once more Bond is giving me the beckon call to another place I have never seen.  In November I will once again enter a dark theater and like that ten year old boy in 1962, I will be transported to a world beyond my imagination.  The bullet title sequence will appear.  The familiar guitar strum of the James Bond theme will be heard.  I guess some things never change.  And I like it that way.