On the road (1) Six countries, nine days COMPLETED - Page 32 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Lake Geneva is beautiful during the day as well, especially with the mountains in the background! Fribourg is a lovely town. about the lack of sleep though.
Cheryl, you certainly have found some lovely spots...which guidebook(s) did you use?
I used my favourite Dorling Kindersley - one for France, one for Switzerland and one for Germany. I also got a Travel City Spots book for Geneva (published by Thomas Cook and I think only available in the UK).
So I had like 6 pages to get caught up on, but I am caught up now.
The hotel in Geneva was beautiful as well as the city! And what a great room, especially with that balcony!! The Jet dEau was neat, but I can see where youd want to stand back quite a bit from it.
Another beautiful cathedral in Lausanne! Did you ever really get sick of them?
Not really, but you do get a bit blase - it's a bit like Royal palaces. These days, we tend to say "nice" but we don't get enthused anymore, as we've seen so many. That sounds awful to say...
Tuesday 23 March part two: they have a locked keypad on them?!
We set off again, this time for Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Its not a place you instantly think of being a capital city. Most people, Im sure, would name either Geneva or Zurich as the capital city if asked. And, as we drove in, we didnt get the feeling of a capital city at all. :
It didnt seem to be a very big city and it also didnt seem to be very busy. It was about 9.30 and, as Mark said, it was dead, which was very odd for a weekday morning.
We found our way to the car park and managed to park up, following the clever indicator lights that wed first seen in Spain. Theyre very handy for finding a parking space.
We headed up to the surface and tried to orientate ourselves. I had a map with me, but somehow I couldnt see the things that I wanted to from the spot I was standing in and I couldnt work out why. It didnt help that time was running out for me, as I wanted to get to our first sight by four minutes to the hour, as thats when it would start to chime. The Zytglogge dates from the 16th century and is an astronomical clock. We lucked out and found it, with just a couple of minutes to spare. I knew we were in the right place, as a group turned up with a tour guide, and sure enough, the whole process started shortly after that.
From there, we walked down into one of the big squares and I spied a McDonalds, which was great news to me, as I wanted a restroom. We went in and headed upstairs and discovered... that they have a locked keypad on the toilet door. I kid you not! I was staggered by that... We resolved to wander around a bit and then come back and get something from there, so we could use the toilet.
We headed down one of the main shopping streets. It reminded me of Chester, near where my parents live, as that also has the shops set away from the main street slightly and on an upper level. They certainly had an impressive selection of shops here, but again, it was pretty quiet.
We wandered into the main square, which had a market in it. The problem here was more trying to get photos, as the sun was at an odd angle, casting shadows over much of the square, which was a real shame.
We headed back towards McDonalds, down another street, with me hopefully looking for any other restrooms, maybe in hotels, but nothing was available anywhere.
We gave in and headed into McDonalds, intending to get some fries and a hot chocolate, but I spotted the fact that they also did shrimp here, coated in breadcrumbs, so we tried those as well. They werent bad, but they were pricey and Im not sure they were worth the money. Still, it filled a gap, as we had a bit of a walk ahead of us and needed something to keep us going.
Finally, with the magic toilet code on our receipt, we were able to use the restrooms and then it was off exploring again. I will be honest, I wasnt expecting as much from this side of the city, as my guidebook only paid it fleeting credit, but as we walked down the street, we saw so much to enjoy. There were just so many little touches to appreciate and, with all that to take in, we didnt notice the walk at all.
I had to take a photo of this van it was just too cute! I was fascinated by these doors along each side of the road.... ... and some were even in use! Some rather odd Easter costumes...
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Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
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Those doors that lead down are interesting. Did you go into any of them? The one looked like it was a shop, but I would think it'd be like going into a cellar.
I love that you guys go off the beaten path and are rewarded so greatly!! You're right, Bern appears as more of a smaller second city rather than a capitol!! Bummer about your lack of sleep the night before. Those lake pictures in the morning were stunning!
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Fribourg is a lovely town. 
about the lack of sleep though.
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Pixie Dust
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. Is is a statue or half of a tree, a rock formation...what the heck??? 
Melanie
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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