A return to Switzerland – land of mountains, museums and moos! COMPLETED 12/4 - Page 75 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Friday 6 September – part five: they can’t be closed…
We were out on the motorways again before long…
What the heck this was, we didn’t know…
… but equally it wasn’t long before we were pulling into our next port of call, which was Baden. This is one of Switzerland’s oldest health resorts.
On the way in, we saw the Ruine Stein, the ruins of a castle overlooking the Old Town from the top of a hill. Beneath it runs a road tunnel, which we went through, so that was a bit surreal. It was first built in the 10th century, and was then rebuilt in the 13th century for Austrian forces, as the town was under their rule then. The castle was destroyed in 1712, during conflicts between the Protestant and Catholic cantons, something we’d learnt a bit about at the museum this morning.
I wanted to see the old wooden bridge here, the Holzbrucke, but the GPS wouldn’t let me programme that in, so I told it to take us to the centre of town. We got there, and parked up, but it was only once we got a space (which was a battle as the car park had more private spaces for reserved cars than public ones…) and I looked at the map and realised we were quite a way from the bridge. We were not going to walk down there, as by now, the sun was again beating down, and it was a boiling hot day. I went to go and pay for our five minute parking, expecting it to be free, as a lot of car parks give you the first half hour free of charge, but it was 1.50 CHF here (c. $1.62).
We headed out and found our way down to the old town, and found a parking space for a much more reasonable 0.50 CHF for 24 minutes (precisely! ) and we had a wander through it. It’s a beautiful area.
We made it down to the Holzbrucke, which is only wood above, as cars can go across the road built through it. It was built in 1810 to replace an earlier bridge and it’s a beautiful thing to see.
Once we’d seen this, we headed back through the old town…
Then it was back to the car, and I asked Mark if he wanted to go to the thermal baths, as we’d seen a sign earlier for them. He said so we followed the signs, and eventually found the car park for them. However, it wasn’t exactly an inspiring sight when we came out of the car park.
We wandered through the park, thinking they were that way, but saw no sign of them, although it did allow us to get some photos of the park…
… and of the Limmet River.
We headed back, and found the baths, except they were now closed. There were various signs saying that you could still go to one of a number of hotels nearby to use their facilities. Now this is something I might have considered, had I researched this beforehand, but as it was a spur of the moment thing, I had no idea what they were like, what they cost or anything, so I figured we wouldn’t bother, and we’d head out.
Too bad about the baths being closed.
I love the wooden bridge. Looks like the old covered bridges here in the US.
Oooh now you've intrigued me... old covered bridges in the US... where? You know me, questioning mind and I always want new ideas of places to travel to add to the mile long list.
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Pennsylvania still has some, there's one just an hour or so from us here in Virginia, and I think New England has their share. They are (obviously) off the beaten path, so you need to plan for them. Here's a link that might help: Covered Bridge Map
OK - too funny! The bridge at Beach Club is listed as the only covered bridge in Florida!!
So clearly, you need to check dates to find the ones from the 1800's!
What was that thing on the back of the truck? Very odd.
I'm glad you could figure out how to get to the bridge. Very nice! Even if you did have to pay twice for parking.
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Pennsylvania still has some, there's one just an hour or so from us here in Virginia, and I think New England has their share. They are (obviously) off the beaten path, so you need to plan for them. Here's a link that might help: Covered Bridge Map
Thanks for that. New England is on my list - hopefully fall 2016, so maybe I can work some of those in...
Quote:
OK - too funny! The bridge at Beach Club is listed as the only covered bridge in Florida!!
So clearly, you need to check dates to find the ones from the 1800's!
Frustrating not to be able to see the baths, but at least you got to poke around the town a bit.
There are old covered bridges in New England, for sure. Most are now closed to car traffic, but you can get close enough to photograph and some you can walk through. There are a few that are still ok to drive through. They're beautiful!
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It was first built in the 10th century, and was then rebuilt in the 13th century for Austrian forces, as the town was under their rule then. The castle was destroyed in 1712, during conflicts between the Protestant and Catholic cantons, something we’d learnt a bit about at the museum this morning. 
it was 1.50 CHF here (c. $1.62). 
) and we had a wander through it. It’s a beautiful area. 
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