This place looks pretty amazing

[Randomguy]

 

[Randomguy]

Good lord, here is an equally amazing place:

 

 

[Airehead]

Both are lovely. 

[donkpow]

There is no reason not to make things look good when you make them. People will help keep things up when they look good, generally.

[bikeman564™]

those places are beautiful makes me want to live in a small village like that.

[team scooter]

I think this is as close as I'll ever get to the Swiss Alps. 

 

[maddmaxx ★]

The German/Austrian company Faller makes some beautiful model kits of buildings like this for European model train layouts.

 

[Dirtyhip]

Beautiful.  Their country is on my bucket list.

8 months a year is probably cold and snowy there.

[Square Wheels]

I found a pic of the first house in the winter.

[Prophet Zacharia]

A rode in some small German towns near the Austrian border. It was like riding through a fairy tale.

[ChrisL]

12 hours ago, Randomguy said:

Good lord, here is an equally amazing place:

 

 

There is a little town in Holland called  Geithoorn that looks like this place.  You can rent little motor boats and cruise along the canals.

My family took me there ages ago, cool little town.

[maddmaxx ★]

Alsace-Lorraine.  A bit German, a bit French, a bit of the low countries.  All of it pretty.

[MoseySusan]

Lauterbrunnen is all that. We spent four days in the area. 

[maddmaxx ★]

I so love that architecture.

[MoseySusan]

2 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I so love that architecture.

The interiors were warm and cozy. I would go back tomorrow if given the chance.  

[Randomguy]

3 hours ago, bikeman564™ said:

those places are beautiful makes me want to live in a small village like that.

I am beside myself wondering why I don't live in a place like that, or at least in proximity to a place like that.   Europe looks amazing in these videos!

[Randomguy]

3 hours ago, team scooter said:

I think this is as close as I'll ever get to the Swiss Alps. 

 

I really liked NG when I went, and would love to go back.

[MoseySusan]

3 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

I am beside myself wondering why I don't live in a place like that, or at least in proximity to a place like that.   Europe looks amazing in these videos!

Hella expensive, for one. And that pretty much tells the whole story.

[Randomguy]

1 minute ago, roadsue said:

Hella expensive, for one. And that pretty much tells the whole story.

There has to be a podunk town 20 miles away that isn't a tourist spot, right?  i will learn whatever language is needed to live there!

[MoseySusan]

7 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

There has to be a podunk town 20 miles away that isn't a tourist spot, right?  i will learn whatever language is needed to live there!

The whole area is set apart by the govt and subsidized to look like that to protect tourism, snow sports, raising dairy cows and crafting cheese,etc. 

[shootingstar]

5 hours ago, Randomguy said:

There has to be a podunk town 20 miles away that isn't a tourist spot, right?  i will learn whatever language is needed to live there!

We cycled and also stayed in some of those lovely little southern Germany towns.  Those medieval / Rennaissance towns, especially the ones off the normal tourist route, are....so quiet.  Like REAL quiet, that a local baby crying could be heard down the cobblestone street. Same for tiny French towns.

Honest, for myself, I felt I wouldn't belong in those European very old, tiny towns after being there for a long time.  But then, I would stifle in an Asian town also.

I suspect the municipal laws ensure the home owners keeps their home and landscaping looking nice.  There's a cost to all that. Some long time locals might get uber picky about certain things/attitudes. So the best thing is to have some locals who commute in to bigger cities to work...it keeps local attitudes from becoming too hardened/narrow/tunnel vision.  It's important in those historic lovely areas to have a blend of locals from different educational backgrounds, work roles, etc.

[shootingstar]

5 hours ago, Randomguy said:

I am beside myself wondering why I don't live in a place like that, or at least in proximity to a place like that.   Europe looks amazing in these videos!

I was on vacationing on Nantucket Island about 20 yrs. ago. A local biz owner told me that the lovely looking area is due to strict bylaws on building exteriors, landscaping, and controlling development (of course), etc. There's less freedom to have your home express your tastes.

[Scrapr ★]

There is a train called the Bernina Express (I think) that runs from Switzerland to Milan Italy. part of the ride is up a corkscrew section. Then you pull into these tiny stations. I really wanted to go on that w/WoScrapr.  Goes right by lake Como...wave to George Clooney & Amal

 

 

[maddmaxx ★]

2 hours ago, shootingstar said:

We cycled and also stayed in some of those lovely little southern Germany towns.  Those medieval / Rennaissance towns, especially the ones off the normal tourist route, are....so quiet.  Like REAL quiet, that a local baby crying could be heard down the cobblestone street. Same for tiny French towns.

Honest, for myself, I felt I wouldn't belong in those European very old, tiny towns after being there for a long time.  But then, I would stifle in an Asian town also.

I suspect the municipal laws ensure the home owners keeps their home and landscaping looking nice.  There's a cost to all that. Some long time locals might get uber picky about certain things/attitudes. So the best thing is to have some locals who commute in to bigger cities to work...it keeps local attitudes from becoming too hardened/narrow/tunnel vision.  It's important in those historic lovely areas to have a blend of locals from different educational backgrounds, work roles, etc.

Then they would be cities, not quaint lovely towns.

[Bikeguy]

24 minutes ago, Scrapr said:

Goes right by lake Como.

We took a train from Venice to Milan.  We stayed there for 3 days.  On of the days we took a train from Milan to Como. Lake Como was beautiful.  We took ferry from Como to Bellagio on Lake Como.

One thing (at least when we were there) we found out, you do NOT go for a swim in Lake Como.   At that time there was some kind of bacteria thing going on in the water.   It looked beautiful, just don't swim or fall into the water.  

 

[Razors Edge ★]

Lauterbrunnen - more the valley and surrounding villages up into the mountains - is really quite lovely.  The drive in is pretty spectacular if you happen to go during the snow melt when there are waterfalls all along the route.  Amazing stuff.

We stayed in Murren which is a ski town above Lauterbrunnen - but radiated out (and down and up) to do an assortment of hikes and train and gondola rides.  Across the valley from Murren is the Jungrau.  We did a great but challenging hike from Wengen taking a gondola up to the start of a hike up to the Kleine Scheidegg (great views of the Jungfrau, Eiger, and Monch) and then, instead of taking the tourist train down, we hike down down down down from there to Lauterbrunnen.  Talk about aching calves!  We also rode the gondola up to the Schilthorn (above Murren/opposite Jungfrau) with the intention of hiking down and despite it being summer, we stepped out of the station into a snowstorm with zero visibility and freezing temps and winds.  We rode the gondola back down instead   We also did a hike that took in some of the smaller towns along the valley sides including Gimmelwald and also rode some smaller trains which is always fun. 

FTR, pretty much all the points made in earlier posts about going and visiting those European spots are all good ones. Alsace - great.  Lake Como - great.  Little German villages - great. If you haven't had the opportunity to visit there, you should consider it highly and make it happen

This is funny that you mentioned it on Saturday, because as we were driving home from camping on Sat, my wife mentioned that returning there is part of the itinerary she is planning for her 50th birthday next year.  Were you listening in on our conversation????