Romantic Getaway in Tobacco Country

What do "romantic weekend away" and tobacco have in common? The answer is Winston-Salem, North Carolina. To say that I was skeptical at the outset of the weekend is an understatement, especially since the highlight of the weekend was to trace landmarks having to do with one R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The thing that I didn’t really realize at the time is that the entire area was built up around RJR, and therefore everything has some sort of connection to the family or the company. For example: take Wake Forest University. The University is located in Winston-Salem because Mr. Reynolds had it relocated to the area.

We ended up having an amazing time. We had some really good meals, one at a tavern in Old Salem that has been around since 1771 and the other at Noble’s Grille. Both Old Salem and the tavern in which we ate are National Historic Landmarks. The best way to describe Old Salem is probably like Colonial Williamsburg but without the excessive crowds and hoopla. It’s a quaint area of town that still stands as it did in the 18th century. It was lovely to walk around, especially with the changing of the leaves.

The next day we went and took a tour of Reynolda Hose, the home of R.J. Reynolds. It was interesting to see and compare to the Biltmore Estate. Though both were built in the same state at around the same time by families in roughly the same financial situation, they are vastly different places. Where Biltmore is more like a museum than a home, Reynolda actually feels like people lived there. The house and surrounding gardens now belong to Wake Forest University.




Winston-Salem is also the home to the archetitectural prototype of the Empire State Building. Once completed, it was the tallest building south of Baltimore and served as the office building of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

On the Lake

United Nations

Geneva is home to the European headquarters of the UN. Its main building, the Palais des Nations, was originally constructed for the League of Nations. You can take a guided tour of the building, which I plan to do at some later date. The opening hours vary throughout the year, so it is best to check the website for specific information.

There are generally people protesting something in front of the main building. On this particular day, they were 66 days into a anti-UN's current handling of the Iranian situation protest.

Out in front of the Palais des Nations are hundreds of water fountains in the ground throughout what would otherwise be an open square. They look very serene and fitting to the location, but I can't help but wonder if the purpose of their existence is to keep crowds of protesters from getting too large and out of control.

Lungern

A stop on the road to Interlacken:

Outside of Luzern

We had originally planned to take the train to Luzern from Geneva. Then we did simple math and realized that it would be much cheaper for the three of us to just rent a car. It ended up being a really good decision because we had so much more freedom to make our own schedule than we would have had with the train. We were also able to decide upon our departure from Luzern to drive home via Interlaken, just to see the area. The drive between the two cities was less than an hour and absolutely beautiful. It would have been even shorter than that, but we kept stopping to take pictures and they were working on the road in places. The following pictures were taken just outside of Luzern.

Church of St. Leodegar in Luzern

Luzern

Over the weekend we rented a car and drove to Luzern in Central Switzerland. I have more pictures to add, but will have to put them in another post later when I have some more time. I can't wait to go back and take a cruise on the lake. This place is gorgeous. The lake is the border between Switzerland's four forest Cantons, which is reflected in the Lake's German name, Vierwaldstättersee. This lake borders the three Cantons that founded the Swiss Confederation: Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden (which has since split into two separate Cantons). The forth Canton is Luzern, which joined the confederation just about 60 years later in 1351.

The lion is carved into a cliff in the middle of a park. Above him in Latin is the inscription, "To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss". It is dedicated to the hundreds of Swiss mercenaries who died defending Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette at the beginning of the French Revolution.