Travel Tips

I am a big fan of the James Bond movies. I saw the very first one, DR.NO, when it was first realeased back in 1962 and have been addicted ever since. In looking over my pictures from various trips I realized that I had actually visited a lot of cities that have been settings for the Bond films. I went to Switzerland in 2003. This was the ultimate James Bond vacation.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is my favorite film in the series. The big ending scenes take place at Piz Gloria, 10,000 feet high on the Swiss Alps peak of Schilthorn. This has to be the ultimate sight for a Bond fan. The chance to have lunch at the revolving restaurant which was used as Blofeld's home in the movie was the chance of a lifetime.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service starts our in Bern the capitol of Switzerland. Bond is in an office cracking a safe. From the office window he watches the clock tower in this church for his timing. The Heiliggiest Kirche or Church of the Holy Ghost was located just two block from my hotel. So everytime I passed the church I thought of the scene from the movie

When I first saw On Her Majesty's Secret Service I had no idea that there was a bear pit in the middle of the city of Bern Switzerland. There is a brief scene of Bond and his wife to be Tracey standing over a bear pit throwing food to the bears. I just thought it was some zoo footage and had no idea why it was included. But in setting the film in Switzerland the producers included as much of authentic Switzerland as possible in their fictional setting. So including the historic bear pits was very much an important part of that reality.

Next to Piz Gloria the ferris wheel in Vienna is probably my favorite Bond sight that I have seen. The movie The Living Daylights takes place in Bratislava and Vienna. Bond has a romantic scene with the Bond girl from the movie while riding this Ferris Wheel found in Prater at the FunPark. There is also a chase, a killing, and a ride on a small roller coaster all done by Bond in his tux. The scene makes the park look very large when in reality it is quite small. I rode the historic ferris wheel which dates back to the late 1890 and once more had one of those Bond memories.

Of course when discussing Bond films the city of London must come up. Every Bond movie has a few minutes at headquarters in London. Also in the film The World Is Not Enough there is an exciting boat chase on the Thames. We took a boat tour on the Thames but we did not see any flying speed boats and hear any gun fire. I went to London with my daughter in 2002 as her high school graduation present. She was excited because she got to see all of the sights from The Spice Girls movie. I got to see the Beatles recording studio at Abbey Road and have a few Bond moments also.

New Orleans is my favorite city in the United States. It truely is the city that never sleeps. Night clubs, restaurants, jazz music, voodoo are all parts of New Orleans charm. The film Live and Let Die was set in New Orleans. The Oh Cult voodoo shop was located in this city and was the front for Kanaga's drug business in the movie. There is a scene where the jazz band leads the funeral through the streets of New Orleans. This picture from my last visit brings that scene to memory.

Another big scene in Live and Let Die was the chase scene through the swamps of the Bayou. In 2003 I went to New Orleans and took a swamp tour on an airboat. It was a six passenger air boat and it really flew through the swamps. The scenery was beautiful. I even got to hold a baby alligator. And of course the scene from Live and Let Die was replayed in my mind the entire time.

James Bond gets to go to all of the great cities. San Francisco is another one of those cities. Next to New Orleans it is my favorite city in the United States. The movie A View To A Kill was filmed here. Bond has a chase scene through the hills of San Francisco on the back of a fire truck and end up climbing down the Golden Gate Bridge to escape Zorin at the end of the film. I had a great time in this city but never got to see a fire truck race down the streets.