Hotel Splendide Crans-Montana

... used my final day of my eurrail pass for this trip only to find that the trip from Visp station to the Zermatt was not valid despite being told by two train operators that it was. I also couldn't get through to the girl at the station that my eurrail pass allows me discounts for the train but she kept telling me, 'no, no, you can't use anymore days it's full'. Today wasn't the first time I have been stuffed around by the Swiss. It's hard to believe that Einstein was educated here.

I decided to change hostels because I really didn't like this one. I am not fond of the international hostels. They're like hospitals, although the buffet breakfast was nice and I liked their cat. I was woken up by screaming, unruly kids. Some parents aren't parents. I was happy to change. The sun had also come out and so I snuck on the train from Montreux Tilletet to Veyvey which is only 5 minutes away. The place is much nicer and has free food and a kitchen. I actually got an entire 6 ...

... s purse being snatched as the train pulled away. It was kind of odd because the thief was well dressed with shopping bags and wearing expensive high heeled boots, which made me really despise her. It was almost funny watching this little old lady charge after this worried woman trying to run, if it had not made me feel so rotten inside to see it. When I arrived in Lausanne I was unapproachable, I did not want to see another human being.
I did see Geneva lake as I sat in the rain.

Unfortunately the weather was terrible. It was raining this morning but I decided to make the most of what I could Mannlichen as I thought I would go on a small hike between there and Kleine Scheidegg. Wengen and Lauterbrunnen are ok in the wet but Mannlichen was not. I suppose it was too high and the weather couldn't hold. It was very windy and I swear the rain was ice flakes. Twenty metres in front of me there was only white. It was quite amazing in its own way as I ...

... its own way as I watched the man ahead disappear into the cloud. After ten minutes my fingers were ready to drop off so I went back down. An expensive ride but at least I tried. The weather is supposed to be great tomorrow...hoping. That is why I gave this place three days. September and October still remain the best months to visit. However, later in the afternoon, the rain stopped and the clouds broke away so I went for a 1.15 hour hike down to ...

... there were a few people who though it was pretty funny that I went all the way to Switzerland to hike in the Alps and have never done the same in the Rockies. Looks like I have some hiking to do when I get back home.

The pictures will do a much better job of telling the story than my words.

Also, this is the first place in my entire trip where I did not meet a single Australian. Whats up?

... bottles. It is nice to have fresh water.

Closing out our day, we went for pizza. Don’t expect to get in and out of a restaurant quickly. Our simple pizza meal., salad and ice cream was eaten by candlelight and took 2 hours. We enjoyed it but were glad we weren’t trying to rush off to see a movie. The table next to us had their dog with them. The only way that I knew that while we were eating is ...

... we are are smack in the middle of the most beautiful peaks and mountains in the world, from the top you could see the Jungfrau and Eiger, wow, i must of said that about 1000 times and it never got old. we actually heard and saw an avalanche happen on the Jungfrau during our hike, we started off in the fields and hills before we got to the steep stuff, saw so many cows with their enormous cow bells, they were very friendly, one actually started licking my hand ...

... hut located right IN the mountains. On all four sides of our hut we can see mountains and on one even a waterfall cascading from the rocks. The only bad thing is the toilets are a 5 - 7 min walk from our beds but the place is really cute. Last night because we arrived late we thought we would check out some local cuisine and went and ordered some 'Rosti' from the restaurant. Rosti is basically grated potatoes, lightly fried with stuff on them, we got tomatoes ...

... was really clean. While taking our turns in the shower, the kids had fun playing in the hotel's play corner. The staff were really nice. One of the staff was a Filipina and she's in charge of breakfast. She recommended to go to Jungfraujoch. She said it's the most famous and most visited mountain in Europe. It was also a location shoot of one of the James Bond movies. So we went to Jungfraujoch - the top of Europe. We paid SF154.00 each adult and paid SF20.00 ...