Minotel La Prairie Crans-Montana

... control recently has broken down, this was the perfect sign to follow, where I planed to cross the border to Switzerland.<br><br>Just arrived in late afternoon to Aosta, I was not only already entered to the italian part of the alps but also to the point of good bye. Here I decided not to spend another night in Italy and crossed the border to my homecountry Switzerland a hour later at Calle del Gran San Bernardo. <br><br>BIENVENUE EN SUISSE - WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND

... the casualties of the Matterhorn.<br>Zermatt itself is tiny, with only electric taxis. It is much colder than Lauterbrunnen even though it's on the border of Italy.<br>Switzerland is strange. It has no language of its own. In Bern, Lauterbrunnen and Zermatt they speak German but in Montreux they speak French, even the train announcements change languages. It gets confusing, so I just stick to greeting people in English most of the time. When I had arrived here I was fuming a bit because I ...

... room, toilets and showers to myself. I rarely saw anyone and reception was really nice. I then headed to Cully to try the famous Lavaux walk but caught a train that didn't make all the stops so I ended up at Lausanne again. I decided to take a bit of a walk, making my way through Pully and then to Letvy where I caught the train to Cully. The view was great but the vineyards that I stumbled across in Letvey were better because there was noone around and you could really smell the wine.<br>

... the rocks. Apparently in summer up to 20,000 litres of water a second comes rushing through these as the snow from the glaciers melt. It was pretty impressive but I was pretty scared too... and scared of nothing too. Its off peak season so was dead quiet. Walking around all the tunnels was a bit weird alone and I kept thinking there was someone following me.. which there wasnt of course. Amazing how your imagination runs wild!<br>I had a lovely ...

... be a rest. Then I went up the opposite side of the valley to get a good overview of the marathon hike from the first day, see picture included. The views on this side were possibly even more spectacular than on the first day. I was elated.<br><br>On my last day I walked around Interlaken for a bit, only convincing myself that I made the right choice by not staying there.<br><br>Being from western ...

... quickly went back on as we made our way down in the cog railway back to Lauterbrunnen. The highlight for Matt wasn't so much the achievement of getting to the top of a hard climb, on uneven paths of rock and loose gravel, but rather the fact that I made it all the way to the top and then tripped over on the edge of the kerb in the main street in town. Yeah, totally hilarious! The last few days in Lauterbrunnen have been my favourite part of the trip so far ...

... make the best of the promised weather. Friday 23rd May The most wonderful morning!! We woke to a perfect day the first since leaving Germany. Perfect blue sky and hot with no clouds. Andrew and Nikki aren't due in to Interlaken until about 2pm so we make the most of the morning and travel around the Lauterbrunnen valley and the Grindlewald valley. We get to enjoy the amazing views of the snowy mountains that we didn't even realize were there ...

... with little country shops. Not cheap in the slightest way but nice all the same. First day we went up to the waterfall and explored the main road. 2nd day went for a walk to see if we could get high up the mountains but it was all too expensive... Lewis wanted to go for a trek but the heat had gotten to me so I had a long nap whilst he went on a 3hr trek. Not much to it, but definately a favourite. Think its Lewis´s favourite after Santorini. - Lisa

www.elodie50a.com<br><br>Here is a video (sorry for the very bad quality)<br>http://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=R5_9hODsqgs<br><br><br>