Mission: Accomplished
Trip Start
Aug 27, 2001
1
10
14
Trip End
Dec 13, 2001
Interlaken and Lucerne,
Switzerland
Monday, September 17, 2001
Sept. 16: Interlaken
Today began with a nice flashlight-lit shower. The day before, Julia blew a fuse in the apartment by means of a hairdryer. In order to prevent the inevitable stink, use of the shower was achieved with a mini flashlight. This proved to be very difficult. Oddly enough, as we found out a little while after, if you turn on the hotplate in the apartment, a limited amount of electricity is restored to the room. Strange.
We rose early and took about a 3 hour train ride to Interlaken. Nestled between two lakes and countless mountains, we were very excited for the possibilities of exploring the countryside. After all, you can't leave Switzerland without hiking at least once. Unfortunately all our hopes were doused by the rain (which has been a constant for us during our stay in Switzerland). We took a cog-wheel train up to the neighbouring town of Grindelwald, and found ourselves confined to the town. In the information station, we found live images of the highest peak (this was the hide-out of the villain in James Bond's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"). It was completely engulfed by clouds and snow. This just meant that there would be no point in catching a gondola up there. Furthermore, it's about $135 CDN a pop. With no hope of avoiding the rain in town, we unpacked our lunches in the tourist centre and spent that time staying warm.
After lunch, we decided that we would have to make best of the situation. Raimund had caught word there were some impressive waterfalls further down the mountain. So we hopped on the cog-wheel again, and soon after got to another town. As soon as you enter this little mountain village (can't remember it's lengthy name off-hand), you can spot an imposing waterfall just on the outskirts of town. Although little water ran over the ledge, the height of the falls was enormous. Despite the rain, we trodded on over and just took in the sights of the whole valley. If the weather provided anything beneficial that day, it was the mood. The low-lying clouds certainly added to the scenery.
Sept. 17: Lucerne
Today marks our last full day in Switzerland. So instead of wasting the day asleep, Julia and I ventured off for Lucerne. We hoped the weather would be cooperative, but found it acting up again. It rained for most of the time in Lucerne, but it was a light rain, so it was tolerable.
Lucerne looked very similar to any other Swiss town we had been to. Rather than purely wandering, like we do in most Swiss towns, we figured we had better see some well-known sights this time around. We visited the famous covered bridge there, a dying lion monument carved out of the rock, remains of castle walls, and tried to work in a little museum that was closed. Other activities, that would be less-featured in a guidebook, included: posing with the hairiest cow this side of Europe, sprinting on a race track beside the castle walls, and perusing the gift shops for cow cappuccino cups.
We made it back to Baden in fairly good time... despite the Baden traffic jam. The power has been restored in the apartment. And thanks to the Swiss Co-op, Julia was able to present Erin with a brand new hairdryer.
I must go now. Tomorrow, will be a long one. I foresee many train rides in our future.
Chad
