Conquering the top of Europe

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  Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Sunday, September 14, 2008

Mood: choc-a-block full!

The drive from Paris to Bern on Wednesday was quite spectacular, firstly with the rolling lush French countryside dotted with villages of grand stone houses, then the towering mountains as we approached the border of Switzerland. The ride was pretty long and uneventful, the bus was quite empty, we got to watch Anchorman which was a definite hit with everyone, and put us in good spirits even though the rain started up. We didn't even get stopped at the border, and cruised through into one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen. 2/3rds of Switzerland is alpine, and its most famous for its amazingly good chocolate, army knives and precision watches. It also has the best army in the entire world (so good that they are in charge of guarding the Pope at the Vatican) and its where Einstein discovered his theory of relativity and all that other stuff

main st of Lauterbrunnen

. It's a neutral country, was not involved in any of the world wars, and its defences and plans put in place mean that no-one really dares invade as they practically have no chance of winning. All houses have access to bunkers and in the case of war or nuclear fallout could survive for at least a couple of months. It is not part of the EU and probably will never be, which means that they use whats called the Swiss Franc (CHF) instead of the Euro, and they have lower taxes so a lot of rich Europeans have Swiss bank accounts to avoid paying too much. Switzerland is very rich, not to mention it has glorious scenery. Overall it's a very impressive country.
 
Desiree and her sister Leila met me where the bus dropped us off at about 5.30pm - luckily we were not running late as we normally are. It was so great to see her again and I gave her the biggest hug! They drove me back through the city (Bern is the capital, although its tiny - its only the 5th largest city in the country) and it has the most beautiful old town I have ever seen, with the river Aar winding its way around the outskirts. Desiree lives with her parents in a village called Uettligen, about 10 minutes drive from the city. Its one of those quaint swiss villages out in the countryside, surrounded by rolling green hills, fields of cows and rows of corn swaying gently in the breeze, where everyone knows everyone and everyones business

view over Lauterbrunnen

. Its so cute I love it!!! Their house is one of 3 terrace style houses, they share the same backyard, there are no proper fences, it feels so safe and friendly and neighbourly. I have my own room on the 3rd level, I guess its like their attic but they use it as a study, its where the 2 points of the roof meet so the roof slopes in on an angle, so its cozy and I feel so high up! They also have a basement where their bomb shelter is, so although the house isn't very long or wide, its got a lot of floors.
 
I got to meet her amazingly lovely parents Peter and Jacqueline, and of course Leila and her boyfriend Michael (they live in the city but came over for my welcome dinner... how nice) and later on Desiree's boyfriend Cedric. We sat outside for a while as the weather was clear, and they told me about their plans for where they wanted to take me while I was staying. They also made me one of the traditional swiss meals for my welcome dinner - fondue! I was so excited as I have never had proper fondue before and to think how much cheese we ate now makes me feel sick... but it was so good. Traditionally you have it with bread but we also had some carrot, mushrooms and leeks, along with tea, as to eat it with a cold drink can cause you to get a stomach ache apparently. Peter also gave me some schnapps, which was incredibly strong and I probably made the ugliest face when I drank it. I was told that some Swiss dip the bread in the schnapps and then in the fondue, it was the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten hahaha, the alcohol burned my throat and then the taste with the cheese was absolutely revolting. They thought it was pretty funny. Im assuming its not that popular as no-one else tried it. But the rest of dinner was delicious! For desert we had some grapes and whats called Basler Leckerli, which looks like little weetbix squares but tastes kind of like gingerbread

view up the mountain from the train

. Im addicted already. And they had like a 1 kilo bag of it! Uuuugh so bad.
 
I chatted to the family for ages, they all speak really good English. In Switzerland they speak a few different dialects, in Bern (and most of Switzerland) they speak whats called Swiss-German, a mix of German and their own words, then there is also Swiss-French and Swiss-Italian, and a forth language called Romansh, which is only spoken in a small part of the east. Their dialects are very hard to learn, but they can speak very good English. Peter is multilingual, he can also speak Spanish and French, and Jacqueline can speak French, but she is a little hesitant in speaking English, I get the feeling that she thinks that her English is not very good, but I think she is great at it, compared to me who cannot speak a word of German! We talked about my travels, Australia, work, all sorts of things. They are so friendly, as are all the people I have encountered so far in Switzerland, and made me feel right at home almost instantly. Its so great to be back in a house again, I haven't been in one since I left home 3 and a half months ago! Which feels a little bit freaky to type. It feels like so long ago! I didn't realise that I missed it until I got here. I definitely appreciate being able to spread my stuff out everywhere and not worry that someone is going to steal it. And its so weird sleeping in a room by myself, its so quiet! But it's a great break from the hostels, and I feel like im part of a family again.
 
Thursday was a big adventure day, we all got up early and us 4 girls went on a little roadtrip to an area about an hour away called Lauterbrunnen, a cute little village up in a valley at the base of the alps. The valley is known for its amazing waterfalls, it was actually what J.R.R Tolkien based the area of Rivendell in the Lord of the Rings off so its very beautiful

Swiss Alps

. Its also used by base jumpers, and while we were there we saw one floating down to the valley floor. It was a sunny day so there wasn't much water coming over the falls, but I suspect on a rainy day the valley would have been an amazing sight to see. The town itself is like a little ski village with cute pointy roofed chalets made of wood, and little window boxes filled with bright red and orange flowers. The main reason we were there though was to board the train to a town in the mountains called Kleine Scheidegg, where we would board another train to take us to the top of one of the famous mountains in the area called Jungfrau, or what they call "Top of Europe". At over 3500m its getting pretty close to it! The trainride itself was pretty spectacular, the mountains here are huge and nothing like we get in Aus, the lower areas are covered in pine trees, but as you get higher the vegetation disappears and becomes very rocky, with huge jagged cliffs and chasms. Towards the top there are huge glaciers which look like they are just cascading down the mountain, its so amazingly beautiful. I think that everyone would have been sick of hearing me say how beautiful it was. But I was in awe.
 
The second train ride takes you through tunnels in the middle of the mountain, as you cannot build a railway on a glacier. It takes about an hour to get up there, and luckily when we did the weather held out and we could see the mountains perfectly

cute cow!!!!

. It was 0.8 degrees up the top and it was freezing but very very cool! We saw what they call the ice palace, which is some tunnels and sculptures carved into the inside of the glacier, lit up by lights, and that was very pretty and fun as you were walking on the ice and sliding everywhere! We then went up to the outside area and the view was crazy, we couldn't get to the actual top of the mountain but we were close to it, and pretty much had panoramic views around us of the gorgeous alps. Because of the altitude everyone was feeling a little sick, except for me as I think I was too excited, and so we went into the restaurant and had some delicious soup for lunch to warm us up. While we were in the restaurant the weather rolled in, and by the time we went out again you could hardly see anything and it was practically snowing. We went to the terrace level, which is like a deck out on the top of the roof of the building, and at 3571m or 11702ft, I did almost feel like we were on the top of Europe! It was crazy to think that when I was in New Zealand they were sky diving from 11000ft, and here I was above that, but standing! On a mountain!!! Incredible.
On the way back down I think the altitude hit me and I fell asleep, but it was a good powernap and when we came out of the mountain I was pumped and still loving the amazing views around us. And I especially love the goats and cows on the hillside, they wear the traditional bells around their necks and the sound that they make while they are grazing made me grin every time I heard it as it sound so pretty and is just so Swiss!!

Swiss Alps

! Jacqueline went back to get the car while Desiree, Leila and myself caught a different train down to the little town of Grimwald, which is very similar to Lauterbrunnen with the chalets and all the touristy shops.  We wandered around the village and then sat in a café to have coffee and milkshakes until Jacqueline arrived with the car and we started to head back towards home.
 
We did take a slight detour though, through the area called Interlaken, which is a town situated between 2 lakes down in a valley below Lauterbrunnen. It has some amazing views of the mountains and was somewhere that I really wanted to see while in Switzerland as I had heard that it was very beautiful. I had met a couple when I was in Austria who had said it was spectacular, so beautiful that the guy had chosen it as the place where he proposed to her. So I had to see it for myself. We then drove along the edge of the lake all the way back to Bern.
 
On the bus ride in our guide had been telling us about the food that we had to try while we were there, and so when I mentioned to the family one particular dish called Roschti, they insisted that I had to try it, so for dinner we went to a local restaurant in their village called Linde, and I got my first taste.

lake at Kleine Scheidegg

Roschti is made by grated potato, with all sorts of different things on top. I chose one called Haxe-Roschti, which was tomato, bacon, garlic, and covered in cheese (everything in Switzerland is made with cheese) and it was soooo good. But so rich, although all the food here is like that. So far all I do here is eat! Although its great, I know for sure that by the end of this stay I am going to barely be able to fit through the door. But I had the chance to weigh myself for the first time and wooooo hooooo, im still the same weight that I was when I left Aus! Which is fantastic as all I seem to do is eat gelati haha. So I am happy.
 
We had to drop Leila back off in the city after dinner, and then we came back home to bed as I was absolutely exhausted. Though I still cannot get to sleep before midnight, I think my body clock is still out from Ibiza, its impossible and annoying. Especially when I have to be up early the next morning.
 
Yesterday (Friday) we woke up a little later and took Larry to a store in town to try and see if we can get him fixed. Unfortunately that didn't work out but I walked out of there with a new mp3 player so I can finally listen to some music again, after nearly 2 months without it! It happens to be the biggest piece of crap that I have ever seen but its all I need right now so it suits me good

view from one of the windows in the train tunnel

. And I didn't want to get another ipod as I was worried that I might fork out all that money just to lose it or have it get broken or something, plus ipods are heaps more expensive in Europe compared to back home or the US so I might wait till the end of my trip to look into buying a proper replacement.
 
We then set out for our adventures for the day. Our first stop was about half an hour away from Bern, in a village called Gruyère. This is of course where the famous Gruyère cheese is made. We visited a demonstration cheese-dairy there called La Maison Du Gruyère, where we were given audioguides and walked around seeing how the cheese is made. We even got to taste the cheese at different maturity levels. Though I wasn't paying much attention to the different tastes, sadly I was just enjoying for the food factor! Just joking. My favourite was the most mature cheese, it was so yum. They were all yum. The audio guide was supposed to be the voice of a cow, the commentary was so funny that I couldn't take it seriously and spent most of the time chuckling away.
 
We then drove up to the tiny old village of Gruyère , which is pretty much just based around tourism, though it was very pretty and on that particular day had some old cars on show parked in the main square, which added to the atmosphere and walking down the cobblestone streets I felt like we had gone back in time. We had some lunch in a traditional looking Swiss café, where we had some coffees and hot chocolates, followed by another traditional dish called Croûte au Fromage, which is bread placed in a dish, covered with bacon and cheese, and then put into the oven. Yet again it was absolutely delicious! We also had a salad of course, sometimes you have to eat something healthy

glaciers

. Desiree and myself walked up in the rain and checked out the castle on the top of the hill, it had just hit the hour so all the church bells were ringing through the valley, and it was so pretty! Then when the church bells stopped, it was the glorious ringing of the cow bells instead. Ahhhhh... sounds just like Switzerland should.
 
Our next stop was to what Desiree refers to as a 'wellness centre' in a small village called Charmey. The wellness centre is actually a series of heated swimming pools, saunas and hammams where you go to soak and relax. They had 2 main pools, one inside and one outside. We headed outside and enjoyed some of the features of the pool, like areas where you can lie or sit and get massaged by bubbles, small waterfalls to stand under, and jets of water etc. The hammams and saunas were great to clear out the cold in my nose and throat, and it was so nice to just lay back and relax. There were quite a few people there, but no kids are allowed in so it was still quite quiet. The outside pool also had the most wonderful outlook over the Swiss countryside. We had stunning views across the valley, the clouds were tumbling down the mountainside and the misty sea of green grass and trees gave the countryside a stunning appearance, especially with the odd tree which was starting to turn orange and yellow. It made me excited as its now autumn here and I will get to see the north changing colour, which I don't think would be as impressive if I was down south as it is too dry and the contrast with the green up here will be amazing. And although its getting quite cold and rainy, im loving the weather. Probably because I can finally wear the winter clothes that I have been lugging around for the last 3 and a half months. I was about ready to throw them out! But I am also enjoying rugging up and pulling on some boots and a big jacket and scarf, and walking around in the cold weather, eating hearty food, it finally feels like im in the real Europe

glacier country

! This is what I always imagined it to be like, none of this 40 degree weather business!! Not that im complaining of course.
 
After our relaxing afternoon we started the journey back to Bern, but with a quick pit stop to try another specialty of Switzerland, meringues with berries and the most amazing Gruyère cream. Though they were out of berries, so instead we ordered some strawberry and swiss chocolate icecream. It was so delicious, I am not the biggest fan of cream as it tastes too intense and fatty to me, but this stuff was amazingly good and I couldn't resist. As I cant seem to resist all the food here in Switzerland. Oh my god im barely going to be able to walk out the door when I leave! I think I have eaten more in the last 3 days than I usually do in one week. We also purchased some real fresh Swiss milk, which is by far the best milk that I have had in the whole of Europe... its so good.
 
Desiree's mum and dad went out last night so Desiree and Cedric made me a dinner of salad, wieners and whats called Spätzli; pieces of something to do with egg, im not really sure exactly what it was, but it was true to Swiss form - very tasty. We then got dressed up and headed into town to meet back up with Leila and 2 of their friends Adrian and Emmy

tunnel to the ice palace

. They suggested a new bar that was nearby called 'The Beach Bar' and we were (sadly) the first ones in there! But we sat down and got some drinks and admired the place, it was actually pretty cool as they had filled the dance floor and area around the bar with sand, and created boardwalk style areas around the room with couches and benches and bars to sit at. They even had deck chairs so you could laze around and pretend that you really weren't in the middle of the Swiss Alps! The music was pretty terrible though, I have a theory that all the bad English music comes to Switzerland, and we keep the good stuff for ourselves, as it was awful and I hadn't heard half of it! But it was still fun and after a while the place did start to fill up. We got bored and left close to midnight, and went to a restaurant to have some coffee and such before deciding to call it a night and head back home.
 
This morning I had a little bit of a sleep in while listening to the rain on the roof, and then Cedric dropped Desiree and myself off in the city to do some exploring and possibly a little bit of retail therapy. It was still raining, which I loved, as there was no wind and therefore was falling straight down, and it was good sized raindrops, not misty stuff or big fat painful ones. I loved strolling around underneath my umbrella looking at the beautiful old grey buildings, arches and laneways of the oldtown. We checked out a few shops including a delectable chocolate shop, then wandered down to the Aar river and saw the bear pits (the symbol of the Bern area is the bear, therefore they have to have bears here, to be honest its not the nicest of conditions for them but who am I to judge), wandered the back streets. We stopped for some hot drinks in a café back in town, and then decided that we had enough of the rain and caught a tram back to Cedrics, who then drove us home and tonight we had a boring night of pizza and movies. Which wasn't really boring at all cause I haven't had a pizza and movie night in nearly forever and it was great!
 
The plan for the next couple of days involves a little more exploring of some of the lakes tomorrow, then Monday me and Desiree are catching the train down to an area called Zermatt, the location of one of Switzerlands most famous mountains, the Matterhorn.   

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

sculptures in the ice palace	Désirée and myself	soft toys in the ice	top of Jungrfau
me and the mountain	glacier heading down the hill	me and my birdie friend	me, Désirée and Leila
top of the mountain	weather setting in	top of Europe	1 degree... brrr
glacier and clouds	Tee-pees at the station at Kleine Scheidegg	mountains from Kleine Scheidegg	view on the train back down
view on the train back down	me and my new buddy	mountains from Grindewald	Grindewald
view of Jungfraujosh up the valley	Thunersee lake at Interlaken	Thunersee lake at Interlaken	stopoff to get some champers
me and my Roschti dinner	toilet at restaurant...	Gruyère cheese factory	Désirée and I getting into the spirit of the Swiss
Gruyère valley	old car in the old town	Gruyère	our Swiss chalet lunch
table beside us - traditional Raclette (cheese)	Gruyère castle	view over Gruyère valley	Leila, me, swiss chocolate, Désirée and Jaqueline
beach bar in Bern	beach bar	Bern city	bleary streets of Bern
Federal building	me and the rain	bridge over to the museum	clock tower
bear pits	bear pits	bear pits	view of Bern from over the river
square in the city	another clock tower

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