Switzerland
Trip Start
Aug 06, 2007
1
43
47
Trip End
Nov 22, 2007
Interlaken,
Switzerland
Thursday, October 25, 2007
We arrived in Interlaken Switzerland on Thursday evening after a 7.5 hr train ride from the Cinque Terre via Milan. We knew we were near the Alps after getting off the train, it was pretty cold. We checked into our B&B, a cute place with mountain views. The host is fantastic, as soon as we arrived she was helping us plan our days. the best Host we have met in 3 months. As we arrived at night we went in the search of cheap eats, unlikely as Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe. we ended up at Hooters, the American restaurant and had a burger and chips. it was the cheapest place we could find and it still cost alot. The 1st full day we spend walking around Interlaken. The following day we got up early, had a nice breakfast included with our room and began our Journey up to the Jungfrau 'Top of Europe' Interlarken sits at the base of some large mountains and the Jungrafu is the biggest in the region at over 4000m high. The station at the top of this mountain (well near the top) is the highest train station in Europe at 3500m high. We had to get 3 dofferent trains to get to the top and the views all the way were AMAZING. They started off with low lying farmland and valleys, then as you got higher gorgeous little hill side villages with Swiss chalets and Cows with bells, then higher again would be ruggid snowy Mountains until eventually after 2.5 hours we reached the top and you were on Glaciers. Not only is there a station up the top but also restaurants ( extremely expensive) terraces with amazing views, an Ice Palace and Gift shops etc. The high Altitude really hits you. As soon as you got off the train and walk a couple of meters you loose your breath. Walking around made me dizzy, it really is a weird feeling. After a few hours at 3.5km above the sea we headed back down again. It really was an amazing experience. Today ( Sunday 28th oct) was our 3rd day here and we got up early again and got a train to a small town called Lauterbrunnen which is 17km from Interlaken. from there we walked along the Valley floor for about 45 mins to see the massive Waterfalls of Trummelbach. These falls are where the Glaciers from the 3 major Mountains drain. The water gushes down huge tunnels inside the mountain. pretty cool. After the falls we walked a further 45 mins down the valley to the bottom of a mountain cliff where we caught a cable car to the little car free vaillage of Murren. It was very Swiss with Brown Chalets sitting on Green rolling hills. from Murren we walked just over an hour with some amazing views of the Mountains as the train was along the top of the cliff face that overlooks the valley we where earlier. we then caught a cable car back down to Lauterbrunnen and the train back to Interlaken. Tonight we are sitting in the warm room relaxing like we have done all of the nights we have been here as it does get quite cold at night. I have loved Switzerland and i really want to come back some day and see the rest of the country. It is very safe, clean and well run. You can see why it is one of the most livable countries in the world. Tomorrow we are going to Barcelona in Spain.
Here is the link to some of our pics from Switerland, we have also updated the Italy set
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melvic/sets/72157602770882931/
