Our first day in Switzerland began very early in Italy, on my 26th birthday, as you saw here.
I can now admit that it was probably my worst travel day of this holiday so far. We caught a total of seven different trains over the course of ten long hours, so by the time we actually reached our Swiss destination of Interlaken, I was D.E.A.D. So let’s just say I didn’t start my 27th year with a beaming smile!
Nevertheless, we did see some absolutely spectacular scenery along the way. Most of it was seen from a train (does that surprise you?), so please forgive the quality of the photos.
OK so perhaps this wasn’t so beautiful, but it was interesting! Note the red and white cow on the left and the giant beer keg on the right?
We had a brief 40-minute stop between trains at Montreaux, Switzerland, where they speak French! We had to rapidly adjust our limited Italian to our limited French. It was a beautiful little place, from what we saw.
We were amazed by how intensely colourful the Swiss Francs are, compared with the bland and boring Euros.
Then we boarded the train that we’d been aiming for all day, the dome train from Interlaken to Zweisimmen, which takes an extremely scenic route through the mountains.
The air conditioning on the train wasn’t the most efficient, so Tom found his own heat reduction solution. A new fashion you think?
It was about then that we went through a tunnel. And stopped. Inside the tunnel. We watched in wonder as the train staff went running through our carriage, one way, then the other way, and then the other way again. They eventually announced (in German, because we were in German-speaking Switzerland now, which a fellow passenger kindly translated for us) that something had gone wrong with the electrics and we were stuck there for a while.
So we waited. And waited. Now I think about it, it would have been a great opportunity to catch up on some very overdue sleep.
After about half an hour or so, they magically got us moving, and we were back to admiring the scenery.
And towards the end, the rolling hills and snow-capped mountains just couldn't compete with my exhaustion, and I just couldn’t stay awake any longer!
Tom continued in the role of official photographer on my behalf, as you can see. Kind of him, isn’t it (particularly the photo above)?
Eventually we reached our final destination for the day, Interlaken, and were immediately struck by the colour of their creeks! So milky blue compared with the chrystal clear waters of Italy that we were used to!
The mountains and lakes though? Absolutely spectacular.
When we reached Interlaken, I had a mini nervous breakdown as the lack of sleep and food got the better of me. Fortunately I have no documentary evidence to prove it though, so you can all believe that I powered through like a trooper, ok?
Anyway, with a bit of food in my belly I improved enough to take a few photos of windows and balconies.
And fancy cars, for the husband…
And more snow capped mountains...
And windows with steeples this time…
You get the idea. Interlaken’s a beautiful place.
The water is freezing! Here’s Tom testing it.
The locals’ houses are adorable.
We caught a bus to a tiny little town just around the corner from Interlaken, whose name I can’t remember. There we stared in horror at the prices on all of the menus. Switzerland is tres tres tres tres expensive!!! We eventually settled on the cheapest meals we could find that sounded like they might be a bit local (as opposed to pasta). For Tom? Weiner and Pommes Frittes (which we then discovered are French Fries).
And for me, some kind of lake fish with asparagus ravioli.
Neither were very good, I’m afraid, and since they cost us a small fortune we were a little shell shocked, after eating so cheaply and well in Italy.
Nonetheless, we eventually got over it, and enjoyed the scenery some more. At least it’s free!
And we even found some more beautiful local wildlife to enjoy.
And more cute little houses…
Here’s Tom figuring out how we would get back to our hotel, against the cute little wooden bus shelter.
We admired the scenery a bit more while we waited for our return bus…
Tom imagined himself as a pirate walking the plank for a bit…
We even found some local goats!
And some very toffee-nosed statues.
And so ended our first, rather tumultuous day in Switzerland.
The next day, after a decent sleep, I felt human again, so we embarked on a journey to the top of the tallest mountain in Switzerland (I think), the Jungfrau.
Not before we enjoyed our very colourful breakfast at the hotel, though!
With a very nice view to enjoy while we were at it.
Hmm… perhaps not such a nice view. But it looks tasty, right?
We even got to enjoy a bit of humour in the lift. In case you can’t read it, it says:
“The operation of the alarm button will automatically effect a vocal link with the communication centre of Schindler”.
Tom was worried Schindler might add him to his list, so he resisted trying it out.
And then we embarked on our journey upwards. Here I am enjoying the cog train.
Practically everywhere you look it's like looking at a postcard.
And I’ll leave it there for the moment. Stay tuned for what happened when we reached the summit (or as close as the train would take us to it at least).
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