This is part two of a two-part set of notes I wrote while on a short trip to Switzerland in March 2008. If you haven’t read part one yet, do so before you read part two.
Wednesday
06h38 White out! A massive snowfall overnight. Still coming down. They’re working furiously at the moment to clear the road. Little snow sweeper and massive plough doing noisy laps of the village. Bus went past as I was watching from my balcony with chains wrapped around its tyres. Snow blowers and chains on tires are new to me. I’ll be seeing St Bernards next.
10h54 Its zero according to the thermometer in Grindelwald. The world cup event has been cancelled. If you can believe it, there’s too much snow! The lifts aren’t even working. So, I’m going on a train trip. Little disappointed, but not massively. Grindelwald wasn’t as picturesque as the other villages. It’s good for skiers, but if you’re not a skier, there’s not much here for you.
12h13 In Kleine Scheidegg, 6762 ft above sea level. Crammed with skiers. Just bought some new gloves. Some of them were £60 a pair. Unbelievable! OMG! As I’m writing this, a St Bernard just wandered past. How cool is that!
18h34 Discovered the Wanderweg, a hiking trail and toboggan run between Kleine Scheidegg and Wengen. Beautiful scenery. The snow set in almost immediately, reducing visibility significantly. It calmed as I walked (stumbled upright) through woodland. But, I faced a different onslaught, this time from clumps of snow falling off of the trees. Lost the trail half way along so took the train the rest of the way. A great couple of hours. Just had my last meal, another Rösti. Delish!
Thursday
12h29 Stunning hike from Grütschalp (4379 ft) to Mürren (5361 ft). The ankle deep snow sparkled in the sun. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The silence was broken only by birdsong. It was a fantastic end to my break in the mountains. Now on the Intercity to Bern, where I change for the Intercity to Geneva. I don’t want to leave, but I’m certain I’ll be back to experience a proper winter again.
12h32 Before leaving the hotel, I spoke to Jacqui on reception. She said the snow was unusual for this time of year. Guess I’ve been lucky again. Last time I was here, the weather was unusually dry and sunny. Just arrived at Interlaken West. Snow slowly disappearing at this lower level. Snow covered mountains still surround though. Spectacular against the totally clear blue sky.
13h07 Man! The chap sat opposite me honks of cigarettes. Do smokers not realise they stink? Or do they just not care? If they don’t care about slowly killing themselves, I suppose not. Just left Thun. Snow now completely gone. :(
13h12 Scrap that. Snows back. God, I’m obsessed.
13h40 You know I’m on a train when the number of updates increase. Now on train from Bern to Geneva. Bern was pretty chilly. I love these double-deckers. So comfortable. So quiet. Sipping Rivella and watching the countryside flow past.
14h10 The train announcements are in French first, then German, and all the passengers are suddenly speaking French. I must be in the canton of Fribourg, heading for Lausanne and then Geneva.
14h14 Suddenly, there’s masses of snow everywhere. Yay!
16h27 They do things differently at Geneva airport. Took a little while to get to grips with but managed to get through to the departure lounge which is where I am now. You had to self check-in where the luggage tags and boarding pass were printed. Then, having fixed the tag to your bag, you dropped the bag off at the drop-off point. Then, you walk half a mile to security and then to the gate. Went to Geneva centre on the way to the airport. Fountain was switched off due to high winds. After 20 minutes, I headed back to the train station. Roasting hot on this departure lounge.
17h22 Plane just arrived at the gate. Feeling a bit groggy. Felt like this the last time I came back from Switzerland. Here comes a cold. Luckily I have some tablets I bought from Wengen on my last visit.
18h26 Plane left Geneva 40 minutes late. Ah well. Airborne. For some reason, not enjoying it as much as before.
20h43gmt Back in Britain. I had to queue for 20 minutes at the UK border to have my passport waved through. Then I had to travel back home on a 25 year old train, from a station where none of the clocks were working. Back to earth with a bump
21h45 Just uploading the 300 odd photos to my mac. There’s some really nice ones. Its been a fantastic short trip, and you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be going back.
Related Media
These notes were originally written during a trip to Switzerland in March 2008, and then posted here shortly afterwards. That post has now been deleted and the notes reformatted into two parts to make them more reader-friendly.
Monday
10h19gmt So now I get to put my iPod touch to good use. On my last trip I wrote my notes with pen and paper. This time though I can write them on my iPod and then email them to myself to upload later. Brilliant! Currently sat in the departure lounge at the Airport. Not feeling nervous at all this time. I know what to expect. I’m actually looking forward to it. What I don’t like is saying goodbye to my bag at check-in. Feels like I’ve lost something when I haven’t. May as well start the ‘wow guess what I just ate’ stuff. Just had a Mango Tango. Mango, orange and lime mixed-up into a smoothie. It was good.
12h15 On the plane. Pilot said they tried flying at 31,000 ft but it was a little bumpy so we’re now at 30,000 ft. He was right. It was a bit bumpy. France sailing past below.
15h38cet I’m in Switzerland. Stopped off at Geneva to see the fountain. Still here. I went the wrong way and didn’t really see anything. Gonna arrive at the hotel in the dark now. Ah well.
15h44 Things are looking up. Train to Bern arrives earlier than expected. And it’s a double decker. Yay!
15h49 The only thing I wanted to see in Geneva was the fountain. Luckily, I’ve just seen it while going past on the train.
16h12 Just saw a man underneath a railway bridge in the middle of nowhere playing the trombone.
15h28 Just left Lausanne. At the top of a steep escarpment covered in vineyards. Setting sun shining on Lake Geneva. Snow covered peaks in the distance.
15h39 OMG! On-train wifi! Ipod won’t connect though. Lady on my right connected via her MacBook though.
15h58 Just realised Switzerland is like Belgium & France in that it runs its trains on the left.
20h30 Arrived at the hotel. Pretty tired. Finally a wifi network I can use. There have been loads all over the place. Just had a Lauterbrunner Rösti followed by a Caramel ice cream. Delicious. Full up.
Tuesday
07h47 An interrupted sleep. Couldn’t wait to get up to see if it had snowed, so got up intermittently through the night to look out the window. It has! And still is! And it’s settling! This is what I came for.
10h18 Wow! I’ve never seen snow like this. Powdery and light. Absolutely pouring in Mürren. Lots of skiers. I should probably learn to ski. The scenery is enough though. Beautiful and bracing. Leaving the mountains now to visit Interlaken. Snow might not be so bad down there. I do love it, but it isn’t great for sightseeing. I can barely keep my eyes open.
12h24 Just finished lunch underneath a pagoda in a small Japanese garden in Interlaken. Town is quieter than expected. Nice walk, but not bucket loads to do or see. Still heavy snow even at this level. Not settling though. If this were the UK, there’d be people abandoning their cars at the side of the road in tears by now. The Swiss (admittedly more used to such weather conditions) just sweep the snow to one side and get on with it.
15h39 Back at hotel to have a rest. Went to Brienz and Wilderswil. Both very nice. Some beautiful lakeside views of the mountains from Brienz. The water was crystal clear and glowed almost turquoise. Snow still coming down outside. Gonna play a bit of Nintendo and then have a walk along the valley.
17h51 Went on one of the walks I discovered on my last visit to the valley. Took a lot of the same photos I took before, only this time with 10cm of snow. Going down to eat shortly. Before I do, a rest while watching Flight of the Conchords on my iPod.
20h27 Currently sat in the lobby of the hotel on the net. Went for a short walk to see the Staubbach Waterfall lit up. I don’t know how they manage to light an entire valley wall so uniformly. Tired.
Related Content
As I mentioned in a previous article, I kept a diary during my trip to Switzerland, so that the process of constructing write-ups once I got back would be easier. It seems now though, almost three weeks since I got back, that my notes aren’t terribly useful. I’m having a hard time pulling all the information together. So, in a change to the intended outcome, I present a jumble of observations extracted from my diary that may or may not serve any particular purpose. I apologise in advance for the recurring “you’ll-never-guess-what-I-just-ate” theme.
14th October 2007
While waiting in the departure lounge at Luton Airport…
- I hate dealing with anxiety. I feel a bit sick, but not uncontrollably so. I don’t think I’m going to be sick. It’s a nervous sick. I hate it! And this still lemonade from Pret isn’t helping. Neither is the recently widowed crying lady sitting next to me.
After the flight…
- The flight was exhilarating. The plane banked steeply on the approach to Basel several times. It was very unusual the look out of the window and see straight down to the ground. There was a bit of turbulence. I kind of enjoyed it. Landed with a bump.
15th October 2007
- I got a good night’s sleep, apart from the drain in the shower making gurgling noises at 07h00. I spent some minutes angling my head in various positions trying to find the source. Then, I spent a further few minutes trying to work out why.
- It seems being woken up by the maid knocking on your door at 08h00 on your last morning at a hotel occurs internationally. It happened in Paris, and this morning, it happened here in Basel. Tsk!
Having left the hotel…
- There appears to be only two supermarket chains in Switzerland; Migros and Coop. The size of each Migros Branch is indicated by the number of orange ‘M’s’ outside. One ‘M’, it’s a small store, three ‘M’s’ and it’s a whopper!
Whilst enjoying a cup of English Breakfast tea and a Swiss-style Croissant at Starbucks on Claraplatz…
- Basel is full of old people. And just where is all the traffic? It’s so quiet! Lots of people filing out of the church across the street.
On the train from Basel to Bern…
- Yay! Double-decker train. Never been on one of these before. The on-train announcements are in Swiss German, French and English. Very handy!
- Long tunnels! Lots of Swiss flags in gardens.
- Really long tunnel now. Ten minutes so far.
- Came out of tunnel in thick fog. The sun’s gone! Bizarre!
In Bern…
- Bern is lovely. Busy at first, but easy to find quiet squares, cobbled alleys and arcades. It’s difficult to believe this is a capital city.
- Went to Coop and bought myself lunch. A Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil sandwich! Had a weird gherkin mayonnaise inside. Delicious! Finished off with a freshly cooked ‘Berliner’ jam doughnut from a stall outside the supermarket. Only 0.90CHF!
- The Bern bears are fat and lazy. They would only eat food thrown directly into their mouths. They’d ignore anything that fell to the ground or that hit them on the head.
Back at Basel train station…
- Departing trains are signaled by a wolf-whistle, not by a metal whistle like they are elsewhere in Europe.
In Lauterbrunnen…
- Hotel is lovely. Despite being about half the price, the room is a much bigger room than the one I had in Basel. Lauterbrunnen’s lovely too. I can see snow-capped mountains from my balcony and a train line winding up the valley wall. I can hear the clock tower tolling the hour and the sound of cow bells in the distance.
- During my first wander around the village, I found there were odd pockets of noticeably colder air, where my outward breathe condensed. A few steps forward and it stopped.
- Just had a fantastic meal at the Hotel Oberland restaurant. I chose the ‘Lauterbrunner’. Local sausage in onion gravy with a rosti. I followed that with a Straticella Movenpick ice cream desert. Looked exactly as it did in the menu. Amazing! Came to about £12. Pretty much ranks with British prices. Simple, good food!
16th October 2007
At Jungfraujoch, 11,000ft above sea level…
- Japanese tourists seem oblivious to other people. Loud, bumping into everyone, elbowing you in the face to take photos, slurping their food up.
- Felt the effects of being 11,000ft above sea level. Could only get halfway on a planned hike across the glacier because of the thin air. Ended up having to sit in the snow so that I could get my breathe back. It’s impossibly quiet up here.
In Wengen…
- My throat is feeling red-raw. Popped to the ‘Apotheek’ who recommended some lovely citrus flavour tablets. I could eat these things all day. Probably not a good idea though.
- Just had my first bottle of Rivella. It’s good! Quite a refreshing, medicinal taste. Going to have to take some bottles back home with me.
Back at the hotel…
- Seems it’s not only rosti’s they cook at the hotel restaurant. They can do good pizzas too. Had a Ham and Mushroom pizza (cooked perfectly), followed by caramel ice cream. This time the desert looked BETTER than it did in the menu. How’d they do it?
- All the staff at this hotel are fantastic. Friendly and helpful.
17th October 2007
Written in the evening back at the hotel…
- Went up via cable car to the summit of the Schilthorn. Splendid views and very serene. I thought I’d be bricking it on the cable car, but I actually really enjoyed it.
- Ate a £3 tuna roll, bag of crisps, bottle of water and cake lunch in the stunningly beautiful and impossibly peaceful Gimmelwald. I didn’t see a single person, other than those flying over my head on parachutes. It was warm in the sunshine, but still cold enough to warrant wearing a scarf. Loved it!
- Coming down in the cable car made me almost completely deaf. Had to pinch my nose and violently blow out my ear holes to regain hearing. There was no where discreet to do it and I was a little bit worried, so just did it in the car park. Got some weird looks, but at least I regained my senses.
- Took an exhausting walk from Stechelberg to Lauterbrunnen. The scenery was beautiful! Stopped off enroute at the Trummelbach Falls, a network of glacial waterfalls. It was basically caving for amateurs. Fantastic!
- Was busting for the toilet by the time I got to Lauterbrunnen. Had to go in a public toilet despite the hotel within sight.
- Had an American chap sat next to me whilst enjoying my Spaghetti Bolognese. He was staying at the hostel down the road. He told me that he worked at a Yacht Club in Florida for six months of the year, waiting tables and serving at the bar. The other six months he spends in Switzerland and on the dole. He seemed happy with the way he lived. Good on him!
18th October 2007
Traveling by train to Luzern (Lucerne)…
- I’m unexpectedly on the Goldenpass Panoramic between Interlaken and Luzern (Live webcam from the front of one of the trains on this service). Fantastic scenery. After Meiringen, the train climbs up the valley wall, passing through clouds and tall trees clinging to the steep slopes. Felt very weird for a full sized train to be climbing at such an angle. At the top, it started to sleet. It’s very scenic.
Having arrived at Luzern…
- Spending a few hours in Luzern. Took two hours to get here, so I’m not going to get to stay as long as I would have liked. Nice place though.
- The Swiss Transport Museum in Luzern is AMAZING! I could have spent all day there. I got in free with my Swiss Pass. Bargain of the week. It was very busy, but totally worth the trek from the city centre. You could ride mini scooters between exhibits. Naturally, I didn’t pass on this invitation.
- Caught my first trolley bus back to the train station. Obviously, it’s no different inside than being on a regular bus.
Having arrived back at the hotel…
- As the train pulled into Lauterbrunnen on the way back, the on-train announcement said “We will shortly be arriving in Lauterbrunnen, the terminus station. All passengers are kindly requested to leave the train. The on-board team thank you for traveling with us and wish you a pleasant evening”. Seems they have different pre-recorded announcements for different times of day. Clever!
- I’m exhausted! Almost certainly got a cold now!
- There’s fresh snow visible on the peaks from my hotel.
- What a meal! To start, tomato Soup with a layer of cream on top with home-made bread. The main was a rosti with tomato and cheese. Very comforting and filling. There was a gherkin sitting on top cut into the shape of a heart. I assumed it was from the waitress. To finish, I had ice cream. Service was with a smile and was lightning fast. I could eat here every day.
19th October 2007
On the way back to the airport in Basel…
- I’m very glad I stopped off in Thun on my way back to the airport. Lots of streets and alleyways to explore. The castle is difficult to get to, but the reward is lots of tiny alleyways and a view over the town.
On the train…
- Traveling on the ‘Eurocity’. Calls at Basel and then goes on to Strasbourg, Luxembourg City and Brussels. Useful to know Swiss Rail offers this service. May make use of it in the future.
- I just had the best sandwich EVER! Half a baguette, sliced lengthways into three. Let’s take it the bottom; bread, mayo, lettuce, tomato, 2 slices of ham, sliced egg, bread, tomato, salami, parma ham, lettuce, mayo, bread. It was AMAZING! It was called the ‘Junior-something’. I’d love to see if there’s a ‘Senior-something’!
So, if you can get past my obsession with what I had for lunch and dinner, I think you’ll be able to tell I got to see a great deal of Switzerland and that I had a fantastic time. I’m certain that I’ll be making a return visit. If you haven’t found them yet, you can watch a series of videos I shot during the trip, or view a few of the 260 photos I took. If you have any questions about my trip, please don’t hesitate. Pop them in the comment box and I’ll reply to the best of my abilities.
