Sun, 05 Oct 2003

author Tim	location Interlaken, Schweiz
posted 20:41 CEST 06/10/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Schweiz ( all photos )

Luzern, Into Interlaken ( No photos )
After another stuffy night with colds, we awoke to throw together ourselves a nice cheap breakfast. We organised our packs and left them at the hostel for a final look around Luzern.
Walking back into town, we again detoured into the fairground for a bit of a look, although we managed to hold onto our purse-strings well. We had no particular place to wander, other than generally get the feel of the town on what was infact a very quiet Sunday morning.
Not long after this, we noticed that there was quite a bit of snow on the peaks that we were sure wasn't there the day before. The weather was once again very cold, although the sun was trying to break through here and there. We were missing our warm clothes back in Rosie, and thinking that perhaps we had to spend yet more money on getting some more.
That being the case, we turned down the expensive yet recommended cruises on the lake, which would have been rather nice, but frightfully cold. Instead, we settled for a walk around the far side for a while, until we turned inland in search of warmth.
After Liz called to have a chat to her Dad, we went into a Starbucks and hence had a nice warming American coffee in Switzerland. Well, the place was convenient and we just wanted to rest. Not quite as bad as McDonalds, which we have stayed away from for quite a while now.
From there, it was time to get back to the hostel to get our bags, and head onwards to a new place of interest. There were a few sights we would have liked to have seen in Luzern, but perhaps next time, when the weather is better and we are better prepared.

Packs shouldered, we walked to the train station and grabbed a few snacks for the journey on the train westwards to Interlaken. As we are travelling on big complicated tickets, we just hopped on the first train we found, which the conductor failed to appreciate as our tickets went a different way. No matter, he gave us alteration tickets (in German and French, neither of which we understood), and smiled once again.
The train travelled an extremely scenic route over the Brünig pass, along mountain valleys, past inland seas and other places of huge attraction. We had a great look, swapping seats as the most scenic places popped into view to get the best look at it all.
To get over the pass, the train had to do something neither of us had ever seen before - it actually went on a rack. Trains typically have a problem with going up hills (must be something to do with metal on metal not gripping too well), so what they did here was have a little ratchet wheel actually climbing up a ladder of sorts in between the tracks. In this fashion, we climbed up slopes that would have had most cars back in first or second gear, all in a 'normal' passenger train!
We passed through tiny mountain villages where people got on and off, and plenty where nobody did - perhaps nobody lived there anymore and noone had told the railway company. Why they would have left would have been a mystery however, as the huts tucked away in mountain passes, with no roads in were a sight to behold. Add plenty of cows with loud bells (they're everywhere here), and the snowline which even now was only about another 100m higher, and you have a very beautiful place to live indeed.
Back down the other wide, we followed the beautiful lake Brienzersee into the city of Interlaken. The setting is really something else. Described as 'the real Switzerland' by plenty of different places, the city has it all - huge green fields with tinlking cows in the middle, towering mountains all around (the largest is Jungfrau, at 4100m or so), and the two blue-green lakes on either side. However, this day it was not at its best. The weather was absolutely appalling, rain being thrown down hard.
It was in this horrible weather that we made the fifteen minute treck or so from Interlaken Ost (there is also a West) station to our hostel Balmers. By the time we got there we would have accepted any room at any price, but there were enough cheap ones left in mixed dorms, so we were happy. It is a highly American place that has been running since 1945 and is more like a summer camp than a hostel. They cook plenty of meals, there are two bars, and of course so many Americans here. No major problem, us Aussies are putting in a good show also.
The place is two big old houses with massive jumbles of rooms throughout, making it quite difficult to navigate. Luckily, we had prepared for it being a Sunday with all the shops closed, plus there was not much chance of us going out in the terrible weather anyway, so we stayed in and got chatting to some interesting people.
It is very strange by this time of our trip when we ask people "Have you been travelling long?", and they reply "Yes, about five weeks". We let them rattle along for a while about what they have seen, and when the return question comes to us, they are absolutely floored when we say that our travels are approaching fifteen months. Americans especially do their travel in one or two month blocks, then go home again. This means they have more money for each thing they want to do (they bought dinners while we cooked pasta), but we get it all over and done with. Well, for a while anyway.

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