Snow fights in the Swiss Alps

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Interlaken, Switzerland - 2/9-5/9/07

We arrived into Interlaken on an overnight train from Salzburg. The overnight train was an experience on its own. We had two beds in a couchette reserved and found the train to be chocker full of sleeping bodies including our couchette as the train departed Budapest many hours before. Trying to find your bunk and work out where everything is in a couchette in the dark was a mission. And just our luck, our bunks were the top ones, a good 6-7 foot off the floor, narrow beds with no railing. Knowing my luck I would roll over and hit the deck ( I held onto the side of the bed the whole night). After a 5 hour semi sleep, we were woken at 6am as we cruised into Zurich to change to another train bound for Interlaken.

We arrived in Interlaken pretty jaded and made our way to Happy Inn Lodge to dump our gears. The most we could manage was a cruise round one of the lakes before we could check in to our room. We cruised round Lake Briensee for 3-4 hours, quietly kipping and taking in the breathtaking scenery above us. Hills and mountains surround both lakes. It was just what we needed to pass the time.

The next day we had the best sleep-in, rose around 10.30 and decided to head up to a small mountain village called Gimmelwald. After a walk, train to Lauterrbrunnen, bus and cable car we arrived to a sleepy mountain village with no one to be seen. We started to wonder whether there had been some alarm set off and everyone had been evacuated. I guess we've got use to travelling with 500 other tourists all around us.

In the pouring rain we wandered through Gimmelwald and up to another village called Murren. The weather finally cleared and the views were breathtaking. Amazing how quickly the clouds roll in and out and you only get one snapshot of the view. Nature is almost making you pay per photo! We decided to hike it back down to Lauterbrunnen which was all downhill and pretty easy going, I would hate to go the other way! It was so nice not to be surrounded by millions of other tourists. We must of passed about 6 people max on the trail.

The next day we decided to do a proper hike and the idea became more attractive when we opened the curtains to a bluebird day, not a cloud in the sky. We were recommended the Schigne Platte hike so we walked from Interlaken to Wilderswil, then took the train up to the top. The train was painfully slow but for good reason when you saw the incline it was climbing.

We arrived at the top to breathtaking views of the two Lakes Thunsee and Briensee, and of the snow-capped mountains behind us. It had snowed overnight where our trail was. I was keen for a snow fight (Paul not so much). We hiked along the ridge of the mountain to Laucherhorn and back taking in the scenery on both sides. The weather managed to hold which was great for us. We then decided to head down from Schigne Platte to Wilderswil on foot. I have never been in so much pain in my life walking down this mountain. You think going up is tough. Try going down for 4 hours. We were exhausted by the bottom and in much need of some food. The scary thing is is that the Jungfrau Marathon takes place where they run 42 km up the mountain. Crazy. And I thought running a marathon on the flat was hard!

The next day we departed Interlaken for Venice on a day train.

Sorry guys, I have heaps of photos but the internet connections are rubbish everywhere i've been and expensive so I will wait til I get somewhere free and decent before I spending 30 euro uploading pics. Promise pics are on there way! Notice my last blog had heaps of photos. The computers crashed and then rebooted with free internet, excellent!

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