Genuine Swiss precision

Switzerland is a mountainous country in the heart of Western Europe and famous for spectacular scenery. The Swiss vigorously maintained their neutrality during both world wars, and now enjoy a very high standard of living. Nowadays the country excels in banking and finance and has become a financial hub in Europe. The three official languages are German, French and Italian, but of course you can easily get by in English. I took the train from Verona to Zurich via Innsbruck, and gazed on spectacular scenery as the train wound through the legendary Brenner pass in the Austrian alps before the journey continued into beautiful Switzerland.

I then purchased a ticket at Zurich's main train station to the resort town of Interlaken via the capital Bern, and raced to board a train that was just about to depart. There were business people in the plush carriage working on their laptops and it was only when the conductor checked my ticket that he informed me I was in first class. How embarrassing as I was forced to gather up my backpacks and slink away, leaving the high life behind for my rightful seat in second class. I checked into a superb hostel in Interlaken far superior to the standard of hostels I'd recently experienced while travelling in Italy. I then set out to explore Interlaken which is famous as a picturesque resort and adventure town. The town is surrounded by imposing snow capped mountains but during my visit I was lucky to have two days of relatively mild weather. Some of the adventure activities on offer include great ski and snowboard runs, tabogan runs and also the chance to jump out of a helicopter from a great height if you are so inclined.

The first night sleeping in the dorm proved to be a memorable experience, as an American guy staggered in around 3:00am. Our dorm mate was totally off his head after what must have been an evil night going hard on the drink. He banged into walls, clattered coins around, then promptly fell into a deep sleep in the bunk below me, and as soon as his head hit the pillow he started snoring like a trumpeting bull elephant. To top things off he left his ipod blaring heavy metal music at full bore while he snored away completely oblivious to the rest of us. Great, that ensured three in the morning was the end of sleep time for his many dorm mates! At one stage he staggered out of the room while mumbling loudly, probably to light up another gasper, and I raised my head up thinking I was the only one still awake. In fact the entire dorm room were looking back at me and one Aussie girl sprang into action, racing over to turn off his ipod while there was a brief window of opportunity away from our rampaging American dorm mate.

We were all up early the next day, except for our American friend of course. A pair of vivacious young Aussie girls checked into the dorm during the day and a good atmosphere was developing as we explained the exploits of our dorm mate from the previous night. It quickly became apparent the party would be in our dorm that night, and we purchased some take away drinks from the supermarket and settled in for an excellent night of laughs. Things got a little crazy for the stayers out in the hall later on as we attempted to perform headstand push ups and other larks, and the night concluded with an impromptu fashion show by the crazy Aussies as we showed off our larish thermal long johns. I always wondered why thermals were in such outlandish colours, but on this occasion they proved to be a great laugh as we posed shamelessly for the camera.

I left my dorm mates the next morning and caught the train back to Bern, which is the capital of Switzerland. I was very impressed with the city as I strolled around for the afternoon, and once again the hostel was of a very high standard. I spent a quiet night at the Bern hostel and was sharing the dorm room with one other Australian guy. But to be honest this proved a blessing in disguise as I was pretty exhausted due to the antics at the previous hostel in Interlaken. I purchased a ticket for Paris on the TGV, and so was all sorted for the next day and ready to hit the hay for an early night in.

Switzerland has been an excellent stopover during this trip, though it's a rather expensive country for travelling. I was lucky to cross through most of the country when travelling on the train from Austria, and the scenery is absolutely beautiful. The Swiss countryside features endless rolling fields of green, pristine lakes and gorgeous snow capped mountains. The houses in Switzerland are very attractive, the people are friendly and super efficient as you would expect; and of course the country is spotlessly clean. Even using a pedestrian crossing in Switzerland is a pleasure as the drivers slow down and wave you across the road, as opposed to Italy (and Naples in particular) where you just have to step out on the road and hope for the best. It's been an absolute pleasure to experience some genuine Swiss precision where,............ basically all of you should be here now!

Socrates said, our only knowledge was "to know that nothing could be known."

Top 3 Hotels/Restaurants
Funny Farm hostel - Interlaken, Switzerland
Berbage hostel - Inerlaken Switzerland
Youth hostel Bern - Bern, Switzerland

Top 3 Sights/Activities
Swiss countryside - Train journey through Switzerland
Adventure activities - Interlaken, Switzerland
Historic centre - Bern, Switzerland

As I continue my travels, until next time it's signing off for now

Tom

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