Blogs from South-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 10

Tuesday, 25th April 2017 Jungfraujoch (3454m) or Top of Europe remained one of the must-visit sites for tourists coming to Switzerland. Early into the journey, I've decided NOT to pursue all the way to the summit. Hefty fees aside, the skies were overcast with dark clouds and storm looming this morning. The weatherman had made an accurate prediction. I was worried about altitude sickness too, since I did not know how well my body would react if I reached the top. Besides, there were hoards of tourists trying to make their way up in such a bad weather condition. I thought I should just take a step back and admire the Jungfraujoch from where I stood. Anyway, I started my ascend from Interlaken Ost (567m) for my journey to Lauterbrunnen (796m). From there, I made a ... read more

Monday, 24th April 2017 As touristy as it sounds, I still opted for a 2-night stay at the Stella Hotel in Interlaken. This is a fine property in a quiet neighbourhood away from the main tourist drag that overlook the Jungfrau Mountains. The German budget supermarket, Lidl is 5 minutes walk away. I arrived at Stella Hotel sometime after 4pm this afternoon. What I loved about the wooden-style cabin room was it opened straight into the mountains through the balcony. The weather is warm when I arrived this afternoon even though the reception informed that rains are expected and temperatures would plummet if I were to visit the Jungfrau mountains the following day. After gathering some useful insights pertaining to my travel plans, I quickly settled down at the comfort of my room. There is even ... read more

We spent Easter weekend with Simon and Jo and family near Interlaken in the Jungfrau region. We based ourselves in a campground near the Thunersee lake. We went up the valley each day to a different part of the mountain range. The weather wasn't great, but we managed to see snow, and not get too wet. We went up on a train and then gondola to the Mureen area. The next day we went up the gondola to Gimmerwald Village. For the day we had the worst weather we stuck a little closer to town, exploring a woodcarving village called Brienz. The Swiss villages are beautiful, with a lot of wood carving and historical type chalets. Walking in the mountains with snow around us and beautiful houses and cow bells. It felt very 'Swiss'. Being in ... read more

Geo: 46.2, 6.16667After not much sleep, we awoke at 3.55am as we had a pick up for the airport for 5.15am. Final check of the bags, we waited in the lobby for the pick up. Still so many New Years Eve revellers going home after partying all night, we arrived at the airport, checked in for our flight, then headed towards the gate to where we hoped Nikki will be, after having a sim card in our phones that chewed through the data, I had to wait until we got through Customs before logging onto Wifi. Still no message from Nikki, we knew she had arrived, but weren't quite sure where she was. Eventually we got a message, and headed towards the gate. Nikki was quite frustrated as she could not connect to the airport Wifi, ... read more

So here I was. I had made it to the last leg of my European jaunt; Switzerland. The night I arrived in Bilbao four-and-a-half months earlier, seems like a lifetime ago. Switzerland boasts some of the most beautiful countryside in the world. That was my main observation as my train went from Austria, through Liechtenstein and then into the green pastures, cobalt lakes and snow-capped mountains of the Swiss countryside. Travelling on the Swiss trains is so easy as well. On-board screens automatically keep you updated with the next stops, the train's speed and the ETA at each stop. As we pull into Zurich's hauptbahnhof, it even tells you which platform to catch your connecting train from. However, this beauty, ease and efficiency comes at a price. I managed to get my train to Lucerne from ... read more