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Published: October 6th 2011
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We checked out of Hotel Edelweiss this morning about 8:20 and went to the train station. By the way, it was another gorgeous morning in Switzerland. Daniel, the hotel owner really thanked us for coming and we told him if he ever visited the US he should look us up. "Oh," he said, "I love it here, Interlaken is far enough away for me!" He was really a nice young man, had a beard - could almost have passed for a mennonite. We bought a ticket and boarded the train to the cable car and rode it down to Lauterbrunnen. We then bought us some baked goods for breakfast and sat outside the train station on a bench and ate it. Took the train to Interlaken Ost station and then a leisurely stroll across town to the Interlaken West station. When our train arrived it was only scheduled to stop for about 2 minutes - we were supposed to be in coach 1, but that was a long way ahead and we didn't know if we'd make it so we just got on where we were, coach 7. Anyhow we had to go through all them cars pulling our luggage while
the train was rocking down the track. Linda was pretty upset with me for getting on there and making us go all that way, but she got over it. We rode for a little over 2 hours and arrived in Basel, Switzerland. We had about an hour there so we walked out in front of the station and saw a Burger King. 'Shock City' when we saw the prices. The cheapest combo was 13.50 swiss francs. We got the largest double hamburger they had and supersized it to share. 17.90 sf - $21.84 in our money. We then boarded the TGV train for Paris. The train stopped in Mulhouse, France and hooked on to another train. Each train has a streamlined engine on each end, so when they connect 2 it is 2 engines nose to nose. We next stopped a Strasburg and the train loaded up totally full. There were people sitting in jump seats in the ends of the cars. That whole train carried probably 700 people and was moving down the track at 200 mph in a rainstorm. When we got off and walking along the train we met 2 military guys carrying automatic rifles walking one on each side and checking everyone out. In the station there was thousands of people milling around and the monitors were listing a number of trains as delayed. I'm not sure but it looks like there was a train manager assualted and also a strike, so they say that the train service is currently severely disrupted - lucky we made it when we did! We tried to buy subway tickets at the automated machines because it looked like the ticket counter was closed but couldn't get it to take our card. All they would take was card or coins and all I had was cash. Finally I saw another ticket window that was open on the other side of the room. We got on the subway (full) and Linda was getting her luggage situated when the train took off and she fell against a little guy standing against the wall! She couldn't get ahold of anything to pull herself back up for a bit till I saw what was going on and helped her. The little guy took it very good naturedly, but needless to say Linda was very, very embarrassed! The subway came up right at our motel - we had to push a call button on the wall so they could open the door for us- and we entered a narrow hallway lined with mirrors on one side - very fancy! But then a sign said to go up stairs to check in. There was just a desk with a computer on it in the breakfast room. She told us our room was on the 4th floor and the elevator would only hold 1 of us and our luggage at the same time! We took the stairs! As is usual in Europe, the room was really small, but it's not too bad. By the way, without our luggage we can both squeeze into the elevator together- about 18" X 42". We then walked to the Eiffel Tower and the line looked horrendously long but we got in it anyway. It only took about 45 minutes before we were on the elevator - it takes 110 people up each time. While we were waiting in line (it was dark) all of a sudden a lot of people hollered and we looked up and the whole tower was sparkling! They do that for several minutes every hour. It was really neat! The view from the top was amazing - we could see why they call it the City of Light! It was really windy and cold though up there! We probably had to wait in line 20 - 30 minutes to come back down. The top observation deck (the Sommit) is 906' high. There is at least 2 restaurants located in it. We then headed back toward our hotel and stopped at the Bistrot de la Tour Eiffel for supper. We both had omelettes - mine with potatoes and mushrooms and Linda's with potatoes, ham, cheese, tomatoes and onions - tasty! We stopped in at a grocery store right next to the hotel and browsed a bit. Now we are ready to call it a day - it's already Friday here.
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Travis & Heidi
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Romantic
Whats this about Linda getting upset on your 25th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TRIP!!!!