Blogs from Interlaken, South-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 7

Leaving Montreaux not too long after a short night's (morning's?) sleep after the Jazz Festival, Michael and I began what proved to be an unbelievably scenic train ride to Interlaken. We accidentally bought tickets for a much longer train ride than necessary, with two stopovers and train changes in Zweisimmen and Spiez, but it turned out to be a beautiful blessing in disguise. These trains snaked us slowly from low valleys with their verdant vineyards dramatically up into the Swiss Alps toward the Bernese Oberland region, with adorable rustic mountain towns in between. Blinding white snow covered the highest peaks that were getting closer and closer, while bright summer flowers bloomed everywhere in the green hills-- I fully expected Fräulein Maria to burst through the mountains belting The Sound of Music at any minute! The scenery ... read more

This afternoon we took a bus into Interlaken and went to the Yodelfest there. It was... amusing to see all of the traditional garb and the huge pipes, along with the many people bursting into song at whatever time they deemed fit. We planned to go on a picnic today, but the clouds are low and its raining so we'll try again tomorrow. Fare thee well.... read more

We left Portogruaro and the Santaliana family at 7.00am after fond farewells and many thankyou's. We will miss them and their hospitality but at the same time we'll be pleased to be in our old stamping ground of Grindelwald. We arrived at Interlaken West at 2.30 and were met by our old friend Mariann who many of the readers will know from past visits. The rest of the day was spent settling in and shopping for a new mobile internet connection for Switzerland. This is much more expensive than the deal we had in Italy at SF7.50 per day. Multiply that by 60 and it's quite an expensive way of staying in touch. So, maybe every second day we'll use it. On the plus side, we can use unlimited data on those days. Mariann is quite ... read more

Amazing Engineering I cant pretend to be technically minded. I can fix a plug, erect a shelf albeit temporary, and my eyes usually glaze over when ever technical conversations about engines etc crop up . I have to amazed though, at the engineering achievements that have been accomplished in the Alps, particularly around Interlaken. The near vertical funicular railways, cable car gantry’s erected at incredible heights and angles not to mention the miles of tunnels blasted through mountains. Some of these successes accomplished over 100 years ago without the use of modern methods and machinery. It was worth the journey to see and ride these amazing machines. K ... read more

Heading off again more south and towards the French border we decided to take a side trip up to the Grand St Bernard Tunnel and pass to have a look. Guess what, yep that’s right the bloody pass was closed. Switzerland is closed. We decided not to go through the tunnel as the toll was 37e each way and anyway all you see is the inside of another tunnel. Considering the pass was closed we had no choice, we went up anyway, to hell with the Swiss officials and there crappy closed signs. To be fair we only made it about 5 kms up the pass road before it became obvious why it was closed, see the photo. The road was blocked by ice and snow about 3m high we were at about 2200m. Returning down ... read more