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Published: July 19th 2019
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I didn't do an entry for yesterday because I was exhausted when I got home - I haven't slept all that well at this hostel (... let's just say a lot of the people here don't seem to have hostelled before and don't have/know the courtesy required in a hostel, ahem) Anyway, here's a double shot.
Day 14: Last day for my train pass today! Used it for Harder Kulm and Schynige Platte. In retrospect, considering how tired I was and how bad my allergies have been, not the best plan, but hey.
Harder Kulm was the first stop - it sits just above Interlaken and you take the funicular right up from the town itself. There isn't that much up there - there's a lookout platform, a restaurant and a hike (back down to Interlaken, if you like). The lookout is cool - you have an amazing view of the two lakes and the town down below. People were pretty chill up there too - it wasn't a huge number of us, so there wasn't the posturing that you often get for the perfect photo spot.
Another perk? There was a couple with two GORGEOUS Bernese Mountain
dogs and I basically just kept wishing I could kidnap one and bring it home haha. That is a proper dog.
Then it was off to Schynige Platte... it's a 50min sloooooooow train ride up on a cogwheel train. It is crazy slow. Like, painful slow. Didn't help that my throat started reacting (either from me being tired or from allergies? not sure) and I was pretty miserable despite the lovely views over Interlaken lol. I have to admit it's impressive how steep the climb is though.
Once up on the mountain, again, there isn't all that much to do. There were supposed to be alphorn players for a few hours, but they'd play for like 2 minutes and then disappear. I was there for a little over an hour and literally heard them upon my arrival and one other time. That's it.
The other big draw is the Alpine Garden which... would be interesting if you're into flowers, I guess? Considering my allergies being in overdrive, going up into a flower garden wasn't the wisest move and I was thoroughly ready to come back down once I came back down lol. I did, however, enjoy watching
the bees (and got some good shots), enjoyed some of the odder looking flowers and did get to see some Edelweiss. Yay.
Day 15: Today was pretty lowkey since I wanted to make sure I'm recharged for Kandersteg. I decided to simply walk along the Aare River towards Thun (and one of the the gorgeous lakes) and just kind of see where I end up. I like my random walks, plus with Google Maps GPS I never have to worry about getting lost anymore like when I first started travelling haha.
I still can't believe the colour of the water here - I see it every day and I'm still in awe. "Turquoise" doesn't quite do it justice.
I walked along the Aare for a bit and then there was this cute little covered bridge that didn't appear on my GPS, but I'm like hey why not? I'm glad I crossed - I found a bunch of cute little shady spots along the water with benches and more importantly the path was in the shade. (It was quite toasty today!) So yes, I basically just travelled from bench to bench, listening to the water (and the birds!),
admiring the view, drinking my beer. Life is good.
As I continued my walk I ended up in a Nature Reserve and continued on my way. Apparently they have beavers here, but I didn't see any. Sad. I did, however, see a lot of different birds and it was wonderful to just listen to them chirp. I saw a bunch of baby ducklings and some other type of baby bird and saw these 2 chickadee-like birds get into a massive battle haha. Aw.
The path leads you out to a "beach" of sorts - not sandy, but an area for people to swim in the lake and to sunbathe. I was starting to worry about getting a sunburn, so I didn't stay very long before I hopped on a bus back into town.
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