Saturday June 4 – We pack up, say a big thank-you and farewell to Jochen and Annegret, and we say good-bye to Ruegen and we are off to Hamburg. The drive is un-eventful and we arrive at the main train station by early afternoon. The nice lady at Europecar let us store our bags at their office when we returned the car, which allowed us to walk around downtown Hamburg unencumbered. So we grabbed a snack, and M and T’s first cappuccino in about a week, and looked at the map until we understood where we were. Then we headed off to see what we could see. We soon found a wonderful small lake and learned that just walking around, especially as it was a really warm day, was the thing that many folks were doing.
We watched a few swans and ducks, then found a place to sit in the shade and have a beer (for M and T) and a Fanta for J. We walked around some more, just window-shopping and killing time, then found a steakhouse for a big steak dinner for all before boarding our train.
The train left Hamburg at 8:35 PM, so we were ready as it pulled into the station, having found a last German dessert for the train ride. When we boarded the train loaded down with our bags, trying to be first-in so we can get our stuff out of the way, we unfortunately took a wrong turn when trying to find our cabin. Here we were having put about half our bags into a cabin, when a couple say to us “That’s our cabin”. Sure enough they show M their ticket and we find we had the right cabin in the wrong car, and now the entire hallway was full of people waiting for us to get out of the way, and we have 3 suitcases plus our big duffle bag. The man was very helpful, going to check with the conductor that we could get to our car without moving off the train. It was all corrected in about 5 minutes yet with some un-wanted sweating!
This was J’s first time in a sleeper car, and he got the top bunk (almost 7 feet off the ground) and thought it was cool that we each had a kind-of seat-belt / net thing so we would not fall out of our bunks in the night.
We settled in and got whatever sleep is possible on a train.
Sunday June 5 – We awake already in France and have breakfast on the train, a lot like an airplane meal although with the European flair of pate and croissant. We arrive in Paris, make our way through the crowd, and find a taxi as we must go from the Paris Est train station to Paris Gare-Lyon train station to catch our connecting train to Lyon, we have about one hour and we do not know how long the transfer will take. Our cab driver spoke English well (an Asian living in Paris who had been to Toronto!), and told us no problem the transfer was less than 20 minutes. So we had lots of time in Gare Lyon to print out our tickets and get a cappuccino. We find our seats are in the top section of the first class car, a better view for the high speed to Lyon. Arriving in Lyon by early afternoon, we find the cabs all seem too small for our bags and us. The cab drivers are helpful, and get the cabbie with a SUV to drive past many in the line-up so we can be served without dragging our bags around.
Off we are to the airport to pick up our leased Peugeot, a 508 SW, which we are glad to find that even though we saw pictures of it on the Internet, it’s the largest car we have had so far. All our bags fit into the trunk section of the car, meaning that J has the whole back seat to himself – a first on the trip. This car has its own GPS, so we program it for our hotel in Lausanne, choosing to stay off the auto-bahn, and head off for a lovely drive in the French countryside.
About 20 minutes into the drive our low fuel alarm went off, and M learned he had misunderstood the lady at the car pick-up and the car was empty (not full as we had thought). We ask directions from a few folks and find the nearest service station with only a 20 minute delay, then off again on our Sunday drive. We notice A LOT of traffic, and find that we are only travelling at an average of about 65 kph, so after 2.5 hours we still have more than 100 km to get to Lausanne. So we re-program the GPS to find the fastest route (what a great invention), jump on the highway and get to our hotel in under an hour. We learned later from M’s friend in Geneve is that this was the end of a big holiday weekend. We decide to have dinner at our hotel, a great meal although we get re-acquainted with Switzerland’s prices. Dinner for three, with a 30 Sw Franc bottle of wine, was a mere 180 Sw Francs (208 Can$).
Monday June 6 – After a great sleep in the best beds we have had in awhile, we do our workout and at J’s suggestion add it a cardio piece in the hotel gym. The its off to the lake-side in Lausanne to find a café for lunch and then the Olympic Museum. Again we find Switzerland prices a little steep as our 3 crepes with cappuccino and a Fanta for J costs 78 Sw Fr. Oh well life is short and we are enjoying ourselves, and the crepes are so classic.
Next it’s off to see the Olympic Museum, something we all find absolutely awe-inspiring. First we see many bronze art sculptures commissioned to commemorate the Olympics in many cities, truly beautiful and each different.
Next as we approach the entrance we see the height of the world record high jump – M cannot touch the bottom of the bar while standing flatfooted!
Then we pace off the world record shot put, a 7.5 kg metal ball that some man straight arm pushed over 23 metres, followed by staring up at the world record pole vault in awe that anyone can go that high just with the aid of a pole that it not nearly that long. A man walks by and says “it really is amazing when you see these events live, I get to work for the Olympics and as you have seen, the TV coverage does not do these human feats justice”. We heartily agree and start scheming which Olympics we could attend in person (even though M really does not like crowds, he says it would clearly be worth it). Then we enter the museum and after getting the English audio-guides spend the next 3 hours enthralled by all we learn. J sums it up well - “this has been the best thing I have experienced in my life so far”. We are all inspired by the history, passion, stories of camaraderie, and pursuit of excellence. J decides we should go back to the restaurant and have a dessert crepe. So J and M share a chocolate and banana crepe, while T continues to wander around the lakeshore enjoying the scenery.
The day was capped off with an evening meal at Café Baccarrole dining with our friend Marc who lives in Geneva. He met us at a lovely hotel mid way between Geneva and Lausanne. The fish specialty is fresh perch from the lake which both M and Mark A enjoyed for an evening meal, T had filet of bass and J went outside his comfort zone and had risotto with shrimp and calamari. All in all a wonderful evening spent catching up with our friend.
Tuesday, June 7 – Another workout day and prepare for departure to Wengen in the Jungfrau district of Switzerland. We decide to purchase groceries at a local Coop grocery store since we don’t know what the facilities are like in Wengen. The selection is amazing and the prices are at times stunning – and not in a good way! Switzerland is not cheap! After we leave the grocery store armed with food and some great wines. We are close to France and M found several Bordeaux reds and a Valais white that he thought we should have. M tries to program the GPS to get to Wengen - it won’t do it!?? What’s going on…. later we understand that the GPS was foreshadowing that one cannot drive to Wengen. We decide to return to the Novotel hotel where we stayed at and M plunks in Wengen on Google maps and finds the nearest town - Lauterbrunnen. Once we plot in this destination, we are set to go. The drive is uneventful and through some beautiful agricultural land which we admire.
Once we arrive at Interlaken, we leave the highway to head to Lauterbrunnen. We arrive and after asking a woman for clarification we realize that we can’t drive up to Wengen, we must take a train!! Armed with Eurorail passes, T arranges tickets to Wengen on a train that will leave in 25 minutes. We park our vehicle in a parkade, get a parking pass, get what we believe we need from the vehicle, including groceries and head up for the train. We locate our train, carry on the luggage and groceries and basically collapse on the train. T verifies with a passenger that the train is actually heading to Wengen and he says, “yes, you can chill now”.
The trip to Wengen takes about 30 minutes on a cog train which climbs the mountainside through a couple of tunnels until we are high above the valley, overlooking Lauterbrunnen. We are struck by the beauty. It’s just like pictures in books showcasing Switzerland! Little villages in the alpine meadows surrounded by snow capped mountains!!
The village is quite small with many hotels and chalets catering to the high season of summer where people from around the world come to enjoy the Jungfrau mountain range to hike. We call for a taxi – there are few vehicles are in the village itself (mostly electric), which arrives within 5 minutes of calling. J asked how the van got to Wengen and she answered “by train of course” as if there was any other way!
It is a bit overcast today, but we still get a sense of the beautiful peaks around the village. There are a number of chalets with brown wooden siding, painted window shutters and window boxes abloom with red flowers. The scene is beautiful. The taxi drops off at the door of our apartment, which turn out to be a wonderful half floor of a chalet, we unpack and admire the surroundings. Dinner is prepared by T, with M cleaning up (a usual occurrence) and then out for an evening walk. Chalets are admired and in the distance cows can be heard because of their cow bells strung around their necks – again another “Switzerland moment”!
Wednesday, June 8 – Today we wake up to overcast skies and misty rain – not what we had hoped for. We look at the brochures and decide to take the train from Wengen up to Klein Schleigg where we will get off the train and walk back to Wengen. The stated time in the brochure is 3 hours. M and T discuss this and decide this will be a good choice for the day.
We leave the chalet after lunch and walk down to the village to buy tickets at the station for the trip up. It takes approximately 25 minutes to get up to our destination. We locate our walkway down to Wengen and begin the trek. It is mostly overcast, so we can’t see across the valley. Occasionally we can see breaks in the clouds, allowing us to imagine what the valley looks like and what is indeed on the other side…. We walk down well marked trails which lead us through alpine meadows, truly beautiful even if we can’t see everything!!
Part of our pathway is actually part of the downhill course for the World Cup ski circuit. Along the way there are wooden placards which describe the course outlay and what the corners are called. There is even a “Canadian corner” named after the crazy Canucks, Dave Murray and Ken Reid, who crashed there when competing in the 1970’s!
Some of the pitches were extremely steep and corners extremely challenging to say the least! While we are walking through the alpine meadows we admired all the flowers in bloom as well as a mountainside with at least five waterfalls! It makes us wonder how many there in the entire valley?
It takes us just over two hours to descend to Wengen. We have all enjoyed the walk, but are ready for a rest. We decide to catch up on laundry, enjoy another wonderful bottle of French red wine as well as eat another great meal.
Thursday, June 9 – We are awakened by the sound of many loud cow bells. The farmers are herding their cattle through town on the way up to the higher alpine meadows. We grab the camera for a shot at something you don’t see everyday, and also note that some of the cow bells are bigger than bastetballs!
Today we take the train up the Jungfrau, dubbed “Top of Europe” at 11 333 ft Jungfraujoch is the highest train station in Europe. We take the train from Wengen and change trains at Klein Schleigg. The train trip to the top will take us and additional 50 minutes which includes 2 stops. Both stops are for viewing purposes. Holes have been blasted in the walls of the mountain to provide glassed-wall viewing spots. Today however the viewing is lees than satisfactory, with clouds preventing seeing anything from these points. Once we reached Jungfraujoch all depart from the train and go to various sites up this high. M and T immediately notice the high altitude which affects T’s breathing as well as both feeling light-headed. After a snack and water, we buy a t-shirt for J and decide to check out the ice palace because views from the top are non-existent today, due to the clouds. Did we mention it was also snowing a bit?!! We were able to go through the Ice Palace which has ice carvings and statues in amongst all ice hallways – quite cool!
We head back down to Klein Schleigg, have some lunch, and then start walking down again. J is a little less inclined for the two hours we did yesterday, so we walk for about 40 minutes and the jump on the train back to Wengen. When we get off the train J says he wants to show M a huge chess set he and T had seen the other day while walking around – so he and M have a couple of games while T walks around the town some more.
Tonight we go into town to find a restaurant for Swiss fondue. J decides to have schnitzel while M and T enjoy a wonderful fondue and a nice white wine. On the way to the restaurant we had noticed some signs indicating a local folk event of some type. While having dinner we see locals in traditional dress start gathering outside the restaurant, and then to our surprise they each take a cow bell (none of which is as small as a basketball) and then together they start to play music while marching down the street. We decide that after dinner we will find the event location. To our delight when we enter the large event tent, we find a woman spinning wool into yearn with a spinning wheel, two other women making hand-made lace. Then we get to listen to a man playing an alpine horn (one that was about 7 feet long), the cow bell troupe again, a local band, and a yodeling choir, as each take their turn entertaining the crowd. What a wonderful way to top off our stay in Wengen!
As we walk back to the apartment we notice that the clouds have been lifting and its getting clear, maybe we will see the mountain tops before we leave.
Friday June 10 – We wake up early, have a quick breakfast and are out of the apartment before 8 AM. M and T packed up last night so we could a=catch an ear;ly train back up to Klein Schleigg and get to see the Jungfrau area without mist and clouds. We are soundly rewarded as the sky is clear and we find exactly how magnificent this area is. We get great views of the Eiger with its famous north face,
the Munch,
and Jungfrau with its glacier,
as well as getting to see where we had walked.
We will definitely come back here and hike.
Next we take the train back down to Lauterbrunnen
and pack up the car. We have one more stop before we leave the valley. A short drive up the valley we have heard about the river that drains the entire Jungfrau area and culminates in a waterfalls that has carved its way inside the mountain.
Now we drive through Switzerland on our way to Chamonix France where hope to go up and see Mont Blanc.
No comments:
Post a Comment