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| View from the train |
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| View from the train |
Interlaken, Switzerland was first brought to my attention by
a co-worker. After reading the description in Rick’s Best in Europe and
seeing the pictures on the website, it became the must-visit spot on my trip.
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| View from the train |
We took the train from Lausanne to Interlaken with SBB-CFF-FFS(
Swiss Federal Railways), the largest railway company in Switzerland. Of course,
it takes Eurail pass. If time and money are not the concerns, you can take the
scenic lines like Glacier Express, Bernina Express or Golden Pass to get to
Swiss Alps.
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| Cable car track |
At the moment I saw the green
meadows, mountains, the water
in the lakes and the flowers,the word I
thought of was ‘Shangri-La’.Lake Thun and Lake Brienz are the lakes made this
place called ‘Interlaken’. We took the boat along Lake Thun. The entire route
is over two hours but you can get off at some of the stops and turn around with
the boat from the opposite direction. A local guy Peter on the boat helped us
to figure out the stops that work for both directions. He also mentioned that his
family had a great vacation through the switching house program with an
American family in California. Although I am not sure whether I would be comfortable switching house with strangers, I would agree the
person who first came out of this idea is a genius. One more good thing about
the tourism office – the clerk could provide you a one-shop service by
consolidating your trips into a very nice printout with the options of the
connections between boats and trains. That was very helpful.While we toured the lake on the boat, we stored our luggage to one of the storage at the train station. A small storage cabinet usually costs 4 Swiss Francs and 9 for the big one that fits two suitcases.There are also bicycle rentals along the street.
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Flowers are everywhere
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| River Brienz |
There are two train stations in Interlaken. Most of the
visitors get off at the OST(East). As the gateway to many other surrounding areas,
the small town was full of the tourists. We preferred somewhere quieter so we
picked a hotel in Lauterbrunnen, 20 minutes away by the local train.The transportation beyond Interlaken is pretty much not covered by Eurail Pass. It was so interesting seeing a train that packed with tourists. It reminded me of going to the school field trips – Noisy but you can see the glow of excitement on everyone’s face.
The hotel I booked claims to have the view of the famous staubbach falls. Since it was the late September, the lack of water made the waterfall less impressive. When I filled in my contact information on the check-in book, I noticed there were a few people from Colorado Springs checking in the same day but I didn’t get to meet them. Instead, I had a fun chat with two German hikers, who tried to convince me that wearing short sleeves on the beach of San Francisco in November was a true experience. During the day, the temperature was mild with strong wind. At night, it became pretty chilly and a light down jacket would be desired. Cheese Fondue became the best choice for the chilly night. Lauterbrunnen is supposed be quieter but the restaurants were packed!
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| Most restaurants don't provide free tap water. If you don't specify, the water you order is likely the mineral water but the regular drinking water |
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| Swiss Cheese Fondue |
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