Rockin' Interlaken

Well, we are beginning our second day in Switzerland, but it is only proper to tell you about the first day first.

I dont know if this was mentioned before, but if there are misspellings or punctuation errors in our posts, please have patience. Finding the right keys on different types of keyboards is always a fun experience. In all of the countries we have been in so far, there are small changes that make typing fun. And since Michelle types pretty fast having memorized the key positions, it makes her have to think a little more. In all countries, the @ symbol for email addresses is either a third symbol under the number 2 button, requiring you to hit the "alt gr" button first, or it is on the right side of the keyboard. We are always searching for the apostrophy symbol, as it changes in every country, and in Switzerland the "y" and the "z" buttons are reversed. Ah, the joys of international typing! (Just took me a full minitue to find that exclamation point, so I will use it again now for good measure!)

We told the operator of the bed an breakfast that we had an early train to catch, so she made a special note to prepare breakfast a half an hour earlier than ususal. Appearently we were not the only ones to take advantage of this as there were others dining with us. Breakfast was had and we took a fast paced walked to the train station with fully loaded packs to make our 7:43 train. Not the time to be late as we had several connections to make on this leg of the trip. The first train was from Stresa to Domadossola, then Domadossola to Spiez, and the final train from Spiez to Interlaken West. Catching a train can be a nerve racking process as we only knew our destination not the train's final destination. Unfortunately, most of the trains are listed by departure time and final destination. It was a leap of faith to hop on a train solely based upon the departure time.

The ride from Italy into Switzerland was a beautiful train ride with views that were memorable of ridged snow covered peaks and lush green fields. And an occasional tunnel, or twelve.

Arriving in Interlaken, we were not sure what to expect - will it be cold? We were prepared for the worst Michelle bundled in her sweater and pants and Tim in his short-sleaved shirt and short pants (some things just don't change). The weather was actually quite nice with the sun peaking between the clouds. The mighty Junfraujoch mountain before us was fully engulfed in a white blanket of snow. The rivers that run through the town a light blue unlike we have even seen before.

When we booked our hotel (thank you again to the Booking.com recommendation from a fellow traveler), we opted for the swiss chalet looking structure. Upon arriving at our destination we were not disappointed. As we sit and type this we are in a wood paneled room with a giant wood burning fireplace and cow bells the size of my head hanging on the wall. I'm expecting someone to start yoddling soon. When we checked in the receptionist didn't really speak english and so we communicated with hand motions. Our room has wood floors, a four post bed with two single mattresses pushed together, and a balcony with a view of Junfraujoch. We dropped our packs and rested our feet. It must be getting close to the end of the trip as the packs are getting heavier and our feet are getting sorer. In need of nourishment, we pulled out the unopened chorizo sausage (not like the stuff at home - think of a spicy salame) that we purchased in the Barcelona airport and the apricot juice that we had purchased the night before and had a snack while sitting on the balcony enjoying the beautiful view. What an introduction to Switzerland.

We then walked slowly through the town, enjoying the views, the people, and the little shops that we could walk through. It was a day of rest, for both our feet and our bodies, with nothing on the "to do" list but relax. There is one main street in town, that runs from the west train station to the east. On the way we tried to stop for lunch at a little kebab restaurant, and after deciding that this was the place to eat, we discovered that they did not take credit cards. We are trying to avoid getting Swiss frances (as Switzerland is not on the euro) so that we dont have to deal with exchange rates and extra francs when we are leaving. We continued on the street in search of another place.

Once we reached the east train station, we had lunch at a place called the "Coop". They have a grocery store downstairs, and the restaurant upstairs. We walked through the grocery store first, then made our way up to eat. Michelle thinks that the Swiss all look like they could go hike a mountain even when they are just grocery shopping. They all look like they stepped out of a Patagonia or North Face catalgoue. The restaurant was cafeteria style, where you pay for certain foods by the weight and others by the serving. We chose our food, which was funny, as we were not sure what we were doing, so we just followed the lead of the person in front of us. We added a little bit of meat, some veggies and Tim added french fries to his plate, Then he realized that they charge per packet for ketchup. Since each packet was .50 swiss francs, we could esily spend 30 US dollars just on him eating french fries. He does love his ketchup! We also added a cheese cake looking item to our plate, and hoped for the best.

The meal was ok, it was food in the belly, but not nearly as inspiring as ones we have had before. The best part was the pork cutlet and a funky noodle looking dish that looked a little like 3 day old french friend shriveled up (both had by Tim and tasted by Michelle). Since it cost about 20 US dollars, it was dissapointing from that perspective given the serving portions. The swiss franc and US dollar are about equal, but everything here costs twice as much. The swiss may corner the market on outdoorsi-ness, but they sure do know how to drain the wallet quickly!

We continued walking around town, visiting the Japanese garden (a small garden with some of the largest fish we have seen, even blue ones!) and a few churches. The churches looked like the ones at home, without all of the elaborate ornimentation that we have seen in other European churches. It was refreshing.

Back to the room for a short nap, and then hitting the town again to see the last part of the main street we started earlier. Most everything was closed at this point, but we did manage to find a restaurant that served Korean, Chinese and Japanese food. OK, it's not local food but at least it is not a spicy wings at the Hooter's on the main drag. No sushi (probably a good thing) but we did manage to find some good kim chi (Tim, with Michelle on a few bites), spicy beef and rice (Tim), pan fried chicken and rice (Michelle), and some chicken dumplings (shared). It was good, our bellys were finally full, but still cost us twice what it would back home. Oh well, when on vacation . . .

We then walked along the river, and passed what we think was a community sports club, complete with pool, exercise equipment and a crazy miniature golf course. The holes for the miniature golf course had launch ramps for the balls from one part of the course over to another. It was the weirdest miniature golf course we have seen.

We made it to the center of town in time for the Nissan outdoor games video presentation. There were 5 teams, complete with mountain bikers, rock climbers, sky divers, paragliders, and kayakers who had one week to make a video of their sports. They were competing for 70,000 swiss francs. They showed the final videos last night in the middle of the city, and there were a good number of people that turned out. Before the awards presentation there was a concert with a Danish rock band (go Danes!) called the Blue Van Group. Aside from some technical difficulties, they were not that bad, and the dancing in the streets by the other partygoers was fun to watch. Michelle's favorite song was called "Man up".

We stayed and watched a few of the videos, enough to know that the athletes are a little crazy in what they do. We walked back through town via the river, and shared a bit of swiss chocolate and coca cola while watching a bike race. Rabobank had its bike team in it, near the lead when we were watching. We then went to bed nearing midnight. Until later!