30 April 2011 – Paris (Saturday)

Today is looking much better.  First we both are feeling better and the sun is shining.  So today we will go to the Eiffel Tower.  What is very nice is that being in an apartment we can relax over breakfast and take a leisure start to the day.  It is not until 10 that we actually head out the door.

I find the subways here very effective but then we have not tried to get to any non-tourist destinations other than the apartment.  (Of course since it caters to tourists it really is a tourist destination and very close to the metro.)  Paris has a network of metros of two different levels designated by Letters and Numbers.  It is my guess that the Lettered routes are the newer and faster trains while the Numbered are the older and slower.  Regardless the metro is a very effective way to get around the city.  For those who live here in the suburbs I am sure they can travel around using the metros and then trams or buses.

We arrived at the metro outside of the Eiffel tower (one of the several that have stations in this area) and walked off the train with a large body of other people.  I noted that the benefits of mass transport is a great way to move people around but it tends to ‘bunch’ them when the train disembarks and to arrive at the Eiffel tower in a crowd guarantees line ups and waits.  Not to worry that by the time we got there 11:00 there were already long line ups snaking away from each of the four pillars (legs) towards the center.  The line to get to the ticket office for one of the pillars (the one we were in) took just over one hour.  Then it took about 15 minutes to get to the elevator to go up to the 2^nd level.  From there we took another 15 minutes in a line to get to the elevator to take us to the top.  Yep your math is correct if you realize it took us over 90 minutes (96 exactly) to get to the end of the line to the top of the tower.

The Eiffel Tower (nickname “La dame de fer”, the iron lady) is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris.  Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world.  The tower is the tallest building in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year.  Named for its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair.

The tower stands 324 metres (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building.  Upon its completion, it surpassed the Washington Monument to assume the title of tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930; however, due to the addition in 1957 of the antenna, the tower is now taller than the Chrysler Building. Not including broadcast antennas, it is the second-tallest structure in France after the 2004 Millau Viaduct.

Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years; it was to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris.  The City had planned to tear it down (part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it could be easily demolished) but as the tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiry of the permit.

The views from the top were breathtaking.  As we walked (ok shuffled and bumped amoung the crowds of people on the narrow walkway) around we had totally uninterrupted views of Paris.  It is great to see the designing patterns of the streets of the city developers.  If you have not had a chance to see the design patterns, it seems that there is a central focal point and the streets radiate outward creating the look of a cartwheel and hub.  As we marvelled at the views of the Seine River and the bridges, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Elysees, Musee du Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Musee de l’Armee, Hotel des invalids and the Ecole Militaire – to name only a few. 

Eventually we needed to decent to the 2^nd level which is a much larger platform so the crowds do not feel as large.  We took the stairs (down is easier than up).  On this level we walked around again to enjoy the same views as above since we are still well above all surrounding buildings.  Then we continued down the stairs to the 1^st level.  This level is the level that is very large and spans between all four corners.  There is actually two levels on this platform with a viewing platform around the outside edge complete with information plaques.  On the plaques facing the view is information about one of the buildings in sight and on the plaques on the inside of the platform are descriptions of the building of the tower.  There were a lot of plaques so I will not bother to try to mention anything specific.

However from the inside of the platform we could see down inside the tower to the ground.  I was very interested to see that the line up was just as long now as they were earlier in the day.  I was able to get a picture of the end of two lines and remember they snake around and end up at the base of each corner so you are seeing only a small section.

Once we took the stairs down to the ground we decided to head over to see about a tour on the Seine.  This gave us a chance to walk along the boardwalk along the Seine to the pathway and across a pedestrian bridge.  What a nice way to look back and view the tower behind us as we saunter along enjoying the views of the boats touring the water.  As it turns out the tour boat to which we get a 50% discount was not the one we had walked to, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the room.  We have not had lunch yet and it was already close to 3:30.  We realized that tomorrow many things will be closed since it is May 1 - Fête du Travail and we may need some groceries so we stopped at the store on our way.   Funny how you can shop for a week when at home and manage to get everything you need, but when you are trying to avoid leftovers and have to manage your purchases minutely, it seems you always forget something.  Well as I mentioned yesterday, the line ups are always around at the stores but I guess you get used it eventually.

We arrived home by 4:30 and made a late lunch so dinner will be later as well.  Oh well, we have some wine to drink so it will all work out fine.  Tomorrow will be interesting since we will have to figure what to do when so much of the city will be shut down – but the Seine cruise is on our list for sure.  I think the week will go quickly and so far we have only started to do some of the things available.  Time and energy works against us but such is life.

29 April 2011 – Paris (Friday)

Our first day in Paris and we have lots of ideas.  Now we need to sort them out and start to explore.  We have already purchased the Paris Visitie Pass which gives us unlimited use of the metro plus discounts on several museums.  However we also learned about the Paris Museum Pass which gives us free access to most museums and other Paris monuments.  At first when first looked at costs they seemed pricey but after we considered what we wanted to do and individual costs it is a good deal.  So our 6 day Paris Pass was activated today on our first trip on the subway.  The Museum Pass was activated when we entered the Louvre.

The weather today is not good with heavy clouds and the threat of rain – but regardless we are not wasting a day.  Wes’ cold has not improved much and he is starting to feel a tired.  I have a slight headache (which likely means my body is also fighting off this cold Wes has) but as we agreed, unless we feel sick, we are going to enjoy ourselves.

We headed down to the metro station and since we are staying in the suburbs it was a 40 minute walk and ride to get down to the Louvre area of Paris. 

The Louvre Palace, on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, is a former royal palace situated between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois.  Its origins date back to the medieval period, and its present structure has evolved in stages since the 16th century.  It was the actual seat of power in France until Louis XIV moved to Versailles in 1682, bringing the government perforce with him. The Louvre remained the nominal, or formal, seat of government to the end of the Ancien Régime in 1789.   Since then it has housed the celebrated Musée du Louvre as well as various government departments.

Our first challenge was to find an Tourist Information center to pick up our Paris Museum Pass since with this pass we would be able to walk in directly and avoid the line-ups.  We did walk inside the courtyard of the Louvre to see the Pyramid and once we saw the line-up we were determined to get the pass.  So we headed back out to find the Information Center which we knew was close and picked up the pass and asked for instructions about how to enter without standing in the line-ups.  We were given the instructions and headed over.  Our first venture inside was successful, only we found we were in the Museum of Fashion and Jewellery.  This was not what we wanted to spend too much time at so we did a quick tour and headed back out to the sidewalk and tried again.

This time we found the entrance to the Art Gallery (yes we were looking for the Mona Lisa) and spent the next 2 ½ hours looking at the art gallery.  If you have ever been at the Louvre you know that it is huge and 3 hours is the maximum I could manage for one day.  By 2 pm we were both ready to leave and find some lunch. I think that the huge rooms with high ceilings and hard surfaces tend to amplify noises so while in the Galleries the noise was loud and constant.   Our energy is not the greatest so we decided we would return another day and do some more exploring.  However I could not even begin to describe the artwork we saw in paintings and sculptures – mainly because everything is in French and I am not very competent at translating.

We left the Louvre to find lunch which greatly revived our energy levels so we decided to walk from the Louvre through the gardens down to the Arc de Triomphe.

The Arc is located on the right bank of the Seine at the centre of a pentagon-shaped configuration of twelve radiating avenues. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes.  Laying the foundations alone took two years and, in 1810, when Napoleon entered Paris from the west with his bride Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, he had a wooden mock-up of the completed arch constructed.  During the Bourbon Restoration, construction was halted and it would not be completed until the reign of King Louis-Philippe, between 1833 and 1836.

Again we were able to walk pass the line-up and go straight up to the top.  The views from here would have been excellent except for the mist from the rain (sprinkling only but still not clear views).  We could definitely see the Eiffel Tower and other major landscapes in all four directions.  By now we both felt it was time to head back home and call it a day.  It was after 4 and we wanted to pick up some groceries and Wes’ daypack has to be replaced so we would look for a new one – only the shopping center we stopped at on the way home did not have any.  Groceries were easy but check out was interesting.  We stood in one line for about 10 minutes until someone pointed out that this register was for handicap and elderly only.  Then we changed lines and waited for about 20 minutes to get through – everyone here must learn patience since it seems everywhere you go there are line-ups.  Not a problem, but we both were very glad to get back to the apartment.  Now to recoup, regroup and plan for tomorrow.

28 April 2011 - Geneva to Paris (Thursday)

We had a very easy morning today as we did not have to catch the train until 11:28.  This was a welcome way to start today since the train to Paris involved one change enroute.  As we headed to the railway station to find the platform we learned that we had to go through French Customs - except all that happened is we got out our documents in preparation and then walked right by 3 custom officers chatting who hardly even looked at us.  Very interesting.

Then we had a great time chatting with a couple of people who live in Switzerland and were traveling.  One Wes talked to for awhile before the train arrived and the other sat with us on the first leg of the trip.  She is a teacher in Switzerland and this is her last year before retiring.  It was very interesting to compare school systems.

We were well prepared for our arrival in Paris having done lots of research and checking out the location of the hotel, which metro to take, and what streets to follow once we got off the metro.  We did great as far as getting to the metro and finding the correct train.  But when we got off, we realized that we had forgot to forward the street map to the blackberry so we had to rely on memory.  Fortunately that worked well and we headed off to find the apartment we have rented for this week - only to get to the correct street address.  As we tried to open the gate to get into the yard a lady (who it turns out lives there) walked over to talk to us wondering why we were there.  My French is not conversational level and Wes' vocabulary is weak, but we did manage to learn that we had the correct street address, but the wrong town.  By this time the GPS found the satellites and we were able to use Karen to locate the correct street address in the correct town which fortunately was about 2 km away - which we could walk.

The apartment is really very nice and clean.  It looks like it has just been redone.  So after unpacking a bit we walked to the grocery store down the street to buy some supplies.  We are only here for one week, so we have to be realistic about supplies.  As we stood in line to buy the groceries we had infront of us someone who must have been stocking up for a month - a very full cart and 3 packed bags.  Not a problem, we can be patient (well Wes can) and so we wait for our turn.  Then the conveyor belt at the till quit working, so we have to move all our groceries down to the teller - one piece at a time.  Finally we got the bill and it was a nice surprise - less than we would have spent for one dinner out - and we have supplied for several days.

We have finished our first cooked meal here and it really is nice to sit down and relax rather than sit in a restaurant.  Of course we had a good breakfast, no lunch and it was about 7:30 pm before we finally ate so our meal schedule is really off.

Tomorrow we start to explore Paris.  Wonder what we will be doing!

27 April 2011 – Geneva (Wednesday)

After learning that we could take the 3 hour lake cruise for free we made sure we put that on our list for today.  We did not even have to rush since the cruise was to leave at 10:15 so we could have a leisurely morning.  With very little wind and bright blue skies this was a great day to be on the lake.

As we waited for the cruise to begin we noted that the Jet d'Eau fountain was in action and the lake had several white swans floating around.  The cruise boat filled up and we were able to get seats on the open deck with a Brazilian couple from San Paulo sitting across from us.  At first I was concerned that since they spoke Portuguese we would not be able to communicate much, but they did have a little English so we had a great time on the cruise chatting and learning about each other’s country.  I learned a lot about Brazil which interests me since I will be going there this fall.

As we left the wharf and headed out into the lake we passed The Jet d'Eau fountain.  The Jet d'Eau is a large fountain and is one of the city's most famous landmarks.  It is also one of the largest fountains in the world. It is situated at the point where Lake Geneva empties into the Rhone River.  Five hundred litres (132 gallons) of water per second are jetted to an altitude of 140 metres (459 feet).  The water leaves the nozzle at a speed of 200 km/h (124 mph).   When it is in operation, at any given moment there are about 7,000 litres (1849 gallons) of water in the air.

As we motored along the lake we are very aware of the huge size.  Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France.  It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland (cantons of Vaud, Geneva, and Valais), and 40.47 % under France. The average level of water of 372 m is controlled by the Seujet Dam near Geneva.  This is referred to as Europes largest alpine lake.  And our cruise today would take us no further than 1/3 of the distance of the length but we would visit both sides and actually stop on the French side town.

Our cruise would take us from Geneva (or Geneve) to short stop at Versoix to pick up some more passengers.  Then we would stop at Coppet, Nyon and finally Yvoire (French side of the lake) before returning to Geneva.  The views were very interesting as we saw modern homes, agriculture lands (especially grape vineyards) and historical buildings, all clustered in groups along the shoreline.  As we turned back towards Geneva we noted that the blue sky was disappearing as clouds floated.  We had hoped to see some of the mountains in the distance but there was too much haze around all day.

Once we returned to Geneva we decided to head back to the hotel for a bit of a break and plan some activities for the afternoon. As it turns out, after a cup of tea and a snack we decided that a bit of a nap was called for, so we rested.  Wes has continued to be plagued by a bit of a cold.

After a bit of a rest we took our itinerary for trains over to the Rail Europe office and booked our train reservations that we need to see us through to Madrid.  This took a bit of time and we had a couple of changes to make because of our inability to get the trains we asked for.  Bascially we are glad we booked today since one of the trains was really difficult and we only got a seat by dropping to 2^nd class seats.  It seems that if we had waited for another week or so we would have a very difficult time.  Now there are seats available but to get those seats we would have had to pay full fare because there were no ‘eurail pass seats left’.  Now I will have to sit down and sort out our places to stay but that can wait for a couple of days.  We are set of Paris for this next week.

We picked two things we wanted to do in Geneva before we left and they were to go to the Swatch Museum and have a look at the United Nations building.  Because of the late afternoon start we decided to walk to La Cite du temps – Swatch Museum first.

The La Cite du temps – Swatch Museum is the largest collection of Swatch watches in the world.  It’s the only place in the world where you can find a permanent exhibition of Swatch watches.  A whole host of creations are on show, the result of the work of artists and designers from 1982 to the current day.  We were absolutely amazed at the creative type of watches on exhibition and wondered who would even wear some of them – or how you could wear them.  Some were creative with bold colors and very unusual designs, while others were cute and sentimental and some were just weird.

When we had entered the museum we were told about an exhibition of photos by Yoshi Shimizu.  After we toured the watches we decide to take in this photo exhibit as well.  It was photos taken in Bolivia and centered on old medicines and modern.  The subject did not attract us as much as the scenery and quality of expressions by the photographed.   We were very impressed.

Our next goal was to walk over to see the flags in front of the United Nations building.  To get there Wes plotted a course so that we walked along the boardwalk by the lake going through the La Perle du Lac and surrounding park.  At the end of this stretch we entered the gate to the Jardin botanique.  It is early for the flowers to be really showy (other than some spring flowers) but we did see an interesting carrousel with seats shaped like all types of interesting animals, fish and birds.  Look closely at the pictures and see if you can figure out which you would like to sit on and ride.

After leaving the Jardin Botanique and walking through a couple of underpasses (one highway and one railway) we finally started to look for the Palais des Nations.  We walked up a lane to the top of a hill and each time we thought we should turn inward there was a gate or wall.  We eventually realized that we were walking all around the complex and that it might be that we would not be able to see anything because it was now after 6 pm.  However, as we walked around the outside we did finally find the front entrance and were able to get a picture of the driveway lined with the flags. 

What was equally interesting was monument of a HUGE chair with one broken leg out front of the main entrance.  Broken Chair is a monumental sculpture in wood by the Swiss artist Daniel Berset, constructed by the carpenter Louis Genève.  It is constructed of 5.5 tons of wood and is 12 metres (39 feet) high.  It depicts a giant chair with a broken leg and stands across the street from the Palace of Nations.  It symbolises opposition to land mines and cluster bombs, and acts as a reminder to politicians and others visiting Geneva.

We decided to grab a tram back to the railway station and organize ourselves for dinner.  Tomorrow our train does not leave until later in the morning so we will have lots of time to plan our first evening in Paris.

26 April 2011 – Interlaken to Geneva (Tuesday)

Today is another beautiful day as we get up and organize to walk down to catch the train to Geneva.  After the beautiful day we had yesterday in the mountains around Interlaken we really feel privileged to have had some time here.  We have heard of other activities we could have done such as a boat ride in one of the two lakes, trails to be hiked, other gondolas to ride to mountain tops etc.  However, there is much more to be done so off we trot.

Although we are finding Switzerland to be the most expensive place to visit it is outstanding in the views and mountains. 

We arrived in Geneva to step out of the train station to look for our hotel.  Now we have already created a map in Google and sent it to the Blackberry so we can easily follow the directions – only we have not place to get our bearings and inadvertently went out the wrong door of the station.  It took us a few minutes of turning in circles to try to match up the street names on the map with the names of streets we were looking at.  By the way, in Europe, it is wise to check the edge of the buildings about 4 meters up to locate street names and not to expect them to be on sign posts on the corner.  Once we got ourselves oriented it was about a 5 minute walk to the hotel – very nice for sure.

We have a very nice hotel room but this is not a huge surprise since it is the most expensive since we arrived in Athens.  We are paying 120 Swiss Francs (about $130) and this was the cheapest hotel we could locate in Geneva.  We learned, as we were checking in, that the hotel is full starting tomorrow and another couple was out of luck for getting a room.  We are only staying two nights here and the costs is definitely a consideration for that decision.

After settling in we decided we needed to get our railway ticket arranged to take us to Paris so we used the internet to figure out which train we wished to take and which railway station we would want to end up in since Paris has several.  To figure that out we needed to find out where we were going to be staying so we fired up the internet to let our fingers do the walking.  I should add that last week I had looking for an apartment for one week for Paris and sent an email requesting the booking to the appropriate contact.  As of this morning we still had not heard back (Easter weekend issue did not help) so I sent another email requesting a response ASAP so we could deal with our decision.  By the time we got to the hotel I received a reply saying that they needed more than a couple of days to make the reservations and they were only just starting to look into it.  I replied that we would make other plans and so we started to research again.  Using booking.com we found what looks like a really good apartment (this means it has a small kitchen so we can cook ourselves) and set that up.  Then our next step was to confirm that we could easily manage to get from the railway station to the apartment and in the process studied the metro maps.  It will be easy so we are happy.

I then went to the railway station to get the reservations for the train to Paris while Wes continued to research the different types of passes for tourists available in Paris.  What I learned (after a 30 minute lineup) is that the train we wanted to take did not have any ‘eurail pass’ seats left.  We had been warned that in France they only allocate a set number of seats for eurail passes and it can be difficult to get a reservation for a specific train (sounds like areoplan points bookings doesn’t it!).  It turns out that we could get on a later train for the same day so not all was lost.  What we learned is that we needed to plan the next few weeks now and book the train tickets asap if we wanted to avoid being unable to get around.  In this case we have to be in Madrid by May 13 to meet our KOC friends so we can not let it rest.

This meant that we proceeded to get our calendar out and build an itinerary.  This was very interesting task since we kind of knew where we wanted to go and how long we wanted to be there, but we had not set it down in ‘stone’ yet.  Another factor we had not realized is that trains between France and Spain travel basically alone one of the two coasts and nothing down the center.  So a train from Marseilles to Barcelona takes hours since we would have to travel back north and central France, change trains and then travel south and east back to the coast, then alone the coast down to Barcelona.  We did not want to spend 13 hours on the train so we added a couple of stops on the way.  Eventually we got an itinerary sorted which you will learn about as it unfolds.  Tomorrow we will go to pick up the train reservation tickets for all 5 train journeys we need to complete after we leave Paris.

This did not take as long as it may seem since we are becoming much more efficient at sorting out schedules, routes and maps.

By now we are ready to get out and have a look at Geneva.  The sunshine is bright, but the wind is strong.  We are only a couple of blocks from the lake front so we headed down there to have a look at Geneva's most distinctive landmark, the Jet d'Eau.  The Jet d'Eau is one of the world's largest water fountains.  However, due to the winds, it was turned off for today so we hope to see it tomorrow.

Therefore we enjoyed a walk along the waterfront up to the Bains des Paquis.  Geneva does not have a beach.  Yet it does have a lake and this is the closest to a beach that you will find in Geneva.   Les Bains des Paquis is a big dock on the lake, you could enjoy a swin in the lake, a sunbath, a sauna or an hamam (Turkish bath) session, a foot massage, a drink or meal to the Buvette des Bains!  However, with the wind blowing and the water spraying there were not many swimmers.  Because of the sun and the shelter afforded by the dock there were some sun bathers laying out – but not many and not us.

We turned around and headed back towards the center of the old city and the city bridges.  This brought us along side the dock for the CGN boat tours.  We had talked about taking a boat tour tomorrow so we decided to check out costs and options.  To our surprise we learned that our eurail pass gave us a free ride (saving about 36 Swiss Francs each) so that helped us decide for tomorrow’s activity.

We continued along the walk and crossed the Pont du Mont-Blanc bridge.  This 6 vehicle lane bridge seems to be a major link between the city on both sides of the Rhone River that divides the city. Our eye was on the skyline looking at the steeple of a large old church in the old section of the city.  We eventually found our way to the church and discovered the Cathedral Saint Pierre.

The St. Pierre Cathedral is a cathedral belonging to the Swiss Reformed Church.  It was begun in the 12th century, and includes an eclectic mix of styles. It is best known as the adopted home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation.  The area beneath the Cathedral has recently been excavated extensively, revealing a rich history of the site dating back to the time of the Roman Empire.  Of course by now it is after 6 pm so we were not able to have a look inside the church or in the archaeological site.

So we worked our way back down through narrow streets that were windy and cobbled towards the hotel.  We walked back down and crossed the Pont de la Machine Bridge which is a foot bridge that touches on an island in the Rhone River.  As we wandered along we did find a store where we stopped to check out wine.  Then we returned to the room for a glass of wine and out for dinner.  

25 April 2011 – Interlaken (Monday)

This morning we woke early again to check the weather.  We really want to visit Jungfraujock and we had been advised to get up there as early as possible.  The weather was spectacular with wall to wall sunshine and only a few clouds in the valleys.  So up at 6:30, organized and ready for breakfast by 7:30 and by 7:50 we are on our walk to the railway station.  The route up to Jungfraujock is done by train for the first part and then by cog trains for the rest since the grade is too steep.  We transferred trains four times to get from Interlaken West.

As we left the valley we enjoyed views of the Swiss Alps that really were everything we could have imagined.  We passed through villages along the side of the mountains with little houses with the unique Swiss appearance.  Along the sides of the tracks and up the hillsides we saw bright green grass with animals grazing in an unconcerned and casual manner.   Behind all this there is a backdrop of steep rocky mountains with snow ridges and rocky faces.  Behind this bright blue skies with very few clouds.  Our decision yesterday to delay our journey up to the Jungfraujock was justified.

We climbed up from the valley on our route to Grindelwald which is a picturesque village.  At this point we got to view our first cog train.  This train has a cog gear underneath that literally rolls along a matching cog rail between the two main rails pulling the train up the steep grades.  There is a bit more noise than usual on the train but the ride does not seem to be affected.

I must say the Swiss have engineered their mountains very well.  After the last transfer at Kleine Scheidegg we entered into a tunnel they have built inside the Eiger mountain.  They have two stops inside the mountain where you can get out and look at the view from the Eiger's very steep North face.  The cog railway terminates inside a small peak in the col between Jungfrau and Monch called the Sphinx.   They have honeycombed this peak with tunnels. 

We took an elevator up to the observation deck for spectacular views of the Aletsh Glacier; which is the longest ice stream in the Alps at 24 kms.  We also had great views of Jungfrau and Monc.  From this vantage point we are able to watch the skiers below (yep skiing on the glacier is happening!) and a few tour groups heading off in different directions up the sides of the mountains beside us.  From here (and during other vantage points) we watched climbers going up Jungfrau - there was a long line of them going up the glacier one after another.   We saw several skiers coming down from Jungfrau.  No skiers on Monch, but a string of climbers could be seen there as well.   We remember Sigi telling me about how many climbers there are in Europe and how crowded it is and now we have seen it with our own eyes. 

We then walked out on the glacier about a kilometer to Monchsjochhutte - a three story climbing hut with a cafeteria where we had soup for lunch.  Junfraujock is 11,333 ft (3454 meters).  To get to the hut we climbed another 650ft which I believe is the highest we have ever been.  At the base of the Sphinx, on which the observation deck was built,  is a tunnel with a “cave like opening” to the trail that leads across the glacier to Monchsjochhutte. This trail is well maintained but it is snow and ice so walking had to be done carefully.  The steady uphill grind at the 11,000 ft elevation definitely was an experience and we did not break any speed records.  I did note that no one passed us and we did enjoy meeting and chatting with a couple from Austria on holidays.  We sat together over lunch.  One interesting fact we learned today is that in Feb 2008 Ueli Steck climbed the North Face of the Eiger in 2 hours and 21 minutes setting a new record.

They have also made an Ice Palace by creating corridors within the glacier that stands next to the Sphinx.   Inside we walked the ice corridors to little alcoves with ice sculptures: eagles, Eskimo's and seals, and penguins.  As we wondered through the corridors admiring the ice sculptures we worked hard not to slip on the icy floor.  I am happy to report we managed.  What is amazing is the Ice Palace is entirely carved out of the inside of a glacier.  By the way, we found the acorn-loving saber-toothed squirrel named Scrat that starred in the movie “Ice Age” sealed in the wall of one of the corridors.

We finished our visit to the Jungfraujock by walking up to the ‘Plateau’ which is outside at the top of one of the shoulders of the Glacier.  Again we had wonderful views but did not observe anything that we had not seen from the other observation locations we had visited.

We decided by 2:30 that it was time to start the trek homeward so we returned to the train and rode the first leg back to Kleinne Scheidegg.  However this time we took the alternate route back by going down to Lauterbrunnen which took us through a second valley from the one we came up on in the morning.  At Lauterbrunnen we changed trains again leaving behind the cog trains and returned to the regular train to Interlaken Ost where we once again changed to the train to Interlaken West (a 5 minute ride).  We finished the travel by 5:30 in time for dinner and a walk back to the hotel.  This has been a long day but it was so beautiful.  We did spend a quite a bit of time sorting out the 202 pictures we took today and managed to reduce that to a mere 70.  This blog only has 11 collages so you can imagine how difficult it is to sort, organize and filter – but it is worth it.  Hope you enjoy the pictures too.

24 April 2011 – Interlaken (Sunday)

Today is Easter Sunday.  We woke with the alarm as planned and the first thing Wes did was check the weather.  If we are going to Jung Frau today we need to have good weather.  As it turns out the forecast is not good at all.  There is a cloud layer and a 90% chance of rain.  It is very costly to go up to Jung Frau and if you have no views due to clouds and it is raining on you as well, it would be not a pleasant experience.  So we decided to postpone that trip until tomorrow when the forecast is much improved.  We went back to bed to sleep for another hour.

We finally did get up and try to decide what to do with our day.  We headed off by exploring the hill beside us which we had walked by on the road up to the hotel.  We followed the paths and road up to the top of Heimwehfluh.  By the way, the spring flowers are in bloom and they are really beautiful.

Heimwehfluh is a small hill located just in the south of Interlaken near the Lake of Thun and beside the Interlaken-West train station. Since the 19th century, this hill is a place dedicated to leisure. Today on the top of the hill you can find a Panorama-Restaurant, a large scale model railway, an observation tower, a children's playground and a Bob-Run.  We had a look at this Bob-Run and there is no way I would be comfortable on the run since it looks like it goes straight down.  I am sure it is very safe and very exciting but the speed would be similar to that of a rollercoaster.

After climbing up to the top of the observation tower we decided to find a new way down by taking a dirt path along the side. This path is not really difficult since we watched a couple of bikers take this path downward.  It is to lead us back into Interlaken and we actually came out onto the same road we had been walking before.  We had noticed the dirt trail leading off to the side yesterday but did not know where it went – now we know.

As we walked along we continually heard church bells ringing.  I am not sure how many churches there are in this community but there sure are a lot of bells.  It was very pretty and not overwhelming.

We decided to walk pass the tourist information center to see if it was open.  Then we decided to ride the tram up to the top of Harderkulm.   The Harderbahn is one of two funiculars that operate in the town of Interlaken. This funicular, the longest of the two, runs from a base station (altitude 567m above sea level) to a station near the summit of the Harder Kulm (altitude 1321.31m), Interlaken’s own mountain.  From the Harder Kulm station, a five minute walk takes you to the Harder Restaurant, a distinctive pagoda structure with spectacular views from its terrace, over the town, the Lakes of Thun and Brienz, the Lütschine valleys and the summits of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. Clear weather is critical to get a good view and we had clouds so missed out on some of the views.  The views were spectacular and we got to watch the Para gliders launch in the distance and float gracefully down through the valley to eventually land in the green space in the Hohematte Park. 

Since it was not raining, and in fact signs of clearing were showing, we decided to take a walk on one of the many trails heading off from the Harder Restaurant.  The one we choose followed the hillside around through the trees along the edge of the mountain.  At one point we decided that we were not getting any views and we had been walking for about 25 minutes perhaps we should turn around and return.  We had no idea where this trail was leading but as we turned around we met a hiker behind us who did know that this was a circular route and if we continued on it for about another 40 minutes we would return to the start.  So we decided to continue and she was right.  Shortly after we talked to her the trail switch backed upward and eventually headed back along the top ridge.  Again there were way too many trees for us to get any views, but we did enjoy a bit of exercise.

We headed back down on the Harder Kulm and noticed the wildlife park below us as we reached the bottom.  It did not look like much, but we decided to go and check it out.  We discovered the wildlife park had a small herd of Alpine Ibex (goats native to the European Alps), a couple of Marmots and genuine Swiss Cows with cow bells.   It did not take us long to explore the wildlife park.

We headed back into the center of town and found the Hohematte Park where the Para gliders were landing so we sat on a bench and watched them land.  We must of have watched at least 10 Para gliders land and every one looked so graceful.  We talked about me signing up for a jump in a tandem glider (I would be the passenger and potential dead weight) but the cost was extreme so we cancelled that quickly.  One day I will do that jump but likely best to be done in Canada where I have health insurance coverage.

We finished the day be returning to the hotel (by now it is after 3 pm) and relaxing.  Wes is still not 100% but says he is feeling better today.  While Wes slept I went downstairs to have a locally brewed beer (really good) and read.  For dinner we decided to stay at the hotel and spend the money for a genuine Swiss multi-course dinner – it is Easter Sunday after all – and with the wine the meal cost us 113 Swiss Francs.  Fortunately it was great but will not happen again for awhile.  Easter is only once a year.