Today is another travel day for us as we get organized to leave Karlsruhe. We did not really get much of a chance to explore this city since we really did need a bit of time away from exploring. Wes has not been feeling 100% and he suspects he is fighting off a cold. We have been really fortunate this year with our health and so if we need to take a bit of a break to relax then we will do it.
The railway bridge between Karlsruhe and Baden Baden is being re-built so the trains are not running on that stretch. To continue our journey we need to go to the railway station, get on the bus supplied by the railway company, ride about 30 minutes to Baden Baden and then board the train there. Because of the potential issue of space on the bus and the concern that we had to meet a connection at the other end, we decided to walk over a bit early. (about 45 minutes before the bus was due to leave) It turns out that this was a good choice. The bus arrived about 30 minutes early and departed as soon as it was full (which was about 20 minutes before it was scheduled to leave). Part of the reason it filled up I suspect is that the bus did not have storage so we had to take our backpacks onto the bus which means we each had to use 2 seats. So did everyone else who arrived with luggage from the train.
We walked about 20 minutes to our hotel which is a beautiful building outside of the city core (actually in Maden) and we had to walk up through a park area with undeveloped hills on either side. It was like walking into the country and was very pleasant (as pleasant as it can be walking up a hill with a backpack on a narrow country road that winds around and has no sidewalks). We did walk by an interesting adventure park in the trees with zip line, rope challenges and other interesting activities high up in the trees. So far we have not been inclined to go and sign up for a bit of adventure since to fall would mean a broken bone which we are not interested in.
After we settled in we decided to go for a walk around and explore a bit. We looked at the menu for the hotel restaurant and discovered that a basic dinner would cost us about 50 Swiss Francs EACH so we decided that in our walk we would stop for dinner elsewhere. We walked back into town the way we had come up and explored the city. It really does feel a lot like the town of Banff with tourist shops everywhere (but here they sell Swiss watches and Swiss army knives). The streets are very busy with people and it has an exiting atmosphere of energy. Flowers were everywere and the traffic circles where just large flowerpots full of color. In many flower beds can be found ornaments and minatures.
We were looking at menus of those places we walked by but all menus were in German (or Swiss) only but regardless the prices for basic things like a salad seemed to be about 10 Swiss Francs and main courses were 15-25 Swiss Francs. So when we saw MacDonald’s we decided to have dinner there. We were really shocked to learn that a basic (with no extras) dinner for two at MacDonald’s cost us 28 Swiss Francs (translate that to about $32). Our lesson for today kids is that Switzerland is not a cheap place to visit.
We managed to survive the realization of costs (not easy for two Scots likes us) and continued to explore. We walked all the way to Interlaken Ost and then followed the route from there back to our hotel which we had thought we would have walked. It was a 45 minute walk rather than 20 from the other station. As we walked we really were walking through a ‘village’ with houses, yards, small pastures and a variety of animals. At one point we met a man herding 3 cows down the street bringing them from one small pasture to another. Yes the cows were wearing cowbells.
By the time we got back it was getting late and we needed to consider tomorrow’s agenda. If we are to go up the Jung Frau tomorrow we need to be at breakfast by 7:30 and to the train station by 8:30 so we figured out the time to set the alarm so we had time to prepare. We will take warm cloths since this is a very high place and it will be chilly. We have been recommended to take hats and mitts too.
The railway bridge between Karlsruhe and Baden Baden is being re-built so the trains are not running on that stretch. To continue our journey we need to go to the railway station, get on the bus supplied by the railway company, ride about 30 minutes to Baden Baden and then board the train there. Because of the potential issue of space on the bus and the concern that we had to meet a connection at the other end, we decided to walk over a bit early. (about 45 minutes before the bus was due to leave) It turns out that this was a good choice. The bus arrived about 30 minutes early and departed as soon as it was full (which was about 20 minutes before it was scheduled to leave). Part of the reason it filled up I suspect is that the bus did not have storage so we had to take our backpacks onto the bus which means we each had to use 2 seats. So did everyone else who arrived with luggage from the train.
When we arrived at Baden Baden we had to walk a short distance to the train station and figure out which platform. Our documents indicated the correct platform, but the platform had schedules for other trains. We realized that this platform was usually used for the trains heading to Karlsruhe and since no trains were going, they were temporarily using it for picking up passengers.
We found our compartment and soon learned that we had the entire compartment to ourselves. Since there are 3 seats with arm rests that lift on both sides we actually had enough room to stretch out and lay down. The train, in first class cars at least, was really empty and I had thought that with this being the Easter weekend that there would be a lot more travellers. At any case our ride of 3 ½ hours was really comfortable and quiet.
We arrived into Interlaken station a bit confused. The documents we had indicated that we would be getting off at Interlaken Ost but the station name we arrived at was Interlaken West. We knew this was the right town so we got off. Who knew that there was a second station at the other end of town called Interlaken Ost which we learned meant east. Therefore, our maps to get to the hotel which we had downloaded to the Blackberry did not have any street names that we could find (that was our first clue that we must have got off at the wrong station). Fortunately as we walked around a bit near the station we came across a map of the city on the side of store (yep this is a tourist town) and we were able to coordinate the map on the bb with the city map to figure out that we actually were much closer to our hotel from this train station than we would have been from the other. So our mistake of getting off the train too soon actually was to our benefit.
We arrived at the hotel and learned that we had been again up-graded to a room with a private bathroom (we had believed that due to the costs of this area we needed to accept a shared bathroom) and a really pleasant room. We have a patio door that leads out to (yep you guessed a patio) that is not a private patio but a huge shared patio that runs the length of the building. Our view is of the mountains in the distance, a village in the valley below and lots of green space.
We were looking at menus of those places we walked by but all menus were in German (or Swiss) only but regardless the prices for basic things like a salad seemed to be about 10 Swiss Francs and main courses were 15-25 Swiss Francs. So when we saw MacDonald’s we decided to have dinner there. We were really shocked to learn that a basic (with no extras) dinner for two at MacDonald’s cost us 28 Swiss Francs (translate that to about $32). Our lesson for today kids is that Switzerland is not a cheap place to visit.
We managed to survive the realization of costs (not easy for two Scots likes us) and continued to explore. We walked all the way to Interlaken Ost and then followed the route from there back to our hotel which we had thought we would have walked. It was a 45 minute walk rather than 20 from the other station. As we walked we really were walking through a ‘village’ with houses, yards, small pastures and a variety of animals. At one point we met a man herding 3 cows down the street bringing them from one small pasture to another. Yes the cows were wearing cowbells.
The last stretch back to the hotel required that we follow a narrow paved pathway up the hill. On the way we came across a temporary fence across the pathway and on the other side a older lady sitting on a chair minding her goats. When she saw us she came over to open the gate (this is a public pathway apparently but we did begin to wonder) so we could pass through and she explained how to open the gate on the other side of her ‘pasture’. The goats were given the task of cutting the lawn apparently and this was the section being worked on today.
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