I have no words for that.

Actually, as you can see, I have plenty, but the most important one is "Wow!". That pretty much sums up my past three days in Interlaken, Switzerland. I’m now sitting on a train going from Interlaken to Lucerne in Switzerland writing, and there are jaw dropping mountains on either side of us filled with picturesque green valleys at the base.

View from the train out of Geneva

I arrived in Geneva with slight trepidation over whether I was doing the right thing by heading straight to a different destination and not actually spending any time in Geneva itself, but these thoughts were quickly abandoned as I looked over the snow-capped Alps and  smiled. From that point on I found it very difficult to wipe the smile off my face (I’m quite sure I looked very goofy), as I soaked up the beauty that is Switzerland.

I made my way from the baggage claim, not quite sure where I was going, to the tourist information desk and was directed to the train station t by my ticket for Interlaken. I was in luck and caught the next train that I had to switch at Bern.

More views from the train

As far as first experiences with the European train system go, I can say it doesn’t get much better than the journey from Geneva to Bern and then Bern to Interlaken. Not only is the Swiss train system ridiculously comfortable and reliable, the scenery that you pass is absolutely incredible. You know those post-cards and tourist pictures of Switzerland with azure blue Alpine lakes and rolling green hills set to a backdrop of snow-capped mountains? I was seeing them first hand over and over again. We went from rolling hills of green, fringed with patchwork forests with a background of snowy mountains, to being high in the mountains watching eagles soar over the peaks. It’s spectacular. The little old lady sitting opposite me thought I was quite funny, sitting there with my camera out taking picture after picture with my jaw dropping further at every turn. We passed Alpine lakes and rivers, forests, valleys filled with brown wooden houses with overflowing flower boxes and cute gardens that included cows with bells around their necks. Small dandelion-like wildflowers were blooming in every field and provided a beautiful foreground to the imposing and striking Alps.

My pictures don't do it justice.

The colours in Switzerland are vibrant. Forests in patchwork shades of dark and light green, covering brown mountains with pure white snow caps; deep blue-green waters in large, freezing Alpine lakes fed by glaciers, and bright wildflowers filling every field, all topped off by the amazing clear blue sky filled with white clouds. It fulfilled every expectation that I had of Switzerland and then went above and beyond.

As the train pulled into Interlaken, I was genuinely excited. Here I was in the Swiss Alps after a quick change of plans the day before. It is still mind boggling how close everything is in Europe. I made my way through the city to the Hostel, Balmers Herberge and found my feet fairly quickly in the quaint little cluster of three traditional buildings. The rooms were simple but inviting; windows framed by red checked curtains and blankets of the same material on light blue bunks, all inside the low ceilinged and white washed room. It was home for the next three nights.

INTERLAKEN!!

I had decided to spend slightly more time in Interlaken due mostly to my need to settle and rest after not really having much time in Toulouse. I spent the afternoon walking and discovering, before heading back and making myself dinner and meeting another Australian traveller on her own, Julia. We quickly got to chatting and discussed the next day’s plans.

Interlaken is known for its adventure sports, but being on a budget meant that throwing myself out of a plane or into freezing cold Alpine waters was out, and hiking was most definitely in.

Hiking the Hardekulm

I awoke the next morning and headed down to breakfast; meeting more people on the way and finding that the hostel was playing host to a conference of workers from other hostels around Europe. I met with Julia and although it was raining slightly, we decided that we would still go hiking, and after consulting with the girl at the reception about destinations, we chose the Harderkulm.

“A hour and fifty minutes up” she told us. “Fifty-five minutes down”, she told us. Oh, how our hopes were high for a nice walk, and how our hopes were dashed as we arrived at the start of the walk to find a mountain of reasonable size being scaled by a train at an angle of approximately 40 degrees. Whilst this filled me with trepidation, we set off, looking forward to the views at the top. Two hours and twenty minutes later we reached the summit after taking in some absolutely breathtaking views. When we had set off, the mountains had been covered in fog, however this had lifted, and we were lucky enough to have a full 180degree view of both lakes and the surrounding mountains as well as the villages down in the valley. We had packed a sandwiches and snacks before we left, and found a park bench to sit and eat and soak in the panorama. Nothing tastes as good as a sandwich made from random ingredients that you have carried two and a half hours up a mountain. It may be squashed, but it still tastes delicious when complimented by an incredible view. Pictures do not do the view from Hardekulm justice. We started back down the mountain after having a good rest and arrived back at the Hostel exhausted but incredibly proud of ourselves; “stoked” that we had “conquered an Alp”.

View from the top. Spectacular.

Needless to say we rewarded ourselves with beer and a good dinner of pasta and vegetables, the most hearty meal either of us had eaten in a while (two minute noodles and sandwiches just don’t cut it for more than a week!) before I went with two other girls from the hostel and had a gander at the underground bar. It was quiet and we were all tired with big plans for the next day, so we crashed before midnight and had a full night of sleep. Julia and I had decided that the next day we would fill with more hiking, though this time in a different direction and to a different destination; the ThrummelbachFalle out of Lauterbrunnen.

We awoke and set off early, taking a scenic train ride to Lauterbrunnen before starting our walk to the falls. We didn’t really know where we were going or what we going to see at the end, as when we had made the decision to go to ThrummelbachFalle it was after talking to other girls at the hostel who had said it was an easy walk and a nice destination. After the tiring and tough walk the day before, that was enough for us to base our decision on! 

Thrummelbachfalle

It turned out the ThrummelbachFalle was actually a set of waterfalls inside the mountains. It is the only set of waterfalls that drain the Eiger mountain (3970 m), Mönch mountain (4099 m) and Jungfraujoch (4158 m), and up to 20,000 litres of water pass every second. We arrived and made our way up a slight incline to the lift that would take us inside the mountain to the higher falls. We walked up, slightly lamenting the presence of stairs on our hurting legs, and then walked back down to find a spot by the river to have lunch that we had once again packed from home and carried with us on the hike.

After feeling that we could both just crash by the river (it was so serene and quiet) at our picnic spot, we made ourselves walk back to Lauterbrunnen, and hop on a train back to Interlaken, where we passed the night drinking wine and deciding on our respective journeys for the next day. I had decided to head to Lucerne for the night before heading on further to Austria, whilst Julia had decided to go back to Germany where she was studying. Therefore I will leave this blog post here, as the next part of the story continues in Lucerne!

Until next time!

Love Love!

Clem xxx