I walked back to the attendent, who was preparing a tray of orange juice (first class luxury, eh?) and she sent me off to find the guard. His office was in the buffet car, but the buffet guy told me he wasn't on the train. Go back to my carriage and he'll find me.
Ok. I went back and sat on a fold-out seat by the door. About 10 mins later, now whizzing out of the Paris suburbs, he arrived and checked my ticket. It was all in order of course. He went to check the other guy's ticket and came back a few mins later. A mis-print on his ticket, apparently. Give him a minute to move and take your seat. I managed to avoid eye contact as I moved in, and quietly ate the croissant I had bought from a boulangerie just outside Gare de L'est. Crumbs, it was the best tasting croissant I have ever had. Crumbly yet sticky, moist and dry, just the right sweet and butteryness - nothing like it in the UK, not even the over priced stuff in Paul.
Anyway, the train raced to Strasbourg, along the new Est Europeen TGV line, before ambling across the slower Swiss tracks to Zurich. At the border at Basel, border police entered the carriage. They asked to see my passport and asked the usual questions. I then looked up to see who else was checked and they walked out the other end. It was just me.
So, the train reached the end of the line at Zurich, and I walked down the Bahnhoffstrasse towards Lake Geneva. My plan was walk to the lake, visit the Apple Store for some wifi, get lunch and walk back for a walking tour at 3pm. I made it, just about.
I was expecting some amazing shopping plaza from this "world famous" street, but Bahnhoffstrasse is just Oxford Street tacked onto Regent Street with a bit of Bond Street. There were plenty of banks as well and whenever I saw a black person, I tried not to imagine that they were an African dictator's relative spending their country's aid money. I'm sure those types are there somewhere though. My tour guide later was saying that Switzerland had a tough time during the two World Wars. I'm sure it did, still found time to look after the Nazi gold though. Anyway...!
The walking tour was great. All that banking/trading wealth over the centuries has made a beautiful city. I didn't take any phone pics for this blog, but there are over 1,000 water fountains; one of the churches has the widest diameter clock in Europe and one of the churches has beautiful modern stain glass windows. Oh and Tina Turner shops as the local Tom Ford outlet in the old Town. She lives nearby.
I missed my train to Interlaken. The specific one I wanted was something called ICN, which is the Swiss tilting train. But it didn't matter, there was another normal intercity an hour later. Normal in this case meaning double decker. Here's a view from the top:
I walked to Hostel. It was a 30 mins walk along the shore of Lake Breinz. I felt fat for most of it. Every few minutes i was passed by joggers and cyclists, all super fit. I suppose if I had such stunning scenery outside my front door I might use it too.
I hadn't plotted the position of the hostel in Viewranger and I hadn't taken the reservation email, so I thought I would have to remember what it looked like from the last time I visited in 2003. I needn't have worried, it became apparent from the screaming noises of French school children on a school trip. They didn't shut up till well after 10pm. Good thing I had my earplugs from the ferry trip. I watched the football and went to sleep.
The earplugs protected me from snoring (two loud snorers in the room), but I still woke up tired and lethargic. Breakfast was not what I remebered from 2003. Nowhere was the delicious Swiss museli I had enjoyed. Instead all different sugary cereals. Still it was hearty enough with unlimited bread, elderflower jam, honey, orange juice, tea, coffee, or chocolate.
The weather was good so I decided to head straight for the biggest (cloud stopped play) disappointment of my 2003 trip. The Top of Europe - Jungfraujoch.
I felt fat again walking out. It felt too hot for my jacket, but the jacket seemed too big for my bum bag. I had the iPhone charging from a battery which kept disconnecting (took me a while to figure this all out to my satisfaction), and at the back of my mind I knew I should have left earlier to avoid crowds, and there was indeed a massive crowd at the station (should have bought my ticket at the hostel!) so I was half an hour later still.
An interesting crowed at the station compared to what I remember in 2003. At least a quarter or close to half were Asian. There appeared to be a fair few Chinese tour groups. Up on the mountain, I saw a plaque that said this region was added to an approved list of destinations for the Chinese in 2004, whatever that means. They must be advertising in India too.
So on the way up I often had my eyes shut only to open them to take pictures. I'll see Grindewald tommorow, properly, but when we changed trains up the valley at Kleine Scheidigg, we saw this view back down to to village.
Pretty breathtaking, even when seen through the iPhone. The views just got better over the day.
At "the top of Europe", I wasn't interested in the extreme sports options or the skiing, I just wanted to see the grotto carved into the glacier (not as cold as expected) and the view from the top.
Again, spectacular.
To end the 2003 jinx required a trip to Shilthorn. This was the mountain viewing platform from one of the Bond movies. My 2003 memory is arrriving at the cable car to see a live picture of the whole thing covered in fog. This time... It was covered in fog. Drat. At least the trip there yeilded this view:
Never mind, I went back down to Interlaken and went up Harder Kulm on the other side instead. This being on the other side of the lake was meant to give a view of the whole mountain range. It did, but the key middle bit with the tallest snow covered peaks, were shrouded in foggy cloud. Oh well, I'll get another chance. My plan now is tommorow go hiking up First and the Faulhorn, on Friday go to Lausanne or maybe try a picnic in Kanderstag, on Saturday take a bike ride around Lake Brienz and take another trip, time permitting, up the Rothorn on the otherside.
Sunday is another long travel day. Destination, Chamonix Mont Blanc - the real destination for this holiday. Oh, here was the view as I wrote this near my hostel. Not bad eh? Makes me think that the next time I need a relaxing break I should look for somewhere in our own Lake district.
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