Sunday 19th January 2025 Thun
Sunday is a day of rest in Switzerland (& Austria) and
just about everything closes including most supermarkets and shops, etc but one
thing that opens on Sunday (and only between 1pm and 4pm in winter) is Thun
Schloss (Castle) so we took the opportunity to visit the castle today. But back
to Sundays being a quiet day. The following is listed on a web site and
confirmed by other sites… The final rule of the series of Sunday laws is to
be as quiet as possible during this day. You aren’t allowed to mow the grass,
you can’t hang laundry, and you cannot recycle your trash. Switzerland is known
for its recycling laws, but not on Sundays. If you are caught
sending out the trash to the recycle centers close to you, you will be fined.
If you cannot pay the fine, you can choose the option of a few days in jail.
Yikes! So, the best you could do is relax, stay at home with your family or
friends, go out for a walk, and enjoy your Sunday.
So we spent Sunday morning relaxing and catching up on diary
etc. Les also tried to do the washing but every time he went to the basement
all 3 washing rooms where busy. Eventually got the washing done late Sunday
afternoon. Hope he didn’t break any laws!!
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| View from accommodation in Thun with the morning fog |
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| We had been grocery shopping 3 times, but you can't accuse us of favoritism! |
So after lunch we headed off to the castle. We had several
options on how to get there. Via Town Hall square and up a series of
staircases, up a long straight stretch of staircases, along the windy steep
road or up an elevator. Which one do you think we took? After the elevator ride
we headed in to the castle with audio guides. You work your way up each floor
via a spiral staircase (can’t avoid stairs completely) until you get to near
the top when you have a modern straight stairway and then ancient straight
steep staircases to the 4 corner turrets. And the only way back down is the way
you went up until close to the bottom when you take an exit out the side and
down a straight staircase. Needless to say, we took the elevator back down to
town level. A quick walk around the river before heading back as it is very
cold, and we need a hot drink.
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| Thun Castle from below |
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| Thun from the turret in the above photo |
Monday 20th January 2025 Thun to Grindelwald,
Lauterbrunnen and back
Another day where we will be on trains most of the day but
today it is both the journey and the destination.
Up fairly early as we have an 8:24am train from Thun station
to Grindelwald. The fog has come in and we cannot see more than about 50 metres
but we are hoping the fog will lift otherwise the trip will be a bit boring as
far as scenery goes. We head off towards Grindelwald and the first stop is
Interlaken Ost (there are two Interlaken stations and there are 3 Grindelwald
stations. For this reason the OST is in larger writing than the Interlaken and
the same in Grindelwald). When we get to Interlaken Ost we have to change
trains and the train that departs goes to Lauterbrunnen AND Grindelwald. A few
stations from Interlaken Ost the train splits in 2 and the front half goes to
Lauterbrunnen and the back half goes to Grindelwald. We made sure we were in
the half that went to Grindelwald. On this part of the trip we had to sit
facing backwards whilst some other people sat facing forward with their
suitcases (one woman took up a whole set of 4 seats on her own by spreading her
luggage around) and spent the whole time either on their phones or sleeping and
did not see any of the scenery! ☹ Anyway just after we passed the station where the
trains split we broke through the fog into beautiful blue sky. On to
Grindelwald station which was not hard to find as it is the end of the line.
We are in skiing territory now with lots of people with
skis, snowboards, helmets, etc and that unmistakable sound of people walking in
ski boots! Called in at the Ticket building to get our tickets from Grindelwald
to Lauterbrunnen via Kleine Scheidegg as this is not covered by our Eurail
pass. When we got the tickets they said they were from Grindelwald to Wengen
which is the station before Lauterbrunnen. Yes we could walk the path to
Lauterbrunnen but it is 2.9 km and a drop of about 550 metres and the path
could be covered in snow and ice. We went back and checked and the lady assured
us that our Eurail pass covered Wengen to Lauterbrunnen even though the Eurail
app said it was not covered. Oh well, we will just see what happens with the
Eurail pass as most trains and buses in Europe are on trust when you get on,
and you only need to show a ticket if an inspector askes for it, which happens
to us about 99% of the time and sometimes several times on the same trip,
especially if you pass through different countries.
So we head up towards Kleine Scheidegg and UP is the
operative word as this is another cog railway. The scenery is spectacular and
lots of snow (well probably not as much as usual but looked lots to us).
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| Grindelwald from train on way to Kleine Scheidegg |
About
½ hour and many photos later we arrive at Kleine Scheidegg where you have to
change trains. You can go further up towards the higher peaks or continue
‘across’ the mountains to Wengen. We stopped in Kleine Scheidegg to get out and
have a look.
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| Kleine Scheidegg little snow clearer. |
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| Kleine Scheidegg BIG snow clearer. |
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| Kleine Scheidegg glacier (centre) |
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| Kleine Scheidegg |
There was a group of people beginning a ski lesson and Joy felt
nervous for them (those mountains are pretty steep to be learning on), and
quite a few people heading off to ski, but not nearly as busy as we expected.
According to our phones, the temperature was -7C and felt like -12C, although
it really didn’t feel all that bad. Given we aren’t skiers, we opted for our
preferred activity in the ski fields – morning tea in a warm café with Joy
having a Lindt Hot Chocolate and fruit tart and Les had hot milk (yes it was on
the menu) and apple cake and cream. After some more photos as other than a few
accommodation buildings and the restaurant, etc there is nothing to look at
except the mountains, we grabbed the next train to Wengen.
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| Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen |
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| Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen, Frozen Waterfall |
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| Kleine Scheidegg to Wengen, closer shot of Frozen Waterfall |
Wengen is a small
village and we got off the train here to wander and to go to the local church
as out the front is the best view down into the valley and Lauterbrunnen. Next
we wandered back to the station and caught the next train down the hill to
Lauterbrunnen. As we were wandering around, we saw the workers dismantling all
the set up from the Ski World Cup event that had been held over the previous 3
days. We’d seen some of the blue dye on the snow where the competition run was,
but in the village there were portaloos and temporary hospitality areas and
grandstands etc, and they were gradually being dismantled.
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| Finally the kids got to play in the snow, Wengen. |
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| Lauterbrunnen (in the valley) from Wengen |
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| Staubbach Waterfall, Lauterbrunnen |
So we started in Thun at 550 metres, went to Interlaken at 568,
Grindelwald at 1,034, Kleine Scheidegg at 2,061 before dropping to Wengen 1,274
and now Lauterbrunnen at 802 metres. The train ride down the hill is another
very steep ride and would be great views and photos if not for the trees.
After arriving in Lauterbrunnen we wandered the streets and
the place is very quiet. Probably were very busy over the last few days as they
are close to where the ski competition occurred so would have had lots of
people then. We found a restaurant in a hotel that was open so decided it would
do as we could be searching for something else and not find any. So Joy had vegetarian
rosti and Les had fish and chips, and we celebrated 24 years since our first
date way back in 2001! After lunch we headed off on a walk up the valley from
Lauterbrunnen which we had been looking forward to since we missed it in 2023
when Les got sick. The valley is renowned as the Valley of 72 Waterfalls. Well
it all depends on what you call a waterfall and what is just dripping water,
anyway most were frozen waterfalls. The main waterfall, Staubbach Waterfall,
was part frozen and part water falling so we got the best of both worlds. During
summer you can walk up and actually behind part of the falls but it is closed
in winter. It did not take long for us to work out why. As we walked down the
valley you can hear and (if lucky) see parts of the frozen falls cracking and
then crashing down the cliff/mountain side.
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| Staubbach Waterfall from trainride between Wengen and Lauterbrunnen |
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| Staubbach Waterfall |
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| Top of Staubbach Waterfall with water and ice. |
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| Staubbach Waterfall |
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| Staubbach Waterfall |
The plan was to walk up the valley to the bus terminal at
the end and then take the bus back to Lauterbrunnen. As it was we only got
about ½ way as there was a lot of snow to contend with, lots of photos to take,
lots of views to see, lots of helicopters coming back from Wengen with
portaloos and other assorted equipment being dropped in Lauterbrunnen, etc. We
waited at one of the bus stops and got the bus (free) back to the station in
Lauterbrunnen.
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| Lauterbrunnen Valley |
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| Ice in river in Lauterbrunnen Valley |
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| Lauterbrunnen Valley |
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| More Frozen Waterfalls |
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| Living the life in Lauterbrunnen Valley with a few cows and this view!! |
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| River covered in ice |
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| Lauterbrunnen with helicopter and Port-a-loos |
Only had to wait about 10 mins for the train to leave. When
we got on the train there was a conductor telling everyone that the section we
were in was “1st class to Interlaken”. Once we left Lauterbrunnen
the conductor came around checking tickets and caught several people who did
not have 1st class tickets including a couple of fellows who tried
to insist they did and kept talking loudly on their mobile phones. The
conductor was not happy and they were soon sent to 2nd class. Nice
ride to Interlaken and along the way we collected the 2nd half of
the train coming back from Grindelwald (being the opposite of what happened on
the way up). Change at Interlaken and smooth trip to Thun. As this is the last
full day in Switzerland we are trying to get rid of our Swiss Francs and Joy
needed more coffee (for making in our accommodation, not to drink immediately) so
went to the supermarket and got coffee and some treats for a late afternoon
tea. As it was we were left with about 14 Swiss Franc (about 22 AUD) but we had
10 Swiss Francs from 2 years ago so we will keep for the next trip to
Switzerland 😊.
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| View from Thun accommodation at night with Thun Castle and Church Tower |
Tuesday 21th January 2025 Thun to Strasbourg
The third last time we are moving (excluding when we get on
the plane). We have an 8:34 train so up at a reasonable time to finish packing
and get down to the station for our train. Les thought it was an 8:24 train so
we were a bit ahead of where we really needed to be but better safe than sorry.
When we move between towns we always reserve seats (unless
the train does not have reservations) and we had reserved seats from Thun to
Basel via Bern. When we got on the train we had to haul our luggage up the
stairs to the upper deck of first class and found a lady sitting in one of our
reserved seats but since there were lots of seats vacant we sat in the seats
behind her. No problem until we got to Bern. The lady got off and a man sat in
one of the seats we had reserved. Again no problem until a man got on who had
reserved one of the seats we were sitting in so we had to ask the other person
to move so we could move to the seats we originally reserved. All done politely
but bit of mucking about.
At Basel we changed trains to the train that goes to
Strasbourg but we are only going as far as Mulhouse as we want to spend some
time here as check in at Strasbourg is not until 3:00 pm. We have gone from
clean Swiss trains in the main part of the station to dirty (exterior) French
trains in the outside far edge of the station. The other issue is that French
trains have several steps up to get into the carriage so we struggle a bit with
the suitcases. Several times on this day we actually had people help us, and
people say the French are rude and aloof. The train to Mulhouse was nice enough
and got close to 200 kph.
Arrived in Mulhouse and dragged our suitcases to the Ibis
hotel as they offer luggage storage as part of the Nanny Bags business. Not
sure the lady there knew how it worked but we did leave our suitcases and 2
smaller bags before heading off into town. Before we started we found a café
and went in. Looked more like a local men’s hangout café as all the customers
were men, dressed mostly in black, and drinking espressos. Very small and did
not appear to have food so we ordered cappuccino and warm milk with Joy trying
her best French as the waiter did not speak English. Joy’s best French wasn’t
good enough as ended up having to use Google Translate. She asked for ‘lait
chaud’, waiter looked puzzled, she tried again, with a French-er accent, still
puzzled, got Google Translate and when he saw what was meant, he said ‘ahhh,
lait chaud’ (sounded exactly like what Joy said hahaha). He laughed and things
were good. Looks like we will need Joy’s sister’s special French phrase of ‘I
speak French like a Spanish cow’.
We headed off to explore and eventually found the Tourist
Info Centre and got a brochure on the Old Town and did a wander around. We
wanted to get some lunch before we headed back to the station so went into a
café that looked a bit more up market to the 1st one for the day and
they did have some food. We ended up with 30 cm ham and cheese toasted paninis.
Way too big for us but we tried our best.
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| Sculpture in Mulhouse, France |
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| Town Hall, Mulhouse, France. Had lunch in cafe in white building at far right. |
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| Mulhouse Cathedral |
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| Lunch in Mulhouse, one each!! |
Back to collect our luggage and as we had not paid when we
dropped them off was wondering what it would cost us. In theory should be about
16 or 18 euros (about 30 AUD) but it cost us nothing – the lady at reception
just waved us away. Jumped (well, more like struggled up the steps with the
help of another lovely French man) on the next train to Strasbourg. There isn’t
any specific place to put luggage on these trains, so we just pushed them into
the carriage hoping to find somewhere to put them out of the way. But the man
who helped us with our luggage told us to just put it anywhere, really, as “in
France, even if it is forbidden, you just do what you want”. We arrived at Strasbourg
at around 2:40. We had the OK to check in early in our accommodation. The
accommodation is only 5 mins walk from station so arrived and in before 3:00
pm. Did a shopping list to cover the next 2 days and went and did the shopping.
Small supermarket and not many options. Came home and had afternoon tea and
found out how bad the water tastes so Les went to another supermarket and
bought bottled water and carrots but could not find any meat to buy. Relaxed
for rest of afternoon.
Wednesday 22nd January 2025 Strasbourg Town Tour
Had a sleep in this morning as we were tired but also the
shutters make the room dark and we cannot see what time of day it is and had
not set the alarm.
After a leisurely breakfast we tried to do some washing but
cannot open the washer door. Subsequently found out from the owner that the
machine was reported broken 2 days ago! Headed out for a walk around the old
town. As we were walking we noticed a supermarket that looks bigger than the
others we have tried. Will investigate it more tomorrow. Found the Tourist Info
Centre which is opposite the Cathedral, which you cannot miss. Got a map that
had a tour marked through the old town so off we set. Visited the cathedral but
did not climb the tower. There is a cost to do it but the 330 steps each way
was the main reason to give it a miss. Joy did it back in the 1991 when she was
travelling with Cathy, and it was amazing, all the way to the top and looking
out through the carved stone tower, but didn’t feel the need to do it again.
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| Strasbourg Cathedral |
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| Strasbourg Cathedral |
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Many streets have these mosaics of different things.
Have not worked out why. The stork is important to the Strasbourg people. |
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| We think this is taking Teddy Bears over the top! |
We
followed the route on the brochure and then headed to a café for morning tea
and for Les to warm his fingers up. It was a nice little café, with hessian
coffee bags as tablecloths. Hot chocolate and triple choc cookie for Joy and warm
milk and citrus cheesecake for Les. Finished the walk by going across the
Covered Bridges (which are no longer covered, but the end towers still stand),
and then across the Varrage Vauban, which is a dam and stone bridge (which IS
covered and nothing like what we have seen before). Started raining lightly so
headed for home.
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| Strasbourg and timber framed buildings. |
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| Covered Bridge, Strasbourg |
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| View from Covered Bridge, Strasbourg. |
Spent the afternoon catching up on diary, etc but also
planning the next few days. While we were watching TV, Joy saw something scurry
across the floor then under the fridge – looked too small to be a mouse but too
big to be a spider. We will kind of pretend she didn’t see it but at the same
time just put our bags up off the floor and our food into plastic bags.
Thursday 23rd January 2025 Strasbourg Rest Day
Another relaxing day so a late start again. Pottered around
until after morning tea and then headed to the laundromat to do the washing and
home via the bigger supermarket we saw yesterday. Much better supermarket and
could buy meat is suitable sizes, etc.
Got offer to upgrade Munich to Doha flights and have tried
several times to get it to work so will give it another try later.
Afternoon doing diary, photos and blog.
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| Strasbourg at night |
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Great blog as usual with lovely pics. You'll be super fit doing all those steps!
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