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Interlaken, Lucerne & Zurich - Switzerland
Sam's & Libby's Highlights & Impressions
• Swiss chocolates
• Watching the many base jumpers and paragliders around Interlaken
• Visiting the very powerful Trummelbach waterfalls
• Gondola ride upto 2222m and hiking in the spectacular Swiss Mountains
• Great cow bells - we just had to have one… a very big one!!
'Gruezi' from Switzerland
After 5 weeks and many great memories from the numerous sites and places we visited in Italy it was time to move on - time to head north!! Our departure from Lake Como was another skinny twisting 'spaghetti' like road that took us to Switzerland - we only had to reverse once as we met a concrete truck coming the other way and as considerate as we are we let him have the 'right of way' - no surprises there! The roads noticeably widened as we entered Switzerland and the landscape changed to something more organized and structured. Tunnels continued to be a feature of the road network and we navigated our longest tunnel to date - a short 17km! Towering mountains opened up to green valley's and 'Tekapo like' turquoise green glacial lakes. Wooden Swiss chalets scattered the lower slopes and the countryside had a crisp clean feel. First stop Interlaken - surrounded by stunning southern Swiss alps and straddling lakes Thun and Brienz. We based ourselves on the shores of Lake Thun and after a quick unpack, walked the 150 metres from the camp ground to the lake to cool off with hoards of other tog clad people at the public reserve … the shear numbers abit of a shock after the luxury of the lakes of northern Italy. The water was very chilly, but we quickly warmed up in the sun in the 30 deg temperatures.
Wednesday we headed into Interlaken and explored. The town sells itself as an adrenaline junkies paradise (notably and quite openly in competition with NZ's Queenstown) and from the multiple tandem paragliders falling from the sky and landing in the central park, people were taking up the challenge. No! we were not tempted, although the kids were keen for us to have a go (best we don't read too much into that!). Another afternoon cooling off in Lake Thun!
An evening thunder and lightning storm cooled the temperature however in the morning the cloud hung over the mountains and our planned adventure into the Alps went on hold. Instead, we headed to Lauterbraunn, a camp site in the valley below Mt Jungfrau (4158m). With camp set up we jumped on our bikes and headed up the valley towards the Schilthorn Gondola and 007 territory! With the overnight rains the waterfalls that spilled off the mountains ledges and into the valley were spectacular. We visited the Tummelbach Falls taking a shaft elevator up 100 meters then walking up the meter wide cliff footpath to view the 10 glacial falls - the falls boast of 20,000 litres of water per second pouring through the naturally carved chutes, so staying dry is impossible! - not surprisingly the kids quite enjoyed this excursion.
Friday morning and we were breakfasted and on the road by 8.15 - a new record! … but still not good enough to beat the Contiki bus out of the campground. We drove to Gimmelwald Grund and the base of the Mannlichen gondola. A 30 minute ride through 1080m up to 2222 meters passing cows dinging and donging their cow bells whilst grazing below and arriving to stunning views of mountain glaciers, the towering Jungfrau and it's neighbouring peaks, and the valleys down to Grimmelwald and Lauterbraunn. We took a panoramic 5 km downhill walk to Kleine Scheidegg and then returned to Grund on the downward cog train. Surrounded by brilliant blue skies, fresh air and snow clad peaks the views were simply fantastic and provided a great morning's activity. By afternoon we had travelled an hour north to be in Lucerne, again camped by the lake - compulsory swim as the temperatures soared - and again confronted by hoards of people camped out on grass or deck chairs - they had paid to swim here - guess that's the price one pays when you are land locked and doubtless the reason the lakes are so populated. The kids enjoyed the pontoon and diving boards out in the lake but for us it just lacked general appeal. Another ripping thunderstorm by night helped clear and cool the night air.
Our bikes got us the 4km into Lucerne on Saturday where we spent the day wandering the medieval old town featuring Lucernes best-known landmarks - two old covered bridges - Kapellbrucke (Chapel Bridge) dating from 1333 and Spreuerbrucke. At a pub along the river (which had not yet opened for the day) we were drawn to the live TV coverage of the All Blacks vs Springboks and made ourselves comfortably at home watching the game through the open street windows … another great result! In the street markets we picked up a cow bell … not just any cow bell but a very large cow bell … how we'll get it home - who knows? … but one thing's sure, Waikato rugby finals will never be the same again.
Sunday, we moved on a half hour further north to Zurich, another lakeside campsite just 4km from the old town centre, a campsite full to overflowing and our tightest camping pitch yet … they were packing them in, in advance of next weekend's Switzerland Ironman. Again on our bikes we ventured into town and casually explored the old town centre and lake front. Usual routine based on following our noses, giving consideration to tourist information maps and walking trails, stopping for plenty of photo's and of course compulsory ice block along the way. Sunday, the lake was a hive of activity and the swimming landings again thronged with the masses looking to cool off and lay in the sun.
That's Switzerland for us - we loved our time in the mountains and the southern Swiss Alps but the rest of our stay has failed to particularly 'WoW' us - yes we've been spoilt!!.
This week we move on again - destination Austria and to Innsbruck and Salzburg, on route to next week's adventure, Prague.
Thanks again for all your return messages which are always appreciated by us all ... it's back to school for many of you and just one more term and our kids will be back into it too ... the Europeans find the fact that we have been able to take our kids out of school for this adventure quite 'eye opening' and generally comment that it would not be possible to do the same thing in Europe as parents would be prosecuted ... hopefully we've done our homework right on this one!
Till our next blog ... it's 'tschuss' from this Family on OE!
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