Lauterbrunnen
We drove through some amazing scenery on the way to the campsite. But photos never work well through glass on the bus. Went near the aptly named Interlaken and headed to our village of Lauterbrunnen for two nights. Was a quaint little village situtated in the most picturesque valley – this is the view with our trusty bus in the foreground.
Have an on-site chef who gave us fondue (yum) and other great food. Managed to whip up a vego option since pork is big here. Headed to bed – back to bunks...
Trip to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe
Had a reasonably early start to catch two trains up to the highest train station in Europe. Left exactly on time and very refined train. Even had reserved seating on the way up. For those who have a vertical interest our village was at 796m above sea level. We caught one train to 2063m above and interchanged. This next train could go steeper – we were dared to try and stand up. Managed to balance but was really strange – had to lean so far forward. Was hilarious seeing some people absolutely fail... Maybe thin air made it funny.
Final train trip was inside a mountain – with two stops at viewing points they had dug out to the side of the mountain. Had a bit of a headache – still not fully recovered from cold and this may not have helped.
Finally reached Jungfraujoch at 3454m above sea level. Our driver tried to get us to run around for 5 minutes. Didn’t want to pass out so managed to avoid that.
Jungfraujoch
Amazing! I need to go skiing – desperately. Even in Spring the snow looked impressive and there was very limited numbers of people skiing. It was the last day of their season. Some pretty cool things to do up there. Two places to go outside and have incredible views and wasn’t that cold. The cold occurred inside the facility in the caves but out in the sun was fine. Even saw some people sunbaking in the snow – boy they were getting burnt.
There was also an ice cave with some ice sculptures. I don’t like ice-skating at the best of times (ask my roll-class, I banned them from school socials so I didn’t make a fool of myself in front of my students) but was alright with shoes and a hand rail to hang onto. Didn’t slip over like some Asian tourists – boy it’s hard not to laugh some times.
And this held our attention for a little while.
Everyone had to get a photo on the cow – thanks to peer pressure. Now if I don’t look really comfortable it’s because this was in one of their caves and the metal cow was cold – icy cold. And jeans aren’t the best insulators. I’ll leave the rest up to your imagination... Stayed up there for a while – took massive number of very similar photos and was so lucky it was a clearish day. Some people were looking forward to tobogganing but that started the next day. I wasn’t dressed for it so not too devastated. Would rather ski.
(group photo)
Train Ride Back
Was a very crowded train ride back. Myself and another person from the tour lost the others and just went looking for a seat. Finally found one and sat down and then realised we probably bought the average age of the carriage down quite a few percentage points. The gentleman next to us asked politely if we were on some tour – which we definitely weren’t – and found out the carriage was reserved. Thought we were going to be kicked off but no guard came. Had a good chat to this guy and his wife who were German tourists and had some limited English which wasn’t bad. Much better than my non-existent German. Luckily my friend’s mother was German so she knew some words (and how to count to 10) so that kept them entertained for the trip down. Managed to not make a complete fool of myself when talking about the World Cup – I hope.
(one of the many photos as we descended)
Arrived back in our village – uploaded previous blog in internet cafe. Saw some of our group skydiving. Too expensive to do again. Nothing exciting happened at night and then packed bags and took off this morning. Now on bus back to France and we’ve been warned our next accommodation is pretty dodgy. Uh Oh. Hopefully it has normal European power points because that might be a problem very soon.
Luckily found power but told get free internet in Barcelona so will save upload till then.
Avignon
Had some issues on trip through France – some major accident so the freeway was closed. Stuck in traffic for an hour or so with people getting out of cars/trucks so took a bit longer than expected. Took a detour through some tiny village – don’t think they’ve seen a big Topdeck bus come barrelling through before.
Finally arrived at hostel – glad we’re only there for 1 night. I’m looking forward to a shower that I don’t have to pay or incessantly keep pressing some stupid button.
We went for a quick walking tour of the old part of town and saw the Palace of the Popes. Was alright but I think this is probably the first place I don’t need to revisit. There was also a ‘famous’ bridge which doesn’t even cross the river anymore that you have to pay 4 euros to walk on. I reckon you should only pay half since the bridge is only half way across.
Went out for tea – managed to order with our very limited French. Nice meal and fantastic desert crepes, managed to eat way too much. Then we joined the rest of our group on the banks of the river and a very chilled out evening.
Next day we headed straight to Pont du Gard – part of a Roman aqueduct that is older than the coliseum. Got me excited about Rome again – can’t wait for it. Not much to report there but got another photo for the album.
Spent another long trip in the bus and arrived in Spain. Great weather here – really helping me get over the cold. Don’t know what I’ll do tomorrow, probably just wander the city but might actually go into a museum rather than just walking past.
Week Ahead
Wed, 28th of April Barcelona
Thurs, 29th of April Barcelona to French Riviera
Fri, 30th of April French Riviera
Sat, 1st of May French Riviera to Venice, Italy
Sun, 2nd of May Venice
Mon, 3rd of May Venice to Florence
Tues, 4th of May Florence to Rome
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