James' in the UK

After a very relaxing time at Gryon it was time to get back to faster pace and explore some more of Switzerland. First stop was Interlaken. I wasn't really sure what I was going to think of Interlaken. I knew it was very touristy and crammed full of your Contiki type bus tours which I thought I wouldn't like. It didn't help that I'd only been able to book into one of the main 2 backpacker hostels. I must say it was better than I expected, possibly because a lot of those visitors actually come in summer, it felt like the off season. For the next couple days we used Interlaken as a base and explored the surrounding mountains. The first afternoon we went to Gimmelwald, a little village that seemed to have more cows and cow sheds than residents and chalets. You need to get a gondola that pretty much goes straight up a cliff to get there so it was a pretty amazing spot.

The next day we got up early and went to one of the places which was definitely one of the highlights of the trip - Jungfraujoch. This is the name of a glacier that is about 3500m above sea level, which would normally be totally inaccessible if it wasn't for the train that went to the top of it! Basically many years ago some one decided to dig a huge tunnel (20ish km long?) through 3 solid rock mountains and out to the very top of the glacier. Cog rail trains run though tunnel, and the line is very steep. At two points along the line there had been 'windows' blasted through the side of the mountain so you could get out the train and check out the view. It is a bit hard to describe but it was just incredible how or why to tunnel was dug out. Anyway the view from the top was absolutely incredible, so beautiful and absolutely amazing. We took so many photos, and we could have stayed there for hours. It was somewhere that we would have never ever been able to get to if it wasn't for some crazy Swiss guy digging a tunnel. We had coffee and cake looking out over the glacier, walked up this tiny hill which we really struggled with due to the altitude, and went into an ice palace which was a series of rooms carved into the solid ice of he glacier.

Jungfraujoch

On the way back to Interlaken we went through Grindelwald, another ritzy ski resort/village. Grindelwald is quite popular with tourists and you can see why. Coming down the mountain into the town it looked exactly how you would want a village in the Alps to look.

After leaving Interlaken we headed to Zurich, via Lucerne. The train trip from Interlaken to Lucerne was pretty spectacular, starting off with snow capped mountains and lakes and eventually getting down to the green green grass and – well more lakes.

Lucerne was a very attractive city, set on the lake with mountains off in the distance. We had lunch by one of the old wooden bridges and walked around the city until it was time to find a train to Zurich.

Lucerne

Zurich is know for being very trendy, with a very happening dance music scene. It is also well know for shopping, there is one particular shopping street rumoured to by hiding vaults and vaults of gold and silver under the footpaths. I'm not sure if this is true but it was nice to spend an evening window shopping in some very exclusive stores, stopping for coffee, stopping for chocolate, all while admiring the Christmas lights and the general festive atmosphere.

Zurich at Night

Food of choice in Interlaken/Zurich: Half price Swiss Christmas chocolate!