The Switzerland Section

Alas, I can not seem to get my video camera recharged, so the promised vids are still not ready for presentation. The weather here has turned and the "summer" days are almost equal to a cold winters day in Brissy! As well as it being my Dad's birthday, this Sunday is going to be the longest day of the year - there is some excitement - but also disappointment - cos it means we are on the slide to winter! Enough of this - on to the Switzerland part of the trip!

SWITZERLANDI would vote this place as the most magical country in the world! We stayed in a valley in Lauterbrunnen - about 72 waterfalls pour into the valley - it was magical! There is a big rock filled river flowing down the middle of the valley. We had got there just after the winter melt, so it looked spectacular! The only problem was that it was raining and a little bit overcast - but that did not dampen the mood or the spirits. Here is a link to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauterbrunnen

Walking through the green meadows, all you could hear were cows and sheep with their bells a-ringing. Apparently, they have these so they can be found in the fog/snow. A lot of the houses in the valley were made from pine and some where even built round about 1750! Unfortunately, or cabins were very small - we had to have 4 people in each cabin - you could not swing a cat in there - yet alone bend down to pull your socks on! One of the girls from Canberra had an unfortunate snoring problem - as soon as the bus took off, her head would be nodding and her snores would echo up the aisle. I had the misfortune of being placed next to her cabin - the snores reverberated through the wall and woke all of us up....

We needed to change our Euros to Swiss Francs - this was the only country we needed to do this in, so it was not too painful. We bought beers from their local general store - in front of it - was a cold little mountain stream that came from one of the waterfalls - the stream eventually fed into the main river. We were encouraged to leave our beers in the stream to chill them down! It was awesome. Also, if you stood still for long enough, big trout would swim out of the drain pipe and among the beer!

Had a bit of a bender at the bar on our first night in - got to bed at about 2am. We got up early the next morning and again had the choice of a couple of optionals - I decided to jump on the train that takes us to the top of the tallest mountain in Europe - Mt Jungfrau - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungfrau . Our guide warned us that some people may suffer altitude sickness. I scoffed at the thought and eagerly awaited the train to take us up!
We stopped at a few mountain side towns on the way up - I expected to see Heidi come bouncing round the corner with a basketful of daisies. Still feeling OK - despite a little bit of a hangover.

We stop at a look out half way up - still feeling fine - unfortunately, there was a white out, which meant we had no views at all. We continued the trip to the top - and as soon as I got off the train, it hit me!! It felt like I was walking in space or under water. My heart was beating abnormally fast and it felt like I would faint. Several other people who got off the train were affected in the same manner. We walked through the big complex at the top of the mountain - and I felt worse and worse. All I wanted to do was get back down to the valley. Again, it was a white out on top, so the spectacular views which the brochures promised were not seen :(

I started to spark up on the descent back into the valley and was back in beer drinking spirits by the time I got back to camp. The little bar encouraged people to write on coasters and then hang them on the roof - my contribution was:

Pat a sheep, milk a cow
See the sights of Mt Jungfrau
Just don't do it if you are weak
Return to camp, beers chilled in the creek
Hit the bar, become a wreck
Enjoy your tour with Topdeck!

After two days here, I've decided it's definitely going to be a place to visit again - this thought was reinforced as we left the country to go to Nice (back in France) - driving past massive mountain ranges and glistening green lakes.

Enough for now - the next part will be about nice Nice!!