We are currently in Interlaken, Switzerland and we are staying in the Backpacker villa and they have a free wireless internet which i am connecting to now with Tan Shin's laptop.
What can I say. I will leave the other days of our journey till another time and wil ljust talk about our day today and yesterday in Interlaken.
Yesterday we took a train from Montreux to Interlaken. The train line is called the Golden Pass line and the hightlight is between Montreux and Zwisemmen (sp). Montreux is on lake Geneva and Interlaken is in the middle of Switzerland flank by two lakes. We paid the extra money to get a VIP seat on the train. With the VIP seat you get the same view as if you are driving the train. We sat at the front of the train just as if we were in the cockpit and it was well worth the extra money.
Switzerland is not a cheap country but it is a bit more tolerable converting from Pound to swiss Francs.
The train ride was spectacular. White. Trees covered with snow, just like christmas decoration. Villages with beautiful chalets formed part of the scenery. We just can't get enough of snow. The pine trees and mountain are everywhere and it seems like a dream.
The dream continued when we reached Interlaken. It was snowing and has been snowing for the past few days. The streets are dotted with white flakes and the park is just white. The snow is so soft. I have never seen snow this thick before. It snowed in Lausanne, Geneva and Montreux too but nothing like interlaken.
We were having lunch in a restaurant and just contented to sit there by the window starring out at the snow gently falling.
Interlaken it self is a pretty little town flanked by not only lakes but by mountain which was barely visible through the snow.
Interlaken is in the German part of Switzerland and most people speak swiss-german. The previous cities which we visited are French speaking.
It is amazing how the scenery will be so different during summer where the snow would be replaced with green grass. I just can't imagine it right now.
Interlaken has a reputation of being an activity centre, a bit like Queenstown, NZ, I suppose but unfortunately for me, most of the activity takes place when there aren't any snow during summer. There is rafting, canyoning, walking and stuff by the lake. There is also Europe highest train station nearby in the Juangfrau area which resides about 3 mountains over 4000m and a few other smaller mountains. The train station is called Juangfraujoch (Top of Europe) and it sits at 3454m. It is an easy way for normal people to experience such heights without having to climb/trek mountains.
The Juanfrau area is also home to several skiing resorts during winter. Due to the not so perfect weather we decided not to take the train to the top of the mountain as it cost about 160 swiss franc per person. We thought we might come back during summer sometime, maybe?
So, being me, I choose the next most exciting activity for today, 22 Feb. We can't ski and didn't feel like skiing so the next best thing to enjoy the snow is to go sledding. We haven't done it before but doesn't seems to be that hard. You sit on it and use your foot to control the sledg.
I was pleasantly suprised at the number of sledging and hiking courses and the way the cater for non skier as not everyone skis.
The exciting activity I choose was to take a train to Grindelwald (1034m) and then catch the cable car to First (2168m). First is an area with lots of ski lifts and also most importantly for us, the start of a walking trial to the World's longest sledge run at 15km.
What was I thinking? I have never been to a snow resort. Only tried to ski once in my life. Never sledge before and now I want to try the longest sledge run. Thank God i have a supportive wife who seems to go along with my crazy idea.
The longest sledge run is the attraction but the fun does start until a 2-2.5hr hike until Mt Faulhorn (2681m). So basically to get to the world's longest sledge run. We will have to hike from First to Mt Faulhorn which is a 2.5 hr hike on snow pulling our sledge. Sounds silly but somehow we believed we could do it.
So this morning we set off to Interlaken Ost train station, bought our return ticket to Grindelwald. Grindelwald is a pretty little town full of skiiers. There were a few people dragging their sledge.
We then bought our cable car ticket and made our way to First. The weather was great. No snow and plenty of sunshine. I believe the temperature was about -2 at First. At first we rented our sledge at 15 francs each and started off on our walk. At the beginning we were contronted with a steep climb and I can tell you it is not easy to hike on snow especially snow that is quite fresh. Sometimes this trail we are doing is closed when there are too much snow.
When we started off, the weather was turning with cloud coming in and light snow. It was a hard slog. I can't remember how many times we stopped. This is the most difficult hike I have done. It could have been due to the altitude or the fact that I have to drag the sledge. The last part of the hike is a killer, it felt like i could only take 10 steps before having to stop and rest. I felt pethetic, it is like what's wrong with me? I felt so unfit.
Incidently, this is off topic, I weigh myself the other day and have lost about 7kg during our stay in UK.
Finally we made it to the junction which would have taken us up to the top, to Mt Faulhorn (2681m). The world's longest sledge run is from Mt Faulhorn to Grindelwald.
which is 15km in length.
From the junction, this is only about a few hundred metres of up hill climb to the top of Mt Faulhorn and we said bugger it. We are not climbing anymore as we were stuffed and the it was getting cold as the snow is getting heavier. It took us 2hr and 45 mins.
We sledge down from the juction and not from Mt Faulhorn and so we couldn't really say that we have done the 15km but only about 14 and a bit km which is not too bad for a first timer.
Sledging is so much fun and quite easy when you have the right gear. We didn't. I wore my jeans which was a very stupid thing to do as the jeans gets wet and my thighs and buttocks was freezing. Not going to wear jeans doing stuff on snow every again.
The first part of the run from Faulhorn to Bussalp was a nightmare. The snow was thick and because it was the first time we sledge, we brake alot by putting our feet on the snow which causes the snow to splash all over our front, which is the face, body and pants. The body is fine as we have water and wind proof jackets. The pants is not as i have jeans. The face. I couldn't feel my face, it was just numb. my fingers were getting numb too. I couldn't see as my sunnies was getting muddled by the snow. It was horrible and we have about 15km of this?
There were a few times I totaled head first into the snow. It was fun and nice coz the snow is soft but not good for the face and my pants. I totaled about 4 times in the beginning as it was very difficult to see the track.
When we got down to Bussalp the weather was better. There were sunshine and we rested for about 10 mins there.
The rest of the trip was great as the track is the road the bus takes to get to Bussalp from Grindelwald. The snow is thin and the track is wide. The thin ice is great because we don't get splash by the snow when ever we put our foot down on the ice to steer and to brake.
I loved it. Would do it again. I really enjoyed the trail as it seems like a cross country sort of trail. There are other sledging trails where you take a ski lift up, sledge down and then repeat the sequence again. The run which we did was unique as it is long and also you have to hike to it.
The sledging took about 1hr and 25 mins overall.
When we got to Grindelwald, we just couldn't wait to get on the train and then head back to our hostel for a hot shower.
We were very happy with what we have done. I am stuffed now. We are heading off to Luzern tomorrow.
I am going to go to bed now and hopefully my battered body will get enough rest. There are more walking tomorrow in Luzern.
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