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Dear Readers: we are now safely back home and completely overwhelmed with mundane tasks followed by a big storm and power outage. Please forgive the late blog post/travel reporting.
Switzerland: Interlaken & Grindelwald – Part 1
It’s December 22nd and one of our longer travel days, taking a 3 hour train from Frankfurt to Basel, Switzerland, where we plan to overnight, then travel the 23rd into Interlaken, then Grindelwald where we have a 3 night stay to celebrate Christmas. I’ve learned to check the train apps on my phone first thing in the morning of a train travel day. It’s especially important since we’re not feeling well, and probably not moving (or thinking) as quickly as normal (which really isn’t all that quick). OMIO, the train booking app, shows no alerts, but the Deutsche Bahn shows an unexpected message. Check out the screenshot below. “Trip is not possible”.
I reach out to Christin, our German friend, and she suggests heading to the train station, we might need to take buses or something, possibly due to a storm. We hustle to check out and the ever helpful registration desk at the nHow hotel helps us secure an earlier train, easier since we’re booked first class (and have reserved the seats this time too). This time we get into the right carriage and find our seats easily. The dining car only a couple carriages back so we enjoy a coffee and snack, relieved to be rescheduled so quickly, especially right before Christmas.
We also noticed that this train’s endpoint is Interlaken Switzerland, so we ask the ticket taker if it’s possible we just keep going on the train. This would let us get closer to our destination while enjoying first class without needing to transfer trains. He says of course we can. We’re happy about this and quickly use booking.com to secure a hotel in Interlaken with a genius discount. Unfortunately, we still incurred a €117 penalty for late cancel on the hotel in Basel, but we decide it’s worth it.
Then comes the announcement: this train is no longer going to Interlaken, but stopping in Basel. I find the ticket taker and he confirms this and tells me we can still get to Interlaken, but need to change trains in Basel and then again in Bern. So much for a straight shot without transfers. I take a photo of the transfers he recommends and sneak a pic of him as well, just in case someone questions us later.
We make all our transfers and find ourselves in the adorable town of Interlaken Switzerland, which has one of the cleaner train stations we’ve seen and the surrounding streets are tidy and graffiti free. We walk two blocks to our hotel.
The Carlton-Europe Vintage in Interlaken is clean, quaint and very friendly. We are upgraded and have a very nice room; somewhat wish we had a few more days to enjoy the stay. One thing we noted in Switzerland is the beds are made up with a separate comforter for each of us, even if on a queen or king bed. And like many other counties we’ve visited, a top sheet is not standard.
The restaurant is quaint and serves a delicious dinner and is decorated beautifully for the holidays. They have a delicious breakfast too. I’d love to come back and stay here longer.
While waiting for the train taking us further up the Alps into Grindelwald the next morning, we notice another couple, mostly because they are both quite tall. We end up sitting next to them and learn they are from Perth Australia. Of course during the 30 minute train ride we exchange contact information so we can get together later. We drag our luggage about 200m to the Hotel Hirschen, check into our room and marvel at the view from our balcony.
Grindelwald made our list of places to visit ever since Tom told me the story about his first visit here in 1971. Tom was in the service stationed in Germany and often travel by train on his weekends. On one occasion, he ended up in Grindelwald. He told me about walking through the picturesque town on Christmas Eve as it began to snow, describing it as both magical and lonely, since he was alone away from home on Christmas. This trip was structured around a “Do Over” for Christmas in Grindelwald, this time not alone.
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Y BIenvenidos a casa ….BESOS