Sleepy Switzerland

Saturday, 7/30

And somehow we are awake. An early morning today, so we could pack and grab breakfast at a cafe in the market and then return to the room to saddle up with the luggage before checking out and making our way through the metro to our train all before 10:30. This is the final sprint to the end but our stamina has been fading. Other than needing naps in Italy initially, we've been pretty well rested on our trip. I was feeling sleepy in Belgium and now here in Paris both Greg and I have been pretty exhausted, so we are starting to look forward to catching up on some sleep when we return home. No doubt we'll need to conquer jet lag on that end too! But for now, it is time for the final country on our itinerary, Switzerland. Most of our trains today were reserved. The first train traveled from Paris to Basel (a boarder town) was about a three hour ride. The French countryside was different than any we have seen thus far. Both hilly and flat at the same time and varying from full on forests to fields of dried grass with only the occasional tree. Blue skies in Paris today, but as we left the city more grey clouds were on the horizon in the country. The second train was from Basel to Interlaken, about two hours long. Our state of exhaustion required much napping but waking with a start each time the train announcement chimed to make sure we didn't miss our stop. Interlaken had such and expansive alpine lake it was almost sea like and the color of the water was akin to something you'd find off an island in the Caribbean; turquoise waters. The third train was a short hop, skip, and a jump away from Interlaken, landing us in Lauterbrunnen.

We departed the train to large drops of slow falling rain, not even worth putting up the umbrella for. Following our directions from the hotel, we located the waterfall, walked toward it, spotted the church and looked across the street, there was the Horner Pub. This pub is the best pub in town, because it is the only pub in town (there slogan, not ours). Outside there was a mish-mosh of base jumpers sharing beer and stories, inside we found Angie, who immediately knew who we were and greeted us like old friends. She showed us our apartment across the street, which is huge. We have the whole ground floor, a full kitchen, living room, bedroom and bath, all connected by one long hall. Four whole rooms all to ourselves, one could get lost! I wish we could spend more time here. The views of the church and surrounding hills and mountains from our bedroom and living room are unfathomable, you'll just have to wait for photos, though they cannot fully capture the expanse of this valley. Having stowed our bags we went off in search of food. On the one and only road in town we passed the cemetery, my favorite one I've seen in Europe, and we've seen some pretty beautiful graveyards. This one has natural stone headstones and the plots are planted like mini-gardens. I know it sounds dark to admire a cemetery, but once again, you'll have to see the photos to understand the beauty of it. Down the road was the campground. What an elaborate campsite, with internet and game rooms, a full restaurant and store. Very cool to see how Americans and Europeans can camp in luxury while in Switzerland. We stocked our fridge and grabbed a pizza, too exhausted to cook despite the lovely kitchen. We ended the evening with some genuine swiss hot chocolate, (actually got to put the stove to use) making us irretrievably sleepy. Good night quiet little town of Lauterbrunnen, see you in the morning.