Amazing Alps! Wubbish Weather.

Our trip to Interlaken, from Bern, was taken by train. We followed the breathtaking scenery closer and closer to the Alps, until we came to the town which is nestled at the foot, between two lakes (funnily enough). We trundled ourselves along to the hostel we had booked to stay in, Balmer's Herberge, following the handy signposts. It is the hostel in town. We didn't know this when we booked, or we possibly would have opted for somewhere more sedate. Hindsight is a marvellous thing. Halfway along on our journey I discovered I had left a carry bag (containing a blank Venetian mask, an Italian poster for the movie Roman Holiday, and goodness knows what else) on the train. I practically wept. We carried on, however, and arrived to plonk our stuff in our dormitory, charmingly furnished with red gingham curtains and bedspreads. We strolled back into town to have a look at the alarming array of tourist shops stretched along the streets, then back to the hostel, then back to town for dinner supplies, then back again to the hostel. So much to-ing and fro-ing. It was enough to make one dizzy. However, we cooked ourselves a proper dinner in the somewhat limited 'kitchen' and had a nice time chatting to a couple of Kiwi girls in our dorm before bed.

The view out our dorm window in the morning was amazing. Steep rooftops leading up to snowy alpine peaks (it had snowed two days before we arrived) and blue blue sky above. We'd been a little out of touch with family, so made use of an internet cafe just down the road to do some emailing, etc. When one wasn't typing one was captivated/horror-struck/intrigued (strike out those that do not apply) by footage of various of the adventure sports advertised in the area. Some are quite remarkably dangerous looking (see: canyoning). After trotting in to town to try to discover how to reclaim baggage left on Swiss trains (bureaucracy) we bussed out to the Lake Brienz shore at Bönigen where we found a place to hire a pedal boat for an hour. The lake was lovely, and we had a happy time chasing coots and pedalling under the big bridge. Back on dry land we found some benches we had spotted from the water and had a nice hour or two reading and sleeping in the sun. In the evening, after a sumptuous feast of hand made burritos, we employed ourselves gainfully by improving our snooker skills. A necessary ladylike accomplishment. We're fairly evenly matched (Robyn has the skill, I get the flukes) so it's fun.

Friday was raining raining raining. With a spot of rain on the side. We had been hoping to go up Jungfraujoch, but that was well and truly out of the question, so we spent most of the day fluffing around in the hostel, with a brief trip to town to restore our sanity in a coffee shop. All adventure sports being somewhat dependent on the weather, the hostel was inundated with people who had nowt to do but turn to the bottle. So nice for the rest of us.

The weather was much improved down in Interlaken on Saturday, but the live cameras showing the view at Jungfraujoch were still only picturing white (snow, or cloud? both, possibly), so we rethought our plan of action. Trümmelbach sounded a likely spot, so we took a train up the valley in search of waterfalls and sleepy Swiss countryside. We found it! We alighted from the train at a wee town called Lauterbrunnen, then took a bus to the falls at Trümmelbach. The falls drain the glaciers of the Eiger, Jungfrau and Monk, and hurtle the icy water through paths carved inside the mountains. It is a wet experience, but definitely worthwhile. There are twelve or so vantage points to see different parts of the falls from, and one gets to them by elevator and steps and paths inside the mountain. It was gorgeous. We walked back to the town, rather than take the bus again, and saw lovely Swiss cows with bells on and dozens of other waterfalls against the cliffs. Lots of wandering and a game of mini-golf later we returned to Interlaken to have dinner at a local fondue-serving place. The fondue wasn't really that amazing. It would have been nicer with veges to dip in (not just bread) but it was fun to try.

We'd found a leaflet advertising a church that we thought we'd like to go to on Sunday morning, before heading off to Avignon. We decided to book our train reservations, as we were ready early, so made our way to the station. It was a good thing we did, as we quickly discovered that there were no reservations available to go to Avignon, either on the train we had planned or on any other train that day. We had to do some thinking on our feet, and instead booked tickets to Paris. We'll have to see the South of France another time. . .