Yesterday I travelled alone again; this time to Gendelwald in the Swiss Alps. Because Gemma and Nancy needed to take Todd’s only key to him in Amsterdam, I also had to get up at 5:30 to leave… This meant we said goodbye until September while extremely tired.
This was also the first time I experienced the real utility of the Eurail pass. Unlike Italy, in Switzerland, Eurail pass holders need no reservations, so I could just hop on and off trains as I pleased. I went from Lausanne to Bern to Interlaken, stopped for an hour to walk around and admire the scenery and write in my journal, then finally continued up to Grindelwald.
On the last train ride, I sat with a large group of chinese tourists from California. We started talking a little, and one of them asked if I knew any languages besides English. Imagine their surprise when I said, “Wo hui shuo yi dian Zhongwen.” Unfortunately, I don’t really know enough to carry a conversation, so we still mostly spoke English. However, they did want to see my character book and they taught me a few new words. Sui nu (teenage girl) and feng (mountain top). Apparently, Jungfraujoch is translated that way into Chinese.
I ended up arriving in Grindelwald at around 1:15 pm. Unfortunately, all the money changers and banks were closed for lunch, so I needed to find a restaurant that spoke English and acepted MasterCard. The one next to the train station was pretty close; they had a German menu, but the waitress was nice enough to explain it to me in English. The homemade egg noodles were perfect, and the beef with brown sauce was good as well. Neither really held their own next to the view, so I took a few pictures as well.
My next task was to find my way to the Mountain Hostel where I had my reservations. Turns out, it’s not in Grindelwald at all, but in Grund; 80-100 m below. Along the way, I met some road constructionn, so I even needed to take a detour. Thus, after a bit of a hike, I made it to the hostel. I was there at 2:15, though, but reception was closed until 4:00, so I couldn’t check in. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to hike with all my stuff (it was far too heavy even going to the hostel), so I found a bench on which to rest for a bit.
Finally, I checked in and was shown to my room. I was a little surprised that a six-person dorm contained two double beds and two twins. Thankfully, I was the first one there, so I grabbed a twin and a locker.
It was too late to start a hike, so I decided to go back up to Grindelwald. After exploring the town a bit more, I decided to get dinner at the sport center bar. This meal was very local, with Grindelwald sausage, a local beer (I can’t quite remember the name), and potato salad. The beer was pretty tasty, with an aftertaste that reminded me of the Harp I had in Ireland, but the rest of the meal wasn’t anything special. First of all, the potato salad actually was a salad made from potatoes. It was like they made a tossed salad and replaced 3/4 of the lettuce with boiled potato. This definitely didn’t go well with salad dressing and green vegetables, so I didn’t eat much. i did, however, eat the sausage with mustard; it was basically two large hotdogs on a plate. OK, but nothing special.
After dinner, I went back to the hostel and pretty much went to bed. No one else was around (in fact, I was still the only one in the room, so I decided to take a double to myself), and there wasn’t much to do.
The next morning, I woke up refreshed and ready to go at 9:25. Glancing at the guest information on the door, I realized that breakfast only lasted until 9:30, so I ran down to get some. I wasn’t expecting much, so I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by ham, bread, orange juice, and the best cereal since Ireland. The cereal seemed to be a home-made mix of oatmeal, nuts, raisins, cruncy things, and cinnamon. I think I may try to make some in Boston this fall.
While eating breakfast, I also planned out my hiking route for the day. Gund to Alpiglen, lunch, to Mannlichen, and ride the cable cars back.
Less than ten minutes into the hike, I was regretting it. The trails in the Alps are so steep that you can stretch your calves just standing still. I knew that my legs were going to hurt come morning. Still, I pressed on, spurred by the fresh mountain air and the morning sun. I reached Alpiglen in about an hour and a half; a little faster than expected. I knew the next stop was around two hours away, though, so I decided to stop for lunch anyway. Alpiglen is listed as a town on the map, but really its claim to faim is a train stop and a restaurant. There are really only about five buildings in proximity to each other. For lunch, I had a tasty ham sandwich with sparkling apple juice.
While at lunch, I decided that Jungfraujoch sounded more interesting than the cable cars, so I changed my route to take me to Kleiine Scheidegg, the mountain base station. After anouther hour and a half hike, during which I crossed the tree line, I reached it. I had just hiked over 1100 meters vertically.
Soon, I caught a train up into the mountain (inside to avoid the snow, etc.) and to the top station. Up there, I went outside to play in the snow, walked through an “ice palace” carged into a glacier, and drank hot chocolate outside at 3454m above sea level. On the train ride back, my water bottle collapsed due to the difference in air pressure.
