We had to catch an 8:53am train to Interlaken, Switzerland. I woke up early again and decided to hunt down a coffee and croissant. This was easy as our hotel has an exit that puts you right into the train station. With breakfast in hand I snuck out of the station to snap a few more pictures of the Cathedral.
Steve Haas is the reason Cologne landed on our itinerary. Thanks Steve! This building was worth the stop.
Time to pack up and head to the platform. Actually, it was a bit early to do this but we are both still having a hard time not wanting to get to the train platform compulsively early.
We waited on the platform for 25 minutes only to have a last minute shift in platforms. I think there’s some guy in the CCTV booth watching passengers frantically rush from one platform to the next. I bet he’s making millions on a YouTube channel.
Finally on the train we settled in for a long 7 hour train ride.
I use a website called “The Man in Seat 61” to plan all of my European train travel. The website owner is a train master and his website is full of helpful tips.
We could have gotten to our destination an hour earlier if we’d taken one of the high speed trains but our train goes along an older route that parallels the Rhine River. Seat 61 Man suggests sitting on the left side of the train. We couldn’t reserve seats and be sure we’d get the correct side since you never know which way the cars will be facing when they form the train.
These aren’t the seats we started in. Not knowing which direction the train was heading we took our best guess. We lost the coin toss. As the train started moving we realized we were on the right side, which was the wrong side. We quickly moved our stuff over to the other side of the train.
The ride along the Rhine was beautiful. Castles, cathedrals and little fairytale towns line this portion of the river. I took few pictures but here’s a few screen grabs from the videos I shot.
We saw several of the river cruise ships we saw docked in Cologne making their way up river. This would be a beautiful area to see from the water.
The saddest part of our trip was this…
…our last bit of chocolate from Bruges.
After the scenic part of the trip was done we settled in and played some Rummy to pass the time.
The journey to Gimmelwald is the trickiest of our trip. Two trains, one city bus and a gondola ride. We switched trains in Interlaken Ost.We had to be on the front of the second train because they split it at one of the stops and half goes to Grindelwald (not our destination) and the other goes to Lauterbrunnen where we caught a bus after a mad dash to get the local currency (Swiss Francs) only to discover the bus accepts euros, too. Then to the gondola and up the mountain to Gimmelwald. Whew!
Gimmelwald is beautiful. Understatement of the century. I don’t even know how to describe the quaintness of this little village nestled on a cliffside of a majestic valley with some of the tallest peaks in the Alps.
The cloud cover made it a game of hide and seek with the peaks peeking out momentarily. We usually had some clouds below us as well since we are almost a mile up in elevation.
We are staying at Esther’s Guest House, a laid back little B&B 2 minutes from the gondola station.
The skylight opens to let in the cool mountain air.
As we strolled the village we had an orange kitty as our tour guide. She walked along the path with us waiting for us to pet her in between taking pictures of the mountains.
After our brief walk around part of Gimmelwald we made reservations at the only place to eat in town, Gimmelwald Pension. Everyone has the same thing here, no menu to choose different items. We were served a delicious slice of quiche for the starter, a yummy sausage with wedges and green beans and a baked apple with vanilla ice cream and raisins for dessert.
I took a quick stroll after dinner to see the the mountains one more time before bed and saw this little kitty grabbing a drink.
A long travel day, lack of a nap and a lack of sleep in general had us in bed by 9pm.
Art’s Travel Adventures 