Wednesday 6th: Looking around Zurich, Leaving Zurich, alps, Lauterbrunnen

[ 188 photos in total: https://picasaweb.google.com/110144623598348247797/20110406?authkey=Gv1sRgCPSW0pywutm2UQ# ]

I had a reasonably long sleep although due to not much food I was still feeling a bit tired in the morning. I ate some more of the food I bought yesterday. I spent some time on the internet, feeling a bit guilty for not looking at Zurich, but also feeling that I wasn't up to the task and that it is therefore unavoidable unless I went to spend the next week recovering from greater fatigue.

After a few hours I eventually dragged myself out. Today I had to head toward a hostel in Lauterbrunnen. Zurich was really more of a convenient half way point between Paris and Lauterbrunnen. Lauterbrunnen is an awesome valley in the Swiss Alps, below Bern and Interlaken.

I decided that before getting the train to Lauterbrunnen I would have a casual stroll through Zurich. I shortened the straps on my large bag which made it less heavy on my shoulders and made me feel better.

The street just outside the hostel in Zurich. A really nice looking city. Lots of scenes like this I think.

Looking out from my room in the hostel to the street below.

I've heard that there are lots of museums and things in Zurich. Someday I'll have to go back to see these!

I had enough walking, so I made my way to the train station.

Inside the train station they have a market! They are selling lots of strange food. Just what I need.

I changed some euros into francs here inside the train station then bought a loaf of bread and a vanilla danish type thing (called something else. I've forgotten). The Danish was really tasty.

I booked a ticket to Lauterbrunnen using the touch screen computers they have. At first it confused me a little but it seems to be quite good. You can choose your language too! There were a few different options of routes to get to Lauterbrunnen, so I chose the one that was cheaper by about 2.5 francs.

I stood around looking at a large board showing train times for a little while, being very confused. My ticket just said something like "Zurich to Lauterbrunnen via Luriz-Brunig" and left the details up to me. I couldn't see any Lurz-Brunig on the large board. So I went to ask someone at the 'info' place. He spoke english! He was very friendly and printed out a piece of paper showing me the timetable for trains that I could take. It included the platforms I would be on when I got off the train, and the platform for the next train I would have to take. Very helpful. I think he used something like the algorithm from www.bahn.de to produce that timetable. Matthias told me last week that one of his past lecturers claims to have designed that database! The guy at the info desk told me that I've chosen the scenic route!!

Waiting for my train... and I'm feeling quite a bit better this day!

The bread that I bought. Nice and crusty!

My ticket and the timetable the info desk guy printed for me.

Leaving Zurich.

The scenery to the sides was fairly great all along the way. I took some pictures but I think there are better pictures I took later... We also went through quite a lot of tunnels. According to Wikipedia, Switzerland has the most dense network of rail line in the world! This is even with all its mountain ranges. Really impressive I think.

I later changed train, at Luriz, I think. I got on a smaller looking train. It looked like the type of train that is less for fast transport of commuters, and more for getting people into mountains. I was excited.

I started to see views of really big mountains!!

Awesome bread.

The train had to be dragged up some hills by chain.

Coming in toward Interlaken, we went around a very large lake. The scenery was... incredibly amazing... I think. It really impressed me a lot. I'm amazed at the colour of the water, and everything.

My ticket was actually only to Interlaken. Lauterbrunnen is about 10km south from Interlaken. So we got to Interlaken and I got off the train. I saw that the next train for Lauterbrunnen was leaving in just a few minutes with the next leaving an hour later! I quickly ran to a ticket selling computer, identical to the one in Zurich. I had the process worked out quite well now, so I had my ticket within a minute and got on the train with plenty of time to spare.

This is my view when I got off at Lauterbrunnen. Amazing!

According to my investigations, the hostel should be quite close. It was! I found it easily.

The main street. According to Wikipedia, I think they shot a car chase scene here for the James Bond movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. My hostel is just about 50 metres ahead on the left.

I got to the hostel and they said that unfortunately I would have to wait until 6pm to check in because they were still cleaning the room. That was a little annoying for me, but I was feeling better today and I didn't mind too much to get out and explore this place.

I got some walking maps from the tourist place. I then decided to do a short walk along the river, but then decided to try and reach a waterfall. I couldn't quite get there. I just got some nice views instead.

Massive 8 floor car park. For all the people who come here to go walking I'm guessing.

This valley is surrounded by amazing views of gigantic mountains.

I got back to the hostel and got checked in. In this hostel you have to wear slippers around inside the building. No shoes allowed. At first I thought it was strange but I got used to it. It's nice having all the floors nice and clean! They gave me new slippers. (cheap ones obviously)

I'd bought some pasta and stir through pasta sauce before going for the walk, before the shops close. I cooked this for dinner. Not a very sophisticated meal, but I ate lots of it and it was fairly cheap. One aim of today has been to eat as much food as possible. I've done a fairly good job of that. I'm happy that this hostel has a nice kitchen! The one in Paris didn't seem to have one.

I'm feeling very good about being in this place. The valley is edged by massive cliffs on each side with lots of waterfalls coming out of them from the melting snow above. According to Wikipedia, this valley formed the visual inspiration for the idea of Rivendell, in the Lord of the Rings book.

Also, commendation given where it's deserved: I would recommend this hostel. I think it's the best hostel I've been in so far. It is called the Valley Hostel. The owners are very nice people and it's 24 euro / night. Also, the view from my room is fairly amazing as well, as seen in next entry...