Interlaken, Switzerland
Wednesday, June 11 - Saturday, June 14, 2008
Well, another day, another town, another group of crazed footballers. This time instead of the Swedes descending, it’s Amy’s people….The Dutch! Hup, Holland, Hup! Is the cheer heard all over Interlaken! I LOVE watching football! What a fun culture! I still have to be doing something else while watching but I love it. The camaraderie and passion! It’s great! So we rolled into Interlaken after ALL day on the train from Salzberg, through the northern border of Lichtenstein, to Zurich, to Bern and then to
Interlaken. Over 6 hours on a train. We called our pension (think B&B) because we couldn’t figure out where to go and she said she’d come pick us up at the station. About 5 min. later Frau Claus (pronounced Klaus not like Santa Claus) came strolling up to the lost Americans with the HUGE packs and led us the 2 blocks to the pension. It’s a great little place, all remodeled and we’ve got a cute double room with a kitchenette and bathroom! Awesome! We asked where an ATM was so we could pay her (it’s a cash only business) and she said don’t worry, just get it to her before we go. Who runs business like that anymore? No one in the states! For our reservation she only took my first name. I think we’re the only ones staying here and it’s Sfr 80 a night. A heck of a deal compared to other hotels and hostels we were looking at. So we dropped our bags and found an ATM & then went on a hunt for some Swiss Fondue! We found a place that offered fondue about a block from our place & we decided we were so tired we’d go for it. First of all there was only one guy who looked like he could have been Swiss, the rest of the employees were selected to work there merely because they may speak an Asian dialect that the various clientele may need to converse 
in. Our gal was not a native English or German speaker. We managed to order cheese fondue to split & chocolate fondue for dessert and split a 3dl of wine (it’s like sharing a bottle of coke, I think she was laughing at us like we were light weights.) One of the waiters (the one who spoke Korean, “Anyong”, was leading a cheer in Korean with the bus load of South Koreans in the corner. Oh, and I forgot to mention, the uniforms where t-shirts with the restaurant’s logo on the front and cow print waist down. The ladies wore like a velour cow print mini-skirt and the guys velour pants reminiscent of MC Hammer’s wardrobe in the late 1980s. The guy running the place or the manager, I’m not sure which, was quite enthusiastic about everyone in the restaurant finishing their meal and kept coming around encouraging everyone to keep eating. He reminded me a lot of Rex of Rex Kwondo from Napoleon Dynamite! He sadly had no Starla & for some reason Amy wasn’t jumping at the chance!
Chocolate fondue with marshmallows, apples, bananas, & fresh strawberries! Yummers! Then off to sleepy land.
7:15AM, Thursday. The two places next door are under construction to build condos so I woke up to hammering and men yelling about last night’s game (I think, I don’t know, I think I already said I don’t speak German). Amy somehow miraculously slept though it but I was up! We were debating to go up to Grindlewald & see the Alps & do some hiking or stay in town. It was gorgeous down in town but when we looked at the weather up on the mountain it didn’t look too good, all socked in. We thought we’d go get breakfast (@ McDonalds, don’t judge) and then see if the clouds had moved out or if the wind had picked up at all. An hour later it had not. So I said “Let’s do it tomorrow” Amy said “Ok, rain or shine” “Agreed” Perfect! We made train reservations for our couchette from Basel to Berlin overnight. Wanted to make sure we got on that one! We tooled around town looking in some of the really cute shops! And then took a stroll out toward Interlaken Ost (East) along the Aare river and walked the promenade to BrienzerSee lake. It was a beautiful walk and we stood in the aqua colored alpine lake…oh so chilly! Not a lot out on the lake till you get really far around and our tummies were yelling for lunch so we made it back into town and ate at a little Italian Café run by a sweet Italian Swiss man. We had salads, (woo hoo for veggies!) and a Hawaiian pizza for 2! Perfect! (Not very Italian but that’s okay). The Dutch are out in their Orange today! Amy’s been sporting her Hup, Holland, Hup, orange sunglasses and either we’ve been getting hit on a lot or there’s a lot of team pride. I’m going to go with the latter. We shopped some more and made a stop in a heavenly Chocolatier’s Shop! Oh the wonders! We indulged in some real Swiss chocolate delights. Amy the dark varieties and me the milk & white! Hallelujah! We got Amy’s computer and headed back to McDonald’s only because when we were there for breakfast we noticed a free internet sign. Apparently that’s only for 30 min. So we made our Yotel reservation for London and checked our e-mail, time’s up! We cruised around town looking for wireless internet for less than SFr18/hr. and couldn’t find anything only P.C.s for the afore mentioned price. Bummer. So, back to McD’s and we paid the Sfr 30 for 24 hours. And then we sat e-mailing and posting blogs, pictures, etc. until they closed at midnight. On a positive note, Ernie called!!! We watched Austria & Poland tie and also we watched Germany loose to the Croatia.
Today we headed to the Alps. Oh boy! I’m thinking Heidi and goats and cows and the MOUNTAINS!!! How exciting. One of the things on my bucket list, hike in the Alps, about to be checked off! We rode a beautiful scenic train up to the little community of Grindlewald, passing pens of goats & cows. Rocky cliffs stretching high above with waterfalls cascading down into the valleys forming turquoise streams flowing into rivers. Wildflowers in bloom, laundry drying in front of Alpine homes! It is picturesque and beautiful. Older women out tending their garden patches and elderly men waving at the train passing by. We walked down a small path to Grund to catch the gondola up into the Alps to the Mannlichen trail head. We zoomed off the platform up the longest gondola ride in the world (supposedly) seeing veiled mountains in the distant foothills surrounding Grindlewald. Cows moo and clang their bells below us and green hills are all around. What an amazing opportunity. As we reach the Mannlichen summit we exit ready to begin our hike in the Alps! We look around at our surroundings and see………………………………................................................NOTHING!!!! Grey clouds everywhere! My
camera wouldn’t even focus to take a picture of the monotone palate of color or lack of color until I widened the angle to include some grass or a hut. It’s snowing and Amy didn’t bring a hat so she bought this weird yet cool hat, scarf, pirate thingy. See the pictures I don’t know how to describe it. It’s a tube of fabric. So she figured that out and as we were being snowed on we began our hike in the Alps. We’re not sure but I choose to believe that there really ARE mountains there! Our hike was a 7K from Mannlichen to Alpiglen and then we caught a train from Alp glen to Grindlewald. It was a perfect hike and after we got down into the tree line very beautiful with all the wildflowers and rolling green hills. I didn’t expect the rolling green hills. It’s weird that in such a beautiful serene area there are roads and homes and cattle grazing. Man touches everything! As we began hiking I stepped in the snow and went all the way thru into mud so my left shoe is stinkin muddy!!! Yucky! But being the tough chick I am I muddled through. J We stopped for lunch at a hiking shelter and as we ate a perfect lunch of salami and Swiss cheese sandwiches, carrots, rosemary bruchetta crisps and Swiss chocolate we could hear the birds sing and the gentle jingle of cow’s bells! 
I love it! We took a little train down the rest of the mountain enjoying more views of cows and pastoral alpine life! Tired & cold we grabbed a cappuccino at a little restaurant where it was silent. I mean no music, no talking (there were only 3 other people in there) and Amy decided that she’s try this Cherrio looking wafer that we got with our coffee. Expecting it to be just like a Cherrio she bit in only to almost break a tooth. She dramatically gnawed on it and of course I got the giggles in the silent restaurant and the whole 3 people were looking at us in a disapproving manner. For lack of better things to do, she decided to learn to “make a pirate” according to the directions that came with her new hat. New peals of laughter and I think we drove all 3 people out of the dead dinning area. We finished our coffee and decided to head back into Interlaken since all the shops sold the same touristy stuff but at even more inflated prices. Sad to leave the beautiful mountains, but since we couldn’t see them, I think it we’ll be okay! Back in town we changed out of our ’hiking’ gear and into our ’clean’ clothes. Finished our allotted internet time in McDonalds and watched some of the Romania v. Italy game. We decided on dinner in the Swiss Chalet, hey, sounds authentic right?!? We haven’t seen more than a handful of Holland fans since getting back from the mountain and we began to wonder. We overheard our waitress telling some Canadians that over 2,600 Holland fans boarded a train earlier in the afternoon and went to Bern to see the game or be in the FanZone there and then would return on the train that night. Wow, Interlaken is not big! About 21,000 people live in Interlaken, over a 10% increase in population with JUST Netherlands’s fans. Wow! Amy in her Orange Netherlands glasses made us get honked at or yelled at about every ½ block. After the first few times we even stopped jumping as screaming orange clad fans leaned out the window to shout at us. Oh…last night as we were leaving McDonalds there were many a drunk Dutch to go around and one especially enthusiastic fan decided to get all up into my personal space and proceeded to scream Holland cheers into my left ear. If you speak into that ear when we get home I still may not hear you. I was mainly concerned because he had food stuck to his face and I didn’t want it ending up in my hair along with the expectorant he was issuing from his mouth. He got an elbow to the ribs. Unfortunately he didn’t feel it through the booze induced haze. Hopefully in the morning. J Always exciting traveling! Dinner was very Swiss, Amy had a cheese, egg, ham opened faced sandwich thing and I had an onion sauce wurst with hash browns. Hummm. Yummy & different. We headed back to the room so we could type some stuff which you are reading now and up-load pictures. Also to watch the Netherlands stomp France 4 to 1!!! We thought we’d maybe get to bed before midnight and well, I guess we’re not going to make that! Night!
Wednesday, June 11 - Saturday, June 14, 2008
Well, another day, another town, another group of crazed footballers. This time instead of the Swedes descending, it’s Amy’s people….The Dutch! Hup, Holland, Hup! Is the cheer heard all over Interlaken! I LOVE watching football! What a fun culture! I still have to be doing something else while watching but I love it. The camaraderie and passion! It’s great! So we rolled into Interlaken after ALL day on the train from Salzberg, through the northern border of Lichtenstein, to Zurich, to Bern and then to
Interlaken. Over 6 hours on a train. We called our pension (think B&B) because we couldn’t figure out where to go and she said she’d come pick us up at the station. About 5 min. later Frau Claus (pronounced Klaus not like Santa Claus) came strolling up to the lost Americans with the HUGE packs and led us the 2 blocks to the pension. It’s a great little place, all remodeled and we’ve got a cute double room with a kitchenette and bathroom! Awesome! We asked where an ATM was so we could pay her (it’s a cash only business) and she said don’t worry, just get it to her before we go. Who runs business like that anymore? No one in the states! For our reservation she only took my first name. I think we’re the only ones staying here and it’s Sfr 80 a night. A heck of a deal compared to other hotels and hostels we were looking at. So we dropped our bags and found an ATM & then went on a hunt for some Swiss Fondue! We found a place that offered fondue about a block from our place & we decided we were so tired we’d go for it. First of all there was only one guy who looked like he could have been Swiss, the rest of the employees were selected to work there merely because they may speak an Asian dialect that the various clientele may need to converse 
in. Our gal was not a native English or German speaker. We managed to order cheese fondue to split & chocolate fondue for dessert and split a 3dl of wine (it’s like sharing a bottle of coke, I think she was laughing at us like we were light weights.) One of the waiters (the one who spoke Korean, “Anyong”, was leading a cheer in Korean with the bus load of South Koreans in the corner. Oh, and I forgot to mention, the uniforms where t-shirts with the restaurant’s logo on the front and cow print waist down. The ladies wore like a velour cow print mini-skirt and the guys velour pants reminiscent of MC Hammer’s wardrobe in the late 1980s. The guy running the place or the manager, I’m not sure which, was quite enthusiastic about everyone in the restaurant finishing their meal and kept coming around encouraging everyone to keep eating. He reminded me a lot of Rex of Rex Kwondo from Napoleon Dynamite! He sadly had no Starla & for some reason Amy wasn’t jumping at the chance!Chocolate fondue with marshmallows, apples, bananas, & fresh strawberries! Yummers! Then off to sleepy land.
7:15AM, Thursday. The two places next door are under construction to build condos so I woke up to hammering and men yelling about last night’s game (I think, I don’t know, I think I already said I don’t speak German). Amy somehow miraculously slept though it but I was up! We were debating to go up to Grindlewald & see the Alps & do some hiking or stay in town. It was gorgeous down in town but when we looked at the weather up on the mountain it didn’t look too good, all socked in. We thought we’d go get breakfast (@ McDonalds, don’t judge) and then see if the clouds had moved out or if the wind had picked up at all. An hour later it had not. So I said “Let’s do it tomorrow” Amy said “Ok, rain or shine” “Agreed” Perfect! We made train reservations for our couchette from Basel to Berlin overnight. Wanted to make sure we got on that one! We tooled around town looking in some of the really cute shops! And then took a stroll out toward Interlaken Ost (East) along the Aare river and walked the promenade to BrienzerSee lake. It was a beautiful walk and we stood in the aqua colored alpine lake…oh so chilly! Not a lot out on the lake till you get really far around and our tummies were yelling for lunch so we made it back into town and ate at a little Italian Café run by a sweet Italian Swiss man. We had salads, (woo hoo for veggies!) and a Hawaiian pizza for 2! Perfect! (Not very Italian but that’s okay). The Dutch are out in their Orange today! Amy’s been sporting her Hup, Holland, Hup, orange sunglasses and either we’ve been getting hit on a lot or there’s a lot of team pride. I’m going to go with the latter. We shopped some more and made a stop in a heavenly Chocolatier’s Shop! Oh the wonders! We indulged in some real Swiss chocolate delights. Amy the dark varieties and me the milk & white! Hallelujah! We got Amy’s computer and headed back to McDonald’s only because when we were there for breakfast we noticed a free internet sign. Apparently that’s only for 30 min. So we made our Yotel reservation for London and checked our e-mail, time’s up! We cruised around town looking for wireless internet for less than SFr18/hr. and couldn’t find anything only P.C.s for the afore mentioned price. Bummer. So, back to McD’s and we paid the Sfr 30 for 24 hours. And then we sat e-mailing and posting blogs, pictures, etc. until they closed at midnight. On a positive note, Ernie called!!! We watched Austria & Poland tie and also we watched Germany loose to the Croatia.
Today we headed to the Alps. Oh boy! I’m thinking Heidi and goats and cows and the MOUNTAINS!!! How exciting. One of the things on my bucket list, hike in the Alps, about to be checked off! We rode a beautiful scenic train up to the little community of Grindlewald, passing pens of goats & cows. Rocky cliffs stretching high above with waterfalls cascading down into the valleys forming turquoise streams flowing into rivers. Wildflowers in bloom, laundry drying in front of Alpine homes! It is picturesque and beautiful. Older women out tending their garden patches and elderly men waving at the train passing by. We walked down a small path to Grund to catch the gondola up into the Alps to the Mannlichen trail head. We zoomed off the platform up the longest gondola ride in the world (supposedly) seeing veiled mountains in the distant foothills surrounding Grindlewald. Cows moo and clang their bells below us and green hills are all around. What an amazing opportunity. As we reach the Mannlichen summit we exit ready to begin our hike in the Alps! We look around at our surroundings and see………………………………................................................NOTHING!!!! Grey clouds everywhere! My
camera wouldn’t even focus to take a picture of the monotone palate of color or lack of color until I widened the angle to include some grass or a hut. It’s snowing and Amy didn’t bring a hat so she bought this weird yet cool hat, scarf, pirate thingy. See the pictures I don’t know how to describe it. It’s a tube of fabric. So she figured that out and as we were being snowed on we began our hike in the Alps. We’re not sure but I choose to believe that there really ARE mountains there! Our hike was a 7K from Mannlichen to Alpiglen and then we caught a train from Alp glen to Grindlewald. It was a perfect hike and after we got down into the tree line very beautiful with all the wildflowers and rolling green hills. I didn’t expect the rolling green hills. It’s weird that in such a beautiful serene area there are roads and homes and cattle grazing. Man touches everything! As we began hiking I stepped in the snow and went all the way thru into mud so my left shoe is stinkin muddy!!! Yucky! But being the tough chick I am I muddled through. J We stopped for lunch at a hiking shelter and as we ate a perfect lunch of salami and Swiss cheese sandwiches, carrots, rosemary bruchetta crisps and Swiss chocolate we could hear the birds sing and the gentle jingle of cow’s bells! 
I love it! We took a little train down the rest of the mountain enjoying more views of cows and pastoral alpine life! Tired & cold we grabbed a cappuccino at a little restaurant where it was silent. I mean no music, no talking (there were only 3 other people in there) and Amy decided that she’s try this Cherrio looking wafer that we got with our coffee. Expecting it to be just like a Cherrio she bit in only to almost break a tooth. She dramatically gnawed on it and of course I got the giggles in the silent restaurant and the whole 3 people were looking at us in a disapproving manner. For lack of better things to do, she decided to learn to “make a pirate” according to the directions that came with her new hat. New peals of laughter and I think we drove all 3 people out of the dead dinning area. We finished our coffee and decided to head back into Interlaken since all the shops sold the same touristy stuff but at even more inflated prices. Sad to leave the beautiful mountains, but since we couldn’t see them, I think it we’ll be okay! Back in town we changed out of our ’hiking’ gear and into our ’clean’ clothes. Finished our allotted internet time in McDonalds and watched some of the Romania v. Italy game. We decided on dinner in the Swiss Chalet, hey, sounds authentic right?!? We haven’t seen more than a handful of Holland fans since getting back from the mountain and we began to wonder. We overheard our waitress telling some Canadians that over 2,600 Holland fans boarded a train earlier in the afternoon and went to Bern to see the game or be in the FanZone there and then would return on the train that night. Wow, Interlaken is not big! About 21,000 people live in Interlaken, over a 10% increase in population with JUST Netherlands’s fans. Wow! Amy in her Orange Netherlands glasses made us get honked at or yelled at about every ½ block. After the first few times we even stopped jumping as screaming orange clad fans leaned out the window to shout at us. Oh…last night as we were leaving McDonalds there were many a drunk Dutch to go around and one especially enthusiastic fan decided to get all up into my personal space and proceeded to scream Holland cheers into my left ear. If you speak into that ear when we get home I still may not hear you. I was mainly concerned because he had food stuck to his face and I didn’t want it ending up in my hair along with the expectorant he was issuing from his mouth. He got an elbow to the ribs. Unfortunately he didn’t feel it through the booze induced haze. Hopefully in the morning. J Always exciting traveling! Dinner was very Swiss, Amy had a cheese, egg, ham opened faced sandwich thing and I had an onion sauce wurst with hash browns. Hummm. Yummy & different. We headed back to the room so we could type some stuff which you are reading now and up-load pictures. Also to watch the Netherlands stomp France 4 to 1!!! We thought we’d maybe get to bed before midnight and well, I guess we’re not going to make that! Night!
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engelborg, interlauken, mt. titless, skiing,
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