Rain, rain, rain. I thought I’d missed the rain during the heatwave, and as it turns out, I want the heatwave back.Yep, today has been a wet one. It’s 1742 and I’m back at Lirum Larum in the shelter looking out on the main street. This is the same view that Einstein had when he lived here. His appartment is not too far away and was a bargain at 6CH. The place must make a fortune. I’m nusring 31cl of Eichhof lager. It’s very good, and wants to be at 4.70CH. There’s beer back at the hostel, but not as good as this.My next few days are shaping up. I’m booked in for two nights at the Grindelwald hostel. It’s a bout 60CH each night, but the place looks amazing. Camping was my option until a conversation with a lady called Gracilla (Grace) who was 67 and giving her 15 year old grandaughter a trip as her bithda present. We started talking about the weather, then how crazy politics is, and then on to town planning which she’s taught for 35 years. I now have a youtube video to watch about how Vienna build social housing, and I’ve downloaded a Kindle book called Hypersructures that I’ll read when I get back home. My sleeper to Vienna leaves Zurich at 2120 on 1st August. The extra fee was £48 to share a four berth cabin. This means that I’ll be in Grindelwald for one more day and I’ll take the chance to use the tent for one day. I was wondering if two nights would be enough and it seems to have worked itself out nicely.There is something I’m not happy about. There is a place called Barenparken. Three bears live there and it makes me unhappy.

There are three of them, and the bear pit seems to be a tradition from 1923, but these don’t look like happy bears. It’s not like they are in a cage, but there are wired fences and an electic fence. Good old tradition!Federal square shows how wet to day has been. There are 26 water fountains in the pavement. It’s a great photo oportunity, which I decided not to take. The 26 repesent the 26 districts of Switzerland and the building is the Parliament. I’m not sure what happens, because the country appears to be run by referendum.

Who’s this fella?

There’s a bench with a great statue of him sitting on it. My photo chance was yesterday and I missed it. I’ll have another chance tomorrow. The bar is closing and it’s 1814 on a Sunday. There’s more things to learn about this place. I think I’ll head back to the hostel.

Free wifi! It didn’t take a genius to work out this was the place for coffee, and sausage with brot and mustard. As always, the coffee is great, and once again it needs to be at 4.20CH.

I have more time on my hands than I think. An early start gives me a great train ride and most of the day in Grindenwald, then two days, followed by a full day on the 1st August. Finally, I can get round to mountain biking. I’ll take one with a motor! There’s Jungfraujoch too. That’s the top of Europe. I’ll make double sure I have my camera fully charged.

This is a great hostel experience.