I’m heading for the mountains!

I was one of four blokes in the four bunk dorm last night. Around 1230 I woke myself up with a loud choking throat snore. I don’t think it was too popular. Larrs, the Swiss lad was snoring for ages and Michael the Argentinian wasn’t too happy about it. There is a chance that it was me mak.ing the noise and I was having an out of body experience. This happened before when I can hear snoring and don’t know that it’s me. We all survived the night, which is the important thing. My rucksack smells of gtround coffee. I know that I should have sealed the packet. It’s mostly cleaned up leaving some brown strange smelling swimming trunks.

For the final time, I used my free travel pass to take the funicular up to the top of the hill. I could have walked it, but my right hip is feeling the strain and needs a good stretch and it was a nice touch from the hostel. I had one thing to do in the station after buying my ticket and that was to buy Swiss plug converter. Grindelwald will be used to people like me turning up. I suppose I could have kept the one from the Bern hostel and they could have kept my 10CH if I really wanted to.

I’m on the train to Interlaken Ost (west) and will have a look around before taking the final stage to Grindelwald. The train ticket cost 39.20CH and it wasn’t worth using the Interrail ticket. On the 1st August I’ll get my moneys worth. I’ll use it from Grindelwald to Bern, Bern to Zurich, and Zurich to Vienna. 50 quid for the sleeper was a little more than was expecting, but it’s not bad either. And thanks to the ease of booking on Hilton.com I’m in a hotel with an outdoor swimming pool next to the Danube. I do like my Chromebook it stores passwords and card details really well. It cost 120 Euros and once again I’ll make my lunch during breakfast.

This feels good now. I have three nights in Gridelwald, two or three in Vienna, and then to Budapest to catch up with Janos my long lost Hungarian brother!

Once I’m in Budapest there is the chance to take a trip to Bratislava. Then there’s a chance to make it to Bucharest, but it is a 16 hours sleeper. On the plus side it is cheap when I get there. This one needs planning.

Correction: ost means east.

First Impressions of Grindenwald

I’d read a review of Interlaken saying that it was a tourist trap and I wasn’t expecting much, so I didn’t stop there. Then the feeling of the train going upwards combined with the view started me thinking great things. The next feeling was that the place was too busy. After a bus trip to the hostel and a look around town, I love the place, The view from the hostel balcony is just wonderful. It’s warm enough to sit in short sleeves and my 50CL of Zwickel Bier is doing a great job of keeping me company and was a bargain at 5.50CH. That’s what a small beer in Avocado cost, but it was worth it for the view.

There’s just enough cloud cover to obscure the top of the Eiger. That means, that hiring a mountain bike for the day will be the best thing to do. I’m so excited about hiring an E-Bike. 60CH will buy me a ride from 0900 to 1800 and I’m planning to use all of it. The routes on the map look clear and the bikes look like new models. I can’t wait. I’ve been wanting to mountain bike and then not do it when I get there for ages. The last time I did this was when I stopped in Glenmore. This time I have no excuse.

I had a quick chat to a girl called Kaytlin from the US. She is a nurse and is taking the chance for a holiday because the doctor she works for is on holiday in London. She was on speakerphone and in her conversation I could here that she’d had a couple of moments arriving and finding where to go. Happens to me all the time! I let her get back to here bottle of wine and her tube of Pringles. I really wanted a Pringle! Then I started talking to a family of three with there you lad who were trying to start a bar-b-que with damp wood. I mis-judged them as perfectly nice middle class English people (my nemesis!), but it turned out they emigrated to NZ and in my book that made it fine with me. I’ll see them around tomorrow.

A wander in to town seemed like a good idea, so I said goodbye to Kaytlin and gave her the tip about making sandwiches for lunch during breakfast. This was news “can you do that?”. We’ve arranged to meet at breakfast and I’ll show her the ropes. She’s travelling until Saturday so the advice could come in useful. Every time I have a breakfast sandwich is a special moment. It’s the feeling that I might be winning. I could have invited her in to town, but it may have been awkward, so breakfast is a good plan. This may be the time on her holiday when she can chill out and enjoy the next place and be on holiday when she can do what she wants. Everyone is on their own journey.

Of all the places I could have eaten today I decided on a take-away green curry for 17CH. It was very good with somewhere to sit outside. Thinking about it, that’s how much the Thai place near me charges.

It’s 2054 it’s still light, and the clouds have cleared. Time for some photo ops.

I hope the camera did justice to the views. I’m glad I brought me head torch, because I’m going to have another lager. Just one though. There were three empty books when I was getting ready this afternoon. This place is so relaxed. I didn’t have the extra drink, but the head torch did come in useful.

I have a four bed dorm all to myself!