3 trains and 9 hours later we are in Switzerland!

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Today was our earliest travel day since we left Athens. We left the hotel around 5:30 a.m. to walk to the train station to catch a 6:00 train to Zurich. The trains are actually very comfortable, so we were both able to get a little sleep on the train. That is until the gentleman next to us on the train decided to conduct a business meeting over the phone and spoke so loud he literally woke us up and continued in this manner until finally he got off the train at one of its numerous stops. The rest of the the 5+ hour train ride was spent doing some reading for my required summer pre-work until I felt I was falling asleep then on the computer typing up some of these blogs to try and get caught up. We arrived in Zurich around 11:20 and switched trains to catch the 11:35 train to Luzern. This was just a quick one hour or less ride then we had to switch trains again in Luzern. In Luzern we needed to grab lunch, but we didn't have very long as our next train departed for Interlaken at 12:55 and we didn't have any Swiss money yet, so we had to go to Burger King, the only place we could find that would accept credit card. And let me tell you one thing about Switzerland, it is FREAKING expensive, I don't believe we will be eating out at all in Switzerland, meals will be sandwiches in the hotel room for the next several days. Two chicken sandwiches, a small drink, and a small fry cost us $20 U.S.! So after this shocking lesson we boarded our scenic train to Interlaken. The train car we were in had panoramic windows that allowed for outstanding views of the mountains as we made our 2 hour journey to Interlaken and into the Alps. We arrived in Interlaken around 3:00 in the afternoon and walked from the train station to our hostel, the Lazy Falken. Luckily we had a private room at the hostel, although I am certain we are paying more than we should for it, but its nice to have your own bathroom and not have to share a room with strangers and worry about your belongings. After settling in, we walked to the grocery store to buy some groceries for dinner/lunch for tomorrow. Unfortunately we didn't get to explore Interlaken at all today as shortly after we got back from the grocery store it started raining. So we had a lazy evening at the hostel, made dinner,and watched some soccer. Honestly, I think we both really needed a low-key day. Tomorrow we plan to go hiking up in the mountains, so I think we will need the rest!