Grindelwald again!

Just over two years after the last visit we're here again, by the kindness of friends John and Yvonne.  It's Wednesday morning - we arrived on Monday evening after a great flight and long and pleasant train journeys.  After a couple of weeks rotten weather in England (icnluding some floods in Yorkshire, especially) we were looking forward to a change.  We didn't get it - not at first.  We arrived in rain, and Tuesday it poured down all day.  We could only just get out to the shops to get the necessaries, the Eiger was invisible, and so on.  To make matters worse, news from home was that the weather there was brilliant...
Still, the weather did give me time to sort out the TV.  Naturally, cable TV brings English channels easily enough; the problem was that the TV screen told us that it was receiving no signal from the media box.  Check the connections.
Well, we all know how easy that isn't.  TVs are difficult to move, connecting leads are not long enough for manouevering, and so on.  But, check the connections I did.  No change.  Follow all the instructions again  - make sure I'm 'tuned' in correctly.  No change.  Do it all again.  And again.  No change.  Keep on trying every time I'm bored.  No change.  Contact John.  'Have you tried re-setting the box?'  No, I haven't.  I wonder why - I have to do that with my virginmedia box often enough.  Try resetting the box - unplug the power, wait thirty seconds (I waited thirty minutes!), reconnect.  Abracadabra - there's the picture.  It's like a miracle.  Even bigger miracle - Andy Murray is slaughtering his opponent - a Brit who's winning easily.  Wow.
Prior to that, I'd had to sort out the laptop.  John had sent me with his, and I connected it up and it all worked fine.  But the next day - no.  It switched on, and off immediately.  Then, it wouldn't even switch on.  Had I triggered some sort of security mechanism?  Surely not - the laptop would have to come on in order for that to happen.
Problem?  The power cable's in two halves.  The connection between the two was poor, so the laptop had run on internal batteries and then stopped.  Plug in properly, and we're away.

So - am I a technical genius or not?  Answers please on the back of a 50CHFr note...

Today, the weather's much better.  I can see the Eiger.  Breakfast on the balcony.  And - we're off to Interlaken for the day, I think.

Pictures when available, like last time.

Home again - naturally

And so on Monday 24th May, we flew home.  British Airways didn't co-operate; in spite of the fact that a strike by cabin crew began that day, our own flight left Zurich on time and arrived at Heathrow on time; we were given no excuse at all to say 'We'll just have to stay another week'.  And here we are.

Now, more is coming on dissing dispies - I hope to get to it this week.  Similarly, the photos - they're coming, too.  God willing.

Jungfrau - Wow!

OK; the risk paid off.  the morning dawned bright and fair and we were at Grindelwald station a little after nine.  This time, the train we took went not to Interlaken, but to Kleine Scheidegge; in itself, quite a journey.
The first stop was 'Grund', only a couple of minutes from Grindlewald; it's here the train begins its astonishingly steep journey up the cogged track (pictures will follow, honest) that we can see from the chalet.

There are a couple of request stops before KS, but there were no requests, no stops.  At KS we change trains - there's a good restaurant there so (no surprises) we stayed for a coffee and let the first train go.  Then, up through a tunnel carved in the Eiger ('the train-ride... leads through the Eiger North Face'); there are a couple of 5-minute stops just to get out and admire the scenery from the viewing platforms ('fascinating views of Grindelwald and the Eismeer' - pictures to come) and then, suddenly, there we are on 'top of the world, looking down (echo: 'down') on creation and' - cue the Carpenters.



Well, it's not actually the top of the world - but they bill it as the 'Top of Europe' - the highest railway station (3454 metres above sea-level) in Europe. 

We'd been told what to expect: the reality took our breath away.  What do you think we did first, O gentle reader?  Right - coffee at the coffee bar.  Surely the most amazing coffee bar in Switzerland.  Panoramic views of snow and mountains and snow and mountains and... wow.

Next, the viewing platform, and out into the cold and snow.  Lots of people here today (it was Saturday, after all), most of them Orientals, it seemed.  A small group asked if I'd use their camera to take their pictures together - of course I would.  Then, as we walked away, they called us back - now they wanted photos of us.  (Of course they did.)  So a pretty Korean (I think) girl linked arms with us, we smiled, cameras clicked, and we parted.

But what views!  And only ropes to prevent us taking the ultimate slide.  There were very clear notices - in English, oddly - 'DO NOT GO BEYOND THE ROPES'.  But one small group had ignored it and were about 100 metres away (see how continental I'm getting?  That's about 108 yards...) and were obviously planning to throw themselves off the edge.  We didn't see them do it, but (since they'd gone a few minutes later) they plainly did.  I half-wished I could have gone with them.  (Did I mention they were paragliders?  Fear not, good friends.)

Well, we thought that must be the climax, but we spotted signs to another viewing platform called 'The Sphinx', one that needed us to take a lift.  (Elevator, if you're reading in America.  In the UK, elevators are shoes for very small people.)  In we went; up we went.  Never have we been in a lift that moved so quick. (Fortunately, we came back down in the same lift to find my stomach was still there waiting for me.)  This viewing platform was so far above the earlier one that the people there looked like insects.  On a clear day, apparently, you can see France and Germany - but who'd want to?  We didn't look.  Well, not for those lands, anyway.  But - wow, what views. 

I didn't mention, did I, our breathlessness?  It's the altitude, of course.  No wonder the footballers need to train to acclimatise themselves. 

And I could go on.  And on.  Eventually, though, it was time to come back, so we want to the station ('bahn' - a multi-use word, it seems: station, train, road...) where we joined the queue.  The train was going to be late, we were told.  What, in Switzerland?  Yes.  Perhaps it was because of the nearness of France and Germany?  But no - there were 'technical problems'.  Oh good, that's what you want to know when you're about to descend several miles down an ice-covered mountain.  We decided not to wait in the queue - let a couple of trains go first, just to prove everything's safe.  What shall we do while we're waiting?  Elaine suggested coffee...

Eventually, back to the bahn.  A train was due in five minutes.  It came in about 20.  This was the one place in Switzerland where the workers didn't seem to know what they were doing.  One man opened a gate to let people onto the platform; another ran towards it yelling and waving, and closed it again.  One man in particular made me think of Corporal Jones - not in age, nor in figure, but in a 'don't panic, Mr Mannering' sort of way.  One Indian lady took ill - just standing too long in the thinner atmosphere, I suspect.  Corporal Jones dashed off to get the first aid kit (which was in a rucksack the size of a trunk).  Then he rushed off to the queue - is there a doctor present?  Yes there is.  'Don't panic!'  Take Doctor to lady.  Help him (!) to put the oxygen mask on.  A lady in the crowd shouts 'lift her legs'; Corporal Jones rushes over.  What does she mean?  'I know her; lift her legs, she'll be fine.'  Corporal Jones rushes over: 'Don't panic, Doctor, don't panic.  Lift her legs, Doctor, lift her legs.'

The train was, I think, about 40 minutes late pulling out in the end - nothing to do with the Indian lady.  It was just late.  Oh, Switzerland!  How are the mighty fallen!

Long journey down, very tired, back to chalet.  Not too tired to goout again for a stroll, though.  Where shall we go?  There's a coffeeshop just along the road, isn't there?

And tomorrow - Sunday.  A day of preparation, preparing to leave this gorgeous place early on Monday morning.

A risk in the sunshine...

Today the weather is glorious - the clearest, sunniest, warmest it has been since we arrived.  We were planning to go up the Jungfraujoch.  But, since the weather forecast has been promising all week that today would be sunny, and that tomorrow would be even better, we decided to take a risk and wait until tomorrow.  We'll feel pretty silly if it clouds over tomorrow; I'll let you know how that goes!

So we decided to stroll in the sunshine here in Grindelwald.  We strolled for a coffee at the coffeeshop Elaine calls 'ours'; sure enough, the waitress recognised us, and knew what our order would be before we spoke.  Elaine Benfold - known in coffeeshops throughout England and Switzerland...

The waitress who recognised us seems to be a human dynamo; we've noticed she never stops moving, whether the coffeeshop is busy or not.  She speaks several languages, too - her English is very good, though accented, and her voice is a high little squeak.  Anyway, after Elaine had had the customoray two coffees I decided to order lunch, and went for the veal sausage John T had spoken of.  A pleasant meal, though I preferred the spiced pork sausage at Pfingstegg.

While we were in the sun grew in strength, and we watched it glisten from the snow that remains atop the mountains.  What were we to do next?  Well, the ideal thing seemed to be to cross the road and take another coffee in a shop with an outside terrace, so we did that, too.  From here we could see the Pfingstegg cable car, gaze in amazement at the Eiger and peaks peeking out around it which had been cloud-covered all week, and watch with envy as a series of hang-gliders took off from Pfingstegg.

We'd already seen hang-gliding from atop Harder Kuhn in Interlaken, and noticed too that it could be done here.  Tandem hang-gliding - you pay your fee, hold on (firmly!) to an experienced hang-glider, run when he tells you, and then float like a bird.  All that remains is to pray, and then to bend the knees when you land.  I'd love to have a go, (CHF 150), but not here, not this time.

Next, time for a stroll to the railway station.  We had flown out from Heathrow without seeing our cases again until we picked them up at the station here; we're making the same arrangements going back.  So we wanted to check that we could leave them on Sunday evening.  The guy I asked was the first unpleasant encounter I've had here.  I suspect he's German, not Swiss - there was a gutteral quality to his speech.
'Wot time is your airplane?'

'Monday afternoon; but I just want to be sure you'll be open Sunday evening?'

'I NEED TO KNOW: VOT TIME IS YOUR AIRPLANE?'

I don't like rudeness, especially from mere functionaries, so at this point I was sorely tempted to tell him where to stuff it, but remembered just in time that a) I'm a Christian, b) I'm a pastor, and c) Germans have a tendency to declare war on Europe when they're offended.

So, I smiled politely, told him the time of my flight, and received the assurance that I could drop off my cases on Sunday at 5.30.

'But not before.  Ve do not vant your cases for more zan twenty-four hours.  Yah?'

Yah.  Auf widersein.

Twice...

I know, I know - two posts in a day.  It's a bit much.  but then, I'm trying to keep a diary while we're here.  this is just a brief post: we didn't do much.  Weather was fine, we were tired - mooched around Grindelwald a bit, had a few coffees, worked out how to dispose of recycling.  Not much at all.  enjoyed it.

Lake Brienz

Today was very different. The cloud didn’t seem too low, so we ‘ummed’ and ‘ahhed’ a bit before deciding what to do, and then decided on a trip round the lake on the motor boat.


What lake? Lake Brienz, one of the laken that Interlaken is inter. So yes, it was another trip to Interlaken. This time I managed to misplace my tickets – minutes after leaving the ticket office I’d been distracted, then couldn’t remember where I’d put the tickets. I searched every pocket and my derriere portiere (I’m a pastor and can’t possibly say bum bag). Went back to the young man that had sold them to me (very good English): had I left them there? No. I’d still got the receipt – was there anything he could do? No. Well, yes – sell me more tickets. Bit drastic for that – search again. And I found them. I’d put them away safe.


What had distracted me? Well, I’d bought a newspaper. English language, and yesterday's.  As I walked away from the kiosk I realized how much I’d paid for it – five francs 50; that’s almost four pounds. That distracted me. Mind you, it was the Daily Mail so at least I know the news I paid so much for is 100% accurate…


Thirty-five minutes to Interlaken, and then we bought tickets for the ship ‘Jungfrau’, for a three-hour trip around the lake. There was, we were told, a party of 60+ (numbers, not age) and so the boat was a little full. Would we like first class tickets? We would – they only cost us a few francs extra.


So up on to the upper deck, sitting in the restaurant at the prow of the boat, almost alone, with an amazing panoramic view of the lake and the mountains around. There are several ‘stops’ on the lake itself, one at Giessback-something, with the oldest funicular railway in Europe.

(Funicular? A funicular railway is one that takes carriages up a steep slope by pulling them by cable, which is attached to both carriages so that as one goes up the other comes down. You should know that. Thanks to Pete Eaton – who did!) Anyway, it looked impressive – but we didn’t get off.

In fact, we had lunch on the boat, served by a very good waiter with ‘a little’ English. He apologized for the weather, ‘It shouldn’t be like this in May. It’s English weather!’ (He’s right.) The menu was good; Elaine had soup again (Goulash soup – delicious, she said) and I had chicken schnitzel – which certainly was delicious. Lots of coffee, naturally.


Brienze is the name of the lake; it’s also the last stop on the lake. If we’d been able to do the rundfahrt (round trip) which we’ve been recommended, we’d have done the lake anyway, one way, Brienze to Interlaken. But there’s doubt about whether every part of the rundfahrt is open yet – the Tourist Information office doesn’t seem able to tell us, except that the Grindelwald Bus which does the first part is only running on a reduced schedule. So we’ve not tried that yet, and probably won’t get chance now. But we didn’t want to miss the lake, and are glad we didn’t.


Felt a bit of a fool about the tickets, though. Second time this holiday, both to do with trains. The first time was when we were getting ready to get off the train from Zurich. We were upstairs – unsettling on a train, that. And where we were sitting was a long way from where we’d climbed the stairs. We’d noticed that the trains only stopped very briefly in each station and didn’t want to miss our stop, so I asked the guard where to get off. ‘Berne’ he said. Yes, but where did we get off the train? Berne, he said. Yes, but where are the stairs? His English wasn’t good (better than my German – I’m not criticizing) so he fetched another guard whose English was excellent. ‘How can I help you, sir?’ ‘I just want to know where the stairs are…’ He said ‘You’re kidding, right?’ ‘No.’ So he showed me: two yards from where we were sitting. Ok.

80% of the time

Weather forecasts, we're told, are right 80% of the time.  It must be the 80% of the time that I'm not looking.

The weather forecast for today was the best it's been all week: light cloud, some sunshine, no rain.  I awoke this morning to discover that the Eiger (quite literally) couldn't be seen, the cloud was so low.  It was pouring with rain.  And the sun didn't seem to exist.

It's odd about the sun, by the way.  We're already quite high here; you'd think that, this much nearer to the sun, it would be hotter - but it doesn't seem to be. 

Anyway, given a couple of hours the clouds had begun to lift and by lunch-time (ish) were only just kissing the top of the Eiger.  But it was too late, and too cold, to do much; and since the two things we're keen to do (Jungfrau and the Sheidegge Platte) are either quite high (Jungfrau) or not open until Saturday (SP) we opted for another casual day.


So, first - up Pfinstegg again for another look at the view, another travel in a cable car (Elaine's obsessed) and another coffee (two, it turned out) in the mountain restaurant.  Today we went inside - too cold and wet to sit on the viewing platform.  Inside was delightfully warm, thanks to a large roaring fire in the centre of the room.

There was only one other couple there, and they'd travelled up in the same cable car.  English, loud, and friends of the proprietors.  So the lady of the house - slim, forties, very good English and very loud - came to sit with them and regale them (and us, and the whole of the region) with tales of her operation.  We could see the scar on her neck from where we were; we could also see the x-ray that she'd brought into the restaurant with her.  It seems that six months ago she'd been skiing - and oh! my dears! SUCH a fall.  But she didn't see the doctor - one doesn't like to trouble them, you know - but after some months the pain got unbearable.  Her own doctor was at a loss - aren't they always?  I really do wonder what we pay them for? - but a (how do you say it in English) - chiropractor?  yes, chiropractor took one look at her and said 'there's something very seriously wrong'.  And oh, my dear - she almost died.  It was a mystery to her surgeon; the paramedics were used to rescuing people from helicopters but had never known anyone in such pain - still on morphine, you know! - but came home immediately after the operation.  Nearly died, but - well, her friends need her and would miss her, so back she came.  Naturally, we're glad for her - though the coffee would have been quieter...

Then, back down the cable car.  And to 'our own' coffeeshop where I indulged in apple struddle mit kahm ('with cream', you understand?).  The sun had begun to shine a little by this time, and glistened from the summits around us.  So, a good day, a reminder never to go skiing, and a reminder to eat plenty.  And so to bed, Mr Pepys.

Sshhh...

This morning (Monday) the cloud was higher, the weather forecast better, and we decided to set off for Interlaken to go up (or is it up to?) Harder Kulm.

It's a 35-minute train journey from Grindelwald to Interlaken.  Let me explain the train journey.  Our train was due to set off at 10.39.  The station clock has a second hand; every time it reaches the 12 position it pauses for a moment, then the minute hand clicks on an extra minute and the second hand moves again.  So, at 10.39 precisely three things happened: the second hand paused, the minute hand flicked on a minute, and the train began to move.  (Coming back from Interlaken it wasn't quite as impressive - the train didn't move until four seconds - yes, four whole seconds - after the stated time on the station clock.  We're wondering who to complain to.)

The trains themselves are attractive green and yellow carriages that seem to have been designed to look good as they wind through the Alps, and they do.  They're clean, there's plenty of room and they're quite cheap; we have a Swiss rail-card which allows us half fare on all trains (and some other transport) for a month.

Oh, wow...

Interlaken itself is a pretty little town (it calls itself a city) between two lakes (inter - lakes, get it?) that are connected by a narrow river - or at least, a channel of water.  The main street follows the line of the river.  It is, I'm told, the big tourist town in the area, and virtually every other shop sells Swiss watches.  Many of them are beautiful, most of them are really, really expensive.  Scattered between these shops are the inevitable chocolate shops and some of the most magnificent hotels I've ever seen.

But none of these things were our destination today.  We'd kept reading about Harder Kulm and the funicular railway their (what is 'funicular' - anybody know?) and Elaine's been keen on riding the railway and eating in the restaurant at the top.  Five minutes' walk from the station brings you to the bottom of the rail track.  Elaine refused to believe it - it looks almost vertical.  But we'd found the right place, took the ten minute ride up and - oh, wow.  A beautiful restaurant, panoramic views of spectacular scenery, an astonishing view of two lakes and Interlaken stretched out beneath.  Until I get photos up here, google 'Harder Kulm' and see if you can find any to show what I mean.  (Look here - that's the restaurant we ate in)

So - lunch for me was rosti, bacon, cheese and a fried egg; for Elaine, carrot and cream soup which, she assured me, was delicious.  My own lunch certainly was.

Oh, and the coffee.  Every time we have a cup of coffee we say it's the best we've ever tasted.  Oh, wow.

Now, the weather forecast for the next few days is getting better and better, so we've got one or two things planned.

Strict Sabbatarians

It's Sunday; we'd forgotten to stock up for the day.  Still, the Co-op's 100 yards away, right?  Right.  But it's closed on Sunday.  Interesting - everything closes for a 'Catholic' holiday (Ascension Day), and also for the Christian Sabbath (for just about everything in the town, including the restaurant where we were planning to eat, is closed).  Fear not, gentle reader: for we've found somewhere we can eat.  We will not starve.

Weather today much the same as yesterday - but we wouldn't plan to go anywhere anyway.  And if we did, who knows if it would be open?  But the good news is - the weather looks better for tomorrow, and the forecast itself keeps improving.  Interlaken again, we think - Elaine's really keen to go up the Harder Kulm.

Though there's an English-speaking church at Interlaken, we decided to stay in the chalet with Alastair Begg on Colossians 1.17

Coming with clouds?

The Bible says that when Jesus comes again, he will come with clouds (Matthew 24:30).  Looking out this morning on where the Eiger used to be (!), today would be a good day for that...

Afternoon update
Just after noon today, though, the clouds began to lift.  They've thinned out a lot, we can almost see the top of the Eiger again, and the lower parts of the hill are clearly visible.  The weather forecast suggests it'll be better tomorrow, and better still on Monday.

Today's been very much a lazy day.  We've been down to the station to plan a couple of outings; the two we've keenest to do are the Jungfrau and the Hardy Kulm - which sounds like a church member.  Oh, and the Grosse Scheidegg Rundfahrt ('roundtrip') - don't know now whether we'll be able to fit it all in; depends on the weather more than anything.

We've also wandered along the high street, done some shopping, had some coffee, had some more coffee, wandered back... More idyllic scenery for just wandering couldn't be imagined.  It's now 6.30 - and it's the first evening that we've not had any rain.  (Odd; no sooner had I finished typing that than it began to pour with rain!)

As I said yesterday, it's become clear that there are literally hundreds of things/trips to do among the most beautiful scenery imaginable.

Between the Lakes

OK - Interlaken today.  We got the train around 11.30 for a 35 minute ride through gorgeous scenery.  There are two railway stations - west and east, each on the bank of a different lake. The train from Grindelwald goes to Interlaken East.

It's very much a tourist centre, as everywhere is here.  One main street, thousands (it seems) of souvenir shops (watches, cuckoo clocks - we saw one at over a thousand pounds - Swiss army knives, cowbells) and chocolate shops.  There's also place to book paragliding...

One frustrating thing about Switzerland is that there's a 'quiet time' between 12 noon and 2 pm - apparently a Reformation hangover when people were given time to pray!  But today, for us, it meant that the Tourist Information office was closed when we wanted it.  But still: lunch at Macdonalds, a steady walk, lots of time looking at the shops - then the TIO was open and they gave us the guidance we wanted.  We took a walk by the river leading to the Eastern lake, though we didn't get as far as the lake itself.

Rain today, again - intermittent and light in Interlaken, but when we arrived back at G it seemed that it had rained heavily.  The forecast for the next few days is a little better - some sunshine creeping from behind the clouds.

Even in the rain, this place is beautiful almost beyond words.  We're amazed at God's kindness in allowing us to visit the area.

Early morning rain

This morning, woke a little later than before - just before 8.  I could hear the rain coming down on the roof so stayed where I was a few minutes.  By the time I rose, the rain had stopped.  Clouds are as low as yesterday, though, and so the day doesn't look that promising.  We'll see.  Elaine had such a bad night the night before (as in, sleepless night) that I've left her to sleep in this morning.

We had been planning to go to Interlaken today, but decided against it - just making sure really that whatever had caused Elaine's stomach upset had cleared.  Turns out, it's good that we delayed - but not because of Elaine.  Wandering around Grindelwald we noticed that a lot of the shops were closed.  We went into one of the few coffee shops open, one advertising itself as 'Latino' and asked the girl why things were closed.  'Some Catholic thing I think,' she said - though obviously Spanish/Latin herself, and presumably Catholic, she didn't know and spoke with disinterest bordering on contempt. 

It turns out it's Ascension day - of course it is!  It's still a surprise that so many shops should close (including, incidentally, the Co-op, which could have left things awkward for us).  I can't imagine shops closing for a religious festival in England - we even need legislation to force them to shut on Christmas Day!  And certainly, tourist shops wouldn't close.

So we settled for a day of pottering, which is a favourite pastime anyway.  The clouds have been low again all day, and it's rained intermittently, sometimes heavily.  (Once again, the evening brought rain - see yesterday.)

We decided to treat ourselves to dinner out - not that easy, since a lot of the restuarants were closed too.  But we found one called 'Memory', fancied a burger, and went in.  The burgers were delicious - the best I've ever tasted.  BUT two burgers (one large, one small), one chips,  four diet cokes and two coffees came to.... thirty-eight pounds.  Come back MacDonalds, all is forgiven.

Absolutely nothing on TV tonight, too wet to go out, so we expect an evening of reading, snoozing, and wathcing DVDs.

More fascinating contributions tomorrow.

Pfingstegg

Today we went up the cable car to Pfingstegg, as predicted yesterday; once again, I hope photos will follow.  You take the cablecar from the Eastern end of the village, up to 1391 metres, and then climb out onto the sun terrace of a restaurant.  From there various walks begin; some of them were closed today (minor avalanches we were told by a fellow tourist) but we weren't planning on doing any anyway.  Elaine had had a disturbed night: something she ate, apparently (cheese!)  Anyway, she was in no mood for long walks.  The weather was not too good either - it was raining slightly when we set off and we didn't know whether it would improve or worsen.  (It improved).

The view from the platform was breath-taking.  What a place.  Naturally, it's de rigeur to eat when you're that high, so I did.  Resisting horse-steak and chips (!) I settled for 'pork sausage and hash browns' (that was the translation on the menu).  But the hash browns, Elaine said, looked more like rosti - which is interesting because a) I'd never heard of it and b) it's what the German part of the menu said; Elaine hadn't seen it.  Pork sausage was 'schweinebrattewurst' - can't quite vouch for the spelling, but that's what it looked like.

Elaine had two coffees, said 'wow' a lot, drank two bottles of fizzy water.  I had one coffee and one water - you want to know all these fascinating details, don't you?  We'd been warned that everything's expensive, so the bill was no surprise at all. (About twenty eight pounds).

We've heard what we guessed were 'minor avalanches' - I guess 'slippages of snow' would be less dramatic.  It's the weather for it, of course; still plenty of snow on the mountain tops but very warm, very sunny weather making it all unstable.  When the noise starts, it sounds like thunder - but it doesn't end with a clap, more with a loud, deep slither.

The clouds have never left the top of the mountains today; in fact, this morning they were quite low.  So it wasn't the day for Jungrau-ing, even if we'd wanted.  Jungfrau is billed as 'the top of Europe' and apparently you can see into France and Germany - we want a clear day from there.

Then back to the chalet.  Still recovering from whatever upset her stomach, Elaine's happily dozing.  There can be few more beautiful places in the world to doze (the only comparable views I've ever seen were at Cape Point - and there was no room to doze there.  Oh - and of course, the whole of Yorkshire.)

TV in the chalet has numerous English channels, including BBC1 and 2, and ITV and channel 4.  But we have to remember that Swiss time is one hour ahead of UK time (in spite of what my guide book said) - so the nine o'clock news is on at 10 o'clock, and so on.  We're not watching a lot (I think we've only seen the reports on the post-election wranglings so far) but it's there if we want it.

Evening Postscript
Went for a walk down to the station.  Interestingly, it started to rain - this is our third evening (Monday arrival, Tuesday, now) and each evening it's rained.  Rain in the evening is fine!

Tomorrow, we plan a train ride to Interlaken.  Not sure what we'll do when we get there...

Reporting from Grindelwald

This place is truly fabulous; I'll include pictures when I have some.  We've had a very lazy day; though I woke at 6 and couldn't wait to get up and see the Eiger again, so I had an early morning cuppa - and then another when it was warm enough to sit on the balcony.

We went down for our cases and, as John (our host) had predicted, they were waiting for us. What a system; though our journey was easy enough yesterday it was better for not having to carry luggage.

We then had a wander up to FIRSTbahn, a cable car place that we'd been recommended; and found it's closed until the 29th. But the Pfen*** (impossible spelling; another cable car place) is open and we hope to go up there tomorrow. The tourist information office is really helpful, and we plan to do Jungfrau later in the week - God willing.

I start every attempt to relate to folks with 'Do you speak English?'; most of them do (better than me). Only one said 'just a little' and her 'little' was more than enough to buy what we wanted. Mind you, we nearly had an interesting experience: we were ordering coffees and all of them said 'mit' something or another; it was only when I saw one was 'mit vodka' that I realised we might be better steering clear!

The weather has been ideal - shirt sleeve weather, lots of sunshine, nice cool breeze. Mum's still sat on the balcony - though I've retreated indoors as the temperature's dropped a bit. Now for a really 'busy' evening!

 

Around 6 o'clock it began to rain; we'd just wandered down to the village again, so we wandered back a bit quicker.  Now a mist has fallen and the Eiger is barely visible.  Don't get the idea that it's in the distance - it is so very, very close.