Geneva and Interlaken

This week I took my first ever solo trip! I figured Switzerland was a good place to start my travels for the summer, since it's so close by. So I went to Geneva and Interlaken for 2 1/2 days.

I started out my trip with Geneva. All my traveling was done by train--I love European trains. They're fast, comfy, and on time. Much more than you can say for Amtrak or NJTransit. I don't think they're terribly expensive, either, considering the distances traveled. So it took about 3 1/2 hours to get to Geneva from Konstanz, I had to change trains once. I got there about noon on Tuesday. After eating lunch and checking in to my hostel, I set off exploring. It was SO hot--over 80 degrees, which I was unprepared for. I was happy, though, because Geneva and I have a language in common--chocolate...I mean French! It was so fabulous to hear French again! I could actually understand everything going on around me for the first time in a month.

Geneva seems like a pretty small city and almost everything there is to see is clustered in one really walkable area. So I walked around and saw the Rhone River and Lake Geneva, which are a beautiful turquoise color. The Jet d'Eau is at the spot where they meet--it's the tallest water fountain in the world. It was pretty cool to see. Then I wandered into the Vielle-Ville, or old city, walked around a bit, and went into the Cathedrale Sainte-Pierre. Geneva was a big hub of the Reformation, John Calvin used to hang out there. While Protestantism is all well and good, I have to say, their churches really aren't any fun to visit because they're so boring to look at. But the cathedral in Geneva has a tower you can climb, plus it's on top of a hill. So of course, because that's what I do, I climbed the tower, and the view of the lake was lovely. I went back down to the ground and went to a nearby art museum. By this point I was limping somewhat--my flats are super comfy for my feet but not so much for my heels--they tend to rub them a little raw and also rub off any band-aids I put there. So I was moving pretty slowly for the rest of the day. After the art museum, which was pretty unremarkable but nice, I headed back down towards the river to get a view of the Jet d'Eau close up, as well as to see the famous flower clock. Being in the main section of Geneva is like being on 5th Avenue in NY. Everything is designer and everything is insanely expensive. A meal at McDonalds, for example, costs about 10 Swiss francs, which is a little more than $11. So I passed a lot of expensive stores, looked at the flower clock, and the Brunswick Memorial, which is a famous person's burial place. Then it was time to look for dinner, since I hadn't really had anything filling for lunch and my feet were killing me. Unfortunately, it was about 5:00 and Europe doesn't really do dinner that early, haha. I finally found a relatively inexpensive pizza place that was open, and then headed back to the hostel and enjoyed French TV while doing some work-I think the best part was seeing what American shows the French choose to watch. That night it was 7th Heaven, and then a French show that had to be from the 80s or early 90s, judging by the outfits, and then in the morning I was treated to a French episode of Phineas & Ferb. The downside to traveling by yourself is that evenings can get a little quiet.

So in the morning I woke up and headed off to see the gigantic broken chair and the UN. Then I walked around a little more by the river before heading off to Interlaken on the train. I got there around 1 pm. The train ride from Bern to Interlaken was beautiful because you could see the biggest mountains of the Alps, still covered in snow, the whole way. I dropped my bags off at my hostel and started walking around. There's not tons to do in Interlaken unless it's in the way of adventure sports, so I was able to see the town pretty quickly and have a traditional Swiss dinner of cheese fondue. Interlaken may be a small town but it is beautiful. The mountains that overlook it are lovely--I wish I could come back in winter when the whole thing is snow-covered and not just the tallest peaks. There are people everywhere para-sailing, and you can watch them land. I saw another flower clock, guess the Swiss have a thing for those. The one in Interlaken has musical dwarves that chime the hour, though, which was cool. It depressed me a little to be back in German Switzerland, where I once again have no idea what's going on. Had a few problems with my hostel but they lowered my rate by a ton without me even asking, so can't complain. Switzerland is EXPENSIVE so every little bit helps...I also got to watch The Simpsons, Grey's, and Private Practice in German, lol. Educational, I suppose?

So Thursday morning I got up, ate breakfast, and hung around awhile before heading out of Interlaken on a boat cruise across Lake Thun. It took about two hours to get to Thun, the town on the other side. The ride was incredibly scenic--got a little boring by myself but it was gorgeous. From there I got a train that went straight to Zurich, where I could get a train back to Konstanz, and here I am. I'm really tired but I had a great week!

Thoughts on traveling by myself...it was really great until the evenings, then it got a little lonely, but I did get some work done! However, evenings are really long when you're by yourself, because tourist sites close around 5 or 6, and it doesn't take that long to eat dinner alone, and then you're stuck for several hours. I wish I'd brought my laptop, but then I would have had to worry about keeping it safe. Watching foreign TV was fun, though! Overall I enjoyed it, and never felt unsafe, although I was also in well before dark both nights-I think I wouldn't have felt so safe had I been out at night. Then again, it's not hard to be in before dark when dark isn't until 9:30 or 10 pm...ah, Europe.