7/8: Waterside to Mountainside: Swiss Alps!

On our departure morning, we rose early for breakfast and packing...but I stayed away from the eggs. We also went with cappuccino because their American coffee was a little weaker than we preferred.

When ready and checked out, we hiked down the fifteen minute path to the bus stop, getting there just before 10:30. I bought bus tickets for Como, then we looked at the timetable and learned we missed the 10am bus, with the next one not appearing until 11:50. Awesome.

We waited, bought some trinkets from a souvenir stand, and waited some more. Fortunately, the bus arrived in Bellagio on time, and got us to the train station in Como at 1pm as promised.

We quickly bought tickets to Lucerne via Arth-Goldau (3 trains, 121€), but had to wait until that destination to purchase our tickets from Lucerne to Wengen via Interlaken Ost and Lauterbrunnen (3 more trains = 6 total!).

ABOVE: View of a Swiss village along the train route.

The entire train trip was beautiful--but hectic! We saw gorgeous lakeside villages with mountains descending into them, steep hillsides, mountain hollers, traditional Swiss villages with clocks and bell towers, and brilliant blue glacial lakes.

Above: Brienz, Switzerland

Then the Alps appeared as we ascended from Interlaken, growing in immensity after Lauterbrunnen.

Annie grew giddier as we climbed higher and higher towards her idealized Swiss mountain village she'd often fantasized about. She darn near exploded in Lauterbrunnen when she saw the "cute little train" to Wengen...until we tried boarding.

This particular train, our sixth and final of the day, was chock full of Asian tourists. It just didn't make sense. We had to scour two of the final remaining seats in the last train car, wondering how a small ski village in the off season of the Swiss Alps could be so overrun by tourist hordes.

Above: Notice the snow-capped peaks above the train in the background!

We arrived in Wengen at 8:45, called our owner, and got a ride for most of our baggage up the hill to the Hotel Alpenruhe. We checked in, surveyed the old-school but cozy accommodations, then--as usual--quickly departed in search of dinner.

"Wilkommen, indeed. Now where's the grub in this no-horse town?"

All the restaurants downhill were closed, and the pizzarias had either run out of dough or had made last call. When we'd nearly lost hope, we found the last bar serving food just before their grill shut down.

I had a salami sandwich, Annie a ham & cheese on toast, and we each had a big beer and bag of chips. I loved the giddy smile on Annie's face during the entire ascent here and I'll always remember that happy sip of draft beer on our first evening in Wengen.

Wengen July 8 Album:

Wengen: July 8, 2011

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bellagio to Wengen, Switzerland