Planes, Trains and Automobiles

On Friday Caitlin and I left for our weekend trip in Interlaken, Switzerland.  We started by getting a cab at 5:30am and it was the first of many stops, on various means of transportation, to our final destination.

• Car: Taxi to the bus stop 5:30am
• Bus: Aircoach bus from Cork to Dublin airport 6am-9:30am
• Plane: Swiss flight from Dublin to Zurich 11:25am-2:35pm
• Train: Zurich airport to Interlaken Ost (East) train station 3:00pm-5:40pm
• Feet: Walk from Interlaken Ost train station to Balmer's Hostel 5:45pm-6:00pm 

Just over 12 hours of travelling, on every mode of transportation possible and we had finally arrived in Interlaken! After having spent the weekend there, I can say it was definitely worth the trek. 

Even though this was one of the longest, and most complicated trips that I have taken the whole process went very smoothly.  I attribute this to experience.  Caitlin and I have travelled together so many times before that we are very comfortable doing it together, and we no longer get stressed out about any part of the journey.  

Additionally, the Swiss trains are the best means of transportation that I have ever taken.  To begin with I love trains, but these trains are clean, spacious, comfortable, quiet and very smooth on the tracks.  I especially loved that they had big windows so that we could see a significant portion of Switzerland as we were traveling. 

View from the train as we entered Interlaken

I swear these pictures are real. They are so beautiful it almost doesn't seem like my iPhone could take pictures this great, but Interlaken is so beautiful its impossible not to get pictures this beautiful!

Balmer's Herberge (their word for hostel) was the best hostel that I have stayed in thus far. It was clean, and warm. Caitlin and I got a private room and our room had a skylight that looked up onto the mountains; a stunning view.  It was located right near the activities that we would be doing over the next couple of days, and about a ten minute walk into town. 

Balmer's Herberge

Front view of Balmer's, you can see the mountain in the background that our skylight looked onto

Caitlin and I dropped our stuff off, and immediately set off for town.  We stopped at a restaurant that we later discovered was a tourist spot, but we were so hungry it didn't matter.  For dessert we got a chocolate fondue pot that came with bananas, apples, strawberries and marshmallows; delicious!

After dinner, Caitlin and I went back to the hostel washed up and almost immedietly went to bed. Not only were we exhausted from a long day traveling, but we knew that we had a busy two days ahead of us!