Interlaken

Leaving Firenze, we spent 8 hours on this coach with neither leg-room nor 'in-flight' entertainment. It was a killer.


Of course, there were many casualties. Only the strong and the brave could endure the pain and risk their lives to bring you these shots.



The scenery took a change for the better when we crossed the Italian/Swiss border.








And we had lunch at Marche - very Swiss indeed.


At dusk, we arrived at the city between two lakes - Interlaken. Don't you love the name of this city? Short, sweet and to the point.


After dumping our bags at the hotel, we ran to the state appointed Bucherer to collect our free gift from the Swiss gahmen...


...and grabbed truckloads of Swiss chocolates before the supermarket closed.


On the next day, we went to the top of Europe - Jungfraujoch. Yes, yes, Grindelwald was Dumbledore's boyfriend.


We took the scenic train from Interlaken to Jungfraujoch.






Our breathes were taken away as the train climbed towards the top. No, it wasn't the thinning air. Any photograph shot can pass off as a postcard.

My pictures do not do the alps justice. They are much bigger than it seems in these pictures. Majestic is the word.








At Jungfraujoch, we visited the ice palace with high hopes. We were expecting 哈尔滨 standards, but were sorely disappointed. This Copenhagen look alike polar bear was one of its best exhibits already.


Going outdoors at Jungfraujoch was an entirely different experience. With top wind speeds of about 108km/h, my brother was blown away. Both literally and figuratively. It would take slightly more to blow me away literally.






We had a wonderful lunch at 10 Swiss franc...


...and went sleighing after that.


After our descent from Jungfraujoch, we had a Swiss fondue Christmas eve dinner. We were served with bread for the cheese fondue, meat for the water fondue (it's just steamboat lah?), and fruits for the chocolate fondue.





Finally, Daddy and I attended a Catholic Christmas eve mass at 11pm. Having been brought up in a Lutheran church, it wasn't difficult to follow the service order despite the language barrier. Most interestingly, we were given only bread during the Eucharist.

I was really impressed by the Bishop's sense of time. The lights went dim, and we started singing Silent Night the moment the bell chimed at 12mn. It was beautiful, very beautiful.