Day 8: Zermatt to Interlaken

After somewhat of a sleepless night, thanks guys for the snoring!, M and I headed down to breakfast. Breakfast consisted for toast with jam, yogurt, granola, cheese, and meat cafeteria style. I tried the yogurt but really couldn't stomach the really sour taste. I don't know if it was the flavor I chose or what but I just couldn't eat it. I'm really not a yogurt person anyway but I've been taught to try things at least once and to eat when I can because I might not know when I'll be able to eat again (Doc McLaren's travel rule #1). I settled for some granola and milk, a tea, and a few slices of cheese. Many people were up getting ready to start their day in the little sleepy town of Zermatt.

As we walked down the hill towards the station, we were able to see more of Zermatt than the night before. Morning construction trucks were putting their way up the hills. Since Zermatt doesn't allow automobiles, all vehicles in the area are small, electric cars/trucks. It was taking several trucks to bring building supplies to the construction site. The cement truck was hilarious to see. A small blue truck with a small mixer in the back along with bags of cement. No fun for whoever had to add the water and start the mixing process. Shortly after the convoy of trucks passed us we came upon a skier. Zermatt must be picturesque during the winter months when all the snow is covering the town. You would expect to see people decked out in their ski suits heading to the slopes. In August, it's not something you would expect to see. So seeing this guy wearing a ski suit and lugging his skis was kind of funny to see on the sunny, warm August day. There is still snow up on the mountains so I guess when in Rome...While we continued our walk to the station, we came across the cemetery. This is a mountaineers cemetery. Many tombstones marked the lives of individuals who died on the mountain. I guess if you have a final resting place, the city of Zermatt isn't so bad.All the chalets nestled at the base of the Swiss Alps makes Zermatt a beautify town to see. I would love to see it during the height of the winter covered in snow, but since I don't ski and really hate the snow and cold weather, I don't think that's going to happen.

We hopped the train and headed slowly down the mountain on our way to Visp. Looking back at the Alps was a sight to bestow since the morning snow was shinning off the snow cap mountains. From the station at Visp, we boarded another train to Interlaken. It is a really touristy place. This town is known for its extreme outdoor sport activities. We had reservations at Balmer's herberge hostel. It is considered the oldest, private hostel in Switzerland. It kind of has a reputation for being an "Animal House" establishment. Since we arrived a little early in Interlaken we weren't able to check into our dorm room. This time we were able to get an all-girls dorm room that slept 6. Because we couldn't get into our rooms, we had to park our backpacks in storage area for the time being. We decided to hit the town and see what Interlaken had to offer, grab a bite to eat for lunch, and go from there.As we walked to the center of town, there was evidence of all the types of outdoor adventures you could do while staying in Interlaken. Overhead, paragliders could be seen riding the thermals or even skydivers enjoying that rush of adrenalin as they floated back down towards earth's surface. I can say I was very tempted to go paragliding or skydiving but after checking out how much CF (Swiss francs) it would cost me, I decided against it. There are times I wish I wasn't so careful about money. So instead of spending money on 30 minutes of a pure adrenalin rush, I decided I could buy a nice Swiss watch for a sixth of the cost and have it longer.
The town was crowded with people on holiday. We walked all around town to kill time. We spied some nice historical buildings, crossed over several interesting bridges, stared at beautiful blue glacial water (all because of the glacial fleur), watched skydivers land in the park and wished I was one of them, passed the casino and water park, drooled at the chocolate shop, hit the post office for stamps and to mail out postcards, and grabbed lunch from Migros. Lunch consisted of cheese and crackers, a tomato and some prosciutto. After walking all over town, we headed back to Balmers to eat lunch. While eating lunch we met, Samet. Samet is a Turkey citizen on holiday. He was waiting for his white water rafting expedition to take place. Since he was waiting, he joined us for lunch and we chatted about our journeys so far.After collecting our bags and checking into our rooms, we mapped out where we wanted to go the next day. We decided to go to Lucern and then try Lugano. Happy hour started at the hostel so we were able to meet more of the backpacker staying at Balmer's. During the summer time Balmer's has a village along the edge of the river where people camp out under the stars. Several people were heading off to go bowling, while others were enjoying the happy hour. We decided to grab dinner at a Thai place we walked past on our way into town. I grabbed some coconut soup with chicken and a spring roll. I had to have something other than cheese and bread/crackers. While we were eating dinner, Samet returned from his adventure and joined us. He had a good time but stated often how cold the water was. We continued to make small talk and found out that he was heading to Lugano also. For him, it was to relax on the beach. For M, it was to get gellato. Since we were catching a very early train, I called it a night. Looking back, I don't know if I would have stayed in Interlaken for the night without doing some sort of outdoor activity. By not doing an outdoor activity, spending several hours walking around town was enough for you to see the sights. I would have traveled on to Lucern and stayed there so that you can have an early start in the morning and be able to cram a lot more in your day.

Day 7: Montreux to Zermatt

August 4th started my second week in Switzerland. For this week I was meeting up with my friend M. She was coming over to spend a week with me touring Switzerland and then she was heading off to Paris to see a friend and from there, she was going to visit other friends in London and Amsterdam. I would have loved to have tagged along with her. Oh well not this time. M and I decided to meet up in Montreux to see Chateau de Chillion.

I ended up waiting awhile for M. She missed the original train she planned on taking in Milan. Someone helped her by putting her on a train to Brig then she'll catch a train from there to head to Montreux. Since I had awhile to wait, I walked along the lac. Montreux is more catered to tourist who come for the beach. It is surrounded by mountains. Some really nice views surrounding the lac. I sat on a bench for awhile people watching. Across from where I was sitting was the Chateau. I was temped to go and see it but decided to wait for M. This was one of the places she really wanted to see. We both came up with some places we wanted to see in a way to map out our week. I didn't have many so I was open to whatever M wanted to do. After sitting in the sun for awhile, I headed back to the station to wait for M.
Eventually M made it to Montreux. She is the same M as I remember. As she was walking up the platform, she had this enormous smile and the attitude of "Let the adventure begin." Since she was going to be in Europe for about 3 weeks her backpack was filled. I had a smaller pack since I had a place to stash my larger pack back in Geneva. We affectionately started referring to her pack as a dinosaur. Instead of walking all the way around the lac to the Chateau we used public transportation. One good thing about spending a lot of money on a Swisspass or Railpass, almost all the public transportation is for free. When we got to the Chateau we found another good thing about the pass...admission to museums and other sights were also free or at least discounted.

The chateau is built on a small rocky island. You can see this evidence down in the dungeon area. There are three important periods of history of this chateau: (1) the Savoy era, 12th century to 1536; (2) the Bernese era, 1536-1789; (3) the Vaudois era, 1789-present. For more than 260 years the castle was used as a fortress, arsenal, and prison. Since our admission was free, I decided to rent an audio-guide. Both M and I shared an earpiece and started the walking tour of Chateau de Chillion.

We started in the dungeon. Before entering Bonivard's prison, we spied the storehouse and wine cellar. The storehouse dates from the 13th century. Originally it was used to store goods and be a shelter for the garrison. When the Bernese ruled, it was used as an arsenal for the Bernese squadron. Along the walk to the prison, we were able to see out into the lac by the loading doors. These doors were used to bring supplies to and from the storehouse area. Between the storehouse and the prison were smaller areas carved into the rock. These areas were used to hold prisoners and eventually became the area where prisoners were hung or executed. Just before entering the prison, there was a stairwell on the right that went to the postern.
As soon as you entered Bonivard's prison, there was a charcoal drawing on the wall to your right. It depicted the several key events in the life of Christ. This area was brighter than the areas we passed through due to the number of windows high up along the wall facing the lac. Several large columns were located off center to the right of the room. This prison held Francois Bonivard. In 1816, Lord Byron recounted the tale of Bonivard in his poem The Prisoner of Chillion. It is reported that Lord Byron carved his initials in one of the columns in this room after visiting the Chateau.After leaving the dungeon area, we headed into the 2nd courtyard and entered the chateau to view individual rooms such as dining rooms, servant quarters, bedrooms, and the Coat of Arms room. One of the rooms used by the ruling count or duke at the time had its own stairwell that lead to the private chapel (St. George's Chapel). You could see the depressions worn into the stone steps leading down to the chapel. The chapel room wasn't particularly large but did have windows along all sides of it. On the ceiling and walls were original paintings dating from the beginning of the 14th century. The vaults had figures from the Old Testament while the walls had figures from the New Testament. We entered a large room that was used as a dinning room for entertainment. Here was an exhibit displaying the types of chests used to store clothes, jewelry, etc. The more ornate the chest, the richer the person who owned it. Imagine packing a chest and traveling this way. No wonder most of the items in the chests stayed in the chests. There were technically no closets to place clothing, linens, or other items.From the dining room, we walked into the Coat of Arms room. Here photography exhibit was being displayed so we couldn't actually walk around the room since they had it roped off but you were able to see arms painted on the walls. This room was used as a reception room in the Middle Ages. The chimney and coiffured ceiling date from the 15th century. The polychrome frieze is decorated with coats or arms of the Bernese bailiffs, the Chillion administrators, who lived in the castle from 1536 to 1733.After spending time inside the castle, we walked around the courtyards before walking around the grounds. Afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat at a COOP (a little mini-mart) then caught the train to Visp then on to Zermatt. The train to Zermatt was an older, boxed train. As we slowly chugged our way up the mountain we would have to stop at times to allow an on-coming train to pass. The rail leading to Zermatt was extremely small. As we continued to climb you could see the small little chalets dotting the hillside and the Swiss Alps and the Matterhorn in the background. Zermatt is a adorable Swiss chalet village. This town doesn't allow automobiles. There are some small electric cars used as taxis, delivery trucks, etc but for the most part this is a pedestrian town. We arrived in town under the cloak of darkness. The center of town was bustling. We had directions to the hostel but weren't sure exactly where it was and with it being dark, we decided to ride the electric taxi to the hostel. Good thing since it was hidden among all these side roads. We stayed at the YHI which looks out onto the Matterhorn. Because the hostel is such a popular place, we weren't able to get an all-girls dorm so we had to settle for bunking in a mixed dorm. The dorm room was small and held 5 beds: 2 bunkbeds and one bed under the window. We met a few of the occupants. They had just finished hiking through the mountains and were settling in for a long, over-due rest. M and I had the top bunks. We stored our gear in the lockers and went down stairs to use the computer to book our next night's lodging in Interlaken. We grabbed showers and called it a night.