Luzern & Interlaken
First up, Luzern.
Yesterday, I was exhausted after the mission out to Mount Säntis, and I wanted to explore Zürich a little more. After covering this tiny town within a few hours, I decided to take the advice of Al & Jules and head to Luzern.
I was very surprised when I walked out of the station to find a buzzing, charismatic and alive city. Zurich is a sleepy sea-side town compared to Luzern. It was absolutely packed with tourists, and it was also the middle of the Blue Ball Festival (beware, the website is hideous, but worth a laugh).
The harbor was lined with eateries, markets and music all with breathtaking views of the alps that surrounds the normally sleepy hollow.
Like most Europian cities, it has an old town, and once you’ve seen one old town, you’ve seen them all, so I spent my time looking for food and taking photos of the lakes. Unfortunately I was too late to catch the cable car to the top of the peak that overlooks the city, so I made a hike back to Zurich and bunked down for the night.
Interlakin! (That’s some of the alps you can see at the bottom of that map).
Last night I was scrambling to find one last day of hiking and photography. I remembered a friend in London mentioning Interlaken, which is kind of in the middle of Switzerland, only 2 hours from Zurich (I really forget how small it is between major Europian cities compared to Australia!).
Well, it wasn’t the most exciting day. There was a horrid sky packed with clouds, high winds and humidity. I wanted to get to the top of Jungfraujoch, which is the highest rail in Europe, and take amazing photos of the alps, however it was a complete wipe-out and at CHF$185 (AUS$200), that was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.
So, I ended up walking around Interlaken until the weather cleared up a bit, turns out it was really patchy, so I bit the bullet and went up the Harder Bahn to Harder Kulm, which is about 600m above sea level and shows the amazing view of Jungfrau and the surrounding regions.
I ate lunch, had a beer and trekked through the mountain forest until I couldn’t bare the heat no more. I came packing jeans and warm clothes expecting to spend the day at 3ºc, but it was not to be.
I am no back in my hotel, getting ready for the next step of my Tour de Europe, Paris tomorrow! The weather looks shaky, but should be clear enough for some action shots of the Tour de France on Sunday!
Can’t wait.
x
Tags: Harder Kulm, Interlaken, Luzern, Photography, Switzerland
