May 28, 2005
May 2005
Leukerbad - Swiss Spa Town
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Anyway I'm glad we did continue, it seems that this sort of spa town attracts those in need of healing - must be the same at Lourdes. I've never seen so many wheelchairs and crutches in one high street, I have also never been in such a lively and uninhibited town. Sitting in a bar playing umpah pah music there was no end of people prepared to entertain with impromptu dancing.
Simple inclusive fun that made me feel ashamed to spend so much time finding my body ugly.
On to the spa's: Burgerbad and Lindner Alpentherme
May 2005
Suicide on the Glacier Express
We need to correct the first misnomer - this is no express train! 8 hours long is what I call an endurance feat and not a pleasure trip. Can't say I saw any glaciers either but perhaps I should let that pass.
The trip between St Moritz and Chur was beautiful, it was the stretch with the famous LandWasser viaduct but we had covered it the day before on the ordinary train - no need for a surcharge. The remaining 6 hrs of the journey was your typical swiss fare - mountains, valleys and forests - you see it all the time and I'm not sure I would advise doing it all in one go. Save yourself some money and pick and choose routes on the standard network.
To give you an idea of how we enjoyed the trip, Shakti occupied the last 5 hours dreaming up dramatic suicide attempts in order to escape the monotony and when she found herself locked in the toilet for 1/2 an hour I didn't even consider launching a search party.
May 27, 2005
May 2005
Minor Tour of Switzerland
Our Swiss trip involved a whirlwind tour of the southern half of the country. We had invested �140 in a swiss pass each and so had to make the most of it with daily rail trips.
We started in Geneva and moved directly to Interlaken, then on to Luzern, St Moritz and via the Glacier Express to Zermatt. Finally we spent two days luxuriating in the spa's at Leukerbad heading back to Geneva.
Even in the off-season (and May is certainly off season with towns such as St Moritz almost entirely closed) Switzerland can be described as incredibly expensive. We ended resorting to Youth Hostels as the only affordable accomodation option - a typical price for including evening meals would be 60CHF or about �30.
The standard of the Swiss Youth Hostel was exceptionally good, we found them to be clean, friendly and very good value.
We stayed at the Interlaken Youth Hostel which is actually in Beningen, about a 20 min walk along the river after turning right out of Interlaken Ost staion. It was a very friendly hotel and it offered a bbq on our first night.
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In Luzern we opted to stay at the Tourist Hotel as it was more centrally located than the YH and only slightly more expensive at 49CHF without dinner. This was a fine place too - clean and with a great view directly over the massive river running through the town.
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The Youth Hostel at St Moritz was also run to a high standard. Our double room was large an easily on a par with many hotel rooms. The dinner was pretty filling although a massive bratwurst and polenta is not exactly inspiring. Our stay in St Moritz was marred by the fact that it pissed it down for a solid 24 hours and the whole town was shut down for a month. Fortunately we were able to bring forward our reservation on the Glacier Express. and leave the town a day early.
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Zermatt was a great town, arriving at 6pm it was a joy to see that the town was living and full of people in contrast to the geschlossen St Moritz. The Youth Hostel here was the best, it must have been recently renovated with beautiful slate tiles - spotless and welcoming. We opted for a small twin room with bunk beds. It was the smallest room so far but very comfortable and we had a clear view of the matterhorn from our window. Most hotels charge a significant premium for that privilige. Again dinner was included and it was fresh and filling as usual. I will definately be heading back to this hostel and town when we come back on the main bike tour.
