October 18 Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

October 18 Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

I woke up at around 5 am to the sound of rain pounding on the roof of the van and ducks quacking on the lake. I managed to doze for a bit longer but soon got up and plugged in the heater. I think the days of bathing suits and tank tops are gone, as we head north to Switzerland.

The rain stopped just in time for our departure and from then on we only had a few sprinkles fall on us. However, we drove through the Simplonpass in dense fog...very dense fog. I drove very slowly and could see the lines on the road but that's about all I could see. I was so happy when we got to a tunnel, because the tunnels are all well lit and there was no fog in there. After about 20 kilometers the fog dissapated and the sun broke through. We were headed down the mountain.

We drove up and down and around several mountains and reached Goppenstein where we drove onto a train and with many others on the flatbeads, we were taken through a mountain (the Lotschbergtunnel). The train ride took about 15 minutes in complete darkness, except for the occassional train going in the opposite direction. It was certainly a unique experience to fell the van moving from side to side and occassionally shaking, just a bit.

After that adventure we drove down a mountain to Spiez and then to Interlaken. On the green hillsides we saw lots of cows and sheep grazing and wondered how they managed to stay upright.

The campsite at Interloken was invisible and so we decided to head to Camping Jungrau, in Lauterbrunnen, which is at 976 m. From here we can clearly some very high other snow covered mountains. It is quite a magnificant site. We watched helicopters take para gliders up to the top of one of the mountains and then saw the brave souls drift back to the field across from the campsite.

The village of Lauterbrunnen is very quaint, with lots of little shops ready to sell winter appearal, cheese and of course Swiss watches. We found a cheese shop and stopped in for some local cheese and chocolate. Switzerland does not use the Euro and so we are now spending Swiss Francs. Switzerland seems to be quite expensive. This campsite, for example will be the most expensive we have stayed at in the past six weeks.

We are considering taking the train to the top of the Jungrau tomorrow....the top of Europe.