Western Europe

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The Swiss Riviera

Moving to the Riviera I had a slightly later start on the trains today at 0740.  I probably could have made the earlier one but I didn’t think.  Today, I leave the Swiss alpine areas for the riviera, meaning the northern coast of Lake Geneva, from around Montreux westward to Geneva. The combined ride to […]

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Rothorn & Klein Matterhorn

Sunrise but not quite From my room I could catch a corner of the Matterhorn and it looked a nice orange colour half hour after the 0530 sunrise.  I hadn’t wanted to climb to the viewpoint about 15 mins away at this time but I changed my mind. By the time I reached the Murini […]

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Gornergrat

Moving to Zermatt I had a relatively late start today, taking the train at 0730.  It was a treat to have hotel breakfast this morning to start the day.  They cater well to travellers by starting at 0600! Having completed my hike yesterday, I was able to hop on one of the few direct trains […]

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Aletsch Glacier

Moving to Brig Once again I was on the train at Wengen around 0700 for Lauterbrunnen, but this time with my luggage.  Today I have four rides totalling about 2h, changing at Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken Ost and also Spiez, where I had been only yesterday. The last part of my ride to my destination Brig was […]

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Grindelwald hike & Interlaken cruise

Grindelwald I repeated my 0700 departure to Lauterbrunnen again this morning, this time changing to Zweilutschinen, where I changed another time for Grindelwald.  I had to be particularly careful at Zweilutschinen as the train splits off to different destinations here.  Altogether the journey to Grindelwald took an hour. I had to be careful not to […]

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Piz Gloria and Lauterbrunnen hike

Murren to Schilthorn I woke at my usual time of 0600 and was out the door an hour later for Lauterbrunnen by train.  I walked across the road to connect to the large intermittent cable car up to Grütschalp which then connected to the train to Murren.  The Murren train ran along the ridge giving […]

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My first Swiss hike

Moving to Wengen Today I move on to Wengen after breakfast, starting with a bus ride to the railway station for a train to Interlaken Ost leaving a little after 0800.  The first half of the ~2h ride was painful with a couple of English families with a total of 7 noisy playful young children. […]

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Mount Rigi

Outing to Mount Rigi Breakfast at the hotel was continental with cereals, artisanal bread and cheeses.  No cold cuts but eggs on request.  The toasted muesli was unsweetened; that was news to me as I thought sugar (and oil) was necessary in the toasting process.  While it was delicious, I took a little bit too […]

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Rhine Falls, Bern & Lucerne

Rhine Falls With my body clock on Malaysian time, I woke early and it was a breeze to check-out about 0630.  I stored my bag at the railway station for CHF6 while I go exploring, rather than have to return to the guesthouse later to get it. I was on the train around 0700 for […]

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Visiting Liechtenstein

Flying to Zurich I made my way to my gate around midnight for the 0125 departure to Zurich.  The metal detectors at Changi are less sensitive than at KLIA where my cheap mostly plastic smartwatch set off the detector. Boarding the 777-300, no mask/sanitiser pack was given out; likewise on the previous short flight.  Masks […]

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