Thursday, June 15th

Mark and I are up at 7am to catch the 8:00 am train to Interlaken. I pack for bad weather and take the tripod hoping for some good mountain shots, I�ll see what happens. Making my backpack 25 pounds might not be such a good idea.

The train ride is a scenic 2-hour trip. We pass through many small villages and through the mountains. We are both tired so we probably miss some nice views while nodding in and out on the ride. I set the alarm on my watch so we don�t miss the stop for Interlaken but we are both up when we get to Interlaken.

Interlaken sits in a valley surrounded by mountains. The city itself is flat. The weather continues to be good so my raingear isn�t needed. The clear blue skies provide gorgeous views of the mountains.

We are here to find Balmers Herberge, which is a famous youth hostel for backpackers. Mark stayed here in the early 90�s. There are signs for Balmers so it�s easy to find but a couple of miles away. We see backpackers going in the opposite direction so we know we are headed in the right direction. I will have to say my backpack is nothing compared to what the backpackers are carrying.

We get to Balmers and it�s changed quite a bit since Mark stayed. Balmers is a lot bigger now. It appears that the hostel is a bigger business now. Rental stores for scooters (1 and 2 people wide) and bicycles, grocery stores, and activities surround Balmers. There is also a Balmers dance club on the premises. Balmers also has a tent city where backpackers can stay but it�s not on our route so we didn�t see it.

We walk around some more and then head to the center of town. As we walk back we see a number of hang gliders coming down from the mountain. There�s a big field close to the main section of town where they land. As we walk to the main street the last thing I expect to see is a Hooter�s but there�s one on the main street. That proves that the town is pretty much a tourist town. There are the standard shops for souvenirs, and restaurants on the main street.

We start walking back to the station to take a train trip up into the mountains to Grindelwald. We don�t take the main street back but we can try and keep the mountains in the right direction to navigate back. We end up along the river on a nice bike and walking path all the way back to the train station. It�s nice because it�s warm and the trees provide some shade for the walk back.

Back at the station we check on the time for the train and it�s only 10-15 minutes away so are timing worked out. We buy a beer from a vendor at the train station. I don�t remember the brand of beer but it was very tasty after our walk. We estimate we walked about 4-5 miles round trip.

On the train we find out that it�s a private line up to Grindelwald so our Europass isn�t valid but we get a discount so it�s 7.80 CHF (~6.30 US). Grindelwald provides a great view of the Eiger Mountain.

It�s time for lunch when we get off the train so we stop at a restaurant with a great view of the mountains. A couple is just leaving a table on the railing so we snag it and have a good seat. The waitress speaks very good English so ordering is easy. I get some goulash soup and veal sausage with fries. Mark tries to get the waitress to give him a recommendation but I don�t think she wants to be responsible for what he orders if he doesn�t like the food. It wouldn�t matter to Mark but she might be hesitant with Americans. Mark gets ham with a fried egg on top with fries (I wasn�t sure he knew the egg was coming with it, I forgot to ask him afterwards). Mark tries some of the veal sausage but I pass on the ham and egg. The goulash soup is good. We both get the local beer which we find out from the waitress is from Interlaken. I think it�s the best beer I�ve had so far on the trip.

I want to walk into some of the low hills and by the Swiss houses. So we start off down into a small valley before going up towards the Eiger. We end up walking for only about an hour or so. We do walk by some goats. The goats have the little bells on them just like all of the cows in Switzerland. We see that a tram can take you up to a spot where you can do some real hiking but don�t have the time at this point to hike up towards the Eiger. We head back into the town center to catch the train back to Interlaken.

We get tickets before we get on the train this time. The train comes in about 20 minutes so we sit down to have a beer. Again, the beer tastes great but that�s probably because we are tired and thirsty from the walk. We get large beers and before we know it the train shows up so we have to chug the beer. The trip down is short and we are back at Interlaken Ost (East) station. We check on the train back to Luzern. There�s a train leaving in 10 minutes but it takes longer then the train that leaves in 40 minutes so we decide to wait.

We find a small bar near the train station to try and watch the soccer match. The proprietor is a woman originally from Thailand. She married a German at some point and has been living in Interlaken for some time. We drink the same beer we had in Grindewald and Mark thinks it�s the best we�ve had so far. Back to the train after a drink and head back to Luzern. We sleep for a lot of the trip since it�s 2 hours.

When we get back I get on the walkie-talkie and find out the boys are at Pickwicks. The 2nd half of the 6 o�clock game has started so we sit down to see the finish. England is playing ??? and is up a man so they end up winning 2-0. Jim, Earl, and Chuck have met Dr. Gruber who works and travels around for BMW. The Dr. now lives in some islands off the coast of Spain. He has invited everyone to the BMW private tent in Munich for Oktoberfest. Since we have an early morning tomorrow it�s a lite night. After the last match of the night we all head home in order to get up on time for the Big Day!

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