Interlaken, Switzerland

I played hookey from work today and journeyed off to Interlaken, located in the middle of Switzerland, between the lakes of Thun and Brienz. Interlaken is primarily famous for its ski slopes on the Alps with access to the lakes for non-skiiers. It is a 2 hour train ride from Neuchâtel to Interlaken, with a stop in Bern. It's also an expensive trip - tickets cost 78 CHF ($60 US) for round-trip... Despite the $ and the time, the trip is well worth it. The train ride is a sight-seeing experience on its own. Getting there is already half the fun. I was looking out the window on the train and enjoying miles and miles of green pastures, trees, the valley...and then just in a split second, snow-capped mountains appeared in front of the train. It was unreal! The mountains were so close and so pronounced. Very beautiful indeed! The Swiss Alps up close!

The train also swung around Lake Thun which had absolutely clear blue waters. More mountain ridges appear in the far background. Simply amazing! I also took a separate trip to Grindelwald, the ski center that also links to the remarkable Jungfrau Top of Europe ski slope. I didn't go to the Jungfrau because it would have taken 5 hours to get up there and I didn't have time. Interlaken is really meant for an outdoors escape... in the winter there is skiing, in the summer, there are a dozens of water-based activities. Although I didn't do any of these, it was still just as pleasant to enjoy the spectacular views.

This is random, but I had to share -- I just had one of THE BEST chocolate croissant. I bought it at, of all places, the Coop, which is Switzerland's version of Safeway. It has just the right amount of crunchiness, topped with bits of roasted hazelnut. The chocolate inside is mousse-like, smooth and creamy. Simply heavenly delicious! The ones we have in the States are nothing in comparsion... the pastry is usually oily and the chocolate is hard. The croissant here is soooo good!! Wish I could sneak some back to the U.S. without anyone knowing.