Day ? - Last night in Lauterbrunnen

Hi All
We are now enjoying our final night in Lauterbrunnen and are off tomorrow to the last leg in Paris. Today was a busy day with an early start to catch the Jungfrau Train up to the top of the Alps.

The journey takes about 2 hours with a change of trains half way through. The journey is through some amazing landscapes and breathtaking views. Now by breathtaking i also mean that it seems to grab hold of your lungs and makes it very hard to breathe. Not a pleasant feeling when the ground seems to come up to you.

On the summit there is a viewing platform after a stomach churning 150m elevator ride but you can collect your stomach on the way down. The Ice Palace is nice to see especially slipping and sliding along the floor. The plateau is an open viewing area that is of course still snowed in and the views out to the alps is indescribable and the cold wind is also.

Now one of the things that i have discovered on this trip is that the Japanese do not have in their vocabularly the concept of "wait your turn" - unbelievably pushy when they are roaming in packs. Stand in their way when the tour leader is waving their little stuffed toy on the end of the stick and it may not end well.

Also that Americans are very critical of the simplest of things - for instance, we are staying at a very pleasant hotel and several have been overheard to complain that they don't cook their bacon properly. One staff member was overheard to mutter something in swiss and i asked if that it was a naughty word - which she giggled and said "only for her not for the guests".

Another thing that has amazed me about the europeans is that the Italians, Germans, French and Swiss take their pets EVERYWHERE!!! Now taking Fifi down to the local cafe is one thing but they are in restaurants, train stations, airports and tourist sites. I have seen cats in cages in the luggage rack on trains, dogs sitting on airport trolleys, dogs sitting with their owners on long haul train trips and today even up to a place where humans suffer from altitude sickness god only knows how the dogs feel. I took a photo of a basset that was sitting with his face on his owners knee in snow goggles and it was the saddest basset i have ever seen. The poor thing was being dragged along and obviously very uncomfortable.

Tonight we went for dinner to one of the local restaurants and had a wonderful swiss meal. Well Karen had lasagne but i am sure it was a swiss chef (sorry she is hovering here at the moment and wants me state that it was vegetable lasagne. I dont know the point either). Also we had one of the best apple strudel I have had for a long time. Sitting there looking at the alps and waterfalls for the last time was a little sad not to have had more time there.

I highly recommend if you ever get over here to make the effort as we did to get to Lauterbrunnen as we did it is a magical place that is so beautiful.

Tomorrow we leave on the train to paris and it will be our longest journey yet. So it will be a long day we will arrive in about 5:35pm. The cases are getting heavier and heavier - someone is coming in at night and lining our cases with lead and not telling us.

I must adieu as it is getting late and yet again the creative packing has to be done.

Karen just come down to say that there is a storm coming in and worth seeing

Love
Deb, Karen, Barbara & Peter xxxx