Final week in mainland Europe

08 - 14 October

I left Lund & Elana's company early on the 8th to explore København (Copenhagen) for the day. Taking the train back over into Denmark, I spent three hours looking around their capital before flying to Amsterdam in the evening.

Central København

Nyhavn

Changing of the guard at Amalienborg

Kastellet - with a windmill that should belong in the Netherlands!

Thorvaldsen sculpture museum

One thing I'd missed out on doing when I'd been in Amsterdam in June had been to visit the Anne Frank House, in central Amsterdam where Anne and her family hid for several years before being discovered by the Nazis and taken away. I took the opportunity that evening to have a look. It has been well laid out into a museum, while still retaining some aspects of the original house - to see the tiny quarters where Anne's family and several others hid out for such a long time provided quite a different perspective on the injustices of war.

The next morning I headed off to Enschede, a town in the east where an old school friend, Ben Wylie-van Eerd, had recently moved to. He also has Dutch family and was starting to learn the language, just as I am doing now I am heading there too.

I spent a few hours there catching up with him and walking around the town. We even stumbled upon this...

IJssalon van der Poel - icecream in Enschede! (tasted good too...)

Later that evening I carried on to Made to stay a couple of nights at my great-auntie's place again. I borrowed her bike to head into Oosterhout for a few hours, loving the freedom of biking around in the Dutch countryside where the cyclist provisions are absolutely excellent.

I'd left some things at her house, and with some other assorted stuff I sent 7.5 kg back home - one thing I've definitely learnt is to travel as lightly as possible. Then it was back to Antwerpen to stay with Els again. I met her new Finnish boarder and spent a couple of days just relaxing with them, watching movies, playing Yahtzee, and catching up on the past few months, since I'd already seen the city (and it rained almost the whole time!).

So having finished mainland Europe the same way it started - the Netherlands and Belgium - it was off to Ireland and then England, with more family and friends to see...

A short foray into Scandanavia

03 - 07 October

An old friend of mine from flatting in Christchurch, Elana, had recently moved to Lund, in Sweden, for the upcoming semester and so I went to visit her for a few days. The 3rd was a long day - train to Geneva, flight to Copenhagen, and a train across the Øresund Bridge (almost 8km long, linking Denwark and Sweden) to get to Lund, where Elana met me at the train station. The temperature was noticeably colder - everyone walking around in big winter coats and scarves already. She cooked up a storm for dinner and I fell into bed exhausted.

The next morning I explored the town a little with Elana, when she didn't have uni. It's a lovely old town, with a very old university, lots of good looking people and (again) very good English speakers!

Central Lund

Elana and I in the botanical gardens - note the sudden appearance of a lot more clothes!

For the weekend, Elana had something a bit different planned - a road trip north with two American friends from her course, Erik and Emily (yup, me and three E's). They'd hired a little car for a few days and we headed off on Friday night to Stenkällegården, a campground in the middle of almost nowhere by Tiveden National Park.

Despite a bit of post-midnight-getting-lost-in-the-country dramas we got there and the next morning woke up to some beautiful autumn surroundings. Indeed for 2 full days we lost ourselves in the wonderful landscape, which despite how photogenic it was, it was almost completely deserted. The three E's are all avid photographers... So a warning, lots of photos coming!

Welcome to Stenkällegården - myself, Emily & Erik

The campground where we hired a cabin, at dawn

Who let Pieter loose on the kid's playground?

The small lake at the campground

The three E's and I

We headed off into Tiveden National Park and found a lovely tiny information centre, where - even miles from nowhere - the ranger told us in perfect English a good loop track we could do in the park. It is known for a number of very large boulders, all overgrown, and this part of Sweden is covered in gorgeous, reflective little lakes... Well, take a look for yourself.

To Stenkälle

Elana wandering off into the distance

One of the many tiny lakes

Boulder hopping #1

Boulder hopping #2

Elana and I at another lake 

Having a bit of fun

Wild blueberries!

That evening we put a group effort in for dinner, rocked some good old Kiwi music (to Erik and Emily's amusement), and ate smores.

Why has nobody introduced me to smores before? Gingernut + marshmellow + chocolate + gingernut, 5 minutes in the oven. Way to hit a sweet tooth.

The next day we decided to head off on a drive around the area. There were some incredible idyllic lake views, picturesque tiny churches, amazing wetlands, some fika (cake & coffee Sweden-style at an awesome cafe), and a lot of laughs...

Autumn colours in full swing

Cute little village hut

Gorgeous quiet landscapes

Deserted and idyllic... I'm running out of adjectives

And the fun... Fencing with Elana

More fun

All these tiny churches have these belltowers and are nestled in odd places in the countryside

And at this one they invited us to head up inside

What struck me was the friendliness of the Swedish people we met just wandering around the day - they loved the fact that four crazy English-speaking people were exploring their country and they loved to practice their English too.

It was with some reluctance that we headed back to Lund on Monday morning. I spent a day organising things for the next couple of weeks and headed off on Tuesday morning after a very enjoyable catch-up with my old Christchurch buddy - thanks Elana!

Enduring memory of the Swedish countryside...

The other side of Switzerland - culture and cheese!

28 September - 02 October

I'd been planning to do one final walk out of Lauterbrunnen, but a cold put paid to that idea and I relaxed for the morning before taking the train towards Aarau. Swiss trains are exceptionally on-time (you'd think so with their knowledge of watches, but maybe not to the extent that the clocks on the trains and the platforms show the same time to the second). So, when my train arrived 1 minute late it was almost unheard of.

Aarau is a smallish town, sort of near Zürich, where my friend Nicole (who I'd met in Colombia) lived. She met me at the train station and sorted me out for somewhere to stay for a couple of nights. Aarau isn't a tourist destination as such, but it is known for immaculately painted eaves:

Every building in the town centre had eaves like this

However I wasn't really in Aarau for tourist sites - it was cool to catch up with Nicole, some 4 months after Colombia, and I was invited along to a real Swiss dinner... Raclette.

Meat gets grilled on top, and cheese (real Swiss stuff) melted underneath...

Serve together with some fried capsicum, mushrooms, potatoes... Hells yeah!

Now that's what I call a dinner.

A day later, Nicole and I headed to Luzern, where Nicole got me a couch with two of her friends (thanks!). We explored the town a little bit - there were certainly more tourists around! - and found this bridge (it's famous):

The Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge)

Nicole & I with the Kapellbrücke and Wasserturm
(Note: Wasserturm = "water tower", even though it doesn't store any water. It is "a tower in the water")

It doesn't look too impressive from a distance, however inside, a number of paintings dating from the 17th century depict scenes promoting the Catholic Church. The bridge almost burnt down in 1993 - it was completely restored - and many of the paintings lost. The remainder are charred somewhat.

One of the interior paintings

The next day I took a walk up a local hill, Dietshiberg. The views of the surrounding mountains, and the lake that Luzern sits on, are supposed to be very impressive. Pity it was cloudy and foggy the whole time I was there!

However I enjoyed wandering around the city looking at some of the other sites...

Löwendenkmal (Lion Monument) commemorating the Swiss soldiers lost in a battle of the French Revolution. It's carved directly into the cliff face and the lion is an incredible 10m x 6m in size.

Climbing along the city walls

Tower on the city walls

View of central Luzern from the highest point on the city walls

When was the last time you painted your family tree on the side of your house?

Nicole had had to go back to Aarau, but her friends invited some friends over - which happened to be a New Zealander married to a Swiss girl - and I got another cheesy Swiss (ish) dinner...

Cheese fondue? In Switzerland? Hmm, yes please.

I was due out to visit another old friend, so after 9 days in Switzerland I was reluctantly packing up my things and off again - a train back to Geneva, and then a flight to head to Sweden.

Stunning landscapes part 2 - Jungfrau region, Switzerland

24 - 27 September

I was up early for my flight from Madrid to Geneva, and happened to be sitting next to a very friendly New Zealand couple who then proceeded to give me a lift in their rental car from Geneva to Bern (that's a couple of hours drive)! I was very appreciative of such a friendly gesture. I then caught one of the super-efficient, freakishly on-time Swiss trains to the tourist town of Interlaken.

Located right up in the Bernese Alps, Interlaken is (as the name would suggest) nestled between two lakes, Lake Thun (Thunersee) and Lake Brienz (Brienzersee). It's also the gateway to the railway lines heading up to the highest-altitude railway station in the world, and the whole region - the Jungfrau region - is covered in precarious train lines (including lots of cog trains), gondolas, cable ways - the works - to suit every (rich) tourist's desire.

However I based myself in Interlaken for the first two nights. What a change in scenery... Dramatic mountain landscapes above - and Japanese & Korean tourists scurrying around buying watches and swiss army knives in the town.

Is this a typical Swiss hotel? I guess so... The town centre of Interlaken

For the full day in between, I went for a day hike up to the ridgeline (Rotefluh) directly north of the town. It was a steep - and hot - set of switchbacks, but the views at the top were definitely worth the effort gained. I felt I deserved a beer at the cafe at the top of the cable railway more than the others up there!

The start of the Wanderweg - the ridgeline behind the target

The edge of Brienzersee & Eastern Interlaken

View at the top over Brienzersee

A good spot to take in some beer?

Or skydiving??

How about a gorgeous sunset on the way down?

The town of Interlaken at dusk

That night I watched the America's Cup New Zealand dream fall at the final hurdle, but was determined to head further into the mountains the next day and so headed off to Lauterbrunnen. A very friendly (but shoes off inside!) hostel allowed me to check in at 11am so I dumped my stuff and explored the town a bit before taking an aerial cableway to Grütschalp and a train along to Mürren. This was part way up to where a significant portion of James Bond's On Her Majesty's Secret Service was filmed in 1969.

The town of Lauterbrunnen, nestled in a very dramatically steep valley

View from the aerial cableway back down to Lauterbrunnen

Old-school train from Grütschalp to Mürren

View from the main street in Mürren. What a place to put a township!!

I then walked back down to Lauterbrunnen again, back along the railway for a while then cutting down a path. It rained a bit but I honestly didn't care - this was nature at it's best, most commanding, most breathtaking...

Backdrop for the train ride

Some curious chamois on the track down

Of course this was in autumn, so snow was confined to the highest levels. However it's quite easy to imagine skiers whistling down these slopes in winter, and of course the towns here are well-developed for the winter tourism influx.

The Lauterbrunnen hostel had a much better atmosphere to it and I joined a group of (mostly Australian) backpackers in the evening to share travel stories and superlatives about our surroundings. It got cold - what would you expect?! - but I actually didn't mind it too much after so long in the European summer.

So with one more day to explore, I ventured off on a big loop that was mostly walked, with another aerial cableway cutting out the longest and steepest part, enabling me to get around in one day.

So I walked up to Wengen, which was nothing but continuous switchbacks, and bought some lunch. What amazed me was that even these tiny towns clinging to hillsides only accessible by cog-wheel train still had a small SPAR supermarket.

Wengen

From there it was a ticket to Männlichen, which looked like a top-of-the-ski-run-cafe location, via the cableway.

The good views had started...

The view from the cableway station up to Männlichen - one continuous cable that went up almost 1km in elevation at 10 m/s, with a maximum gradient near the top of over 96%. That's steep.

Boarding the cableway

Did you feel your ears pop? View back down to Wengen, 947.5 m below.

View up the Lauterbrunnen valley from Männlichen

Lunchtime view...

What then looked like a short walk to the peak of Männlichen took a good 20 minutes but rewarded me with 360° views this time.

Tschuggen with Jungfrau behind

Another good skydiving spot - these guys weren't even descending, they'd jumped off the side of the hill and the updrafts were keeping them up

Me admiring the view from Männlichen

I then walked along the ridge of Männlichen, around Tschuggen and up to the second-last train station, Kleine Scheidegg.

Cog-wheel railway station at 2061 m

Railway carriage to go up to Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe at 3,454 m hidden up in the clouds behind. It goes through a tunnel over 7 km long to get there. Talk about entrepreneurship!

On the way back down I spotted a couple of mini avalanches in the snow opposite me on the mountain. It was a long way back down to Lauterbrunnen, and my thighs were killing me later, but I made it successfully before it got dark.

The next morning it was off for a slightly different Swiss experience - to a small town near Zürich where a friend lived who I'd met in Colombia. Bring on Aarau!