Switzerland - Arrival and Interlaken

Today we took an 8am train from Salzburg, Austria to Interlaken, Switzerland.  The whole trip took about eight hours and we had to switch trains twice.  Once was after a missed connection.  The initial train arrived in Salzburg too late for our tight connections.

Some thoughts on taking the train vs driving:

1) If you purchase tickets in advance it is affordable and convenient.  From Austria to Switzerland we rode first class which had a sparsely populated quiet car and was not much more than the general ticket.  Once in Switzerland we used the Swiss Pass which offers unlimited rides on trains, buses, and even boats, and discounted admission to museums and other attractions.  We got a four day pass.

2) The timetables are extremely tight, but you basically just have to get off the train and get to the platform for the new train.  We made several 6 minute connections. 15 minutes is a lot of time.

3) I would pack a little lighter - I was manhandling two 50lb bags and a laptop bag and sometimes there were stairs.  One time I was rushing to get to the second deck of the train with one of those bags and fell backwards - luckily there were a bunch of people behind me to catch me. There is plenty of space on trains for bags.

4) Have a picture of your ticket barcode on your phone.  Saves pulling up the app or keeping paper.

Lukas, the other hotel goat

Stefan, the hotel goat

Switzerland is not in the EU, so they primarily use Swiss Francs, except some border cities like Geneva which may take some Euros.  Once we arrived in Interlaken Ost (east), which as you might guess, is situated in-between two lakes (inter - laken), we were able to walk only about two blocks to our hotel -  the Carlton-Europe Vintage Adults hotel.  I'm not sure why they specified it was for adults, but I did see a lot of people over 18, and much more.  All the hotels are very nice around there, and we chose this because it was close to the train station.  It also has a three on-site restaurants.  

Shellie in her happy place

Casino Interlaken

After settling in, we took a walk toward the city center and tried to find the Casino.  It was in a very beautiful garden surrounded by like a million watch shops.  We played a bit there and then checked out the nearby chocolate shop where we are going to learn how to make Swiss chocolate tomorrow.  Then we headed home, but couldn't settle on a place to eat, so we ordered pizza delivery.  

When I took a shower (tub+curtain+showerhead) the shower head spray came out at 1000 degrees so I pointed it away quickly and jumped out of the boiling water in the tub and it blasted open the curtain and was flooding the whole bathroom before I could get near enough to shut it off.  I had to go get more towels from downstairs and the night manager reluctantly gave them to me - I think he thought I was stockpiling them to steal them.  I guess they found the huge wet pile the next day because then he was nicer.

Chocolate skull