Greetings from Rome, Italy! I'm here for 5 days and I'm hopeful Rome will live up to my expectations. If it doesn't, the weather can't possibly be any worse here than it has my last 3 weeks of travel, so that's a plus.
My first stop upon leaving Belgium was Luxembourg. I decided not to spend the night there and instead stay in Stuttgart since it was much cheaper. This left me with only 2 hours to see the city. As I mentioned before about Bremen, you can't possibly do a city justice in only a few hours, but I figure seeing a place, even if only for a few hours, is better than not seeing it. Luxembourg is the richest country in the world (based on PPP). I expected to see a pretty glamorous city when I got off the train, but the buildings and especially the landscape far exceeded my expectations. The city is fairly modern and the architecture was similar to that of downtown Brussels; modern, sleek, glass buildings. What I didn't expect when I walked from the train station towards the city centre was the Pétrusse Valley. The Valley felt like a mini Grand Canyon (very mini), but full of trees, parks, the Pétrusse and Alzette rivers, and Grund (the valley neighborhoods). It was pretty impressive. The bridge also provided a great view of the Fortress Luxembourg, Luxembourg's other claim to fame. Cool place even if it was only for a few hours.
After Luxembourg I made my way to Stuttgart for the night. Nothing interesting happened outside of having my own room, because of a mistake that was made when booking my room. No complaints here. I like a good night's sleep.
After Stuttgart, I went to Interlaken, Switzerland. I was pretty excited about the train ride, because you slowly wind your way through the Alps. While the entire train ride was phenomenal, the best part of the trip was the short journey from Spiez to Interlaken. The train zig zags through the mountains and around Thun lake, which separates the two towns. The views are spectacular. Words can't describe how unbelievable it is. Once I finally arrived in Interlaken, it was pretty late, so I didn't have much time to do anything but wander through the town. Interlaken is stereotypical Switzerland; Swiss watches and Swiss army knives are everywhere. Not much else; just watches and knives.
My second day in Interlaken was by far the worst weather day of my trip. It poured down rain all day. I wasn't going to let that "dampen" my spirits though as I was determined to climb one of the many surrounding mountains. I settled on Harder Mountain, but as I started my trek, I began to wonder if this was a really bad idea given the elements. Eh...you only live once, right! I made it about 2/3 to the top before the conditions became unbearable. I was pretty disappointed I didn't reach the top, but the views were still amazing! Even in the pouring rain, I found myself trying to comprehend if what I was looking at was indeed real. It was truly incredible! The rest of the day I spent inside, warm and dry...and with CNBC on, much to the chagrin of everyone else in the room.
The next morning, I had a 2:00 pm train to catch from Spiez to Rome. The weather was gorgeous, so rather than lounge around the hostel until it was time to catch the train, I left Interlaken early so I could spend a few hours in Spiez. Spiez is on the shore of Thun lake (Interlaken sits between Thun and Brienz lake) and I figured it would be a good spot to get lunch. I'm glad I came to Spiez, because it's just as breathtaking as Interlaken. Everything in town centers around the harbor, looking at the lake, and in every direction you look there are towering mountains. I grabbed a sandwich, found a bench at the harbor, and spent the next 2 hours doing nothing but enjoying the view and soaking up the sun.
Interlaken (and Spiez) are remarkable. With perhaps the exception of Füssen (hard to say which one I liked better), I've not been to a more scenic place on my trip (and there's much more to do here than in Füssen). If you're in Europe, it's a must see.
Ching Ching!
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