Stricklands = Tardiness

June 14, 2007

So, nobody told us that Varenna doesn't exist as an actual train station anymore. The train stops there, sure, but only to go to Tirano or Milan--both the wrong way from where we needed to go. The station isn't actually open anymore, and you have to buy tickets from the conductors as soon as you get on the train. We ended up taking a train to Milan, then to Brig, then to somewhere else where somebody did something in history, and finally to Interlaken Ost. From Interlaken, where we stored our humongous bags, we took a small train to Lauterbrunnen, a bus to Stechelberg, and a gondola up a cliff face to the ridiculously tiny town of Gimmelwald.

Not Grindelwald, ladies and gentlemen. Gimmelwald.

It is an itty bitty town 4,600 feet in the Swiss Alps with about ten houses to its name. We stayed at Walter's Hotel, where the floors squeak and you have to pay to take a five-minute shower. It has wonderful charm, though, and I could look out from my balcony and see the most beautiful sites in the world. We were supposed to be there by five pm. My group, because it hadn't stayed in Interlaken the night before, got there around 7. Not bad! My sister, the previous Strickland, apparently didn't make it until the next day. Sorry, Mer, but I won! :D