We didn’t have anything planned for the summer except to enjoy our home and the homegrown fruits and vegetables. Amidst doing all this nothing, we ended up taking a trip and being tourists for a day.
Lemonade
Shortly after our vacation began, Ben bought train tickets for a excursion he was treating two of his students to. He bought corresponding special priced tickets because he assumed they both had half fare tickets. Wrong. Without the half fare tickets they were invalid. That’s why he ended up buying other, more expensive tickets. Dumb things like that happen sometimes. He took the planned day trip with his students and had a good time.
Unfortunately the first, special priced tickets he bought couldn’t be returned. What to do? We made lemonade out of the lemons and used them ourselves.
Program
It was to be a beautiful, warm day. Our trip started early as we took the train to the lake of Thun in the Bernese Oberland. There we enjoyed a 2 hour boat ride to the other end of the lake during which we ate breakfast. Then we took a special, historical, open train that was built in 1914, up the mountain to the Schynige Platte. There we enjoyed the view and went back down. We took the boat in the evening back to Thun and the train home.
The Boat Ride to Interlaken
Our route was very touristic. Still, it was a relaxed atmosphere. The boat was filled to the max but the view was lovely. Even after living in Switzerland so long, I’m still in awe of the mountains and never get tired of looking at them. But, as it turns out, people-watching can be pretty entertaining, too.
There were lots of Chinese, Japanese and Indian tourists on the boat. Some were wearing surgical masks, others had portable fans creating a wind to keep themselves cool. There was nothing discreet about the fans either, one was hot pink the other I saw was shocking green. They held them close to their faces to get the maximum cooling effect. But on a moving boat? Really?
There were some young Asian ladies who had no problems prettying up in public. One pulled out a brush with a mirror on the other side and started checking her teeth. Then brushed her hair, pulled it back and made a ponytail and finally added some eye shadow. The other used her phone as a mirror while putting on lipstick. I think the personal hygiene-prize goes to one rather large fellow. He decided to comb his beard using the window to the boat restaurant as a mirror. I can only imagine what the people sitting on the other side thought of that.
The Historical Train to the Schynige Platte
The train was the original from 1914 and kept in beautiful shape. It had hard wooden banks, was open and moved slowly so you could see the beautiful scenery. It was full of tourists and families. As the train started to move I heard the child sitting with his back to me ask ‘why are we going backwards?’
Shortly after starting I kept getting hit lightly in my neck. I looked back and it was the same little boy from before. He was now singing and waving a Swiss flag back and forth. I didn’t say anything, I was a kid once, too. He even photobombed a picture I took.
The Schynige Platte
At our destination and barely out of the train all the tourists were treated to two men playing their alphorns. How Swiss can you get? Talk about corny, but it worked. If not there, then where?
We decided to go to the restaurant to see the panoramic view. Although there were clouds covering a good portion of what would have made it majestic, what we saw was impressive. There were tables set out so people could sit and consume something while enjoying the view. Most did. Two people however, who had a front row table, were looking down giving their phones their undivided attention. They were neither talking to each other nor looking at the scenery. That was the position they were in when we left, too. Maybe they were statues, you know, art. Naw, their thumbs were moving at the speed of light.
The Way Back Down
The train on the way down was packed. In our compartment were 7 people: an American family of 3, an English couple and us. The others were about the same age and a comment about the Englishman’s t-shirt actually broke the ice! They started chatting, gushing about Switzerland and exchanging stories about where to go and what to see.
We didn’t really join the conversation. Which is good because the Englishman sitting next to me had a tattoo on his lower arm that demanded attention. It was of a well built, sexy woman in a sitting position. As far as tattoos go I suppose it was of good quality, some nice shading. But it looked so darn silly. Thanks to the man’s very hairy arm the sexy tattoo lady had very hairy legs.
At some point the English lady said that she had been in Switzerland with her family when she was 16. Although it had only been about 13 years, she didn’t remember where she had been or what she had seen. I looked at the other couple’s son who was playing games with a vengeance on his Smartphone. He would have been just as happy sitting in a dark hotel room. It could very well be that history was about to repeat itself.
What impressed me was how beautiful they thought Switzerland was. And you know, they were right. Not even a couple of clouds can ruin Switzerland’s splendor. Gush on.
The Boat to Thun
On the boat back to Thun there was a lot less hustle and bustle. There were still some tourists but not as many as in the morning. Some Asians on deck made me smile. They were walking while talking to someone on the phone. They were holding their phones in a selfie position. Obviously they were using FaceTime, Skype or something like that. I especially liked it when they held the camera so the person on the other end could see the background. Nothing says ‘wishing you were here’ like that, now does it?
There were only 2 or 3 couples in the area where we were sitting. The Swiss couple sitting near us were taking a selfie with a glass of wine in front of the mountains. I was still in ‘tourist mode’ so I actually started a conversation with them. Okay, a very short conversation. Okay, okay, I only asked them if they wanted me to take a picture of them. They were stunned but after they realized I was actually talking to them they agreed. Later, although we weren’t taking selfies, they offered to do the same for us. Considering they were Swiss and strangers, that was a pretty long and stable conversation.
Lasting Impressions
Our day as tourists was fun; a relaxing way to start the summer. The glass of rosé on board the ship while the sun was setting was romantic. Well, the sun wasn’t really setting because that happens around 9.30pm in the summer and it was only around 8pm. Still, it was perfect and one of those ‘never to forget’ moments.
Even though we didn’t look like typical tourists with our dog he turned out to be a good conversation starter. Among other things we were asked about the breed a couple of times. One tourist obviously missed his dog and asked if he could pet ours.
On the last leg of our trip, in the train from Berne to Biel we were no longer on the tourist route. There were some Swiss sitting diagonally to us talking quietly to each other. All of the sudden our dog decided to roll on the floor in the aisle. He was on his back, wiggling and grunting, enjoying life. The others saw that, stopped talking and smiled but didn’t say anything. The Swiss way.
What was really nice was after a full day we didn’t have to go back to a hotel and suitcase. We got to go home.
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