Interlaken

I have been here for almost two months now, the novelty hasn't worn off, but I couldn't help but think that I had, had the measure of the place = Efficient public transport, good education, wonderful architecture, cheese fixations, Mountains and the like. Infact most of these things are still true, but today we went to Interlaken and then Grindalwald, perhaps the epicentre of Swiss-ness. Interlaken lies two hours (by train) south east of Luzern, its a small tourist town full of Swiss army knife shops and "kiss me I'm Suisse" type T-shirt shops. The journey here requires you to push your face up against the glass and take in the wonder of the landscape. You can tell who is Swiss in your carriage, because they're are all sitting down immune to the effects of the countryside. We barely sit down the whole way to Interlaken, around every turn is a photo oppotunity (eventually my battery runs out before we reach Grindalwald, after 120 photos).
The town is fringed with overbearing cliff faces, almost sheer covered with Pine forests. We arrive around 11.00 and its already bustling with multinational tourists, I hear more english voices here than at any other time so far. We amble around the streets, yo-yoing in and out of shops, theres not a great deal to see shop-wise. The sky is blue and we sit in the shade watching around twenty paragliders sit on the thermals above the town, as we wait 4 or 5 descend intoa field next to our bench, sprialling down as a tandem or solo, their shadows dart across the few tall buildings here. We find a quite little Japanese restaurant and sample their excellent gyoza, and Hiromi enjoys the small talk of speaking in Japanese. The town sits between two ridges toweering hundres of meters above us, on one side this breaks in the middle, which gives view to a snow capped peak in the distance that lays in Grindalwald. Its snow is perenial, it looms ominously in the distance the sun glancing off its sides. Interlaken is a rich town full of hotels (expensive hotels) and a casino, the tourists look distinctly wealthy here. We however dine on kebabs.