Nestled up in the Swiss alps was the BEST hostel I had the experience to stay in over my trip around Europe. Well, I really should clarify this position. There was no bar. There was no fancy lock system. Nor were there any restaurants within sight. Instead what you got for your 17 Swiss Francs a night (less than $AU20) was a cosy chalet in the alps with a bunch of other very down to earth backpacking skiers or boarders. All food was cooked at the hostel which made for a great experience and well worth repeating in the future. The name: Martins Chalet - online @ gryon.com.
So the first day I did the valley walk… In 3ft of snow! It was AWESOME! Like all aussies in snow, I had a ball even though all I was doing was walking around. Managed to find Villars, the village ~5km away that has the supermarkets, and do dinner/breakie shopping. As became evident there was a cycle in winter here - ski all day, shop on the way off the slopes, go home, cook, sleep, repeat. This I found out the next day.
After a good nights sleep I hit the slopes the next day. I cannot believe how much better the snow was than in the great land of Oz. It was like Thredbo after a blizzard up top - and apparently it wasn’t great at the time I was there either! My three days went by quickly, and of the days that were suited to taking my camera gear up, it had to be confined to the first, and thus didn’t happen (I could see myself stacking and breaking a few grand’s worth of camera gear). My first day was spent with a bunch of rather arrogant Sydney private school boys who gloated about using their dad’s credit card to pay for the trip, and as a result, I didn’t mind when I lost them. Second and third days were with a great bunch of Scottish snowboarders (with me the lone skier). Absolutely awesome fun, and I didn’t come away in the pain that I did at Perisher last year.
After one of the highlights of my trip I had to head off to my flight out of Paris and dinner with my mate Drew and his girlfriend, though far earlier than I suspect.
Oh yeah, one of the girls there also had a mathematical challenge that I haven’t quite finished yet. For anyone interested:
Find the solutions for n the number of coins that can simultaneously be used to make either a square or regular hexagon - what are the number of coins in the side of the square, x, and hexagon, y?
With only a Sunday and Monday to spend in Vevey and Montreaux there was never going to be much to see. I arrived in Vevey at dusk and found almost all restaurants closed, so headed to the local “supermarket” (really no bigger than a corner shop) to grab some supplies (pasta + pasta sauce + parmesan) before heading back to the hostel kitchen to cook dinner. Quiet night ensued following the rather large one had the previous night in München.
Next day I attempted to visit the Nestlé food museum, but as with most things in Europe on Mondays, it was shut. I headed instead down to the Château de Chillon near Montreaux - a large castle on Lake Geneva. Spent the day inside here and wandering around the shores of Lake Geneva, just chilling out, for the next day I was off to Gryon for three days of skiing and one of hiking around Villars.
So tonight my whirlwind stay in München comes to an end. I arrived late on the 19th and headed out to the Deutches Museum - an engineers paradise, especially with the amount of pubs around it! That night ran into Jane + Shane who I had met in Dresden, so subsequently went out to celebrate their last night in München. Happy hours at the bars are great!
Yesterday I went out to the castles near Füssen - Castles Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. Amaying location, with over a metre of snow on the side of the road! It was magical to see the place in winter, though I was slightly annoyed that Mary’s Bridge was closed (snowed in). Gives the best views of the castle itself.
Today I went for a general look around the centre of München before heading out of the city to the site of the Nazi’s first concentration camp at Dachau. Haunting and silent. Unbelievable what humans are capable of doing to their own kin. Not done for the “fun” of it, but very much worthwhile location to visit.
Tomorrow I am off for Switzerland. First to Vevey, near Montreux to take in the Lake and the surrounds. Then off to Gryon in the alps for a few days skiing! 
The hostel/lodge is run by a swiss-australian couple so I am hoping that they’ll be doing something for Australia Day. From there it’s to Paris to conclude the trip. Almost over, hard to believe. Anyhow, till I put some photos up I hope you’re enjoying the ones I was able to upload.
Currently staying with the exchange family my mum stayed with in Bingen in 2004 - the Klippels. It’s pretty to get to a smaller town than the major European cities, and even nicer to be able to stay with a family. The Klippels have kindly put me up for three nights, allowing me to explore Bingen, the sister town across the Rhine Rüdesheimer and today also up to Bacharach.
Bingen is nice small and cozy like most small towns, but the roofs are beautiful to look out across in the morning. I’ve only put one of the photos from here up, since it’s a little out of order from the rest. Caught the ferry across to Rüdesheimer for the second part of yesterday after walking around town and up to their castle. The other side I visited the statue Germania, made of the brass from French canons after their defeat in the Franco-Prussian war (see above).
Visited their son, Tim’s, appartment after dinner that night and shared a few beers with him and one of his mates. He’s off to India and Thailand for 6 weeks before returning to the Max Plank Institute to undertake a PhD in airborne particles.
When I awoke this morning I had a marvelous suprise waiting for me. Looking out the window the entire town was covered in a beautiful layer of white snow. The place looked so beautiful. For the day I decided to take the train a few stops down the Rhine to Bacharach where I visited their castle (now a Youth Hostel) and wander around the town. The whole region is pretty much shut down for the winter, but you can see how alive the place would be in the times that it’s open. Shops and restaurants all closed would be very much alive in the spring through to autumn. Walking up to the castle it was snowing quite heavily and the region was quite heavily fogged too so I’m hoping for some good pictures to have come out of it. I’ve still got a few specks of dust on my sensor which will make post processing the shots all the more important, but until I find a decent camera shop (München perhaps?) I’ll have to deal with it.
Tomorrow I’m off to Freiburg to meet up with Nicole from uni who’s been on exchange there for the past six months. Another friendly face to keep the journey interesting. Till next time enjoy!
flickr photos from bingen + surrounds.
Currently sitting in a little internet Cafe where I actually have USB access… So I got a few shots up… (Takes a bit of time to upload, so there’s only ten or so :P)
Dresden is a really pretty city, but not really wanting to visit the miriad of museums, my two days have been rather relaxing. Also starting cooking for the first time. The first night I arrived two other aussies were staying in my room - Jane and Shane, students from Monash uni who’d done a summer course in Italy and were travelling around a bit after it… We decided a cook up was the way to go - so a stir fry was duly cooked and eaten, washed down by a few €0.60 beers from the local supermarket (and you get 8c back on them when you take them back too ;)). The pilsners around here are top quality, very much recommended…
Off to Bingen tomorrow to stay with the people mum stayed with in 2004 for a few nights before Munich, Fussen, Switzerland, Paris and home.
Until then, look at the pretty pictures.
flickr photos from dresden.