Clouds, Castles and a Damsel in Distress

A hotel that serves pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast deserves one more star on its nameplate, in my opinion. The "don't overdo it" rule was temporarily suspended. We'll see how it sits as the day unfolds.

It's raining today and the hills are wearing clouds as hats so we are very unlikely to see any mountains. Shame really since this is where the big ones are. We caught a glimpse of the Eiger or Jungfrau last night at dinner. Matching the contours to the picture of the mountain range that adorned the restaurant placemat, I was sure we were looking at the Jungfrau, however our waiter informed us it was the Eiger and I suppose he should know as he lives here. Then again he may have just arrived last week and hadn't done so well in geography at school. He was very convincing though.

The train to Thun runs along the southern shore of Lake Thun, which for the majority of the journey was lost in the mist. At least there was no discussion on the colour, although the subject arose briefly at breakfast when Jackie informed me her guidebook described the Swiss lakes as aqua marine. But aqua means water and marine means of the sea, I replied, so you are just saying sea water. Yes she replied, sea water is a bluish green. And so we turned full circle.

The guidebook describes Thun as a medieval town and I am sure that at one time, perhaps 800 years ago, it must have been. Granted, the 12th century castle keep, with it's magnificent vaulted roof, and the 14th century church, Stadtkirche Thun, have survived but the centre itself has for the most part given way to glass and concrete. We spent an enjoyable hour or so wandering around the castle learning about its chequered history and playing knights and damsels in distress, as can be seen (and never unseen) in the accompanying photos. Much to Jackie's delight, the castle gift shop was selling hard back copies of Heidi, one of which was duly purchased and has already been read cover to cover. So long as she doesn't want to learn the Schwyzerörgeli (Google it) we'll be fine.

We briefly debated taking the boat back along Lake Thun. It had more or less stopped raining and the cloud had lifted a bit, but the 2 h journey time (and the hefty ticket price) were a tad off-putting so we returned to Interlaken by train in 20 minutes or so and hopped onto the free bus back to the hotel, in time for a cuppa and a wee biscuit.

Currently the weather forecast suggests full sun on Wednesday, so a trip to the mountains is potentially on. And for those concerned that my breakfast binge may have returned to haunt me, it was fine. I hit the sweet spot between not feeling bad and not feeling like I needed lunch.Read more