I recently got home from an amazing trip in Switzerland. The highlight of my trip was The Great St. Bernard Pass, which is one of the most popular Alp passes in Switzerland.
My trip started early morning at Oslo Airport Gardermoen. The 2.5 hour long flight to Switzerland was like a dream as I had a window seat, they were serving great food and some wine onboard 🙂 Can`t ask for more!
The first thing that hit me was the local`s friendliness upon arrival. People were greeting each other as soon as they looked at each other, without having met before. This is something we certainly don`t do back home in Norway. It`s almost like the opposite. You hardly even know your neighbours after several years in Norway 😛 No kidding…
I have to admit that it was not easy to find the train station at the airport. It was probably me 🙂 I managed to find it with the help of a local butcher at the end…long story and that`s another story, if you know what I mean 😉 Finally I was on my way to Oppligen, which is a small village in the mountains. I found that the scenery we saw on the way through the window of the train looked very much the same like in Norway. My first thought was that I might as well just go home?! Then we stopped at the first train station in the middle of a small Swiss town and I noticed that the architecture was completely different. The buildings had that typical Swiss look all over the place. Very interesting indeed! So I decided to stay…
Some of my family members picked me up from Oppligen train station, and drove me to my accommodation for a week. I quickly placed my luggage in my room and off we went! My first destination was Thun. Thun is a middle size city close to where I was staying. Every new place I go to makes me feel a certain way. It must have something to do with the energy in it. This town gave me the “cozy” town impression with some amazing nature around it. I mean, come on…we saw the Alps no matter where we turned. No need to say more. You get the picture, right?!
I just can`t wait to share some pictures with you guys! I captured an overview of Thun from the distance, surrounded by the Apls and the farms. The city centre is located in the middle of a stunning valley.
On the picture bellow you can see as I am standing in front of Thunersee, which is a lake with crystal clear water all year round. The view was pretty dramatic there. I experienced some amazing energy around me while I was standing there, in order to capture all the beauty and impressions of nature, both with my mind and my camera 🙂 I can in fact say that I experienced an aha moment there and then. For some reason I also felt extremely relaxed and calm after having been to this place.
We then continued our journey to the mountains around Thun. You can see the lake called Thunersee in the background. It wasn`t possible to go all the way down to the water from here as we were practically on top of a cliff. Anyhow this place had a breathtaking view. I recommend to stop here on your journey, if you get a chance.
There is also a river dividing Thun into two parts. You can see this on the picture bellow (kodak moment). This river is running into the Thunersee lake. The water of the river was so clear, that you could see all the way down to the bottom of it. Those buildings on the picture bellow had some great souvenir shops and restaurants located in the city centre. I had a clear understanding of the culinary customs of Switzerland as soon as I entered one of the local restaurants. It`s really popular with cheeseplates full of cheese, that has a strong taste and meat on the side, most of which were produced locally. Bon appetit or Guten Appetit, my friends!
We enjoyed our dinner in Thun. Then we returned back to Oppligen and I went straight to bed as it was already dark outside and I was feeling exhausted of all the travelling and new experiences, not to mention the extremely clear mountain air, which has the tendency to make us tired. Good night! ZZZzzz….
By the way this was a short description of DAY 1 of my stay in Switzerland. Stay tuned in as I will be sharing with you the details of my daytrip to The Great St. Bernard Pass as my next blog post. Travel on folks! 🙂
