Europe 2019 - Day 5 (Part 2)

11 May 2019, Saturday 

The scenery even on the way to the Alps was really beautiful. On the way to the railway station we passed by (unfortunately not through) the village of Meiringen where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stayed off and on, and the famous Reichenbach Falls where the lovely Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty fall to their death. So exciting to be so close to the place I read about in fiction! We had to change trains at Kleine Scheidegg station and another train later we were at the top of Europe. It is minus 7 degrees Celsius up here (!!!).

The attractions up here are the Spinx Terrace (3,571 metres) which serves as an astronomical observatory, but the terrace is open to the public where you can see the Aletsch Glacier which is the longest glacier in Europe at 22 km. Unfortunately it was snowing and very windy, so we couldn’t see anything much except experience falling snow and the chilly cold.

There was also the Alpine Sensation which portrayed the history of the construction of the railway, the Ice Palace which consists of niches, passageways and sculptors (including one of Charlie Chaplin) made entirely out of ice. The floor was very slippery so I walked really slowly; an ice cave and a plateau where again I experienced snow fall in all its cold glory. 

There were so many tourists at the Alps, mostly groups from India and I must say, they are just as bad as the Chinese tourists - loud, inconsiderate, selfish, pushing their way in etc etc. This is the part of travelling that really irritates me - other tourists behaving badly and therefore giving all tourists a bad name.

Anyway, then we made our way down again, first by train and then by bus and we finally reached Zurich at about 8 p.m. We made our way back to the apartment but before that we stopped at a grocery store to get a beer, and when it was my turn to pay for my beer, the shop keeper said something to me in German which of course I don’t understand. I thought I didn’t have enough change so I was checking my coin but then the gentleman behind me who could speak English said he wanted to see my ID. My ID? said I. And the gentleman said yes, he needs to check if I’m underaged because I’m buying alcohol.

Underaged!!! To be thought to be underaged at my age is a huge flattery. The shop keeper was serious, this was not a joke. So I had to show him my passport and both he and the gentleman behind me were in shock seeing my year of birth. Luckily I have my friend who witnessed the whole thing, otherwise nobody will believe this story. My friend is understandably jealous (evil grin).

Then back to apartment and out of the cold, shower, beer and then of course the most irritating thing had to happen. My period came.