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I enjoyed reading your four trips reports. You’ve been visiting wonderful places and you have given us great insights into Swiss hospitality. Thank you.
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You are welcome, Chantal. I could never have put together such an awesome itinerary without Myswissalps.com and all the contributors!
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Loved reading your posts. It will help us a lot to plan our upcoming trip to switzerland
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Thank you, shuchirumit. We visited a lot of cities but we did not find it rushed at all. There are some cities like Lucerne where you just have to stay for a few nights because there is so much to do in the area.
Hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did!
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Hi Pickergal
I have really enjoyed reading all your reports and seeing your photographs.
It was a very emotional trip for you indeed and so glad you enjoyed your family time! We have no family ties at all with Switzerland but after our first trip we just felt we had to keep going back again and now after so many holidays there it feels like “home from home” to us. I loved your idea of taking photos of Max for your grandchildren – very clever!
Doing your research before your trip certainly paid dividends for you – even though we know the country so well now, I still do research to find out whether there is anything special or unusual happening during our time there (that’s how I found out about a vintage car rally being held in Adelboden last year.
It is a good point you make about checking before you leave a train or restaurant – we have on more than one occasion left behind a hat/ spectacles/ backpack and had to retrieve them. The Swiss must be used to us careless tourists as they are so good at helping to reunite us with our belongings! We have also found that they are incredibly kind and helpful. We were invited by our apartment hosts in Thun to share a meal with them on several occasions and the lady who owns the apartment we rented in Uetendorf last year came to collect us from the station in Thun to drive us to the apartment and later took us back to Thun to drop off our heavy luggage before we left for home. She also brought us home-made fruit tarts and told us to help ourselves to fruit and salad vegetables from her garden.
You seem to have done quite a few things that are still on our wish list! Witnessing an alpine descent is one of them. We have enjoyed August 1st parades in Interlaken a few times but this year our holiday will be in September so I am going to look for an alpine descent in our vicinity. Also on my wish list is the Stanserhorn Calibrio. And Vevey and the vineyards – perhaps they were just closed because it was a Monday – we have found a few castles and museums close or have half-days on Mondays.
We are heading to Lugano for a week in June as well. We cope pretty well with German and French but Italian could be a bit of a problem for us too! All the more reason to research that visit comprehensively before we go!
Glad you enjoyed your panoramic train trips – you did well to fit them all into your itinerary. Also pleased you managed to see a bit of the Matterhorn at least! We have seen it almost covered in cloud but luckily also on a sunny day! We had a standing joke that when I looked up weather forecast for Zermatt I frequently had to say “guess what – it’s raining in Zermatt!”
Thank you for all the helpful tips and comments in your reports – they will surely help others in the same way the forum helped you. Hope you do manage a return trip.
Maggie
PS Barley soup is one of my favourite Swiss dishes!
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Hi maggiehorswell,
Thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments. It sounds to me like we really like the same things. I can relate to your comments about the bucket list. There is just too much to do to accomplish it all and the one thing we weren’t going to do was try to fit it all in and then not enjoy the activities we were doing because we were rushing through them. We will definitely make it back to Switzerland. Probably sooner, rather than later. I would like to hear about your next trip and whether you fit your bucket list items into the itinerary.
Pleasant travels!
Michelle
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Hi Michelle,
Just finished reading your great set of reports. They brought back wonderful memories as we did a similar trip (in reverse) last June.
I wish we had the foresight to book the front row seats on the Bernina bus.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. I’ve noted a few hotels and eateries for our next trip. Barley Soup is right up there. And Kirsch! 😎
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rockoyster,
You can’t go wrong with either one!!!!!
Michelle
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I’ve become addicted to all forms of schnapps/obstler after a heavy meal of Swiss fondue or pasta now! I don’t know how I lived without it.
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Leave it to the Swiss to show us everything we’ve missed out on in life!
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Hi Pickergal, just finished reading your posts, what a wonderful holiday you had 😀
I know how you feel, I was planning a ‘next trip’ on our flight home…
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Adelaidean,
Somehow this board makes me feel like we are all family since we have all had the pleasure of experiencing Switzerland!
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“Somehow this board makes me feel like we are all family” ….
That’s such a nice way to put it, pickergal, how lovely it is that strangers help each other and get satisfaction out of each other’s joy.
And Switzerland is so wonderful, it is addictive. I like reading other people’s reports and their reactions to their experiences.
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What a great way to wrap up your trip! (Shame about your husband being a little unwell though.)
I do hope you have the chance to bring the whole family with you on another trip!
Alpenrose
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Thank you Alpenrose666 for your nice comments. We will definitely go back soon and only time will tell if the whole family is with us!
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Hello Pickergal (Michelle),
Thank you very much for sharing your post trip part 1 to 4. I read all 🙂
I’d be staying 3 nights near Grindelwald Grund station this September and would like to include the easy hike from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, as mentioned by you.
May I ask, did you purchase your tickets for Jungfraujoch + return tickets when at Kleine Scheidegg station counter? or via http://www.jungfrau.ch? How many hours at Jungfraujoch would you recommend before taking the return train down to Kleine Scheidegg?
Thank you.
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May,
We purchased them at the Kleine Scheidegg station counter. We walked right up; there was no wait. I thought this was easier because they knew exactly what ticket we needed. Plus, when you buy them online in advance, the weather may not cooperate. We spent quite a bit of time on top of Jungfraujoch; at least three hours. There are many attractions to look at and the view is worth the time!
Also, when you arrive back down in Kleine Scheidegg, there are many workers there pointing you to the proper train to get back to your destination. No worries there.
Enjoy your trip! We cannot wait to go back!
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Thanks Michelle. I shall estimate enough 3-4 hours at Jungfraujoch, and rest of the half day stopping at few stations along my return train to Lauterbrunnen (have checked with myswitzerland.com that I may do so for a single return ticket)…then back hostel at Grindelwald Grund. Just hope the weather would be favourable. If not my luck of dry weather during my 4 days in Jungfrau region, I shall return from Bern (my next base of 5 nights) 😀