A Trip to Switzerland

The humans and I took a trip to Switzerland last week.

We took the Eurostar to Paris, then another train on to our first destination - Lucern.



The city has water running through and around it, with this lovely wooden chapel bridge making a centrepiece.

It also has a section of old city wall atop the hill in the centre of the city, punctuated with nine towers along its length.



Just when we thought we had reached the top of the city, there was still more up, but eventually we made it and enjoyed this lovely view.



The next day started out on an intercity train, which had a fun play area to entertain children on long journeys. It proved quite popular.



Then we boarded the reason for the entire trip - the Glacier Express.



We travelled in style, enjoying the range of view afforded by the huge, panoramic windows.



After a long section of tunnel, we came out on the highest part of the journey and suddenly were surrounded by snow.



This friendly chap was ready to welcome us to Zermatt.



Not all the residents of Zermatt were so welcoming, however...



The "high point" of Zermatt (ahem) was, of course, the Matterhorn.



We took a 45 minute cable car ride up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise - I was quite proud of my human, for doing so, since she's not really fond of heights.



These fellows suggested I might be a bit unprepared to venture out on the mountain.



It was well worth braving the cable car and the cold for the view, though!



Even though we were at an altitude of 3800 metres, there were still plenty of higher peaks around us.



We thought the Glacier Express would be the highlight of the trip, but we had a pleasant surprise in Montreux when we boarded the Golden Line train.



Inside, it was all padded seats and wood panelling - very fancy!



There was a posh lamp on every table, which provided the only light when we went through a tunnel. But the real attraction was the amazing scenery that went past throughout the two hour trip - so green!



We arrived in Bern, the city of bears!

There were armoured bears...



Tightrope walking bears...



Lumbering bears...



And many more.

There were also fantastic views - Bern turned out to be very pretty, and we saw it from several different levels.



We had an extra day at the end of the week, and open travel tickets, so we took the boat to Interlaken, which also proved to be very picturesque.



We ended our holiday with an idyllic walk along the river in Interlaken.



Sun and snow, trains and boats, mountains and lakes - Switzerland exceeded expectations and we will definitely be going back one day.