The rain is back in Lausanne.Aftera brief run to the Lake and back we made our way to the station to catch  the train for Bern,the capital city of Switzerland. We travelled for an hour from Lausanne to Bern through scenery that is spectacular; lots of wineries, and small villages and the closer we got to Bern the more the houses started looking German.The rail stations here are enormous(more like our airports).We must have walked out the quiet side of the station. A guy in the Swiss equivalent of a Khatmandu store explained to us the setup of the country and that there are 4 official languages. Clearly Bern is part of the 60-70% German area and we had come from the French part.He said you have to speak French when you go to the French area and you have speak French to them when they come to the German area ! The city seems to be built on two levels , one down at river level which seemed to be rather quiet , with a few quaint cafes /bars and odd bakery – maybe it was quiet cause it was Saturday. The river flows fast. We bought some bread and cheese from one of the small bakeries and had lunch in picnic area near one of the drinking fountains – you find these all over Switzerland – maybe ex Roman Europe. After climbing back to the upper level of town and found the main shopping area , which is cobblestone lined and full of old buildings. Our purchase – a watch – what else in the land of time. One of the things you can be sure of in Switzerland is if you step onto a pedestrian crossing , or near it , the cars will stop.

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From Bern it was another rail trip to Grindenwald via Interlaken Ost . This trip takes you along side a lake with spectacular views. There was a regatta of the lake , I presume a championship for a keelboat one design class as they all looked like similar rigs but clearly to big to be a dinghy class. The train winds to between the the two lakes in the region – I guess that’s why it is called Interlaken. After a quick stop at the Coop supermarket we boarded the train for Grindenwald. The train climbs at a surprising pace and you arrive in this alpine village which is a bit like Hotham or steroids . It was a bit tricky trying to find our Chaket from the maps at information especially as they put most of the maps upside down ! – > with the alps in the south  at the top . After directions from several locals we finally arrived at our destination with views of the Eiger and the Jungfrau from our rooms windows. ( And great news on the telly about Cadel)