The Cube

Pre-travel
Breakdown of travel days and links to accommodations.


Belgium: Antwerp
Day 1: Lazing my day away in Antwerp before ending the night in Gent


Belgium: Gent
Day 2: Walkabout Gent before attending K&M's wedding
Day 3: Slept my day away but woke up for lunch and dinner... food is important.


Luxembourg / Germany
Day 4: A walk in the Grund and spending the night in a castle on Mosel.


Germany: Mosel
Day 5: First day in Cochem and a day trip to Beilstein
Day 6: Cabbing to Burg Eltz and hiking back
Day 7: The story book like Bernkastel-Kues and ended with Traben-Trarbach


Germany: Rhine
Day 8: On a Rhine River cruise from Boppard to Bacharach
Day 9: Day trip to St Goar, Oberwesel and Koblenz


Germany: Heidelberg
Day 10: A 'stopover' at Heidelberg


Germany: Black Forest
Day 11: First stop in Black Forest - Gutach
Day 12: Charming towns in Black Forest - Alpirsbach, Schiltach and Triberg
Day 13: Another amazing town in Black Forest - Gengenbach
Day 14: Unfruitful commute to Baden-Baden and Germany's sunniest city, Freiburg
Day 15: The two lakes around Black Forest - Titisee and Schluchsee


France: Alsace
Day 16: Enjoying the beautiful Colmar
Day 17: Riquewihr, Hunawihr and Ribeauvillé on the Route des Vins d'Alsace
Day 18: Strasbourg on a Sunday


Switzerland
Day 19: Luzern in a day
Day 20: Classic Rigi Round Trip and travelling to Gimmelwald
Day 21: Jungfraujoch, the top of Europe
Day 22: Gimmelwald, Mürren and Lauterbrunnen plus Zermatt
[Note: Gimmelwald, Mürren and Lauterbrunnen were done across day 20 to day 22]
Day 23: Last day in Zürich plus Rheinfall



Side note: Hey Europe, thank you for being awesome. May we meet again soon. :)

Initially I had the bright idea of crossing the border to get to Liechtenstein for half a day and spend the remaining half in Zurich. I don't have any other days left as I fly out the next morning. After much googling and checking on train connections, it proved a little too time consuming and hectic to execute. I would most probably ended up be too tired and not see any of Zürich. On top of that, I actually had to take a train at 6 am which means getting up way before that. I guessed it was probably too ambitious of a plan. Hahaha.


In lieu of the ambitious plan, I "settled" on Rheinfall, perhaps also to compensate on sitting out on Triberg Falls and the on in Gimmelwald. Rheinfall was stunning and most likely higher than both of the falls that I didn't get to see. It was a much more relaxing trip of taking the train to Neuhausen Rheinfall and out from Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall. Both stations are near the falls.



There were a few different companies offering services to get nearer to the falls, including a stop at the tall rock in the middle of the falls. I walked around the waterfalls to the back as that would also bring me back to a train station.


The walk involves some steps climbing, these were pretty mild actually and along the way to the train station, I was rewarded with more waterfall views.


After departing Rheinfall, I headed to Zürich. I mostly walked around the old town area and found myself at the Lindenhof square. It was fairly quiet at mid afternoon but someone was playing the giant chess set.



From this square, it gives a nice view across the river towards Niederdorf.


Walking down from Lindenhof, I walked pass St. Peter Church, the one with a large clock face.


From there I walked to Fraumünster church and visited this church which was famous for its glass windows. The choir of the abbey includes 5 large stained glass windows designed by artist Marc Chagall and installed in 1970. Photography is not permitted in the church, so I didn't take any.


After that I just continued my slow stroll down the river.


It was my last night of my holiday. I tried to at least have a good sit down dinner at each place and given Switzerland's expensive living expenses I haven't had any but as it would be my last meal, I walked in to a random restaurant and had an early dinner. I had my dinner at Zeughauskeller and ordered Kalbsgeschnetzeltes nach Zürcher Art (panfried sliced veal and mushrooms in creamy white wine sauce) served with potato rosti.



It was pretty good but with the money I paid for it I really wished it was much more sensational... because it was fr. 36.50. Oh well, it was Zürich.

Since I had a good meal, might as well go all the way and get some dessert too. I'm terrible I know, have no self control over food. I bought some Luxemburgerli from Sprüngli. Luxemburgerli is a mini version of macaron but more airy.


I didn't stay in Zürich city but near to Zürich Oerlikon station, it is about 10 minutes train ride from Zürich and also about 10 minutes train ride from the airport, of course depending on which train you jumped on. It makes the accommodation ended up much cheaper as well. Courtyard by Marriott Zurich North was excellent. Grin.




Side note: Next public holiday would be the Melbourne Cup in November. 

On the day I visited Zermatt, I had already shifted from Gimmelwald to Interlaken, which meant that my holiday was coming to an end soon. Zermatt because I wanted to see Matterhorn, yes, the symbol on the chocolate brand, Toblerone. Grin.

As I have gone up Jungfraujoch the day before, I stayed around in Zermatt. Most of the trains in Switzerland come with huge window to maximise the view, pretty cool. :)





I did a walk around Zermatt and continued on towards Matterhorn. Whilst I didn't take the cable car up or even hike all the way it was a good walk.


It was pretty much rest and relax. Usual meals were from supermarket but I treated myself to some good Swiss praline from Läderach.


Oh I've also found the cheapest Lindt chocolate in Zermatt, not sure if coincidentally on sale when I was there but the Lindt shop retail price in Zermatt where even cheaper than supermarket price. Of course being on "home ground" there were much more options on offer.


Then I was back to Interlaken to call it a night.


Side note: Oik, I forgot tomato sauce for my sweet and sour pork dish.. haha

Gimmelwald was my base in Bernese Oberland area. This little village is so small that the nearest Coop shop is in Mürren. It sounded pretty glamorous to say that I needed to take a cable car to do my grocery shopping but that was how it was. There is a little shop that sell cheese, dried sausages, beef jerky, eggs, etc but a proper grocery shopping is in Mürren.


I stayed in Gimmelwald Mountain Hostel for 2 nights. Initially I planned to stay for 3 nights but I wanted to shave an hour off my commuting time to make it possible to get to Liechtenstein though it didn't happen and I ended up spending my last day in Zurich. Anyway, instead of the 3 nights, I moved 1 night to Interlaken due to convenience of transportation. Even though I am ok staying in hostel room I tried to pick the ones with lesser people in one room. The girls only dorm fits 16 person in a room, so I picked the family room which has 3 bunks beds, accommodating 6 pax. The location is great but I personally find it a little too intimate especially in the peak of summer when the hostel is full. There really isn't any quiet nook in the hostel because of the spaces vs human ratio. Err but of course, I admit my "anti-social" streak is quite strong.


I wandered around the village and attempted to do a walk to see a waterfall, Chilchbalm (Talkessel mit Wasserfällen). I said attempt because I didn't manage to get there, I wonder if I have missed a turn or completely off the grid but despite indication of less than 1 hour on the walking map, I didn't reach the destination. I did however made it to the Schiltbach (Schlucht mit Wasserfällen) and parts of the stream.



Gimmelwald is only one cable car station away from Mürren so I was in Mürren pretty often.


The vibes in Mürren is similar to Gimmelwald, serene and beautiful but slightly larger village. There were quite a few paragliders in the area. I bet view from the air is spectacular. I met a pilot who does paragliding as a hobby who urge me to consider trying my hands on it. I might, one day but maybe when I wasn't alone in a foreign country when I have zero experience. Don't trust myself to handle it properly. :P


I have initially wanted to do an easy short trail in Mürren but after spending extra time on the train the day before, I was little short on time. Haha. The comment of "difficulty: easy" and duration of 1 h 30 min was quite tempting and definitely feels doable. Well, that was what was listed in the guide pamphlet given to me when I checked in to the hostel.

1. Mürren - Blumental - Allmendhubel
Difficulty: easy
Time: 1 h 30 min., Difference in altitude: +269 m
2. Mürren - Winteregg-Grütschalp
Difficulty: easy
Time: 1 h 30 min., Difference in altitude: -152 m

I did, however, found a little shop that sells some postcards and magnets that are slightly cheaper comparatively to what I saw elsewhere. Note only by comparison because they are still expensive.


If you noticed the reflection on the above photo, that's because I took them from the cable car. A lot of my Lauterbrunnen view were from the cable car. Haha.


Lauterbrunnen is nestled deep in the valley of 72 waterfalls. After getting out of the Lauterbrunnen train station, one would already noticed some of the waterfalls, especially Staubbach Falls.





Side note: Do you know that Bern is the capital city of Switzerland?