Our European Anniversary Trip - Interlaken Switzerland

Even without Google Maps, we followed the signs to Interlaken but we had no idea how to find our hotel.  I had the street name but it was getting dark and I was starting to panic.  I told Greg, we are going to have to sleep in the car!!  He stopped at another hotel and asked someone inside, who gave him a paper map and it turns out we were very close.  We had gone down the same road, but instead of turning right, we turned left.  We found the hotel and got checked in.  A little later we went downstairs to get a beer, but the bar and restaurant were closed.  There was someone in the restaurant and he had another person get some beers for us.  We sat in the lounge area and had a nice conversation with her.  

The lantern behind made the beer look green!

I don't remember how, where, what, when or why, but I was able to interpret the text message we got from O2, the cell provider in Prague by copying the message in to Google.  Well, it turns out that our service was not going to work in Switzerland as they are not part of the European Union and our SIM cards were only good for those IN the European Union (complicated to me).  We were very lucky they worked as long as they did.  Greg communicated with them through Facebook asking for a credit and we thought the issue was resolved, but then they told him there was a miscommunication and we should have read the fine print in the terms and conditions (we didn't get the terms and conditions and if we did, we don't read Czech).  It was a mute point, they weren't going to relent.  

The next three days we had nothing planned so our mission was to find a place that sold SIM cards.  Greg did his research and found a grocery store called Aldi.  The lady at the reception called and they did have them so she told us how to get there by taking a bus and at what stop to get off.  Our bus adventure began.

The bus station (Interlaken Ost) was maybe a 5-7 minute walk from our hotel.  We got on the bus and started our journey.  We saw where we wanted to get off, but the driver didn't stop.  Well, our mistake was that we didn't know that you have to push a button on the bus if you want to stop at a location, you don't just tell the driver "stop the bus"!  So we ended up going on a long bus ride and I finally asked the driver about Aldi and he misunderstood me thinking I wanted to get off in a town that sounded similar.  A nice lady understood what I meant and she told him where we wanted to get off and at the stop, we did.  

We walked in the store and looked all around and didn't see anything electronic or phone related.  Finally, we asked someone who worked there and he said yes, they have SIM cards but it would take 2-3 days to activate!!  Fortunately, he told us of a place in Interlaken that would have them and gave us bus directions on how to get there.  I told Greg let's just go back to the hotel, ask the reception person to call them and see if they could be activated immediately.  

The people at the reception desk were always so nice and accommodating.  The lady called and was told yes, they have the SIM cards and could be activated immediately, so we began our 20 minute walk to get them.  

It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and the weather was very nice, in the 50s maybe.  Coming up to a park we noticed paragliders landing and then discovered they were launching close and landing in the park.  We stopped and watched a while, it was really cool to see them land.

We finally made it to our destination and got our SIM cards.  Before we left the store, I made sure everything was working and it was.  We ended up paying double what we did in Prague but we had no choice.  We were back in business (thankfully).

By then we were hungry and Greg spotted this food trailer by the Interlaken West train station.  He got us hamburgers and chips, it was good!

After that, I felt so much better, it was time to decompress since were were spending a good amount of time here.  We had excursions planned but not in the next couple of days.  Time to relax (and for poor Greg not to have to listen to me worry or panic!).  

The flowers and plants along the walkway to the park were beautiful.  Our hotel was very nice and we had a balcony that we could enjoy sitting out on and watching people go by.  It was fairly quiet where we were.  

Unfortunately, there was some construction on the street going on in front but the noise wasn't too bad.  

View from our balcony

When was the last time you actually used a key to get in to your hotel room?  It was heavy too.  But we would leave it at the desk when we left (at their request) and didn't have to haul it around.  We also had to lock ourselves IN the room at night.  

Lounge area/entrance to restaurant

Lounge area

Lobby

We didn't have anything scheduled until October 6.  Good night!