DS

Oh my Lauterbrunnen 😍!

Grindelwald is a complete flop. Yet to see the sun in the famed town lol. Luckily weather down in valley a train ride away is gorgeous! This is one place I will never recommend anyone visit except as part of day trip. I am sure it’s popular in winter, but as a summer destination it just sucks.

Second day we found a shortcut to get to our hotel that cuts our incline from 65% to 55% and I will take it. I am kidding of course about % but my goodness the walk to the hotel from the train station is just leg breaking cardio exercise.

The most boorish and worst behaved tourists I am seeing everywhere here: Indians.

The Swiss infrastructure though is mind boggling good. There is a reason why this area is so popular - you can access almost anywhere by train,bus, furnicular or gondola. This makes the area so accessible anyone of any age can really soak the beauty in. I am in awe of their public transport options allright!

So far feeling underwhelmed in Switzerland. I think Lauterbrunnen will probably hit the spot but having done Banff and Jasper in past can’t help feeling Banff/Jasper are both superior to this, so far. I am ready to change my mind in next few days though.

And the miserable wretched rain has followed us into Switzerland. All through the weather was looking gorgeous only to change yesterday and now it’s raining and gloomy - just the kind of weather I absolutely hate. Ugh! Second time in alps and seems like this is normal.

We had no idea and it turns out the day we came to Switzerland is also their Swiss national day. So lots of celebrations around the small village however we headed back coz of the insanely steep hill we have to climb to get back to hotel. I regret my hotel decision so badly it’s not funny. I knew my gut was telling me not to book this place lol. Oh well lots of cardio for next few days I suppose.

The public transportation is so good in Paris that in spite of being in a packed stadium, we were back in our hotel on other end of town in less than 45 mins. I am hard pressed to believe that even LA can pull this off in 2028. Plus it’s hard to see how LA even is going to top the grandeur of Paris setting.

What an insane night at Olympics swimming finals last night. Lucked out with great races. First Katie Ledecky with her complete dominance of 1500m freestyle that she created yet another Olympic record for. Then, Pan Zhanle’s world record 100m free style. But the best part was the double win by the local boy Leon Marchand with 200m butterfly AND 200m breast gold!! Nothing beats energy in stadium than host country winning. What a night to be at Olympics ooof! Easily the best night of the vacay so far! So glad we could see all of these live!

Absolutely stunning race by Leon Marchand and complete dominance by Katie Ledecky! The atmosphere in this stadium is absolutely electric and thrilling. Watching Olympic finals is an experience of a lifetime!

It’s magical - practically everyone in this city speaks great English now. Whether it’s the train ticket agent or a bakery or restaurant or a volunteer at the games - it’s like someone told the French to be at their best behavior in these Olympics and just converse in English if they see someone not speaking French. Compared to two years ago we had so much trouble even with a French speaker in our group 😆. Dear French, just be like this all the time please!