Our breakfast the next morning was included with our room and was huge! Some of the other guests were asking us about our bikes in the kitchen and where we had been/where we were going. There were a lot of roadies staying in the hotel and it must be a very good region to tour. We were very happy as we set out for Martigny.







The ride was pretty flat for a change and followed the river on a little path. We passed through some great little towns. Check out this art display in some tiny little town we passed through! It an’t no joke yo! So you can take a pen, and write yourself a little note so you don't forget again.



We rolled into Martigny pretty tired nevertheless.





This officially marked the second part of our journey. We picked up our extra duffel bag and took the Mt. Blanc Express to Chamonix, France. The train ride is awesome in itself!!!

The next morning we decided to do a chill ride and took the waterfront path all day.








Freddy Mercury!



We stopped and took several pictures, looked through the little sidewalk market in Montreaux, and wandered upon the Castel de Chillion. This is a bit touristy, but we paid our 5 francs to go inside and look around. It’s really amazing inside. The rock on which Chillion stands was oocupied by men of the Bronze age and later by the Romans. Bonivard’s Prison is still intact. Bonivard , prior of St. Victor’s Geneva remained chained for 4 years because he was in favor of the independence of Geneva. He was freed by the Swiss in 1536 and immortalized by the poet Byron.

















Back on our bikes, we continued down the coast where I could see tons of Red Bull banners and lots of people congregated. As we got closer I saw the banners for Vertigo. It was an acrobatic hangliding competition. I’d never seen anything like it so we bought our daily loaf of bread, hunk of cheese, and chocolate bar and sat down to watch. It was a spectacular show, even though I didn’t understand much of what the announcer was saying. We watched for about an hour and then headed on our way.






It was a great ride along some back dirt roads and a series of bike paths before we got to Aigle. We originally had planned to ride up to Leysin so I called for reservations at the hostel before we climbed up the mountain. The guy was delighted that my name was Heidi! “Heidi like from the Alps?” he asked me.



After reconsulting the map though, Derek decided he didn’t want to ride all the way up to Leysin for the night, so we found a hotel that let us stash our bikes in the kitchen! We walked up to a castle and winery, took some pictures, wandered the streets, and ended up at a very good little Italian restaurant for dinner and plenty of sangria with local wine.











Another good day, only one more to go in Switzerland..

The next morning after our traditional breakfast of pastries and coffee, we set out for Interlaken again.




It was stormy looking weather and we got rained on several times along the way. Once back in Interlaken we made a decision to take the train to Bern, Fribourg, and then Vevey where we would stay for the night. Good thing, because it rained HARD all the way there.
Bern…it is the capital of Switzerland and it was a zoo of people. After spending the last few days in quiet, car free little villages I was uncomfortable around all the people and traffic. The sites were enough to make us push on and do some looking around for a couple hours.













When it started pouring down rain, we hopped back on the train for Fribourg. I really liked this city and it was much less packed with tourists.













Mmmmm beer. Is there anything it can’t do?




What in hell’s name is this SUPPOSED to look like?




Another train ride took us to Vevey. Vevey lies right on the lake and is a great little community. It was warm, sunny and very charming.



We strolled the streets, had some beers, and enjoyed ourselves.





The hostel we stayed at was very nice, but some of the people that shared our room were ridiculous. One of them set their alarm for 5am, then got up and rusteled through grocery shopping bags for a full 30 minutes, left, and then came back in an hour and did it all over again. Thank god for ear plugs, they helped me sleep pretty well our whole trip.

The next day was going to be a mellow ride day after our monster climbing route the day before, but we woke to perfectly clear skies with views of the Jungfrau mountains that we couldn't resist. So we consulted our maps and picked a route out that would take us up to Klein Sheidegg. The ride to Grindelwald was challenging in itself. The path kept leading us up and down, up and down.

We had our customary bread and cheese for lunch, then set off for the real ride. That afternoon we climbed forever. It was essentially 3000'+ of climbing over roughly 7.5 miles. I am proud to say that the I think I only walked one little waterbar section and that I did indeed ride all of the last section on the graph WITH my backpack and rack and heavy bike. I thought I would die at the top, but obviously I am still alive since I'm writing this.

This graph shows our after lunch ride to the top.













These horses actually came down the hillside to check us out. They were very friendly...walked right up to me and were sniffing my bike rack.



Here is the entire Jungfrau mountain range. The top of Europe.



At the top we had the goats to contend with. They came flocking around us, trying to steal the peanut round cookies from Derek's bike rack! I guarded those with my life!




The singeltrack down from Klein Sheidegg is amazing. It criss cross a wider path that goes down to Wengen as well.



Wengen is another walking town. It sits opposite Murren across the Lauterbrunnen Valley. So, we rode all day long in a giant circle, only to be across on the other hill from Murren. Accessible only by cable car from Lauterbrunnen (or walking or cycling) - it is traffic free and well known for its pure mountain air and known for being the home of the International Lauberhorn Downhill ski race.





We ended our day with a giant Italian feast and rested our weary legs. At the hostel, the owner gave us a nice big double room for the same price as a dorm bed since she wasn't busy. We even stored our bikes in the dining room. NICE!