Trip 43

September 22,2023

We left Lauterbrunnen on the 8am train to Interlaken, then a 9am train to Bern, then with a 12 minute gap, boarded the TGV Lyria from Geneva to Paris Gare-de-Lyon, arriving at 3:40pm. So altogether, about 7 1/2 hours’ of train. The two morning trains were not crowded, but the train from Geneva to Paris was packed. Never enough luggage storage, but when passengers try to leave their luggage in the aisle or in the seating area, it’s unpleasant.

Leaving the hotel in Lauterbrunnen , it was a little drizzly, but it’s a ten minute walk to the station, so we’re just a little damp.

Traveling through the valley, the clouds have descended below the mountains’ peaks, so they sort of float in between the ground and midway up the mountains and you can see the mountain peaks jut above the clouds; the clouds mostly clear out after Interlaken.

The train out of Interlaken (to Bern) passed by Lake Thun, which is somewhat larger than Brienz. Interlaken (between two the lakes Thun and Brienz) had half dozen hang gliders up at 9 am even though it’s a cloudy (but no rain here) day.

The train into Interlaken is on time, which is good because we don’t have more than 12 minutes in Bern to catch the train to Geneva. We’ve visited Bern before, though it’s been a number of years and BB (before blog); we’ve never visited Geneva (and 12 minutes doesn’t count). We had only enough time changing tracks to buy something for lunch on the train.

There’s a lot of farmland between Bern and Geneva and the is definitely rolling/hilly, rather than mountainous, though you can see mountains in the distance.

The segment where we pass though Lausanne is where we have the clearest view of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman). Though Geneva is in Switzerland, the route we walked though the station for this train (which goes into France) took us though an area where, it seemed, there would be passport control, though there was none. In fact, the only time we’ve had to show our passports wasn’t when crossing borders, but when a conductor in Switzerland was checking our discount train tickets and wanted to check our names, not nationality.

The Lyria is a TGV (Train de Gran Vitesse – high speed train) and though it didn’t reach high speeds for about an hour, once it cleared the small cities, it reached 295 km/h (183 mph).

Arrival in Paris Gare-de-Lyon was right on time.

We still had some segments left on our Navigo Easy pass, but decided to top up with a carnet’s worth (10 tickets) in the station using the automated terminal.

We’re staying in a different hotel than has been our custom, trying some different locations to see if there’s one that’s better. It’s a bit unfair to judge our one experience here (though we will) as with the UEFA rugby (World Cup) matches going on, and it being fashion week, the better hotels are full. Nevertheless, though the hotel is nice enough, don’t plan on returning.