Switzerland, 2022
On April 28th, my boyfriend, Cosmo, and I embarked on a trip to Europe. By the end of this trip we will have visited three new countries: Switzerland, Italy, and Greece. Cosmo had about a month between finishing college and starting work, he wanted to travel and I wanted to join. Neither of us had been to these countries before, so everything is new! I will be sharing my journal entries in three different parts, here is part one, Switzerland (April 28th-May 4th).
Day One: The Worst Part About Traveling is Traveling
After a late night, our alarm went off at 3:30 am Eastern Time. We were flying out of the Marquette, Michigan airport at about 7 am, so we needed to leave the apartment in Houghton by 4. I drove the two hours to the airport on little sleep, but was fueled by two espresso drinks. We left a few minutes later than anticipated but were able to get there in time. I had to get my boarding pass and the man at the counter said we should have gotten there earlier as I wasn't checked in and they like earlier check ins for international flights. This didn't end up being an issue as my passport scanned on the first try.
Due to the narrow aisles, airlines use a separate wheelchair when boarding. This also means we get to board first for adequate space and time to get to our seats. It was a short flight, an hour and a half or so. I didn’t sleep, just read a bit of Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. When we landed in Chicago, we had about 2 hours before our next flight. Cosmo got me a breakfast sandwich with egg and bacon, and a smoothie for himself. Then we headed to board our next flight to Philadelphia. Again, we boarded the flight first. If I recall correctly, I just read on this flight as well, possibly slept for a few minutes.
We then arrived in Philadelphia and had a 7-hour layover. Cosmo bought us passes for the American Airlines Admirals club, basically a fancier waiting area. They had comfier chairs, complementary food and drinks, wifi, etc. Most of the people there were businessmen and women. We spoke to a few because Cosmo initiated conversation (not a skill of mine). The first was a couple that had been married for almost 50 years. The woman said that she had moved to the U.S. from Ireland and met her husband in the Airforce. When they left for their flight, another woman joined us named Marjan. She is a business engineer from Belgium. We talked a lot about the similarities and differences of high school and college programs between the US and Belgium, and gas prices. Then another person sat down by us, he had just gotten back from a conference where he discussed his research about finding where in DNA height is affected, not to change it, but to adequately check if children are growing healthily and otherwise to give them the proper hormones.
Marjan, Cosmo, and I then walked to our respective flights. She was heading to Antwerp, Amsterdam, we were headed to Zurich. We got to the boarding area, but they didn’t have the aisle chair ready, so we weren’t able to board first (had to board last). They ended up moving us closer to the front of the plane, but that meant we couldn’t sit next to each other. We both got aisle seats though, so that was a plus. I spent the 9 hours reading, watching tv, eating, and sleeping. Between these three flights, I was able to finish Born a Crime. It’s a good book that I’d recommend reading, its about comedian Trevor Noah’s early life in South Africa and how racism affected him and his family.
Normally I watch a movie on flights, but I opted for binge watching Brooklyn 99 instead. Actually, I only watched a few episodes because my tv kept shutting down. Our flight also had a feature where you could chat with others on the plane so I was able to give a virtual hello to Cosmo, a few rows away. The plane food was alright, I got pasta for dinner and yogurt for breakfast.
Tip: If you have a library card (which I hope you do), download Hoopla and/or Libby for access to a ton of Audiobooks and E-books. I use both frequently when traveling so that I don’t need to pack physical books. You can get a Kindle and send books from Libby to your Kindle.
Day Two: Our First Look at Switzerland
We landed at about 9 am on Friday, which is 3 am Eastern Time. So practically a full 24 hours of travel between the driving to the airport, flights, and layovers. We were the last ones to get off the plane, which was standard for all the flights. Usually the airline staff brings the wheelchair up to the gate, but this time they sent it to baggage claim. Not ideal for a few reasons. So Cosmo transferred to the cheap airport chair and we headed down to baggage claim. We were able to bypass the long check point line and have our passport scanned where the workers go in and out. The chair was there and in prime condition, it was just frustrating to not have it at the gate. After this was sorted out, we looked at transportation options to our hotel. The four main options to get anywhere in Switzerland are train, tram, bus, and taxi. We ended up buying the 24 hour pass and took a tram. To this day, I still don’t know what we were supposed to do with the ticket. We watched as others got on and off and never once saw them pull out a ticket or scan anything.
When we got off, we followed Google’s instructions, but were led astray as there was construction between us and the hotel entrance. We walked around looking like confused tourists with our luggage and all. Our hotel was kind of tucked in the middle of the block, but there was only one entrance on the far side. Eventually, we got to it and all was good. Check in was 3:00 but we decided to go early to see if we could at least drop off our bags. Our room was already available and we were able to check in at about noon.
The woman at the front desk was kind and talkative. I don’t remember catching her name, but she was from Hungary and had come here for a job. She also lived in Georgia for about a year for school. We talked about how Americans will drive many hours to travel with no issue. She said she took a 10 hour road trip when she was in the US, something that they don’t tend to do in Europe. I find that pretty funny considering I drove many, many hours while in my van.
Our room was pretty small but had a nice accessible bathroom. We were both exhausted from the day of travel, so we took a long nap. I usually try to avoid this as a way to adapt to the local time, but it was too tempting. After our nap we walked to a nearby Thai restaurant. The waitress didn’t speak any English so it was a bit challenging. I do know some German, but they actually speak Swiss German which is different in a lot of ways. I got sweet and sour chicken which was very tasty and Cosmo got a curry dish.
After dinner we caught a tram into the city. We got off in the city center and walked around pretty aimlessly- a trend you’ll notice throughout our whole trip. Being a Friday night, there was a lot going on. People out and about, a light show outside the Opera house, musicians playing by the river, and the bars and restaurants were busy. I felt a little insecure being there because of the language barrier and feeling like a tourist with my camera. Thankfully, this passed by the next day.
Tip: Many hotels will allow you to drop your luggage off before your check in time, or will hold onto it after check out. This allows you to explore the area more without needing to haul your stuff around the whole day.
Day Three: Full Day in Zurich
We slept in more than we planned, most likely due to the time difference. Then we got up, ate a bit of the snacks we had picked up and got ready for the day. We took the tram back towards the city center but Cosmo spotted a second hand store on the way so we hopped off. It was different than the second hand stores that I am used to in America because it was expensive. It was more of a vintage shop, still very nice and I’m glad he found it. I didn’t get anything but Cosmo found a high quality corduroy jacket. Based off the brand, it looks like it was made in London, but it has a few patches on the arm, one being the Swiss flag.
After the second hand store, we continued walking further into the city. We explored the Riverwalk area that is full of stores and restaurants. I stopped for a coffee at the Green Gorilla and ordered a vanilla latte. I tried to start my order by saying “I don’t speak German well” in German, but the cashier didn’t understand me. I repeated it in English and she responded saying that she didn’t speak German either. Which was fine, but made me question which language I should be trying to communicate with first. Regardless, I successfully got my coffee, thanked her, and headed on.
We continue walking and crossed the bridge to explore the other side of the river. We went into the church, it didn’t have super intricate details on the interior like a lot of churches in Europe, but it was simple and quiet. I looked around then sat at one of the pews and prayed for a little while. I told myself I would do that for any church that I visited, and have kept that promise thus far.
At the time we had left the church, it began to drizzle a bit. We decided it was a perfect time to find a place to go inside and eat. We found the Zeughauskeller restaurant. I got Wienerschnitzel and Rosti, Cosmo got a curry dish. It was very tasty; you can't go wrong with meat and potatoes. They sat us next to another couple at the same table but we didn’t talk to them as they were finishing up their meal.
After our early dinner, we crossed back over the bridge and headed towards the Grossmeunster church. It was a bit of an uphill climb and all cobblestone which can be difficult, but we got up there! I went in the church and Cosmo waited around the corner outside. I didn’t look around too much, but instead took a minute to sit at a pew and appreciate the stained glass.
We headed back down the hill towards the water. When we got there, we hopped on a random tram so that we could see a new part of the city. We took it all the way to the end which had another nice view of the lake, then we jumped back on and took it the other way. We found the tram to take us back to the hotel and finished up our day. We stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few basic items such as PB&J ingredients and snacks then got back and went to bed.
Tip: Having an itinerary can be helpful if you are trying to hit major spots, but to really experience a place fully, wander around and observe the people, sounds, smells, etc., around you. Try and be attentive, this will also keep you safe.
Day Four: Our First Airbnb
We woke up pretty late again, granted we stayed up late and our sleep schedule is still messed up. We took our time showering and packing up our bags. We were leaving Zurich and heading to our next location: Spiez, Switzerland.
Check out was easy; we stored our bags at the hotel to allow us to pick up some groceries, but saw that most of the stores were closed. We gathered our bags again, and made the humbling walk to the tram stop. I say humbling because walking with a load of luggage is quite embarrassing.
We got on the tram and took it to the train station. This took about 25-30 minutes. When we got there, we asked the woman for directions and headed into the station. It wasn’t too difficult to figure out. We bought 2 one-way tickets from Zurich to Spiez; stopping in Bern. This cost us a good $60 each for the 1.5 hour train ride.
After asking for more guidance, we boarded train number one which lasted about an hour. They had food options on the train, but we didn’t take advantage of that (it was probably expensive).
The views were nice, very green and the Swiss Alps started to show in the distance. I can’t remember what we did on the train, probably just talked and did stuff on our phones (going through pictures and reading our E-Books).
We got off this train with the aid of kind strangers as there was a small step, then rushed over to the next one. Our next train had stairs, but we saw workers nearby and asked them for help getting on, they used a moveable lift. I didn’t think much of it because the lift was there, but apparently you need to call far in advance if you need to use it. When we were on the train, I showed them our tickets and they were concerned that we were getting off at Spiez. They said we were supposed to announce when we needed the lift and didn’t seem too thrilled about needing to organize getting us off. But they did and never said anything else about it.
The physical process of getting off this train was as easy as getting on because of the lift. Then we took the ramp under the tracks and the lift back up into the station. Our Airbnb was about 15 minutes away by foot and a similar time by bus so we decided to walk.
The entire walk was downhill, which is easier than uphill, but still pretty challenging in the wheelchair. Cosmo had to slow himself down which was painful on the hands. We stopped a few times going down but eventually got to our Airbnb. I was pretty worried about the Airbnb since its not technically considered “accessible.” The entrance has a small 1-2” wall to step over then a step to get into the door. It was pretty effortless with me lending a hand.
Our Airbnb was a studio within the host’s house. The bed was big and fairly comfortable, and the kitchen area was in the same room. It had a small fridge, stove, and counter space. Which allowed us to cook more instead of eating out for every meal.
We didn’t think the bathroom was going to work, the wheelchair could get through the door but couldn’t turn to go further in. Which basically means that Cosmo could get to the toilet, but not easily to the shower and sink. We expected the Airbnb to be more challenging than the hotel, so were able to figure out some ways around this and it ended up being fine.
After we got settled, we took another nap. I’m not sure how long we did but it was nice. At this point, Cosmo was starting to get sick, so he was getting tired faster and didn’t have much energy.
After our nap, we ate some PB&J sandwiches then started planning the next few days. Spiez is located between Thun and Interlaken so we planned to go to both while we were there. We decided to explore Spiez a bit more that night, so we headed out of the Airbnb and towards the water. It was beautiful, but one strange thing is that they have palm trees planted in the park. It is quite an interesting choice with the snowcapped mountains in the background.
Cosmo wanted to go up to the Castle to see the view, so we headed up the hill. It took us a while, but we got there and the views were fantastic! The castle itself was closed, but just being able to move around the grounds was enough for us. After enjoying that time, we headed back for the night.
Tip: Airbnb is often a cheaper option than hotels and give you more living space, a kitchen, and laundry. It often allows you to meet more locals because most hosts love conversation and giving you recommendations. This is a generalization. Every Airbnb is different, so read the full listing before booking.
Day Five: Exploring Interlaken
Cosmo was getting a bit sick and not sleeping well, so he stayed in bed longer. I got ready and walked about 15 minutes back up the hill to the grocery store. It was a beautiful walk because the weather was warm and there were so many flowers everywhere.
They had a few stores all in one building, kind of like a mini mall for groceries, medication, and other necessities. I went to the express store and bought yogurt, grapes, vitamin drinks, and tortellini. Eggs and medication were also on my list but I didn’t see any at that stop. I headed over to the Kiosk next to it to see if they had general cold and flu medicine but didn’t see what I was looking for. The woman didn’t speak any English so it was difficult to describe.
They had a pharmacy in the building too, so I headed there next. The young woman (about my age) spoke some English, but I used Google Translate to show her what I was looking for. Side note: look up the German words for cold and flu and try to pronounce that lol. There was another woman behind the counter that spoke English and she communicated what the medicine was for, how much to take, how often, etc.
I skipped the eggs and headed back down the hill to the Airbnb. It didn’t take as long because I found a few shortcuts.
When I got back, I gave Cosmo the medicine and he started to get out of bed. He wanted to shower as he was really hot and had been laying in bed for a while. Our Airbnb bathroom wasn't accessible, so this was quite challenging. We set up the shower chair in the shower, then rolled the wheelchair in as far as we could. Cosmo then moved from wheelchair to toilet, I brought in one of the dining chairs and put it between the toilet and the shower. Cosmo moved from toilet to chair to shower; quite an impressive move.
After this, I ate some yogurt with dried fruits and berries while Cosmo finished getting ready for the day. He still didn’t feel great but didn’t want to waste the nice weather we had, so we left the Airbnb and embarked on the long journey to Interlaken. Within Spiez, we took the bus instead of attempting to go uphill the entire way. The bus stop was still pretty far, so the walk there was exhausting. We took the the bus up the hill and into town- closer to the train station. We had to get off and walk another distance to the station which was uphill so I pushed him.
When we got to the train station, we talked to the travel assistant there and he advised that- 1: the train was delayed and 2: we needed to call ahead for wheelchair assistance. He recommended we take a bus as it was easier to board, so we did that. We bought our tickets which were about $18 each then waited at the stop. Taking the bus was easier than the train because the driver just folds down a ramp to let Cosmo on, whereas the train requires a lift.
The bus ride to Interlaken was absolutely beautiful, it went along the water then through the countryside. It also provided a great view of the snow covered Swiss Alps. When we got to Interlaken, we got off the bus then looked for directions to the Harderbahn. This would take us up the mountain to Harder Kulm. This was about an 18 minute walk according to Google Maps, and being as tired as we were, we stopped a few times.
We stopped in a travel center and the woman advised that we would be able to go on the Harderbahn but it would require a different entrance. We had to go around the ticket center and behind the main entrance, which was up a steep hill. This was fine with us, so we continued on.
We got to the Harderbahn and I went up the stairs to talk to the ticket master. She showed me a picture of the route we needed to walk and looked pretty concerned that we didn’t have a car to get up to that platform. I was a bit discouraged, but showed Cosmo what we were to do. There was also a kind stranger that was talking to Cosmo during this time and offered to show us the way.
We decided to take the uphill road and get to where we could board the Harderbahn. It didn’t end up being as far as predicted, but it was uphill. When we got to this spot, I took the stairs back down to the ticket area to buy my ticket (Cosmo was free). The woman looked a bit surprised when I said he was already up to the platform- what can we say, we are that good. The ticket for me to ride was about $35, slightly painful, but worthwhile.
We boarded the Harderbahn in the very front by the driver. This gave us a perfect view of the path we were taking- straight up; at least it looked like it was straight up. The ride up was longer than I thought but the views made it enjoyable.
We got to the top and saw another long hill to get up to the overlook and restaurant, but there we went again. It didn’t take us too long, and it leveled out once we got up there. The views were great, we could see the mountains all around us and Interlaken below us. They also had a platform that jutted out over the mountains- a photo op. We took some photos, then looked at the food options.
They have a sit down restaurant as well as a food stand with $10 brats, $17 chicken nuggets, and a number of other overpriced items. We got brats. They had an option of bread or fries, so I chose bread, thinking it would be a bun. Instead it was a bratwurst with two pieces of wheat bread. Not bad tasting, just not what we expected.
After we ate, we started to get cold so headed back down to the platform to go down. The driver helped us board and we headed back down the mountain.
They went all the way to the ticket area, unloaded the other riders, reloaded new ones, then went back up to the platform where we got on and off. It was easier that way and didn’t change any of our plans.
We then walked back down and around to Interlaken. Instead of going right back to the bus stop, we took a detour and checked out a church. I went inside and looked around a bit. Then we headed on, stopping to buy a few postcards.
We got to the bus stop and saw that we had 30 minutes before the next bus, so we went into another store. I bought a black dress and a wallet clip (I hate carrying a wallet), then we boarded the bus back.
Again, this was a pretty ride. Not much to say about it except we took pictures and observed what was going on around us. There were a lot of tourists walking about, people eating in the grass, and paragliders landing in the park.
We got back to Spiez, but the station is up at the top of the hill and our Airbnb is at the bottom. Instead of figuring out a bus route, we opted to walk back down. Its much easier to go down than up, but still not ideal. We didn’t do much when we got to the Airbnb, just put in a load of laundry, ate some snacks and swiss chocolate, then worked on these journal entries.
Tip: You can save money by picking up some snack or meal items ahead of time instead of waiting until you are already hungry. If you’re trying to travel on a budget, think the same way you do back home- cooking more at “home”, choosing cheaper activities, utilizing public transportation or walking, etc.
Day Six: Thun and the Panorama Bridge
We woke up at about 10:30 because Cosmo was sick and I was lazy. I had been sleeping a lot lately, more so when I was home but at the beginning of our trip as well. I think it was due to not working and not feeling like I had set plans each day. This changed throughout our trip and I hope I keep the same energy when we are finished traveling.
We finally got up and moving and Cosmo made me a coffee with the Airbnb’s Nespresso machine. He nearly burned himself because he didn’t push the lever down completely, but nevertheless, he persisted lol. I got my coffee and it lifted my spirits, as coffee always does.
Then Cosmo ate some breakfast and I showered. I decided I wanted to look a bit fancier, so I threw on some red lipstick to go with my black and white striped top. It ended up getting colder though so I had a sweater over that, but still cute.
After we were both ready, we headed up to the main bus station to catch a ride to Thun, Switzerland. We ended up finding a bus stop near our Airbnb that doesn’t require us to go uphill. Too bad we didn’t find that sooner because it would have saved a lot of energy. Google maps decided to keep it a secret from us.
Cosmo found a walking bridge for us to visit near Gunten, Switzerland so we transferred buses when we got to Thun and continued up the mountainside. The bridge was a short walk from the bus stop and provided great views. We got to the bridge and I bought a ticket across (they let Cosmo go free), it was about $4 with something called a “panorama card” that our Airbnb hosts gave us, so not bad at all.
The bridge is called the Panorama Bridge Sigriswil and allows us to see far over the town and mountains. I’m not a huge fan of heights, but it didn’t trigger any fear for me. We took some pictures and appreciated the view. When we got to the other side, we paused for a bit and observed a bunch of lizards that scurried around.
We headed back over the bridge and back down the mountain. We took the bus to Thun and stayed there for a while. We walked around and observed the people and architecture around us. It was very beautiful and the weather was great. There was a decent sized wave in the river, near the dam, and there were a few people surfing it. Not something I expected to see in Switzerland.
We found a restaurant to grab a late lunch. Cosmo got chicken wings and I got a tomato and mozzarella sandwich, both were alright. It started to rain when we were there, but didn’t last long at all. We continued our exploring, not really stopping in too many shops but strolling through the different streets.
When we decided it was time to go back, we found our bus stop, but then I saw that the nearby store was a second-hand shop, so we had to stop in. It was a blend of second hand items as well as ones that the woman transformed into new pieces. I bought a windbreaker that she had cropped and reshaped. I would absolutely love to own a shop like that someday.
We then jumped on the bus back to Spiez. When we got here, we transferred to another bus that takes us back down to the lake level, which is where our Airbnb is located. Cosmo went and pretended to drive the ship on the fake wheel they had, then we headed back for the night.
Tip: To save money on housing, consider staying outside of the city. It will take longer to get to the popular areas, but its usually cheaper overall. This Airbnb was great for us because it was in a cute smaller town, and about halfway between two other places we wanted to explore.
Day Seven: But Wait! There’s More
This was our last day in Switzerland, so most of it was consumed by cleaning, packing, and traveling to our next destination. We got up at a reasonable time and tidied up before locking the door and dropping the key in the host’s mailbox. We headed out at 10:00 and walked to the nearest bus station.
We had to wait there for a while because the buses didn’t run very frequently in Spiez. We got on the bus and took it up to the train station. Our goal was to get there about 30 minutes before the train left for Florence so that we could get our tickets and make sure the assistance was organized. Apparently that was not enough time, because instead of making the 10:30 train, we departed at 12:00.
We went in to talk to the agent and get everything sorted out, and he told us that we were supposed to call 48 hours in advance. I’m not sure why they need that long to get the assistance figured out considering all of the stations have moveable lifts, but I guess its a huge deal there. He was super nice and patient despite our late notice and worked to organize the details. He tried to call a few different numbers but wasn’t able to get through. He finally got the number of the station in Florence, but when he asked the Italian agent if he spoke English, the agent basically said no and hung up on him. It was kind of humorous .
Eventually, another agent at the Spiez station told us to get on the train and that the Italian side would have to figure out getting us off once we got there. They wrote a note to their train staff to explain what would be needed then gave us our tickets and we went on our way.
We got on the train, gave the Swiss train staff the note and they took care of everything else. Our train went to Milan then we had to transfer there and end our trip in Florence. Once we crossed the border, the Italian train staff took over. They checked our passports, then made sure everyone was wearing their masks (Switzerland didn’t require masks). We didn’t have any further issues with lifts and getting help once we got into Italy.
We arrived in Florence and found the bus route to get to our Airbnb. We knew that the bus would only take us so far and that we’d need to walk about 10 minutes to the property. Our host had offered to pick us up but we had high hopes of getting there ourselves. The bus was no issue but once we got off, we saw that the sidewalks sucked and that we’d need to go pretty far uphill. Discouraged, we reached out to our host and asked if they could pick us up from the bottom of the hill. Our host, Giovanni met us there and helped us load our luggage into his car. He told us that he could give us rides when needed and asked if we needed to go buy groceries - we did.
We dropped our stuff off at the Airbnb and they showed us around the property, then we went with him to the grocery store. He was extremely helpful the entire week, but I’ll share more about that later because I promised this post was only about Switzerland. So forget everything that I just told you and stay tuned for part two of our story!
Tip: If you need accessibility assistance for trains, planes, buses, etc., be sure to give yourself time to get it organized, but don’t let it discourage you because the agents know what they are doing and are there to help.
Hotel and Airbnb Links
Zurich: Ibis Zurich Messe-Airport
Accessibility: Accessible rooms available. I booked an accessible room by emailing the hotel directly and letting them know what we needed. It was a small room with a queen sized bed, but adequate room to move around and an open floor plan bathroom- no door separating the shower, toilet, and sink space.
Spiez: Studio in the Spiezer Bay with lake view
Accessibility: Not accessible. We knew that there would be one step to get into this Airbnb so that wasn’t an issue. It is a studio, so the kitchen, dining, and bedroom space is all one and easy to maneuver. The bathroom was difficult to use, so I would not recommend if you need to use a wheelchair to get around. The host did not claim it was accessible, so no harm there- I am just sharing our experience.