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Sunday August 9, 2015
Alagna Valsesia to Saas
Fee
Monday August 10, 2015
Saas Fee to Thun
Next
Tuesday August 11, 2015
Tour de Monte Rosa
Thun to Macugnaga
We stayed at the Hotel Popcorn in 2014 and had a nice quiet evening at
the cheapest hotel in Saas Fee, so naturally we stayed there again this
year.
Unfortunately the folks that run Hotel Popcorn couldn't care less about
their guests, but instead are trying to attract every drunk in Saas Fee
with an deafeningly loud nightclub.
I went downstairs at 10:30 for a beer-to-go nightcap and found the
place empty except for the barmistress.
Even with earplugs in upstairs 3 floors above the bar, I could not only
hear the noise, I could FEEL the pounding noise throughout the hotel.
This lasted until after 2am.
DO NOT ever stay anywhere near the Hotel Popcorn.
Needless to say I didn't sleep very well.
The weather in Saas Fee was still fairly crappy and we needed to see
the sun again!
Kent and I bought bus tickets to get down to Visp without a definite
plan beyond that.
On the busride down to Visp we agreed to go to Thun.
I'd never seen Thun before and had heard how nice it was so I was
excited to finally see the town.
An hour later we arrived.
We checked at the TI for a cheap hotel room.
Thun is one of the more expensive places to stay in Switzerland, which
is saying something.
After a bit of searching the lady asked if we would consider single
rooms with shared bathrooms - our obvious answer was 'yes!!!'
When we got to the Hotel Restaurant Schwert the door was locked.
A moment later a lady walked up and she couldn't get in either, and she
appearred to be a guest. After about 5 minutes the manager showed
up and let us in. After Kent and I got keys that was the last I
ever saw of the manager. We dumped our packs in the room and went
out to explore Thun!
I learned in 2014 that you can rent a bike at many train stations, and
Thun was no exception.
Within perhaps 15 minutes I'd found the bikes and purchased a card to
rent a citybike for 24 hours.
We first wandered up and briefly saw the area around the Thun castle.
Kent and I have both seen more than our fair share of castles, and of
course he's seen this one before, so we didn't pay for admission or
stick around long.
We then wandered back downhill and explored the city and lakefront.
Our hotel
12:56
12:57
13:03
13:03
13:31
13:37
13:46 Blümlisalp
14:00
14:00
We were anxious to spend more time in the mountains, but looking at the
crappy weather over the Bernese Alps reassured us that we'd done
the right thing to find the sun in Thun.
14:01
14:01
14:30
14:44 Schadau Castle,
which is owned by the city of Thun and can be rented out for special
occasions. It looks out over Lake Thun.
14:44
Lake Thun
14:44
Lake Thun
iPhone panorama - click here for a
full size image of the pano
15:42
My room in Hotel Restaurant Schwert. The floor creaked loudly and
slanted badly, but the room was fine.
Kent and I shared two nice modern bathrooms with three other rooms on
the second floor.
15:43
Kent's room was much smaller than mine, but the floor was level.
15:43
The view from Kent's room
15:44
The view from Kent's room
16:01
My room again
16:02
The view from my room!
Thun Castle
16:05
17:00
Thun is one of the very few places on earth where people regularly surf
without an ocean.
The center of town is an island, and covered bridges on either side of
the island with dams holding back the Aare River form surfable waves on
both sides of the island.
Some of the surfers relied heavily on the towrope, others used the
towrope to get into position on the wave and then let go and surfed
properly without the rope.
About five surfers were lined up when we got there.
Apparently you bring your own rope, because we saw one party take their
rope with them and another party set up their rope in the same spot.
17:31
19:22
20:48
20:48
20:49
21:23
After searching the town we settled on the Restaurant Primavera.
We ate family style, sharing gnocchi and pizza. Kent and I both
prefer prosciutto e funghi.
Very yummy meal right on the Aare River...
You'll notice that Kent ordered his beer first, and I asked if there
were larger sizes for beer.
22:00
22:01
Our hotel is down the street to the left.
iPhone panorama
Meanwhile...Paul and Jed rented bikes to see the Roman ruins near Mutren, then took the train to France
Paul's pic
Paul's pic
Paul's pic
Paul's pic
Paul's pic
Paul's pic
Eventually Paul and Jed went to Colmar, France to spend the night
Paul's pic
Previous
Sunday August 9, 2015
Alagna Valsesia to Saas
Fee
Monday August 10, 2015
Saas Fee to Thun
Next
Tuesday August 11, 2015
Tour de Monte Rosa
Thun to Macugnaga
