The Lord of rain

Ever since I arrived Basel the weather has been sunny every day. There hasn't been even a single drop of rain from the sky and the temperature reaches 30 c almost everyday. Swiss people are complaining that just right before the Easter, weather was miserable that they were wearing winter jacket, suddenly after the Easter weather has become so warm and dry and now the government has prohibited outdoor BBQ.

I couldn't help but relate to the word "Easter" because I left Tokyo on the Easter Sunday.

I feel sorry for those who love BBQ but no, nothing could stop me from wanting that beautiful sunshine 12 hours a day!

Since I was leaving Basel today for Interlaken, I thought, well, now I don't mind if it rains in Basel.

There is a direct train from Basel to Interlaken West, which takes about 2 and half hours. Since the lastest one left at 5p and I missed it already, I would have to make at least 1 transfer.

5:00p Left office building with my small luggage. Put on the pair of sunglasses I got during the lunch break when I sneaked into a nearby department store.

5:35p Arrived Basel SBB train station. There was a long line at the ticket window, so decided to venture to one of the ticket vending machines.

5:40p Great, it has English instruction. But could not find "Interlaken West" station, only "Interlaken Ost". Fine, let's just take "Ost" as the German word for "West", got the ticket. Tickets says I need to go to Olten --> Bern --> Interlaken Ost.

5:45p Checked the departure info, next train for Olten departs at 6:00p. Rushed to a shop in the station to do last minute shopping, got a shoulder bag for hiking, several pairs of socks.. (very important since I didn't pack enough when I moved here)

6:00p Train departed, I turned on my ipod. Suddenly noticed that it had started to rain... (now, please take a second to imagine how I felt)

6:30p Got off at Olten, looking for trains going to Bern. Couldn't find any. Asked someone who seemed to work there, he told me the train I left actually goes to Bern. But don't worry, he said, there is another train... now his coworker who's on a moving train asked him: are you getting on the train? He shouted: Hold the train! Then explained to me: you should go to the next platform, there's a train departing at 6:36 for Bern...

6:36p Headed on to Bern. Though there was a 6 minutes delay due to my mistake, now I had a window seat!

7:20p Got off at Bern, discovered next train for Interlaken Ost departs past 8p. Planned to kill some time by looking at the map in the station. Found out the train route is Bern --> Thun --> Spieltz --> Interlaken Ost, and there's another train that goes Bern --> Thun --> Spieltz --> somewhere else departing at 7:30pm. Decided to play wild and got on this train.

8:15p Got off at Spieltz, so shocked to see the next train that goes to Interlaken Ost departs in more than 30 minutes! Wandered around, saw a bus sign. Read the bus schedule, it seems there's a bus that goes from Spieltz to Interlaken West at 8:14p. Disappointed, walked to the platform for the 8:45 train, saw the bus, ran!

8:17p Bus departed. It turned out the bus route is much better than the train route, since it goes right by the lake. Lake is so beautiful with moutains around it. There's snow on the mountain top.

8:50p Arrived at the hotel. Hotel is so close to the train station.

9:00p Went to a Chinese take out restaurant hoping they're still open. There's only a Korean chef in it and he told me I could eat there. While eating debated with him about Christianity (because he asked me first). Bought tomorrow's daily train pass from him (it seems that it's also part of their business) and he explained to me in every detail what to do tomorrow.

10:00p Headed back to hotel. In my last minute's conversation with the Korean chef, I suddenly realized that there are indeed two stations "Interlaken Ost" and "Interlaken West", and my hotel is right next to "Interlaken West". So after all the craziness including buying a wrong ticket, I unknowingly arrived at the right station!!!

11:00p Shower, wrote this blog, and PRAISE GOD. I can never stop praising God.