Question answered by Katherine Hubbard, Manager of Student Conferences at PTPI.
6. The author speaks of his adventures traveling by train across Australia. What is the most unusual travel experience you have ever had?
I once had the opportunity to travel with friends to a sleepy Swiss village called Gimmelwald, located in the Alps. Several things about Gimmelwald are unusual, the first being how you get there. After arriving by train in Lauterbrunnen, you walk for about an hour and a half on a beautiful wooded trail until you reach a gondola station. You then take a short gondola ride up through the clouds to Gimmelwald, where the town sits nestled between mountain peaks.
I traveled to Gimmelwald during their winter off season, and stepping off the gondola, there was literally not a soul in sight. Having not made over-night reservations in advance, we went and knocked on the door of Hotel Mittaghorn; the owner, Walter, graciously allowed us to stay, even though his inn was closed for the winter. We quickly discovered that no inns or restaurants in Gimmelwald were serving food during the off season, so Walter suggested we head over to Esther’s Shop across the street.
Esther’s consisted of a tiny, un-manned room filled with local delicacies (dairy, dairy and more dairy!) and a bucket to place money in to pay for your food. Dinner that night consisted of the most delicious homemade bread, fresh milk, homemade jam and fresh yogurt I have ever tasted.
My time in Gimmelwald was unusual not because of the sites seen, crazy encounters or odd experiences, but because absolutely nothing happened. It is the only place where I have truly felt removed from society, and felt that I had stepped back into a far simpler time.
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Tags: Bill Bryson, Esther's Shop, Gimmelwald, Global Book Club, Hotel Mittaghorn, In a Sunburned Country, Switzerland, Travel
In 1971 my family traveled by train to West Berlin, Germany. The train only traveled at night and the shades had to be closed. My sisters and I were warned not to look out the windows or we might be shot by the East German soldiers! Of course we had to look. Nobody was out there. But it was a very scary train ride.
I was travelling in Egypt. We took Nile river cruise. It was amazingly beautiful. It was not like the criuses I had done previously like of Alaska, Carrebian or of Greek isles. The Nile cruise was along the road side. We could see the people on the road and wave to them. It was like a train journey.
Another thing was when we were on the road to see Pyramids. It was a splendid view, one side it was all greenary at the bank of Niles and the other side was the desert with sand and pyramids. I could not believe the existence of two extreme contrasting display of nature. The beauty of the contrast was just breathtaking to me. There was a fertile land and next to it was desert with no use land!
This was an unusual experience for me.