Colmar to Thun (France to Switzerland)

What can I say about today, except that it rained? And rained. And rained some more. And looking out the window, it's still raining.

Here's a photo from last night. The dog belongs to Maison Martin Jund, where we stayed. His name is Helios, he likes his tummy being scratched, chasing cats, and his master. He's a Swiss Shepherd.

We left our accommodation in Colmar in the rain, with our suitcases getting wet - not to mention us! The bus trip to the station was welcome - it meant we weren't out walking in the rain! It rained all the way to Basel, Switzerland, where we hopped off to get some Swiss francs, a Half Fare Card (which gives 50% discount on all trains in Switzerland) and train tickets to Thun (which were half price, given that we had our Half Fare Cards). The smoking here inside the station was particularly bad. We hopped on the train as quickly as we could - they aren't allowed to smoke on the trains, but it doesn't stop them standing in the train doorway, smoking away. We arrived in Thun to discover that - yes! it was still raining! Walking to our accommodation here (and getting wet), we were able to leave our luggage in our room (we arrived early) and go out walking - in the rain. Popped into the supermarket for a snacky lunch, which we ended up eating on the covered bridge, because every available undercover area in the main street was filled with smokers.

Then we hit the shops. At least it wasn't raining in the shops! We managed to find - at reasonable prices - a new pair of jeans and two long-sleeved knitted tops for Caelli, and a lightweight, almost rainproof coat - ostensibly for me, but Caelli will be wearing it. Now Phil gets his coat back (from Caelli) so he can be warm again, Caelli is warm, and hopefully my one jumper will be enough (with multiple tops underneath) to see me through the next week, where the expected top temp is around the 4 or 5 degree mark. They're expecting heavy snowfall in Murren tonight!

Back to our room, which was now ready for us. We walked in for the second time and all did a double take! The cloud had lifted a bit, and get a load of the view!

The room is quite large, and once again Caelli has an actual bed, for which she is very thankful.

The shared bathroom has a very large bath, a separate shower, a toilet and hand basin. Caelli and I plan to share a bath tonight.

We went out for tea to a Chinese restaurant, which was really nice, and ended up being reasonably priced, which is a big plus for Switzerland. Look at the view when we got back to our room at 8.30pm. Can you spot the mountains??

One final photo - House Martins resting on our fourth floor window ledge. There are heaps swooping low over the River Aare just outside our window.