[Take the time to enlarge this one - it's the view from our Youth Hostel window in Grindelwald, of the Eiger. Quite amazing.]

Wake an hour late due to clock-related incompetence and discover that reception's failed to book Athens Youth Hostel for us, for unknown reasons. Discover also that the bus doesn't come very often, so we climb back down the path, after taking a 'view from my hotel window' picture.

Discovered that the journey plans we made the day before were wonky and we wouldn't get to Ancona before the wee hours. Train to Interlaken, then to Spiez, then a dead scenic one to Brig. More mountains and cottages. Brig is in the process of being rebuilt - it contrasts beautiful scenery with half-built concrete roads. Had lunch by a river/building site.

Transalpine train to Milan - throughly modern train with no luggage space and lots of people. Very obvious change of scenery in Italy - dead concrete houses and knackered pieces of track lying alongside the railway. Halfway through the journey, the train announces in four languages that there is a demonstration at one of the stations on the way, and we must go a different (longer) way. Women opposite us gets a scalpel out and starts slicing up bits of paper and the table.

Arrive in Milan about 5 and have a good meal just outside the station. Bizarre rock music thing in middle of square. Try to book a sleeper, but discover after waiting for half an hour that this only happens 5 hours before the train. Turn up at train and there are no beds left. End up in seats with old couple.

We've spent three days in Switzerland, but don't really feel as though we've seen much in the cities. We've certainly seen some amazing scenery, particularly on the train through the Alps. There's a lot more to see in Lucerne and Basel than we covered and they're certainly worth visiting.