Vaccine tourism

Or Impfreisen! Unbelievably, on Friday, I got a text message reminding me that I had an appointment for the jab the next day! Great, but I didn’t get the first text, with more details and the second appointment. I registered in three different cantons, trying to get the earliest appointment possible, and the Valais was the first. Gampel is 3 hours on the train, and is on the other side of the Bernese alps. I got the first train, 6.25, and was in Visp by 8.30, with 30 mins to sit out for a coffee and croissant, before the connection to Gampel Steg. I took a slightly longer walk along the Rhone and Lonza rivers, but still arrived early. I got straight in, very efficient fantastic service from the civil service, the ones that don’t do the military service, and I could leave 40 mins later.
I had about an hour before the bus left, so had a walk around the older part of Gampel. I wondered into the vineyard, and winery where I was talked into trying the local wine by the half kiwi lady business partner. Very nice to meet her and chat with the owner. So, 3 bottles of wine found a place in my rucksack and I had to carry the camera case separately! After a trip to the bakery, to get a delicious loaf of Walliser Brot, a special round rye loaf, I got the bus up to Goppenstein, at 1200m. Unfortunately it was late, and together with a few other people, we missed the connecting train to Bern. After a walk a bit higher up, admiring the snow capped mountains behind Löchental, I went to the station again. I was chatting to another stranded passenger, a very interesting German speaking Argentinian lady, who’s been living in Switzerland for the last 40 years. We carried on on the train!
I was home an hour later than planned. Just time to tidy up and get ready for our guests that were coming for dinner. We had a lovely evening with this couple that we haven’t seen for 10 months, including eating local asparagus, a walk in the woods, then some chicken skewers cooked on the barbecue and homemade spicy chips cooked in the oven, and fruit salad and brownies. They stayed until midnight, so it was a long day, didn’t notice any side effects to the Moderna vaccine.