Second stop.. Chaumont!

The day after we visited Bern, we decided to spend another afternoon exploring the town, but this time closer to home. My parents had picked up some brochures of different attractions that were close to Neuchatel but there were so many to pick from. Laura, one of my teammates, suggested we go to Chaumont because it is so beautiful and we were sold.

My mom noticed in one of her brochures that there was a scenic funicular that would take you right up the hill to the top. A funicular is a cable railway car that can take you up and down the side of a hill. This one is especially cool because the ride is about 15 mins long and the views are absolutely beautiful. There are other funicular's in Neuchatel but they only take about 5 mins. Some of them even go into the hill so you can't see anything but the tunnel.

We decided to take the bus to get to the funicular and it ended up working out great. This was the first time my parents had used public transportation over here since I had the car. They thought it was interesting how you have to push a button on the side of the bus to open the door when you want to get on. The great thing about the bus is that it took us right to the funicular station. The only downside was that we had to wait 45 mins for the next funicular because they don't run as often as the buses. We ended up getting snacks and the time seemed to pass quick.

This is the funicular station.

The tracks leading up the hill.

The funicular finally arrived and it was time to leave the station! Another interesting thing about the funicular is that people are allowed to bring bikes along too. There are a couple benches in the front, then room for bikes and then more benches in the back. The reason they allowed bikes to come aboard was because the Adventure Park that my team went to for welcome weekend has dirt bike paths! The trip up the hill was very beautiful. We were able to see Neuchatel lake and we lucked out that the weather was good!

The funicular!

These are some of the views we had in the funicular. It was a really beautiful day!

Once we got to the top we noticed that there was an observation tower where you could look overall of Neuchatel. So the next thing you know we climbing all the steps and we finally made it to the top. Well it was definitely worth it because the sight was beautiful! You could see Neuchatel lake, Neuchatel itself and even Marin. If the day would have been clearer we would have been able to see the alps too!

A close up of Marin!

Here is a short clip but it's much better in person!

We had a lot of fun but of course I had to get back to practice! More adventures coming soon!!