The continuing saga of my wanderings in Europe in 1998…..
Switzerland: Wednesday morning arrived in a downpour. Oh NO! I was planning to go into the mountains today. Do I have a plan B? Yeah, go back to sleep.
Breakfast at the hotel was substantial. Two cups of coffee (count them! TWO!), a choice of fresh-baked bread, cheeses, baloney, and cereal. Baloney and cheese for breakfast? Can do.
I was out the door and into the rain. Why did I NOT bring any mountain wear? Did I think the Swiss mountains would be tropical? (Did I think at all?) Luckily, I found a rain coat at a gift shop. No shortage of gift shops in Interlaken.
Next destination — the summit of the Schilthorn where I hoped for views of Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. I had to catch the train to Lauterbrunnen, the first of many stops on the way to the summit.
Lauterbrunnen rests in a high valley surrounded by steep mountain cliffs. Water seems to pour out of every crevice, creating huge, vigorous waterfalls. I can imagine spending the night in this town someday, falling asleep to the roar of water.
It is very impressive!
Just a short walk through town to the next ride. The exciting cabletrain to Murren gains 2,264 feet of elevation in less than a mile. I recall thinking, “If the mechanism pulling us up this mountain breaks, there is no choice but to die. But, at least it will be quick, once we hit the bottom!” Then a woman sitting behind me said, “If this lets go, I am jumping out. At least then I might have a chance to survive.” I looked out the window and thought, “Not so much!” Let’s just say it was steep!
A narrow gauge railroad completes the last 2.6 miles of the trip to Murren. Now it gets interesting. The cable car ride to Birg is breath-taking. Or maybe it is hair-raising. We gained some serious altitude. And enjoyed a white-knuckle ride! Woo!
At Birg, one final cable car goes to the top of the Schilthorn. Here an observation deck provides a walk around the entire summit. A revolving restaurant offers some great vistas, too — or so I heard. Thanks to incessant clouds and light rain, the views were not much to write home about.
For the athletically inclined there are hiking trails from the Schilthorn to the villages below (and elsewhere, for all I know). I would have hiked down, but wasn’t dressed for the cool weather. And you know how much I HATE being cold!
This sign at the trail head left me amused and puzzled. Who would dream of hiking a snowy, high mountain trail, wearing high heels? In answer to my question, a group of tourists came up the trail and every single woman in the group was wearing — you guessed it — high heels. “Oh, that’s who…”
At last, I gave up on my “clear-sky-mountain-view” fantasy and headed back to lower altitudes. Still too early to go home, I walked some of the paths to little nearby alpine villages. Back in Murren my appetite started to build. How about the Eiger Hotel for lunch? Sounds interesting. The waitress spoke German (me? Not so much) but I managed to point and grunt and ended up with a yummy vegetable lasagna (gemuselasagne — a lucky guess).
With still more daylight remaining, I rode trains up the Jungfrau side of the valley and wandered through other alpine villages.
Can’t say that I was tired of alpine villages, but it was getting late and I needed to get ready for the next leg of my journey. I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t get to see the high Alpen peaks, beyond the one I stood on, but -hey- it’s a good excuse to return to Switzerland some day.
As I got off the train in Interlaken, the sun finally broke through and gave a brief view of Jungfrau (at least, I think it was Jungfrau) before the clouds closed in once more.
I was chilled by the time I got to the hotel and asked the clerk if they even had hot water. She told me to let the water run until it got hot. Coming from Colorado, it didn’t feel right, letting the water run for the 25 minutes it took to get hot. But I really needed to get warm and clean. With a huge lake on either side of the town, water shortage is not likely to be a problem.
And so ends my barely successful quest to see the Swiss Alps. With two days to get to Avignon for the art workshop meet-up and three days left on my rail pass, it was time to plot my journey back to France.
Next: Switzerland to Avignon