Yesterday (Thursday, June 24), we checked out of our apartment in Interlaken, took the 9:52 train from West to Ost (5 minutes), took the train from Ost to Lauterbrunnen, took the Post Bus to Stechelberg, and from there took the cable car up to Gimmelwald. Lauterbrunnen and Stechelberg are in a deep valley. Towering above one side of the valley is the Jungfrau, while the other side is overlooked by a plateau, at the center of which is the resort town of Muerren, at an altitude of about 5400 feet. Along the rim to the north and about 2000 feet lower is the much smaller and more rustic village of Gimmelwald—Lonely Planet calls it “cute.” It is one of those places, like the Cinque Terre in Italy, Bacharach in Germany or Rue Cler in Paris, that was almost completely untouristed until Rick Steves found it, and now is full of Americans carrying their blue Rick Steves guidebook.
Still, it is relatively quiet and simple, while our hotel does have free wi-fi (Hurray!), our room has no TV or phone, has bare wood-plank walls and ceiling (a 6-foot ceiling—my head almost brushes it) and the WC and shower are down the hall. It also has a good restaurant (Mary Joy was ecstatic about the smoked trout salad at lunch, less so about the fish ratatouille at dinner)—in fact, the only restaurant in Gimmelwald, population 110.
We arrived around 11 a.m. and after that wonderful lunch walked up to Muerren, which would have been very pleasant, with terrific views across the valley, except that it was like climbing stairs to the top of a 90-story building. We rested awhile, then took the funicular up to Almendhubel, the start of the North Face Trail, which heads north high above Muerren, with spectacular views of the Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau, then comes down in a roundabout way to Muerren.
We cut off towards the end on a trail marled “Vorsicht!” (“Careful”), down through an evergreen forest, behind a waterfall (named “Sprutz,” which seems to fit), then down a long hillside to Gimmelwald.
This morning (Friday, June 25), we got up early and took the cable car up to the Schilthorn (10,000 feet), with spectacular views, a revolving restaurant (where we had coffee and rolls) and an exhibition on the James Bond film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” which was filmed there (they blew up the restaurant at the end, I think).
Soon, we’ll go back to Interlaken, then to Zug. We may not have Internet access for several days.
We arrived around 11 a.m. and after that wonderful lunch walked up to Muerren, which would have been very pleasant, with terrific views across the valley, except that it was like climbing stairs to the top of a 90-story building. We rested awhile, then took the funicular up to Almendhubel, the start of the North Face Trail, which heads north high above Muerren, with spectacular views of the Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau, then comes down in a roundabout way to Muerren.
We cut off towards the end on a trail marled “Vorsicht!” (“Careful”), down through an evergreen forest, behind a waterfall (named “Sprutz,” which seems to fit), then down a long hillside to Gimmelwald.This morning (Friday, June 25), we got up early and took the cable car up to the Schilthorn (10,000 feet), with spectacular views, a revolving restaurant (where we had coffee and rolls) and an exhibition on the James Bond film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” which was filmed there (they blew up the restaurant at the end, I think).
Soon, we’ll go back to Interlaken, then to Zug. We may not have Internet access for several days.
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