Amateur Traveler: Sept. 24, 2008

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Let me first describe the Berner Oberland. It is very dramatic scenery. Interlaken sits at the base of this region. From Interlaken you enter a valley with high canyon walls. One side of the canyon goes all the way up to the Jungfrau at 13,642 feet. The other side of the canyon peaks out at around 10,000 feet on Schilthorn. Murren, where we stayed, actually sits on a canyon ledge at an elevation of about 5,381 feet. You cannot drive to Murren, so it is basically a pleasant pedestrian resort town.

On this day I was up and out of bed just before 8:00am. I showered and Becky slept. While Becky was getting ready for the day I took a few pictures around the town. It was a bright clear morning. The mountains were just amazing. We had breakfast and coffee, talked to Denise and another couple from Seattle. Denise, originally from England, is exceptionally helpful and wants to make sure you enjoy your time in the area. We were not too energetic and both of us wanted to get an extra warm layer. Becky also needed shoes for hiking. So we took our time finding some gear, we ended up paying about $500, WOW. Oh well, we needed the clothes and they were going to be great souvenirs.

We then set out for the day. We rode the Funicular (a train pulled by cable up a steep mountain side) and had lunch at the top. From there we went on a wonderful hike. We stopped for Beer on the trail, yes restaurants on the alpine trails serving beer! We continued on, the views were spectacular. The path eventually led us under a waterfall. We hiked almost to Rick Steves' famous Gimmelwald. This is Rick Steves' top choice for a home base in the Alps. It looked like a nice cow town, but we chose less rustic accommodations. We did not go all the way down into town as we were hoping the road we found would allow us to stay high as we walked back to Murren. We would then avoid hiking down and then up to Murren. Well it didn’t work out and by the time we walked into Murren we had done more than our share of walking.

For dinner we ate at Hotel Blumenthal. We had a nice fondue dinner with a lot of condiments. The meal was interesting but the ingredients were mediocre. Now about Swiss hospitality, not really sure it exists. They don’t seem interested in serving dessert and coffee after dinner even if it is on the menu. The Italian waiter was attentive, but then he disappeared and so did our service.

The fog in the evening was really thick and cold. Not sure about the tempature, but I will guess upper 30’s.

Impressions:

What a beautiful landscape. And hiking with beer stops! It really is dramatic country and easy to get around. Expensive, but easy. It is also very clean. You’d think they powerwash the train stations every night. Not be taken as truth but our first impression is that many of the Swiss we run into seem to be impersonable . Not easy-going like the Italians, of course America is made up of a lot more Italians than Swiss so maybe we are just more compatible.

Rosti (hash browns) with ham and cheese