Advertisement
Published: October 20th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Goodbye to Lucerne
The dramatic arch in front of the Lucerne train station We said goodbye to Lucerne, still under gray skies, and headed for the train station for our anticipated "Golden Pass Scenic Train" ride to the Berner-Oberland area of Switzerland. We had planned to upgrade our seats to the panoramic view cars, but when we arrived, we found our train had only one such car, and it was reserved for a Chinese tour group... But our second class regular car seats turned out to be just as good, since there was not much "scenic" to see--the darned fog followed us west to our next destination!!
After changing trains in Interlaken, we arrived at Lauterbrunnen about midday, and schelpped our bags down the main street to the Hotel Oberland. The town and the entire valley were covered with a ceiling of fog, and again the cliffs and peaks above were invisible... Our host at the front desk of the hotel also told us that this was as good as it was going to get, and considering that rain was expected on Saturday, we might want to consider getting in as many activities as possible during this afternoon and tomorrow. She encouraged us to go to the top of the Schilthorn today, as
View from the Train
This was about as much as we could see during our "scenic" train ride... it took only an hour or so on the cable cars and trains to get up there. So off we went, barely stopping to dump our things in our room, and feeling a bit skeptical about her claims that it was sunny at the top of the mountain--after all, we'd heard that before! And for awhile we were concerned, since during the first two legs of the journey that took us to the cliff top village of Murren, we could see nothing but fog out the windows of the cable car and train. Murren itself was also enveloped, and at this time of year was a virtual ghost town. It was eerie walking through the main street to get to the summit cable car system.
But once above the fog, the view was spectacular--and it was sunnny, but by no means warm at the summit. We were at 10,000 feet elevation, after all... Anyway, although we couldn't see down, we could see the three big peaks across the valley, that we plan to visit tomorrow: Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. And it was so clear we could see off into the distance at other moutain tops peaking up through the
Lake Brienz
A view of Lake Brienz, on of the two lakes between which the town of Interlaken is located. fog. The first cable car going up the mountain stops at Birg--a little lookout station/restaurant complex--then a second one took us all the way up to the summit to the circular glass building called Piz Gloria, where On Her Magesty's Secret Service was filmed. After taking in the glorious views, we descended on the cable cars back down to the other end of the Lauterbrunnen Valley from the town itself. We opted to take the walking path that meandered through the valley, instead of the bus, back to our hotel. It was a lovely pastoral setting for a leisurely walk, with several waterfalls tumbling down the cliff serving as a more dramatic backdrop.
We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, which served suprisingly fresh and beautifully presented food. We opted to try "rosti" the classic local dish, which is essentially hashed brown potatoes, often with ham, bacon, onions mixed in, smothered with cheese--very hearty after a long day!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0332s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb