Gersau to Grindelwald

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Sadly, we farewelled Gersau this morning, just as the weather seemed to be coming right. We had been so lucky to have such a lovely house to stay in for the week and to get to know the area better. Before leaving, we had a talk to Gertrud who was able to answer a few questions for us and confirm that Gersau had been a republic for 400 years and were very proud of the fact. The family name Camemzind continuously cropped up in the cemetery because Gersau had been isolated in the past so they all likely married relatives from time to time. It is so good to have such generous friends in Switzerland.

We had a good clean up of the house and left around 10am for Grindelwald. The journey took us back around the far side of the lake through to Herisau and then onto Sarnen and over the Brunig Pass to Brienz where we stopped for a walk along the lake and for a coffee. We drove onto Interlaken to Bonigen by the lake where we had our lunch. It was actually feeling summery and we were back in TShirts and shorts. Hooray, perhaps we'll get some warmer days - but, this is the mountains and anything can happen.

And so, onto Grindelwald, our destination. How sad not to be staying at Uf dr Ofni. It is in fact empty because it is up for sale but nobody could determine what the status would be when we got here. We are instead now further along Terrasenweg at Chalet Bargarve which is perfectly okay for us but small after what we've been used to.

After settling in we did a walk of the town visiting the cemetery with all it's pretty flower gardens and to the Information Centre. The town is changing. There is a lot of building going on but the place is losing it's intimacy to tourism. It is still in a beautiful setting but any spare space is being infilled with tourist flats. Down by the Information Centre, they have dug a huge hole for an underground car park and on top will be a super market. The latter sure does need to happen as the shop is always crowded. The Eiger is not showing it's top today but other mountains are, as are the glaciers. We are directly opposite Pfinstegg and the lower glacier.

We walked back to Bargarve via the old path to Terrasenweg and had a good look at places we knew so well.

Linds and I were on dinner duty with rosti, bratwurst and vegetables. After that, since we now have Wi-Fi available we have been busy catching up with blogs and emails.

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Photos

Our superb accomodation at Gersau
With Linds

Team TTATs
How did we all manage to choose the same coloured shirts at the same time?

Chalet Bargarve
Our chalet on Terrasenweg. What a change after staying at Uf dr Ofni for so many years

Edelweiss in the cemetery
The cemetery plots were aglow with colour and amongst them were the traditional Edelweiss flowers