Grindelwald - Frutigen, Speiz

---

Mariann picked us up from the station at Interlaken Ost and drove us through to Frutigen. We had been here before when we walked across Switzerland and this was on our route through to Adelboden.

Mariann had heard about the place called Tropenhaus Frutigen but never been there and here was her opportunity to visit. In a way it is a strange place because the warm water from the Lotschberg Base Tunnel is piped to Frutigen and first used to cultivate tropical plants in a huge glass house and warm water fish in large ponds before being fed back into the water table. A large amount of water was required for Switzerland's first sturgeon farm for caviar and this is the way they engineered it. Amazing and typically Swiss in finding ways to use their natural resources.

At the Centre they also have displays and demonstrations on the various ways of using renewable energy. The best, was drilling holes down into the earth to several hundred or more metres and using the heat to heat a home for hot water, heat pumps and underfloor heating. There were others as well which we all know about - solar, wind, nuclear, water etc.

The glass houses were growing bananas, guavas, passion fruit, citrus, cape gooseberries, and other fruits as well as orchids and bromeliads.

The acquariums were huge tanks with sturgeon from various countries and various ages. They are ugly and the older ones are huge.

From there we had lunch at the hotel we stayed at a few years back (still good) and then we headed to Speiz for a walk on the hill and forest then down through the vineyards and past the castle. This is a very pretty spot and well frequented by families down by the lake. They were swimming, sunbathing, playing games, eating, drinking, walking and generally having a good time. As we had time, we revisited our walk along the lake from yesterday before heading back to Marianns for dinner at Unterseen.

Interlaken had just finished a 3 day GreenFest for young people at the airport and there was a traffic jam getting out of the town. We were please to be going the opposite direction.

All in all, a good day in a beautiful place.

---

Photos

Sturgeon at the Tropenhaus
Sturgeon for caviar production at the Tropenhaus at Frutigen

Speiz Castle
The garden and castle at Speiz on Lake Thun