Switzerland Day 4 - Schilthorn & more
On Day 4 we left the city of Bern and drove to the Bernese Oberland region, located in the southern end of the Canton of Bern, encompassing numerous mountain peaks and over 800 lakes. The agenda of the day was to get to the Schilthorn, a 2,970 meters high summit to say Hello to the Swiss Alps. First we stopped by at Lauterbrunnen, an Alpine village located in a deep valley with 72 waterfalls. Near the car park was one of 72 waterfalls, Staubbach waterfall. It's the highest free-falling waterfall (297m) in Switzerland.
There was a trail to the rock gallery, where we could see the village and mountains from behind the waterfall. We followed the trail, going up the long stairs. It was an unexpected morning exercise but worthwhile. We enjoyed the magical views through the waterfall and the fresh mist.
Some part of the trail was wet and slippery. We carefully went down the steps.
However, J found the restaurant of Hotel Silberhorn was open and serving non-guest visitors. It had a bright dining space with a lovely garden and mountain view. The breakfast was a buffet style. Several kinds of bread were served, including Zopf, a type of Swiss bread that is baked in the form of a plait and traditionally eaten on Sunday mornings. It was Sunday and I was happy to try my first Butterzopf. It was a simple soft white bread, looked like Challah, but lighter than Challah or brioche.
Cheese, cheese, cheese!
We were nicely charged to continue the day.
We drove through the valley to Stechelberg, a neighbor village of Lauterbrunnen. It was just about 10 minute drive. I saw some more waterfalls on the rock walls and some paragliders. Actually we saw many paragliders during our stay in the region. Paragliding seemed very popular there although we didn't try.
Stechelberg was the start point of the cable car to the Schilthorn. There were three stops between them and you need to transfer another cable car at each stop. That was actually not bad because we got off the cable car, explored the area around those stops and caught another cable car to proceed our journey freely. The cable car ticket allowed us to do so on the same day.
Going higher and higher...
The first stop was Gimmelwald (1,367 meters high), a small, car-free village. Apparently there were only a few shops and restaurants. We didn't run into any tourist group but just a couple of hikers. The village was very peaceful and the mountain view was wonderful.
The next stop was Mürren (1,650 meters high), another car-free village. With a mountain train station and a funicular station as well as the cable car station, Mürren was bigger that Gimmelwald. There were more commercial venues and visitors, which the photos below don't really prove. The mountain view from the village was gorgeous.
At the third stop, we didn't step out but took the cable car to the final destination, Schilthorn.
The cable car station was in the summit building called Piz Gloria, which is well know as the main film location for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," a 1969 movie in the James Bond series. In fact Piz Gloria was all about the 007 movie.
The restaurant in the building was seen in the movie as the headquarters of Bond's archenemy Blofeld. The window tables are on the revolving platform. People can enjoy dining and enjoying the 360 degree view together. Only 4 or more party can get the window tables. Two of us were seated at one of the inside tables that don't rotate. That was fine after all. While it takes 45 minutes to make one turn, the platform looked like moving fast, which could make me feel dizzy.
J had their famous 007 burger. Does it look kinda cheesy? I had 'Spaghetti «Piz Gloria»' a vegetarian pasta dish. It was ok although the sauce was a little spicy for me. The menu didn't say anything about a heat level. The pasta sauce I had in Bern was also a little spicy. Maybe it is common to cook a tomato-base pasta sauce slightly spicy in Switzerland??
After the 007 themed lunch, we stepped out on Skyline View Platform, the outdoor observation deck (2,970 meters high) with the panoramic view of more than 200 mountain peaks, including the Big Three in the Swiss Alps: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.
Magnificent!
We walked down to Piz Gloria View, the circular steel platform built on the summit ridge.
There was snow around the platform. J made a cute snowball.
The platform was supposed to give us a better view of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau than the Skyline View platform because they were located behind the building. Mönch and Jungfrau were visible but Eiger was covered by a thick cloud at that moment. Anyway I enjoyed watching clouds moving too. It was an unusual experience to have puffy white clouds at eye level.
We came back to the building and quickly walked through the Spy World, the interactive exhibition dedicated to the 007 movie. I simply wonder how the more than 50 years old movie would be received among younger generations.
We took the cable car and stopped by at Birg station (2,677 meters high), which we skipped stepping out when we came up. There wasn't a village but an observation deck and a restaurant attached at the station. A hiking trail to the Grauseeli lake also starts from the station, but we just appreciated the spectacular views from the observatory, which directly faced the Big three. Hello, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau! We could see the village of Mürren down there, too. We were so lucky to have the beautiful weather while we were there.
The expression of the mountains constantly changed depending on the angle of the sunlight and the clouds, and I would never get tired of looking at it. However, it was time to go down. We got off the cable car at Mürren again and took a walk to Gimmelwald. The way was paved and downhill. The mountains and the Lauterbrunnen valley looked splendid all the way.
It was an easy walk, taking only about 30 minutes to get to the village of Gimmelwald. We were not at the cloud level anymore. The lower world was pretty hot!
We found a store called the Honesty Shop. It's Europe's first village shop built entirely on trust. There was no store keeper but just a box to put money in for the goods that you buy. J picked a bottle of apple soda to drink right away as well as two bottle of the village's signature beer, 'Schwarz Mönch' to take home. Of course we placed the exact amount of money for the purchase in the box.
To be continued...
