The Bernese Oberland

We were coming in from Bern last night and driving along lake Thun and looking high into the steep, steep mountains and wondering, "How do you get there?" noting all the houses perched so high up and on such steep ledges. So we get off at the appropriate exit and follow the signs to a village named Beatenburg. We drive, and we drive and we drive, going up and up continuously on this winding and amazingly scenic little road. Much to our surprise the road we took led to our hotel which is one of the buildings we'd commented on from the valley below. This is the view from the balcony of the hotel.


Not bad eh?

I'm rarely one to leisurely have breakfast, but eating out on the balcony made it easy.


The cable car which would take us to Gimmelwald.


It's a bit tense for me as the thing seems to go straight up from the valley floor. The Lauterbrunnen valley was carved by a glacier and is U-shaped. The side walls of the valley are absolutely vertical and in some cases are even everhanging. I'm totally afraid of heights so the ride up is tense and the ride down is uber-tense. The car goes down a gradual slope for a couple hundred feet then the bottom just drops out as the literally go over the edge. It's freaky.

Soph loved it.


Words can't adequately describe the beauty of this place. It is lush almost beyond belief. The peaks were covered in clouds today so no pictures of any of them. But they're jagged and rugged and covered in snow and there are myriad little cascades that fall thousands of feet to the valley below. This is a picture from the tram to Murren from Gimmelwald. The two towns are adjacent with Gimmelwald being much smaller, more rustic and more intimate.


When Anneka and I decided to start our family we said we would not let having a child stop us from traveling. And those that know us know that she hasn't. We have made a conscientious effort to design this trip to allow her and us to have fun and be entertained. We've stopped and played at every park we've seen. Sophie, like any kid, hates to leave a park and that usually causes her to have a melt-down a day but it's only becuase we're tearing her away.But she's easily distracted with whatever the next new thing is which helps us keep moving. It's been a lot of fun watching her make friends whenever there are other kids there. It's funny watching the quizzical look she gets as she shouts, "Hey kids, lets play!" to a little French boy or Swiss girl. She's been an amazing traveler.












We had dinner in Murren at a little place recommended in our guidebook. It was about 6pm when we went in and there was no one inside. That's never a good sign when scouting the potential of a restaurant. But, the menu looked appealing and reasonably priced. It ended up being our best meal of the trip. I had a pork chop in a really good mushroom sauce and Anneka had a grilled chicken breast in a really tasty blueberry sauce. It was really, really good. The host was an older guy from Italy so whenever he would come to the table I'd have Sophie respond to him in Italian. He laughed so much and thought she was the cutest thing. She's still learning to enunciate some words correctly and it was hilarious listening to her do it in Italian. All in all it was an excellent meal.


After dinner we hiked down from Murren to Gimmelwald. It's only about a mile and is all down hill. But, it's the moment Soph pooped out and fell asleep. So, I carried her the whole way down. While walking down the clouds opened up on us and we got dumped on. We huddled under a tree and rode it out with just one little umbrella. It's the first rain we've had on this trip. Rain is always a bummer but in the context of the lush green pastures surrounding us it was OK. Sophie slept through it all and as luck would have it woke up right when we strolled into Gimmelwald. My arms and my back were so tired.


Having awoke moments earlier and seeing that she'd missed walking down some stairs "All by myself!" Soph insisted on walking up them, to walk back down them. This after I'd just carried her all the way there...


Today was a great day. The weather wasn't ideal but the scenery makes up for it. We'll ride another tram tomorrow from a town we've never been to - Wengen, to take a 2.5 mile "flat" hike. Hopefully Soph will be awake for the whole thing. I don't think I can carry her.

Anneka and I think this part of the world is the most beautiful we've ever seen. It's just so appealing to us for some reason, enough to make this my fourth trip here and her third. It may be good that the peaks are shrouded in clouds, that takes the burden off the anguish of not being willing to pay the $150 a person for train/tram tickets to get to some of the highest points. Nevertheless, we're having a great time and look forward to tomorrows vistas.

More later,

Alf Weiderzeehen!