Interlaken (8/15/1981)

Saturday, August 15, 1981

Took the 7:52 train to Interlaken, eventually following the edge of hazy Thunersee/Lake of Thun and debarking at Interlaken West at 9:30. Walked through town seeing many horse-drawn carriages carrying tourists. Followed Bahnhofstrasse/Train Station Street and Rugenparkstrasse southwest. Bought a couple “Tilsiter” carved wooden cows at Migros. At the foot of Abendberg/Evening Mountain and at the edge of Rugenwald/Rugen Forest, there was the Drahtseilbahn/Cable Railway Interlaken-Heimwehfluh. Bought the half-price ticket for 3.80 CHF/$1.90 and boarded the funicular. The cable car was small with open curtained windows. Cute but not romantic like the posters indicated! We climbed through a thickly wooded area; no views. We reached Heimwehfluh in about five minutes. I climbed up the small wooden Heimwehfluh viewing tower with its views of two lakes.

Heimwehfluh viewing tower (1890) to the right

Thunersee was hazy and I couldn’t see Brienzersee/Lake Brienz at all.

Interlaken from Heimwehfluh

View from Heimwehfluh

Heimwehfluhbahn

Passed a children’s playground that included a seat on a cable that you could ride across an open area. Since I had 20 minutes until the “show” at the model railroad exhibit I hiked around in the cooler temperature woods. Saw Ruedi’s Rock.

Ruedi's Rock

Trail signs

The model railroad exhibit cost another 3.80 CHF/$1.90 for a taped explanation of the 1:45 (European ‘O’ gauge) model railroad with its signaling system like that of the Swiss Railroad. A dozen or so different trains circled around as it then became night, the moon came out, and later the sun rose again.

Model railroad exhibit

Looking through the cable car at the tracks

Heimwehfluhbahn lower station

Took the funicular back down to Interlaken, returned to the train station, and continued along the famous Höheweg/High Street, the social center of town.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau is a combination of a hotel that opened in 1865, designed by architects Jakob Friedrich Studer and Horace Edouard Davinet, and the adjacent hotel built in 1869 by Davinet. They were connected by a domed building in 1899.

Hotel Victoria Jungfrau on Höheweg 

The Höhematte was a vast park on the south side bordered with trees and plots of flowers. There were some meteorological instruments, a barometer, and a large telescope looking towards Jungfrau. Jungfrau must have been somewhere to the south in the haze. Passed the Kursaal/Casino (1859).

Casino

Casino

Saw the diving board of the swimming pool and miniature golf course on the opposite bank of the Aare River.

Swimming pool

The river itself was that funny “glacier” green. Continued on Höheweg with its Riviera-like hotels and many souvenir shops.

Interlaken Ost/East train station (1917)

Ended up in Interlaken Ost/East, passing the Christkatholische Kirche/Christian Catholic Church (1906-1908 by German architect Wilhelm Hector) and Augustinerkirche/Church (1909-1911) and Kloster/Monastery.

Interlaken church steeples

Rear of Interlaken Schloss/Castle

Rounded the south end of Höhematte, turned south on Jungfraustrasse, right on Parkstrasse, ended up on Hauptstrasse which became Gsteigstrasse. That took me under the Autobahn/highway, through fields, and eventually into Wilderswil.

Looking towards Wilderswil

Stopped at the Wilderswil train station.

Berner Oberland Bahn

Schynige Platte Bahn

Crossed a covered bridge to the Gsteigkirche/Church (12C) and cemetery.

Wilderswil covered bridge (1738)

Gsteigkirche/Church (12C)

The area was full of typical Swiss chalets. Returned to the station and bought a .60 CHF/$.30 ticket to Interlaken Ost.

Train to Lauterbrunnen at Interlaken Ost/East

From there I crossed the Aare to the Harderbahn lower station, bought a 5.30 CHF/$2.65 ticket for this larger funicular leaving at 14:00. It was clearing enough to see Jungfrau. In 12 minutes, after passing through a tunnel and the woods, you reached an altitude of 1322 m/4496’ at Harderkulm. Walked to the Harderkulm Restaurant with its views of the three major mountains of the Bernese Alps: the Eiger, Mönch/Monk, and Jungfrau/Maiden or Virgin.

Jungfrau

Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau

Harderkulm Restaurant

You could see the Jungfraujoch/Pass between the Mönch and Jungfrau. Returned down the mountain on the 15:00 funicular.

Harderbahn

At the bottom there was a small zoo, with marmotte, a camoscio and stambecco. I guess I need to re-name these animals from the Italian in which I was introduced to them.
The Murmeltiere/marmots, Gämse/chamois, and Steinbock/ibex.

Zoo

Swiss SBB train

Harderbahn lower station

I wandered back through Interlaken to the Interlaken West station, learning that I needed to purchase the Tell Freilichtspiele/Tell Open-Air Play tickets at an official agency office. Bought the cheapest one and fortunately it had a map directing you to the theater, which I had not successfully found previously today.

But since I still had time, I crossed the Aare into the town of Unterseen located on the Bödeli, the bit of land between the two lakes.

Unterseen gate

The Dorfkirche/Village church (13C) is supposed to be a great landmark for photographing the Jungfrau behind it. I could not back up far enough to get them both in a photo.

Unterseen village church (13C)

I crossed back into Interlaken on another bridge and could see the weirs.

Aare River weirs (1854)

Aare River

I did some window shopping and found a cuckoo clock at the least expensive price I have yet to see. Bought the last one of a certain model, being the demo, but at least I knew it worked. I went to put the cuckoo clock in a locker at the train station and checked train times. I bought a slice of Linzertorte, like a raspberry tart, to eat in Höhematte, before heading to the Tellspiel theater. Just a short distance down Hauptstrasse, the entrance is on Tellweg.

Tells Play ticket

The crowd was admitted at 19:30, and most went to buy tickets. I used the restroom. Noted they were renting wool blankets. The usher in a studded denim jacket showed me my seat and offered me a program in English. I said “Merci!” (The Biel thank-you.) Actually the program was in German, French, and English. The audience of 2200 sits in a large bank of seats under a roof. The seats faced a wooded hillside with life-size Swiss buildings and the beginnings of a stone tower.

Wilhelm Tell stage

The Tell play is not only about the Swiss national hero Wilhelm Tell, but about Swiss history and the prelude to the birth of the nation. The setting was in the 16th century and the play was first done in 1912. The German version of the introduction also explains that the actors/actresses are all amateurs and local people. Every time an actor scurried across the back in the woods, the audience started clapping. Then you could hear cow bells. The play began with the townspeople welcoming back the cow herders in a traditional procession where the best cows get to wear the largest bells and headdresses made with flowers. They had a sizable herd of cows and even some frisky goats. There are supposedly 250 actors in the play, and maybe 20 horses. The Austrian troops on horses were always galloping across the stage, and Lady Berta, who rode side-saddle, even charged up the hill on her horse. Having read the play’s synopsis in English, I was able to follow most of the Swiss-German spoken in the play. The formal language was the old Ihr and Euch version.

When Tell was ordered to shoot an arrow through the apple on his son’s head, he hemmed and hawed and dropped his crossbow a couple times. As he aimed again, Lord Rudenz came charging over on his horse to yell at the bad guy Gessler (everyone had to bow to his hat on a pole). They rushed about on their horses causing quite a commotion. I tried to keep my eye on Tell to see how they did the arrow in the apple, but more mounted guards came in and added to the chaos, and I missed seeing Tell as he “shot” the arrow. You could hear a “boing” and I saw the son move as if to grab the falling apple and came up with one with an arrow in it. Well done!
Pictures from the program:

Welcoming the cow herders

Wilhelm Tell is arrested

Wilhelm Tell's son with an apple on his head

There had been a 15-minute intermission, and the play ended at 23:00. That did not leave me enough time to catch a train home. I had already heard that all the hotels and hostels were full, so I prepared to camp out in Höhematte. However, I found that the Augustinerkirche/Church was open and the pews had seat cushions to make a comfortable bed. I settled in for the night, only to find that the church bells rang every quarter hour! I was also very cold, and was glad I was not outdoors, especially by the river. I heard some traffic, and occasional “joint” mice squeaks, but was otherwise not disturbed. The church turned out to be a true sanctuary.