Grüezi us d'Schwiiz: Thunersee/Lake Thun (8/22/1981)

Saturday, August 22, 1981

On my way to the train station, an old man in the old town asked me if I was wandering/hiking and where to? His final question was “ganz allein? toute seule?” (all alone?). He certainly is not alone in being curious about my traveling alone. Because I was walking so fast, I missed being asked in English about the train station by a black man in a suit. He ended up asking the man I was passing. However, I did miss my train to Bern. Went to the post office before taking the 8:21 train. In Bern I changed to the 9:04 train to Thun and had the same Italian-speaking coach-mates as in the train to Bern. They were all dressed up in their hiking outfits.

During the train ride I noted the Bernese Oberland architecture, the steep roofs with the little folds at each end, and the timber arches under the fold of the roofline. The Italian-speaking lady pointed out deer grazing in a field. Arrived about 9:45 in Thun.

Following information in my Michelin guidebook, I walked straight out of the station down towards the river. The rushing rapids in the river were disturbing red and green striped poles hanging over the water. The rushing water was partially due to half-open sluice gates. I crossed the Obere Schleuse/Upper Sluices (rebuilt 1818, renovated 1978), on a covered pedestrian bridge over the sluice gates. On the bridge you could see the levers that operated the gates. Ended up on an island, but crossed a modern pedestrian bridge to the opposite bank.

Obere Schleuse/Upper Sluices

Turned left along the Aare River until I reached the old town. Obere Hauptgasse/Upper Main Lane is known for the flower-bedecked terraces of the buildings on the second floor which serves as the sidewalk. You are essentially walking on the rooftops of the shops at street level.

Obere Hauptgasse

Rathausplatz/Town Hall Square has the town hall (~1500) covered with flowers.

Rathaus/Town Hall

I found the hidden Kirchtreppe/Church Steps (1818), the covered staircase that leads to the castle rather than a church.

Kirchtreppe/Church steps

The steps meandered up between buildings. At the Schloss/castle (1190) I turned left and reached a dead end. Climbed steps to a tower door, but it was locked.

Castle towers

Retraced my steps and went to the right to a cobblestoned courtyard. The ticket lady was sweeping the floor, but stopped to sell me a 2 CHF/$1 ticket to the museum.

Thun Schloss/Castle ticket

Climbed wooden stairs to reach the Knights Hall. There were a few displays, but in the center were linoleum-topped tables and chairs, and a man setting up a projector. Some tapestries, one in tatters. Upstairs to the Swiss Army Museum, then up more stairs. From the “attic” I was able to climb a rickety wooden ladder to each of the four corner towers. Had a great view of the town and neighboring farms, and a hazy view of the lake and mountains to the south.

View from castle tower toward Lake Thun

View from castle tower

I assume that Stockhorn was the giant tooth of a mountain and Niesen was the broad cone. I went down through the three lower levels of the museum to see toys, furniture, prehistoric utensils, and in the cellar - a pottery exhibition with various locally made ceramics. I was the sole visitor in the museum.

Thun Schloss/Castle

I made my way from the castle to the church, where teenagers seemed to be preparing for a choir rehearsal. I was supposed to get a fine view of the town from the church terrace, but couldn’t see the town for the houses! Went downhill through the arch of Lauitor or Burgtor (13C, roof 1786) and found myself on the main street.

Lauitor/Gate

Followed the trolley bus wires back to the train station. On the island in the middle of the river was an arcaded building. At the train station was a group of those ever-present darkly complexioned men. One reached out to grab my hand, but I dodged.

Buses at the train station

More buses at the train station

Decided to take an excursion boat trip on Thunersee/Lake Thun at 11:13, for which my day pass was “guet.” The boat, the “Niederhorn,” was larger than the boats on Bielersee/Lake Biel, and even had First Class.

Niederhorn excursion boat

Heading out into the lake, we passed Schadau Schloss/Castle (1846-1854) on the right, covered with scaffolding. Passed pleasant towns on the rolling hillsides and came upon the colorful castle complex of Oberhofen (12C, great hall and chapel in 15C).

Oberhofen Schloss/Castle

We made several stops along the way. There were resort hotels with the clients in bathing suits and the staff in bow ties. The lake was full of sailboats and windsurfers, though there wasn’t much of a breeze. Someone on the upper deck was throwing out bread crumbs to a large flock of gulls who tried to nab the crumbs in mid-air. Most flew and dipped and wheeled alongside the boat, but occasionally flew over the passengers. One unfortunate girl got hit with bird droppings. One must be careful in choosing his seat on these boats!

We crossed the lake to stop in Spiez, and passed its castle and vineyards.

Spiez church steeple and castle tower

Spiez seen from the boat

Crossed back over to Beatenbucht where I noticed the trolley bus wires looped. We rounded a steep wooded out-cropping that became bare cliffs.

Cliffs past Beatenbucht

View towards St Beatushöhlen/St Beatus Caves

You could see the cut-outs of tunnels for the lakeside road. After some industry, we arrived at Sundlauenen “port.” I debarked here and followed signs to St Beatushöhlen/St Beatus Caves, following a well-kept fine graveled path that zigzagged up hill.

View down on Lake Thun from the hiking trail

Wanderweg/Hiking trail

A couple with a teenaged girl offered me a peach. I passed them when the father was taking movies. I kept climbing up. Passed an Asian family on their way down. Stopped to eat my Nestle Crunch Bar which fortunately had not melted. After 20 minutes from the train station, I reached the entrance of the caves.

Entrance to caves

View from cave entrance over Lake Thun

A restaurant and souvenir shop were built over a stream which cascaded down the mountainside. The restaurant had an aerial cable car to transport goods over the gorge of the waterfall.

Waterfall

Bought a 4 CHF/$2 ticket and was automatically given a guide sheet in English.

St Beatushöhlen/St Beatus Caves ticket

The official brochure was in German, French, English and Dutch. I used the restroom and had soft toilet paper for the first time in Europe!

The bearded guy who took our tickets asked if I spoke English. He seemed happy that I said I spoke German as well. Everyone else in the group was Swiss. We climbed a few more stairs, and during a taped introduction, we could look at a display of spelunking equipment, a display of a room in a prehistoric cave dwelling, a memorial to the family who donated the land as a historic site, the tomb of St Beatus (?), and what was supposedly St Beatus’s cell which is now furnished with a monk mannequin at a table in front of a stone fireplace. St Beatus lived in the cave in the 6th century. It was opened to the public in 1904.

Brochure with a photo of the monk's cell on right

The guide told us we would walk 2 km/1.2 miles and climb 86 m/282’. He used a key to open a gate and after everyone was through, he pushed a button on the wall that caused the gate to slam shut. Top security!

We were led through the caves on very formally-made concrete paths, usually over the stream that carved out the caves. Steel railings were placed where needed. There were not very many of the expected cave formations, and even fewer were named. Each grotto and named formation had a sign in four languages, so most things were self-explanatory. The guide made a few stops to talk about the first cave explorers and to point out sights like the mirror pool with a perfect reflection and the Madonna and Child stalagmite which was amazingly like a real statue. There was only one good example of a stalagmite-stalactite pairing. Most stalactites were spaghetti strands and a few were like funny mushrooms.

Photos from the brochure

We reached the end of the passable section of the caves and turned back to retrace our steps. There were a couple bypasses that were timed to allow other groups to go in the opposite direction. There were a few more stops to explain stalagmite-stalactite formation, the minerals creating various colors, and to point out plant life. The tour took approximately 50 minutes and we were finished at 14:10.

I followed signs along the Wanderweg/hiking trail towards Beatenbucht. The trail through the shady woods was made of either asphalt, fine gravel, or mulch and always at least a meter wide. There were plenty of benches along the way, and a guardrail where the edge of the path dropped off steeply. You had occasional glimpses straight down into the green-blue water of the lake.

Every once in a while the hiking trail signs would indicate how much time it would take to reach Beatenbucht.

45 minutes to Beatenbucht from here

Passed a quarry.

Quarry

One area was marked as the Widamannplatz, dedicated to Josef Widamann, a Swiss journalist and writer.

View from Widamannplatz

Passed over the Beatenberg cable car tracks. I did not stop to take a photo because a family was loitering there with one member at a time going into the woods.

It was supposed to take me an hour to reach Beatenbucht from St Beatushöhlen, and I did it in 45 minutes. Fortunately in this direction it was mostly downhill. I caught a regular bus in Beatenbucht at the trolley bus turn-around and returned to Thun (this itinerary was suggested by my father!).

Trolley bus turn-around

Trolley bus in Thun

Took the train to Bern arriving about 17:00. I went to the rail travel agency to get information about the glacier hike at Brig and learned you could only reserve a spot the evening before you planned to take the hike.

Wandered through Bern, the underground shopping arcades, the market near Käfigturm/Prisoners’ Gate, and tried to call Rosie S, getting no answer. A girl handed me a leaflet about a pantomime show and wanted to be sure I came.

I returned to the train station, and because there were so many unoccupied males, I decided to pass the time by taking the 17:38 train to Biel. In Biel I walked to the lakefront and sat at a bench with an old lady (to avoid the fewer unoccupied males here). Took the 18:52 train back to Bern, arriving at 19:20 with enough time to walk to the Loeb department store to meet Doris at 19:30. This seems to be the meeting place for all kinds of characters, and guys were moseying up to me as I dodged here and there searching the crowd. I was getting a bit panicky when 19:30 came and went, and the men seemed to be closing in. I also wondered if I had misunderstood Doris. She did arrive at 19:45, late because she missed a tram. We walked the five minutes to the National Hotel in whose theater we were to attend the pantomime show. I saw the leaflet girl in the lobby. We met several of Doris’s friends and went to sit in the balcony. We were then told to go downstairs and I was to scout out seats while Doris helped her roommate who is in a wheelchair. We eventually found seats in the middle. The show, “Puppenmacher und Sohn/Doll Maker and Son,” started late because of stage problems. The show originated in Germany, but the mimes came from several different countries and songs were in English. Very international with an international theme. The dolls that were made had to fight off an evil spirit. The doll maker wanted to give life to the dolls. They created a wonderland and bestowed it to an Adam and Eve pair of dolls. They could play with any doll except one. The evil spirit entices Adam and Eve to play with the forbidden doll, and all the other dolls break. Adam and Eve learn of pain and violence. The evil spirit rules the land, handing out dolls to some, but not all the dolls of various lands. Jealousy and fighting erupt. The doll maker and his son are distraught and decide to send the son to the doll land as a doll. He is able to convert a few of the dolls to a message of peace, especially when he raises the dead and cures the blind. Someone betrays him and he is nailed to a cross. When he disappears, the believers are upset, but then they are made to know they can enter doll heaven. Others are also welcomed into heaven. However, sadly, there are many who remain unbelieving.

After the curtain came down, a burly pot-bellied bearded man hopped up to the microphone to help us see the analogy in the pantomime! Really now! Then he interviewed three characters for a public relations-type job. The audience was allowed to decide which one should get the job. Most of the audience raised their hands for candidate #1, a few for #2, and only one for #3. I didn’t vote because the German was too fast for me to follow the interviews. It turns out the three men were, in order: Moses, David, and St Paul. We then seemed to get a fire and brimstone sermon, through a booming voice, before bowing our heads to pray. We got more than we bargained for!

Doris walked me to the train station where I caught the 22:11 train back to Biel. She was staying in Bern and would overnight with her grandmother.

Sunday, August 23, 1981

After raining all morning, I was able to go to the old town for picture-taking in the afternoon. Went around behind the old town through Römergässli. Lots of hippies hanging around.