Grüezi us d'Schwiiz: Berner Oberland (9/11/1983)

Sunday, September 11, 1983

When I woke up I looked out to see clouds scudding by and the peaks of the mountains were visible.

The Alps from the Personalhaus

It got crisper and clearer, so at 9:00 I called Marsha C to see if she wanted to change our plans to go to the Basel museums. She was in the shower, but Ruth D said she would still want to go to Basel because the weather report forecast rain.

So I walked down to the train station, stopping at Progins for a kugel crème kuchen/cake. At the station I renewed my half-price pass for one month.

Monthly Half Price Pass

At 9:40 I met Marsha coming into the station. We quickly decided not to go to Basel, and Marsha offered to drive. We headed towards Bern, then Interlaken, getting great views of the mountains with green, green meadows and big fluffy white clouds floating above and below mountain peaks. At Interlaken we saw the Jungfrau as clear as ever. We drove up the valley to Lauterbrunnen and beyond to stop at Trümmelbach Falls. We parked and walked past a new souvenir shop up to the entrance and paid 4.50 CHF/$2.25.

Trümmelbach Falls ticket

We waited for the “lift” that goes up at an angle. Nearly everyone on the elevator was speaking English. We then climbed further up the narrow gorge, first seeing a rushing waterfall below us. We went inside where the glacier runoff had carved a tortuous channel deep into the rock.

Trümmelbach Falls

We came upon another waterfall dropping forcefully straight down. Lights were turned on in the gallery. The rocks were wet and shiny, and were black with streaks of white. We continued up to see where this waterfall went over the edge, then came to the “well” where the uppermost falls descend. I seemed to remember water coming out of the hole straight above us, but today it came from a side hole halfway up the well. We returned to the area of the lift for a fine view of the Lauterbrunnen valley.

Lauterbrunnen valley

We hiked down and my quads got a little shaky. We took a side path to look up at some falls, and down at some smaller falls. Near the bottom, we followed a path to see falls below us, then another path to look straight on where water spurt out sideways, creating a multitude of water beads. We went out to the souvenir shop, then drove to Stechelberg to see one of the highest falls in Switzerland. We got half-price tickets for 9.10 CHF/$4.50 to take the aerial cable car up to Mürren. It was fascinating to see the mountains appear and disappear as the clouds flew by. We walked through the town of Mürren, passing beautifully flower-decorated houses.

Flower-bedecked house in Mürren

We went to the Allmendhubel funicular to find one didn’t leave for a half hour. So we climbed the hillside to lay out a blanket and picnic in the warm sun. We had bread with cheese and smoked ham, and a plum tart from Ruth. We watched clouds rising up from the valley below.

Clouds rising out if valley

We bought half-price tickets for 3.20 CHF/$1.50 for the funicular that left at 13:40. At the top was a restaurant that we walked around and went through a gate into Alpine pastures. There was plenty of evidence of cows, but the closest ones were on the next hillside. Behind us, the slope of Schilthorn was covered in clouds. All around the clouds encroached upon us.

Alps peeking above clouds

We wandered a bit on the hilltop, then went back through another gate that we latched behind us. We found a sketch of the panorama, and put on our x-ray glasses to pick out the mountains through the clouds. We went to catch the next funicular down, and by then the whole area was clouded over. We walked through Mürren towards the train station, stopping to peek in the new sports complex with an indoor pool and hot pools. There was a tourist info desk, and squash courts. Signs indicated they had masseurs, a sauna, etc. We caught the 15:00 aerial cable car back down to Stechelberg. As we drove back to Lauterbrunnen, it started sprinkling rain and the wind was strong. The Staubbach Falls were being blown away into mist at the very top. We headed to Bern as it poured rain. In Bern we drove in circles trying to get to Bahnhof/train station parking. Once there, we found a spot right away. We checked the movie board in the station, but nothing great was showing. We drove in circles to get out of Bern and headed to Biel. Marsha came up for tea and the kuchen/cake. It has a liqueur in it, so Marsha got to take the leftovers. We labeled her photos and she left about 18:00. The mountains were starting to re-appear, and at 19:00 they were crystal clear with the sun shining on them.