Friday, June 15 – Day 18 (Bern to Mürren)
So after a brief introduction, I am going to try to let these pictures speak for themselves. While the pictures are stunning, even they do not begin to portray the beauty that was ALL AROUND us! I guess there are some things that just can not be captured two dimensionally.
After a night train from Barcelona, we awoke in Bern, Switzerland. From here it was about an hour train ride to Interlaken Ost (east). We need some information on how to get to Mürren (our home for the next two nights) and so we headed to the tourist information office which is smack in the middle of the town between the Interlaken Ost and Interlaken West train stations.
Our guidebook said, “Arrive in Mürren on a clear evening when the sun hangs low on the horizon and the peaks feel close enough to touch, and you just might think you’ve died and gone to heaven.” Unfortunately for us, it was a rainy cloudy day in the Alps, but even so…
Mürren is a quaint, car free village that sits on a 1650 meter high ledge overlooking the Lauterbrunnen Valley. You can walk from one end of town to the other in about ten minutes. As we learned at the information office, there are two basic ways to get to Mürren: on the panoramic train from Grütschalp (connects via cable car to Lauterbrunnen); or on the gondola from Stechelberg (in the valley), which stops at Gimmelwald, Mürren, and continues up to the Schilthorn. Oh, and you could hike up if you so desired…We opted for the first route. Here is Rich on the gondola…
Directly across from the tiny train station was our guesthouse, shown here…
Our balcony is on the third floor far right, and here is Rich looking out through the clouds from inside…
Finally, close to sunset the rain stopped and the clouds began to break. Here is a series of shots from our balcony offering a panoramic view (from left to right) as the clouds broke…
Saturday, June 16 – Day 19 (Mürren)
We began this morning with a trip up to Schlithorn. This 2970 meter peak across the Lauterbrunnen Valley from the Jungfrau features the solar powered Piz Gloria revolving restaurant and spectacular views. We’re told on a clear day you can see from Titlis around to Mont Blanc and across to the German Black Forest. Unfortunately, again this morning we were enclosed by clouds…
The building I am pointing to may look familiar to some…It was the set for a 1960’s James Bond movie In Her Majesty’s Secret Service (I think that one starred Roger Moore and Telly Sevalis). At the end of the movie, the building is blown to smithereens. Here is a closer picture (an yes, that is snow at my feet in mid-June)…
We found breaks in the cloud periodically, and while we could not see Italy, France or Germany, the mountains were spectacular…
Schlithorn can only be reached by cable car from Stechelberg (in the valley) trhough Gimmelwald, and Mürren – hiking up again being an additional option if you are in shape enough to tackle 1320 meters of steep snow and ice covered paths. Here you can see Mürren in the distance as we descend from Schlithorn…
We headed back to the guesthouse to grab some groceries for our afternoon hike and picnic. No sooner had we gotten to our room than we heard this thundering sound of cow bells approaching from down the road. I went to the window and on the street below our balcony was literally a giant cow parade!..
As Rich and I learned later, in the Berner Oberland Region, cows’ grazing ground can range in elevation by as much as 1620 meters throughout the year. In the summer (usually mid-June), the farmer straps elaborate ceremonial bells on his cows (note the GIANT bells hanging from the necks of the cows in the picture) and takes them up to a hut at high elevations. When the cows arrive at their summer home, the bells are hung under the eaves. These high elevation summer stables are called “alps.”
The guidebook promised “a pleasant, mainly downhill (ha!) two hour hike (try more like four).” Despite the false advertising, the North Face Trail from Allmendhubel to Gimmelwald with a cut off to the Sprutz Waterfall was FANTASTIC! The trail had great views, flowery meadows, babbling brooks (seen here),…
mountain huts, and dozens of information boards along the way, describing the climbing history of the great peaks all around us.
Along the trail we passed four alps, including the one where our cows from earlier were taken for the summer. Our guidebook told us that if the poles under the eves of the huts had bells, the cows were up for the summer. As we approached, we saw there were no bells, but once we rounded the corner, we found the cows in the field still wearing the bells!
In the Berner Oberland, hikers have the right of way. Basically, you walk right through people’s yards and cow pastures. Here, the cows just mind their own business as Rich strolls by…
I was not quite so fortunate. As I attempted to pass a bull in my fuchsia fleece, he decided he did not want me to go by and positioned himself to block my path. I stopped and took off my fleece to make a second attempt to pass. This time I thought I was free and clear, but the bull actually moved rather rapidly to head me off, again. Rich was dying laughing and caught the whole series of interchanges on video. I’m not sure if it can be uploaded here, but I’ll look into that…
Finally, the bull’s attention was drawn elsewhere (so to speak), and we were able to get by…
I think Rich was humming The Sound of Music for this shot…
The forest above Gimmelwald hides the powerful Sprutz Waterfall with a trail snaking behind it and offering a fun gorge experience. The path was steep, through a forest,..
and a little slippery in spots, but we were able to cross UNDER the waterfall while getting just a little misty…
This is a picture from behind the falls…
Here, Rich pauses to look back down into the gorge from the other side…
Here I am high on the hill above Gimmelwald – a wonderfully rustic time warp village overlooking the Lauterbrunnen Valley…
As legend the goes, decades ago an anonymous backpacker scribbled these words in the Mountain Hostel’s guest book: “If heaven isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald.” And that about sums it up! (When we booked our hotel, there was no room in Gimmelwald, and so we went up the mountain to Mürren).
Sunday, June 17 – Day 20 (Mürren to Arles via Avignon)
Despite our smiles, we left Mürren very sadly early on Sunday morning…
We caught the panoramic train to the cable car to the Lauterbrunnen train through Interlaken and beyond. Here Rich poses with our final view of the Alps…
From Interlaken we headed east and then south to Provence. We stopped in Avingnon on our way to Arles, France.
Encircled by 4.3 kilometers of stone ramparts, Avignon is apparently famous for its 900 meter wooden Pont St. Bénezet (aka the Pont d’Avignon, shown here – subject of a children’s nursery rhyme I have never heard of)…
Completed in 1185, this was the only bridge crossing the mighty Rhône in the Middle Ages, until all but four of its spans were washed away by a flood in the mid 1600s.
Avignon’s brief stint as the papal seat of power bestowed the city with a treasury of art and architecture including the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes – shown here)…
From 1309 to 1377, Avignon stared as the Franco Vaticano. The Vatican moved the entire headquarters of the Catholic Church from Rome to Avignon, and Avignon grew from a quiet village to the thriving city it remains today…
Just up the hill from the Palais des Papes is the Parc des Rochers des Doms. This delightful bluff offers great views of the Rhône, Pont St. Bénezet, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, and the Alpilles…
So after a brief introduction, I am going to try to let these pictures speak for themselves. While the pictures are stunning, even they do not begin to portray the beauty that was ALL AROUND us! I guess there are some things that just can not be captured two dimensionally.
After a night train from Barcelona, we awoke in Bern, Switzerland. From here it was about an hour train ride to Interlaken Ost (east). We need some information on how to get to Mürren (our home for the next two nights) and so we headed to the tourist information office which is smack in the middle of the town between the Interlaken Ost and Interlaken West train stations.
Our guidebook said, “Arrive in Mürren on a clear evening when the sun hangs low on the horizon and the peaks feel close enough to touch, and you just might think you’ve died and gone to heaven.” Unfortunately for us, it was a rainy cloudy day in the Alps, but even so…
Mürren is a quaint, car free village that sits on a 1650 meter high ledge overlooking the Lauterbrunnen Valley. You can walk from one end of town to the other in about ten minutes. As we learned at the information office, there are two basic ways to get to Mürren: on the panoramic train from Grütschalp (connects via cable car to Lauterbrunnen); or on the gondola from Stechelberg (in the valley), which stops at Gimmelwald, Mürren, and continues up to the Schilthorn. Oh, and you could hike up if you so desired…We opted for the first route. Here is Rich on the gondola…
Directly across from the tiny train station was our guesthouse, shown here…
Our balcony is on the third floor far right, and here is Rich looking out through the clouds from inside…
Finally, close to sunset the rain stopped and the clouds began to break. Here is a series of shots from our balcony offering a panoramic view (from left to right) as the clouds broke…
Saturday, June 16 – Day 19 (Mürren)
We began this morning with a trip up to Schlithorn. This 2970 meter peak across the Lauterbrunnen Valley from the Jungfrau features the solar powered Piz Gloria revolving restaurant and spectacular views. We’re told on a clear day you can see from Titlis around to Mont Blanc and across to the German Black Forest. Unfortunately, again this morning we were enclosed by clouds…
The building I am pointing to may look familiar to some…It was the set for a 1960’s James Bond movie In Her Majesty’s Secret Service (I think that one starred Roger Moore and Telly Sevalis). At the end of the movie, the building is blown to smithereens. Here is a closer picture (an yes, that is snow at my feet in mid-June)…
We found breaks in the cloud periodically, and while we could not see Italy, France or Germany, the mountains were spectacular…
Schlithorn can only be reached by cable car from Stechelberg (in the valley) trhough Gimmelwald, and Mürren – hiking up again being an additional option if you are in shape enough to tackle 1320 meters of steep snow and ice covered paths. Here you can see Mürren in the distance as we descend from Schlithorn…
We headed back to the guesthouse to grab some groceries for our afternoon hike and picnic. No sooner had we gotten to our room than we heard this thundering sound of cow bells approaching from down the road. I went to the window and on the street below our balcony was literally a giant cow parade!..
As Rich and I learned later, in the Berner Oberland Region, cows’ grazing ground can range in elevation by as much as 1620 meters throughout the year. In the summer (usually mid-June), the farmer straps elaborate ceremonial bells on his cows (note the GIANT bells hanging from the necks of the cows in the picture) and takes them up to a hut at high elevations. When the cows arrive at their summer home, the bells are hung under the eaves. These high elevation summer stables are called “alps.”
The guidebook promised “a pleasant, mainly downhill (ha!) two hour hike (try more like four).” Despite the false advertising, the North Face Trail from Allmendhubel to Gimmelwald with a cut off to the Sprutz Waterfall was FANTASTIC! The trail had great views, flowery meadows, babbling brooks (seen here),…
mountain huts, and dozens of information boards along the way, describing the climbing history of the great peaks all around us.Along the trail we passed four alps, including the one where our cows from earlier were taken for the summer. Our guidebook told us that if the poles under the eves of the huts had bells, the cows were up for the summer. As we approached, we saw there were no bells, but once we rounded the corner, we found the cows in the field still wearing the bells!
In the Berner Oberland, hikers have the right of way. Basically, you walk right through people’s yards and cow pastures. Here, the cows just mind their own business as Rich strolls by…
I was not quite so fortunate. As I attempted to pass a bull in my fuchsia fleece, he decided he did not want me to go by and positioned himself to block my path. I stopped and took off my fleece to make a second attempt to pass. This time I thought I was free and clear, but the bull actually moved rather rapidly to head me off, again. Rich was dying laughing and caught the whole series of interchanges on video. I’m not sure if it can be uploaded here, but I’ll look into that…
Finally, the bull’s attention was drawn elsewhere (so to speak), and we were able to get by…
I think Rich was humming The Sound of Music for this shot…
The forest above Gimmelwald hides the powerful Sprutz Waterfall with a trail snaking behind it and offering a fun gorge experience. The path was steep, through a forest,..
and a little slippery in spots, but we were able to cross UNDER the waterfall while getting just a little misty…
This is a picture from behind the falls…
Here, Rich pauses to look back down into the gorge from the other side…
Here I am high on the hill above Gimmelwald – a wonderfully rustic time warp village overlooking the Lauterbrunnen Valley…
As legend the goes, decades ago an anonymous backpacker scribbled these words in the Mountain Hostel’s guest book: “If heaven isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald.” And that about sums it up! (When we booked our hotel, there was no room in Gimmelwald, and so we went up the mountain to Mürren).Sunday, June 17 – Day 20 (Mürren to Arles via Avignon)
Despite our smiles, we left Mürren very sadly early on Sunday morning…
We caught the panoramic train to the cable car to the Lauterbrunnen train through Interlaken and beyond. Here Rich poses with our final view of the Alps…
From Interlaken we headed east and then south to Provence. We stopped in Avingnon on our way to Arles, France.
Encircled by 4.3 kilometers of stone ramparts, Avignon is apparently famous for its 900 meter wooden Pont St. Bénezet (aka the Pont d’Avignon, shown here – subject of a children’s nursery rhyme I have never heard of)…
Completed in 1185, this was the only bridge crossing the mighty Rhône in the Middle Ages, until all but four of its spans were washed away by a flood in the mid 1600s.Avignon’s brief stint as the papal seat of power bestowed the city with a treasury of art and architecture including the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes – shown here)…
From 1309 to 1377, Avignon stared as the Franco Vaticano. The Vatican moved the entire headquarters of the Catholic Church from Rome to Avignon, and Avignon grew from a quiet village to the thriving city it remains today…
Just up the hill from the Palais des Papes is the Parc des Rochers des Doms. This delightful bluff offers great views of the Rhône, Pont St. Bénezet, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, and the Alpilles…
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