Lauterbrunnen

Lake Zürich from ferry wharf

After four days of being well hosted by Mary and William we left to go to Lauterbrunnen which is deep in the Swiss Alps.  Finally the weather cleared and Zurich looked a treat although it was still very cold.  Nonetheless in the sun and there being no breeze we decided that we were wrapped up enough to sit in the sun and have a coffee on the Bahnhofstrasse (the main street of Zurich with every designer shop you could imagine). 

Bahnhofstrasse - where we had our coffee

Our train ride to Lauterbrunnen involved three changes of train.  One at Olten and another at Interlaken Ost.  The amount of time we had at the latter was about five minutes.  I had thought myself very smart when I bought some half price tickets but found out on the first leg that I did not have half price card and therefore the ability to purchase the tickets.  It resulted in me having to fork out a rather large sum for the full price of the ticket.  I had not properly read the fine print.  So what I had thought were very good priced tickets were in fact very expensive. 

View of Lauterbrunnen from our hotel balconey

The Swiss railway system runs like clockwork.  Trains arrive and leave on time.  The trains are comfortable but there is nowhere to put bags easily.  On the second leg we found a little compartment and were able to put our bags on the seats.  The final train to Lauterbrunnen took us into the alps on a less comfortable train but as it was only 20 minutes or so it was easy. 

Cheese honesty box! Who could resist the cheese?

Hotel Oberland was about 200 metres from the station although slightly uphill.  It was a cute hotel which gave me a workout with weights having to carry two 19kg bags up three flights of stairs. 

Lauterbrunnen is a very small alpine village deep in a glacial valley overlooked by mountains.  It is almost chocolate box Swiss!!  It was suggested that we go for a walk to some falls that are inside a mountain; the result of the water from glaciers. Not having had a great deal of exercise that is what we did.

It is quintessentially Swiss;  cows with cowbells munching the verdant grass in this

The farm

mountainous region.  On the way we came across some cheese that I guess had been made locally. One cheese was 2 years old and the other a year old. It was there to purchase and taste with an honesty box system for payment.  It was so nice to see.

Rest area and local vegetation

After our walk (incidentally we got to the cave too late to go in) we found a place to have a wine and a beer.  The man who served us ran a base jumpers outfit and had spent 9 months in New Zealand.  He remarked that he wanted to end his life there as he loved it (NZ) so much (I don't think he meant suicide or some other premature way).  He was French from the Savoie area.  He recommended a local dark beer that I decided to try and it was actually  very good. He said this beer was made by the last independent brewery in the area. 

We ate at our hotel.  We both had a traditional Swiss meal of rosti, mine with a Swiss sausage and onion gravy.  It was quite nice but I am really missing vegetables. 

Our hotel