Wednesday morning we left our miniscule Alpenblick room,
hoping to find bigger and better accommodations in the high country. Our goal was to get to the village of
Gimmelwald, which requires a gondola to access. It is not possible to get there
by car!
Driving up the Lauterbrunen valley to the Stechelberg gondola station:
Click on the link for our short video of this scene:
Inside the gondola station- our ride up to Gimmelwald:
Our gondola arriving:
Gimmelwald has been described by many people as “heaven on
Earth,” because of its unimaginable and indescribable up-close views of the
Alps. Also, it is a really special place
because of its remoteness and relative lack of tourists.
Our arrival at Gimmelwald:
Paragliders flying near our hotel:
The closest village that you can drive to is Stechelberg,
just down the valley from Lauterbrunen.
At Stechelberg, you take your suitcases, and board a large gondola car,
which shuttles you up the mountain to the Gimmelwald stop. From the gondola
station, it is a 15 minute walk up a steep road to the Mittaghorn Hotel, owned
by a 93 year old gentleman named Walter.
To say that the accommodations at the Mittaghorn are rough
is not an exaggeration. For 120 Swiss
Francs per night, we were given Room #3, which to our delight was provisioned
with a small shower. The only catch was, you had only 5 minutes of hot water
per person, per night!
The 5 minute hot water timer:
Another inconvenience was the lack of an in-room toilet. No
problem though; you simply had to walk to the far end of the squeaky hall, and enter
the dimly lit communal toilette. There,
you could lock the door, and take care of business, but still with the chance
of a knock or someone trying to enter. One of us handled the communal toilet better than
the other- that’s all I’m going to say.
Our home for two nights:
We arrived at Walter’s place at about 10 in the morning, and
quickly got settled in. Then we went about the discovery of the nearby
mountainside, and adjusting to yet another new rhythm of life. No keys necessary here. You just come and go
on an honor system. The building is
sufficient, but in Chris’ opinion, could use a woman’s touch and some
renovations. The pictures will allow you to judge accordingly. Admittedly, it is a bit rough, but the room
is plenty big, at least.
Our first excursion was to the 10,000 summit of the
Schilthorn, where a very cool revolving restaurant awaited us. In fact, this facility was used for a scene
in the 1969 James Bond 007 film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” This cinematic connection was played up to the
max, to the point of excess cheesiness! The altitude was exacting its toll on us, and we could barely climb a flight of steps. Would have been nice to have been acclimated before hiking around at 10,000 feet.
Atop "Piz Gloria" on the Schilthorn:
On the way down from Schilthorn, we stopped at the Birg
station, and took a “thrill walk” on a brand new skywalk that is bolted on the
side of the mountain, featuring a glass floor in one spot. The experience was
breathtaking.
The "Thrill Walk" attached to the cliff:
Check out this short video we made on the thrill walk:
The rest of the day was spent hiking and exploring the
nearby village of Murren, walking about 7 miles.
A neat house in Murren, with a great collection of cow bells:
View from our Murren hike:
Chris soaking it in:
Pig pen on the mountain:
Train to take us back from our hike:
We sat right next to the train's engineer- fantastic view:
Our first night at Walter’s neither of us
slept very well, which was a bummer. Wish you could have seen us getting
showers with the timer. Seriously, if
you go over your limit, ice cold water.
Chris chose to skip the hair wash for tonight.
Your photos are really beautiful! And congratulations on the thrill walk - amazing!
ReplyDelete