Day 41: Lauterbrunnen Valley, Gimmelwald, & Murren

This is a looong post, but it was a long day...


- Change of plans.
We woke up at 6:30 and turned on our black and white tv (not exactly 5 star resorts up here) and tuned into our mountain channel. There is a live feed of the mountain top we planned on visiting and it showed nothing but clouds.

We snoozed until about 8 and after a quick breakfast we decided to hike to Stechelberg, the nearest town in the valley about 1 1/2 hours away. It was cloudy and drizzling on the way, but we could still see up to the ridge where the waterfalls start and where some towns are. We couldn't see the snow-capped tops that we saw yesterday.

- Falls
We called another audible (Brooke called this one) and went for Trummelbach Falls. We were charged $20 US to enter and weren't really sure what we were going to see. It turned out the falls where inside the mountain ridge. We took a 40 person elevator up about 5 stories inside the ridge. From there we took stairs weaving inside mountain tunnels carved out along side the 2 degree C glacier waterfall that sliced through the mountain. There was a cold mist spraying all over and the rushing water made a deafening sound in the caves. Although perfectly safe, our senses made us think we were going to be swept away down the fall at anytime. It was definitely worth the $20.

- Grimmelwald
We completed our walk to Stechelberg and took the lift up to Gimmelwald, a village of less people than Lauterbrunnen but 2000 feet higher (our bud Rick Steves tipped us off on this town).

We walked up and down the "main" road and stopped at a house with an Alp Cheese for sale sign in the window. We rang a bell and a lady's head popped out of the window above and told us to wait a moment. Then old man Hans came out of the door down by us hobbling with his cane and led us to "The Cheese Hut." This 10 x 10 shed across from his house had 3 walls holding wheels of cheese about the circumference of a frisbee.

Hans pulled out some sample cheeses and cut off some for us to try (he had two types, new ('08) and old ('07)). They weren't like typical Swiss cheeses; they were light colored, but no holes and a different strong flavor. He also let us try a beef sausage that tasted a little like salami. After the tasting and his hospitality, we had to buy something. Of course, the smallest portion was about $10 and there was no way we were ever going to eat it. We considered it a $10 tasting.

- Murren
At this point it's still cloudy, but we decided to make the hike to Murren. The rain picked up a bit and half way through our feet were weighed down by water from the rain and leftover from the falls earlier. We did the second half dodging giant snails and slugs on the path like you would worms on a sidewalk after rain.

The hike went 800 feet higher, and we ended at 5341 ft. in Murren. After some expensive hash browns (they claim it's traditional Swiss food), the sun finally started to break through the clouds. Although not all the mountain tops were visible, we could see more and it was drying off the benches outside and, more importantly, us.

We stopped to enjoy some beers overlooking the valley below and mountains across the way. We decided to go bare foot and hang our socks and shoes by our table to dry off.

Eventually some Spanish people showed up and we spent the next ten minutes trying to listen to them make fun of us Americanos and our sock drying (we think we understood "don't worry they don't speak Spanish" and "only in America"). We weren't fazed because we went to Spain and saw naked man (see Barcelona post); they can deal with our feet.

- Hike down
We felt replenished, our socks and shoes slightly less wet, so after our train ride over to Grutschalp, we decided to hike down the ridge. We were basically directly above our village, and the sign said it would take an hour, so how hard could it be? Ugh...

Once we got beyond the tram station the trail turned to a mud and gravel combination and weaved in and out between the hillside forest. We only found out later that the steep descent was 2200 feet. The sign didn't lie, it was only an hour, but it was intense.

- The End
Exhausted, and wet and muddy from the knees down, we got back to our hotel and headed for the shower downstairs (again not a 5 star).

After some dinner in our hotel, that was it for our day. We were in bed by 10:30. We have to wake up early tomorrow to take the lifts up to the 10,000 ft Schilthorn before we leave for Lake Como, Italy.