Switzerland Alpenventure: Gimmelwald

I woke up my last morning in Luzern, packed up and pulled up the SBB App.  This app is where you can buy transport tickets throughout Switzerland.  Tickets for trains, cable cars, pretty much everything, I think.  It is nice because I was able to put in Luzern to Murren, and not have to buy separate tickets for each different leg or type of leg of my journey.  The trip from Luzern to Gimmelwald (my final destination) involved a train from Luzern to Interlaken Ost; a train from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen; a cable car from Lauterbrunnen to Grutslap; a train from Grutslap to Murren; and lastly, a cable car from Murren to Gimmelwald.  I intially only bought a ticket to Murren, because I hadn't decided if I wanted to take the walking path from Murren to Gimmelwald or the cable car.  By the time I arrived in Murren and trekked from one side of the village to the other, I had decided I was paying the extra 3.20 CHF (roughly $4) to take the cable car.  I still stand by my decision to only pack in backpacks though, because nothing sucks more than suitcases on cobblestones and hauling them up stairs.

The trip from Luzern to Murren was roughly 3 hours and boy was it a beautiful 3 hours.  I did seem to be on the wrong side of the train though.  I hadn't really thought about it when I boarded.  There was a map on the little ledge in my seats and I saw that for about 2/3 of the trip I'd be on the wrong side, but then the last part, I should have all the views of the lakes out my window.  Even being on the wrong side, things were gorgeous.  Bright blue lakes!  Green mountain sides!  Farms!  On my side there were a lot of backyards with small gardens and fruit trees.  Lots of apple trees.  It makes me want to plant an apple tree in the community garden.  Then we pulled into a town and I thought I was going to be on the right side to see the lakes and everything, but it turns out that was were the train pulled into the station in town and backed out, so I was still on the wrong side!

One of the many lakes we passed on the train.

At Interlaken I had about a 10 minute layover between trains.  Then I got on for the short trip to Lauterbrunnen.  The train actually split into two somewhere between Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen with half the train going to Grindelwald and the other half going to Lauterbrunnen.  At Lauterbrunnen, I stopped by the bathroom and then headed to my first cable car-as-transit-between-towns cable car.  The cable car to Pilatus was more of just a ride up the mountain and seemed like a tourist attraction; but here it was actual transportation.

Up at the top of the cable car line I got onto a 2 car train.  I don't know how they got the train up there.  I seriously want to know.  The ride from Grutslap to Murren was maybe 15 minutes.  You were traveling up on the ridge of a mountain getting peaks of what lay across the valley through the pine trees.

View from the train between Grutslap and Murren.

Upon arrival at Murren, I walked the length of the town, stopping at the grocery store in town to get some food for the next day or two.  Overall, while the prices were probably higher than in Luzern, they weren't as bad as I expected, considering that all the food has to arrive in Murren via cable car/train.  With another bag in hand now, I was for sure taking the cable car to Gimmelwald.

The view from the hostel window.  See, totally worth it!

So how to describe Gimmelwald?  A Swiss Hobbiton.  It's rustic, beautiful, built on the side of a grassy hill.  I read about Gimmelwald in a guidebook, which I soon learned was very old fashioned of me as the two others I was talking to while eating supper and hanging out after learned of it from TikTok.  They were both in the 18-25 range, so just mere babies.  Haha!  One was from Estonia and the other from New Zealand.  The girl from Estonia had never seen mountains before and was so excited!

Gimmelwald

See, couldn't you imagine Samwise Gamgee living here?

I'm staying at the Mountainhostel which has room for like 60 people in 3 dorms, where you're literally sleeping side-by-side.  Luckily for me I at least am on an end, so I'm only sleeping next to one person and it is a lot easier for me to get in and out.  But the bed really isn't that bad and the views are just stunning.  Everyone is like, "honestly, I'm here for the views and the bed works."  

After arriving and setting up my bunk, I grabbed my computer to type up my Luzern post and then headed out for a walk around the village.  The town is a farming village, so there are goats and cows out and around (you can hear them clanging).  On the walk I passed multiple houses that had mini-fridges where you could buy cheese and some other homemade things from them.  They just have an honesty box to put money into or a QR code to send money to.  In the evening I had some ham and cheese sandwiches, chatted, and then played some Estonian card game.

Buy yourself some cheese!

In the morning I ate breakfast and then headed out for a day on Schilthorn.  Schilthorn is a peak on the west side of the Lauterbrunnen valley and the perfect place from which to view Jungfrau, the highest peak in the area, and home to the Jungfrau Glacier, though from the look of things, there are a bunch of glaciers in the area.  To get to Schilthorn, I took the cable car to Murren, and then another one up to Birg.  Birg sits most of the way up and was about a 5 minute trip.  Up there at the visitor center there is a walkway clinging to the side of the mountain and some great viewing sights of not just Jungfrau, but also Monch and the Eiger.  I was familiar with the Eiger from a Jon Kraukauer book.  It is known for its rock climbing North Face, which appears to be a fairly vertical climb.

Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau (Peaks from left to right)

I hadn't been up there for more than 5-10 minutes when clouds moved into the valley.  NOOOOOO!!!  And right as I hit a point on the walkway with a sign that said "Photo Point", you couldn't see a thing other than white in the valley.  Bummer.  I made my way back up to the viewing point and sat there for another 10-15 mintues, hoping it would clear out before giving up.  I figured I might as well make my way to the top as I still had tickets up there, even if I don't see anything.  But it turns out we were just in some clouds because as we climbed higher up to Schilthorn, it cleared and you could see all three peaks right there!  Stunning!

Above the clouds

I real quickly make a quick pass around, getting photos in every direction just in case the clouds moved in.  Luckily though, for the time I was up there it was just intermittent clouds and nothing that blocked the view for long.  From up on Schilthorn, you can see not only the 3 peaks right in front of you across the valley, but in one spot, between two mountains you can see Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe; but it is so far away it isn't all that impressive.

Mont Blanc is the snow-capped mountain almost dead center, way in the back.

One of the things Schilthorn is known for is its ties to James Bond.  Apparently a lot of filming for On Her Majesty's Secret Service, a late 1960s post-Sean Connery Bond film, was filmed atop the mountain.  At that point in time they hadn't completely finished building the restaurant and other fixtures in the building, so they let the film take over.  What a great way to bring in more tourism after it was finished.  In the building is a whole display on the filming of the movie.  And it appears I failed to take a photo of the building with my phone (where I get the pictures for my posts from), so I guess you'll just have to create something up in your mind.  I was too distracted by the mountains!

Quick break from eating lunch, to take a picture.

I had a great classic Swiss lunch of ham, cheese, and bread before taking one last round of photos and taking the cable car back down to Birg.  Instead of taking the cable car the rest of the way down, I was going to hike down to Gimmelwald.  According to AllTrails, the route I was planning to take would be a little over 5 miles.  A pretty steady descent.  I failed to notice it was a 4400 foot descent!  Oh my knees!  But it was pretty and the views worth the pain of the following day.

On the way down, I passed some paragliders who were about to take off, and watched them go.  I got my required handstand photo(s).  I got to walk past cows in a field.  I also got to the point where I was afraid if I sat down, I wouldn't want to stand back up, so I didn't let myself sit.  Just keep moving, moving, moving.

The views the whole way down were amazing!  I eventually walked out on that ridge on the right and down into the valley you see.

Cows!

When I reached the top of Gimmelwald I was so thrilled.  Upon returning to the hostel, I grabbed a quick shower and change of clothes, and some ibuprofen for the knees.  Then I went next door to a proper three course Swiss dinner, which was absolutely delicious!  I went to bed early as I was exhausted, taking another round of pain pills before bed.

Sunset as the mountains reflect the sun.  It didn't hit like this the following evening.

I slept soundly and woke up rested, but sore.  It was obvious that the via ferrata plans were being scrapped.  It was just going to be a fairly lazy day.  I walked the 1.5 miles to Murren, slowly, working out the soreness in my hips.  Then I took a slow loop around town before getting some hot chocolate and a cookie.  Sometimes a nice relaxing day is what you need.  Especially after hiking 4400 feet down a mountain.  

Road to Murren

Murren

Up on the ridge in the background is where I hiked from the day before.

Switzerland Alpenventure: Luzern

 Luzern get 5 stars!  I love it!  Luzern often gets spelled by its French spelling of Lucerne, which is rather funny because it is in the German speaking part of Switzerland, so shouldn't it go by Luzern?  There also seems to be an emphasis in the first syllable: LOOTZ-ern.  

Yesterday morning I got up and got ready and said, "Let's seen when the next train to Luzern is?  Oh cool!  There's one in 5 minutes and one in 35 minutes and one in an hour(ish).  How cool is that to have all those options."  I figured I should be able to make the one in 35 mins though I wasn't sure, so I wasn't going to buy my ticket until I got to the train station, which was about a 15 min walk.  I had enough time to also get breakfast: a bretzel with ham (yes, spelled with a B, not a P).  I hopped on the train, took a seat and we set off about 10 minutes later.  The ride was pretty, but the area between Zurich and Luzern is still rather flattish.  You're still in the foothills of the Alps.  Before I knew it, the train was pulling into the station.

As is required, I walked out of the train station and turned the wrong direction (I also did that in Zurich, to carry on my tradition of always being turned around when leaving a station of any sort).  Maybe it was for the best because as I took my detour and eventually poured out into the area right near the river, I literally went "WOW!"  It was just so Europe.  This beautiful wooden bridge and such European buildings.  It was gorgeous. 

Lion Monument

It was too early to check into my hotel, but I was able to drop off my bags, and move my stuff I needed for the day into my smaller one.  Then I grabbed my headphones and set off for the Lion Monument, which was one end of the Luzern City App that had a self-guided audio tour available.  The Lion Monument was created back in the 1800s to honor the Swiss Guard that were injured and killed while protecting King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette at the Tuileries Palace, when the revolutionaries attacked.  The monument has a dying lion protecting a shield with the Fleur-de-Lis on it representing the French royalty.

Hofkirche St Leodegar

Up next on the tour was Hofkirche St Leodegar.  Just as I was approaching, it started to ring noon.  It is surrounded by cemetery.  Upon walking up the stairs and in through the front door, my immediate thought was "This can't be Protestant.  Did this church not get Protestant Reformed?  This has to be Catholic."  And upon looking it up, it is indeed Catholic.  How can you tell?  All the gold and paintings and such.  Things that are mostly missing from Protestant churches.

Walls in the Weinmarkt

I next passed by the Kapellplatz and City Hall.  Both important parts of old Luzern.  Then I arrived at the Weinmarkt with is a square in town...or more of a triangle, that was known as a market place for wine...of course, but also a place were performances were held in the city.  The walls are also covered in paintings.  

Zytturm Clock Tower at Musegg

Then was a walk up to the Musegg Wall.  The Wall is a part of the city's old fortifications.  It consists of 9 towers and a wall connecting them.  One of the towers includes the Zytturm, which is the old clock tower.  In fact, it is the oldest clock in the city, which means that it has a special honor.  It gets to be the first clock to chime the hour in the city.  This basically means it chimes the hour about 2 minutes ahead of the other clocks.  It also means when you can fall asleep and the windows are open, you get to hear like 5 minutes of chiming every hours instead of one.  Ask me how I know.  

Counterweights and pendulum for Zytturm

The wall was pretty cool, but totally hot inside.  It had steep steps, and was quite hot inside.  The Zytturm tower had old clock mechanisms inside of it from other clock towers in the area. You could also see the long pendulum and counterweights that kept the clock working.  You could walk across the ramparts between a few of the towers, and then you could go up one of the towers furthest from the lake.  That one had an open roof and a great view!

One of the things you could see from the roof of the Musegg Wall, was the Spreuerbrucke, a bridge across the Reuss River.  This bridge is an old wooden bridge, but not THE old wooden bridge that crosses the river.  This one is also quite old, and is at a place in the river were it was by the mills.  It is named Spreuer because of the chaff that was removed from the threshing of wheat and tossed in the river at the bridge.  The bridge has a series of paintings in the trusses.  The series includes skeletons doing things like serving dinner or out at sea or in a meeting.  The idea of it being that no one escapes death, no matter your station in life.  

Speruerbruck

Just upstream of the Speruerbrucke is the the Needle Dam.  The lake is controlled by this dam, which allows for water to be let out of the lake.  It is a rather unique dam and has been controlling lake flow since the 1860s.

Jesuitenkirche

The last major church I stopped by was the Jesuitenkirche.  It is a beautiful Catholic church and there was a choir rehearsing inside for a free concert that was going to be held the next day.  I unfortunately wasn't going to be back in time to go to it.  But the little bit of of one song that I hear, sounded great!

Archway at Luzern Railway Station

I chose to bypass THE bridge and make my way down to the rail station, where out front of it is a large archway.  The arch stood as an entrance into the rail station from 1896, until a fire burned down the station in 1971.  The fire was so massive that the domed roof collapsed.  They rebuilt the station and kept the archway out front of the new one as a sort of welcome to the city.

Kapellbrucke

To end my tour of the city, I made my way to the famed Kapellbrucke.  There is a decent chance that you've seen a picture of this bridge before.  The bridge and water tower have graced the Reuss River since 1360.  It has changed a bit over the years, being shortened, but eventually ended up in its current form.  And then in 1993, tragedy struck when the bridge caught fire.  Most of the bridge was burned down with just small sections of it remaining.  But it being such a historic part of their city, it was rebuilt in 8 months.  They kept some of the charred beams in place as recognition to what had happened.  Like the Speruerbrucke, it had paintings up in the trusses.  Some of those have been restored, while others are still blackened from the fire.  And some look fine because they weren't on the bridge when the fire occurred.  They had been removed during one of the bridge's remodels in the centuries before, but the paintings had been kept, so those ones are no on the bridge.

Kapellbrucke

Day two of Luzern mostly didn't actually take place in Luzern.  Instead it took place at Mt Pilatus (Pih-lah-toos).  Pilatus isn't actually a single mountain, but a group of mountain peaks that sticks up above Lake Luzern.  You have a couple of options to get to the top of the mountain, but if you want the full experience, you go with the Golden Round Trip.  This involves a bus ride, a gondola ride, a cable car ride, a cog rail ride, and a boat ride.  You can experience them in this order, or backwards.  There was also a short walk of a couple hundred meters between the bus and the gondola.  Pilatus is a name I was already familiar with because it is the name of a Swiss aircraft company...literally within view of Pilatus (the mountain).  

Cable Car at Pilatus

Pilatus rises about 2000 ft from the lake, or roughly 7000 ft asl.  It also has a huge dragon myth behind it.  Something about a dragon living on Pilatus and it protecting a sacred rock with healing powers.  But anyways, up at the top are two hotels and two restaurants, along with a visitor center.  There are also trails to the top of a few of the peaks up there.  From the panorama deck of the visitor center you can see beautiful views of the lake in one direction and the big Alps in the other direction.  On clear days you can see Jungfraujoch and the Eiger.  

On the cable car ride up I saw a small chapel on a ridge and people hiking up to it.  I wasn't sure I wanted to hike up to it, but it turns out you could hike down to it (and then back up).  From the top, I think it is a shorter trip than from the bottom.  I mean, I had already paid for the cable car ride up, right?  So I might as well use it.  The hike was a bit of a struggle.  Probably 1) because I had gotten almost no sleep during the night 2) I was running on Coke (I needed the caffeine) and a roll.  Not ideal.  Kinda dumb.  But I had decided I was waiting to eat until I got down there.  

View of the chapel from the cable car on the way up.

The trail wasn't an easy one.  Rocky.  But the views were great and I could hear cowbells, though I never placed where the cows actually were.  I made it down to the chapel, and set myself down for lunch.  My lunch was bread and cheese.  Standard Swiss fare.

View from lunch at the chapel.

After the trip back up I had some time to spare because I had a ticket down for 3:35, so I climbed to the top of another peak I hadn't been to and then sat down in a beach chair, in the shade.  Everyone else was in the sun, but I know what color my skin is, so I sat in the shade.

Fun fact, I found out my family has a mountain in the Swiss Alps.  One called Furststein.

The ol' family mountain, which I will observe from a distance.

When my time came, I boarded the steepest cog in the world to head back down.  The cog reaches 48% grade at times.  The views were great on the way down.  

After the cog was the boat ride.  The boat stopped a couple of times along the way at other stops, before ending up back in Luzern.

I grabbed dessert on my way back from the harbor to my hotel.  I had scoped out the strawberry cake the day before, but wasn't hungry for it.  I had said, "I'll come back for you later."  After getting back to the hotel, it was time for a refreshing shower, which included showering with my hiking shirt on. Sometimes you have to be creative with washing.  So I soaped it up really good and washed it off, then took it off and did the inside.  I also soaped up my bra and did the same.  It works out well since they're quick dry materials.  I will do a proper washing at some point, but if I can, I'll push it off as long as possible.  Maybe eventually I won't even need to.  I've slowly acquired a bunch of wool shirts which are great for traveling because they don't absorb bad odors.

Anyways, off to Gimmelwald next!

Switzerland Alpenventure: Zurich

 Welcome to my Alpenventure!  2 1/2 weeks in Switzerland!  The land of my forefathers!  At least some of them...however, I don't have time to venture to where they're from.  What can I say?  The mountains are calling.  I'll have to save that for another time, just like I had to save the Glacier Express for another time.

For what feels like the first time in a long time, my flying journey worked out according to plan!  No delay or anything!  Thank goodness!  It was especially daunting when I was trying to look up what plane I would be on, only to find out that the Monday Swiss 9 flight had an unexpected detour via the Azores after a chemical smell on the plane during their flight.  My flight did not have any issues.  Whew!  When I booked my flight, I splurged and booked an economy plus seat for the way over.  Shoot, I'm not sure I can go back!  My seat was essentially a domestic first class seat, with further reclining and a footrest.  I still didn't get any sleep, but I was more comfortable at least.  

When I arrived in Zurich, customs was a bit of a mess.  Europe is still working through getting their new electronic passport stuff working.  I stood in line for the regular passport control and realized that was going nowhere, so I skipped that line and went over to the electronic passport control machines.  I honestly wasn't sure if it worked or not because it kind of felt like it didn't.  I was then put in a separate line and about an hour after getting into line, I was through.  I don't know why this is being so difficult as I've been through electronic systems in New Zealand and Aruba and they have worked just fine.

After getting out Customs, I headed to the attached train station (as all airports should have!).  I booked a ticket into the city and waited for the train to arrive about 15 mins later.  I got to the city and walked the 8 blocks (at least that's what Google said) to the hostel I'm staying in in Zurich.  During that time I worked up a sweat as I'm rocking a larger backpack on the back and a smaller one on the front, and it was hot!  Like mid-80s hot.  Zurich has been going through a hot/dry spell.  I got to my hostel about an hour before check-in and just waited around.

Limmat River from Lindenhof

After getting settled (and cleaned up a bit), I set out to wander old city Zurich.  I'm right in the middle of it, just about 2 blocks from Wasserkirche and the Munsterbruke (Minister/Cathedral Bridge as Fraumunster and Grossmunster are on opposite sides).  I crossed the bridge and mostly just wandered.  I went up to Lindenhof and up towards the train station.  I got myself some gelato because it was hot.

The old city moat and pathway.

  I then made my way to the city's old moat, Schanzengruben.  I learned about this from a YouTuber (Daniel Steiner) I follow and his video Zurich's Map: Explained.  Once upon a time, like many European cities, Zurich had a wall surrounding it.  It also had a moat on one side.  That moat is still in existence.  If you look at Zurich on Google Maps, you'll see a zigzag stream west of the Limmat River.  For a segment of that moat, there is a nice walkway, with plenty of rocks at the edge to sit on and put your feet in the water.  It was so refreshing.  I also got a nice little foot cleansing by the fish eating at my foot skin.  Eventually I put my shoes back on and started to slowly wander my way back to the other side of the river and in search of food.  I got some pasta at a place not too far from my hostel and went back to the hotel to crash.

Archaeological Windows Maps

I woke up this morning, and forced myself to get out of bed, though I felt I probably could sleep a bit more.  I had to get a key to the city before other people got all of them!  That is something else I learned from Daniel Steiner's video; the city of Zurich has this thing called Archaeological Windows.  Some of the "windows" anyone could find if they knew what they were looking for.  Others you have to have a literal key to get into.  These "windows" are a glimpse into Zurich's past, as a city that has existed since in its current form since the 800s, and was a site for previous civilizations going back to 2000 BCE.  I was given a sort of treasure hunt map with the sites roughly labeled and I had to search for them in the areas mentioned on the map.  

Ruins of an old Roman Bathhouse under the walkway.

The first one I came to was in what was essentially a 4 foot wide walkway.  Once upon a time, there stood a Roman bathhouse on that site.  There were signs on the wall explaining the site and how Roman bathhouses worked.

The rather unassuming door into one of the "'windows".

From there I headed to a parking garage, where they found some items and then I crossed the river to the Zentralbibliothek (library).  The library was built right on what was once the edge of town, right next to the city wall.  As they were doing work on the library they uncovered a section of the old wall(s) and preserved it, so now with a key, you can make your way down there and read all about the old city wall.

Old city wall found during library remodeling and construction.

Up next I headed to an old house where a panorama of the old city is located in the first floor of the City Archives at Haus Zum Rech.  There you can see what the city once looked like.  There is some history on some of the old houses in the city.  One of which dates back to 1200 CE!  And it is still standing!

As I was on this journey, I was also on a chocolate journey.  I told myself I was going to visit every chocolate shop I passed.  I missed 2 because they weren't open yet, but I think I went into the rest that I found.  I had 2 hot chocolates today and a handful of chocolate...not bad for a day of vacation.  I was the only person in the shop Conditorei Schober Chocolate, so I talked with the lady there for a bit.  Things she had to share: too many people think they can spend a few days in Switzerland on a trip to multiple countries and it is not enough; it has been hot and dry this year and Lake Zurich is down about 50cm, which is affecting transport on the river; Trump doesn't care enough about the climate and how people can do things to protect it; Trump looked like an idiot sneaking away on a cart to get off an airplane and then leaving the rest of his people on it; that Zermatt is too commercial these days and not worth a visit (too bad, I'm going); her husband is a civil engineer who once worked on a bridge in Berlin and a museum there where they had to figure out how to mount an airplane outside in the air, but not damage it; and more.

After my first hot chocolate of the day, I wandered to Fraumunster and went inside.  Most of the churches in Switzerland were Protestant Reformed when that happened so all the Catholic decorations were taken out and they were made much more plain.  But this one does have some cool painted windows by Marc Chagall, which he did in his 80s and 90s.

Chagall Windows at Fraumunster

Rear Rose Window and Organ

At the Wasserkirche right on the edge of the Limmat was another "window".  In the basement of the church you could see the many ruins of previous churches on the site.  There are at least 3 other foundations down there.  They marked them where they could so you could tell which belonged to which time period.

Ruins under the Wasserkirche

One of my last places I visited with my Archaeological Windows key was an alleyway.  A very small alleyway, that was once a sewer ditch between buildings where people long ago deposit their bodily functions to be collected and used as fertilizer.  Eventually sanitation got to the city and they built some early sewer systems, which eventually evolved into today's sewer systems.  The best part about this "window" was at one end you went through a bigger (yet still rather small) door, and then you walked the length of the block to come out an even smaller door only 40cm wide.  When you pop out the other end where no one is expecting anyone to come out of, they give you odd looks!

Old sewer ditch of Zurich

After turning my key back in I made my way to another chocolate shop for another hot chocolate, and then went to get a late lunch, which ended up being a bratwurst and fries.  Tomorrow I might actually try to eat more real food other than various types of chocolate (cordial, bar, hot, gelato).

After 8 hours and 8+ miles of walking, and still not being fully recovered from jetlag, I'm exhausted.  I feel I have done Zurich and will be fine with moving onto Luzern/Lucerne tomorrow.

Rainbows over Zurich.  The one just to the left of the short pink building is the one that dates back to 1200.