The reason we rushed from Hamburg down to Switzerland was because I wanted to go on the cable-car up Schilthorn (Piz Gloria in the James Bond movie “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”) and we had to make it before their summer season ended and they closed for maintenance before the winter season began. Sunday 8th would be the last day they were running and they wouldn’t open again until after we left Europe. We were cutting it fine, because if it was cloudy/misty/raining on those last two days we wouldn’t see anything and there wouldn’t much point in going up, so I had been praying for good weather.
We checked out the timetable and the weather forecast on the internet the night before, and it looked like the day would start off fine and then it would cloud over late morning, so we decided to catch the second cable-car of the day. Rudi had some kind of loyalty card which he offered to us that would give us 2-for-1 pricing on the fare, so that saved us a considerable amount of money which was great, as it wasn’t cheap! I had looked at doing the Jungfrau railway instead, which goes up a lot higher to the “Top of Europe” but it was more expensive, and quite a bit of the journey is through tunnels in the mountain so you wouldn’t see much on the way up. Also because it takes longer you could find that the weather was great when you left but when you arrived at the top the view was obscured by clouds. And besides – it was so cool to go to Piz Gloria and actually be there where the movie was filmed – when I watched it even for the second time I had no idea it was a real place!
Simone came with us part of the way, when we left her parents’ house it was dark but was gradually getting lighter as we made our way up the beautiful Lauterbrunnen valley to Stechelberg. Her Swiss rail pass got her up the first two stages free (you have to change cable-cars three times on the way up) so she came as far as Mürren and then went down and caught the bus and train all the way to Zurich to meet a friend at the airport.
We arrived at the top and went straight outside – the view was truly breath-taking. There was only one other visitor there at that stage so we pretty much had the place to ourselves, and spent the first half hour (as long as our fingers and toes could stand the cold!) outside in awe of God’s amazing creation and taking lots of photos. The viewing platform was covered in snow and it was -4degC which I guess isn’t too cold in the big scheme of things! I sure was glad I’d bought my Macpac Sundowner jacket a couple of months earlier though – I think this was its first outing on our trip. Words really cannot describe how fantastic it was – we were 2970m high, surrounded by snow-covered mountains and across the valley were the famous peaks of Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. The sun was still low so the contrast between light and shadow was quite dramatic, and the view kept changing all morning as the sun got higher (and the clouds appeared – grrr!).
There are walking paths all over these mountains, and you can even go on them in winter when there’s snow everywhere. Simone had told us to look out for a sign in the rocks below the viewing platform that had an image of a high heel shoe and a cross through it – hard to believe anyone would be that stupid but they must be around! There were steps from the platform so you could get down to where the paths were but were weren’t game even with our sturdy walking shoes, and Reece had to use the zoom on his camera to get a photo of the sign from the platform.
When our fingers were numb we went inside and had a champagne breakfast in the revolving restaurant, there still weren’t too many people around so we could sit right by the window and take in the view. It was a buffet (apart from the champagne) but it was actually a bit average, and the lady there didn’t seem to want us to order anything from the a la carte menu. Cheese fondue would be fantastic and so appropriate after being outside in the cold!
Rockin’ the Macpac jacket in the cold
By the time we finished breakfast it was quite busy outside with lots of visitors and had started clouding over. I was trying to get a good photo of Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau but the best one I’ve ended up with still has a bit of cloud on the highest peak. We went downstairs to the “Touristorama” and looked at an exhibition of the making of OHMSS, although unfortunately all the displays were in German, but the short movie at least had an option for English language. By now the shop was open so we went there, but left again because another tourist was sneezing all over everything. We did go back and I bought a nice handpainted shotglass and wished I could get much more, but due to finances and a 20kg luggage limit it wasn’t possible. There was quite a lot of 007 memorabilia as well as Schilthorn and general Switzerland souvenirs and clothing.
At about lunchtime the place was full and it had clouded over, so we left and caught the cable car back down to Grindelwald, the lowest station before Stechelberg at the bottom. Rick Steves’ travel website made Grindelwald sound fantastic but unfortunately we were there at lunchtime; everyone was inside doing the family lunch thing and there wasn’t much to see. We managed to miss the next cable-car so had a bit of a wait, I can’t remember why we didn’t just decide to walk down.
I would love to come back to Switzerland in the summer and spend time walking in the mountains, it would be so beautiful. Everything seems to accessible – you don’t need to tramp for two days to get to a beautiful wilderness spot, and you don’t need specialist gear and mountaineering skills. I’d also love to be here in December when all the Christmas markets are running and take in the atmosphere and eat lots of yummy food!
Next stop: Interlaken, to do some touristy shopping!