Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Tuesday was going to be a big day.  The map below shows the area we covered.

The day started with what was supposed to be a train (BOP) from Lauterbrunnen, north to the station at Interlaken Ost.  Unfortunately, the train was out of service, but luckily, buses were provided in plenty of time to get us to the start of our next leg, a boat trip up Lake Brienz, to the pier below Hotel Giessbach.  After a brief visit and a climb up to Giessbach Falls, we would get back on a boat that would take us to the town of Brienz.  From there, I made the mistake of leading us onto a train that was in the right place, at near the right time, but was heading in the wrong direction.  After a quick reversal, we got on the right track to take us to the station at Interlaken West.  From there, we snagged a taxi that took us to our fondue-making appointment at Take It Cheesy.  After that adventure, we hiked through Interlaken and Unterseen to the funicular below Harter Kulm.  Unfortunately, it appeared that sunset at the Panorama Restaurant was in everyone’s plans, so instead of waiting in lines, we just caught the train (BOP) back to Lauterbrunnen.

I shot the photo of the boat below while we were waiting to board our boat at the pier at Interlaken.  Later, we would take this boat from the pier at Giessbach to the town of Brienz.

The photo below is on our approach to Giessbach pier.  You can see the Giessbach Hotel on the right, and the funicular that has been bringing visitors up to it for 145 years.

Below is a poster advertising the funicular.

After we reached the hotel, we started our hike up to the falls, an ascent of 178 ft.

The photo below is of the main falls, but it is only part of a cascade that flows all the way down the mountain.  In the photo, you can see the walkway that takes you behind the falls.

Here is a view looking back at the hotel.

And a view looking up the trail.

And this is obviously the view from behind the falls.

This is from a viewpoint on our descent.

Another view of the hotel.

And a view of the cascade from the hotel.

Here’s Patty and Rich, on the patio at Hotel Giessbach.  That’s Lake Brienz in the background, with our boat departing in the distance, and heading toward Brienz in the distance over my left shoulder.  Later (once we got on the right train), we would be heading along that far shoreline, from Brienz on the right, to Interlaken far to the left.

And here’s John and Karen.

And here’s John and Karen and Lake Brienz.

And here’s the four of us on the patio at Hotel Giessbach, sipping our Hugo Spritzers.

From our facial expressions, I’d say those drinks must have been pretty strong.  😉

Eventually, we had to get back to the boat to catch our ride to Brienz.

During our hike down to the pier, the funicular passed overhead.

This would be our ride to Brienz.

Here’s Patty and Karen enjoying the fact that they’re on a lake in Switzerland, and not at home.

This was the view from the boat, looking east towards the town of Schwanden.  In 15 minutes, we would be taking a train ride along the shore on the left and through that valley (going in the wrong direction).

Note to Self:  Swiss trains run on time.  So, if you are at the station, and there is a train that’s on the right track, but it is 10 or more minutes before your train is supposed to depart, THAT TRAIN AIN’T YOURS!

So, instead of heading west to Interlaken and our fast-approaching appointment with fondue, the doors closed, and our train headed east to the lovely town of Meringen.  Lovely as the train station was, it was not where we needed to be.  So, we quickly arranged to catch the next train west to Interlaken.

When we reached the station at Interlaken West, we were about 5 minutes past, and 0.5 miles from, our date with fondue destiny.  Luckily, right there outside the station there was a taxi that was able to get us to Take It Cheesy lickety-split, and we ended up being only 8 minutes late.

Our fondue adventure was a group undertaking, with Cedric as our guide, and Lucy as a guide-in-training, John, Karen, Patty, and I joined another couple, John and Alicia (from TBD) in cooking up and consuming fondues of the cheese and chocolate variety.

Here are myself, Patty, Karen, and John, after our graduation ceremony.

So, after slurping down cheese fondue and chocolate fondue (and draining a bottle of white wine a piece), we started walking towards Harder Kulm, TBD miles hence.

Take It Cheesy uses the dining room at the Adventure Hostel.

The photo below is of the town square at Unterseen.

TBD.

TBD.

TBD.

TBD.

TBD.

TBD.

TBD.

TBD.

TBD.

TBD.

TBD.

When we got to the funicular, the line of people waiting for a ride convinced us to abandon that leg of the journey.  Instead, we headed to the Interlaken Ost station, and we took the train back to Lauterbrunnen.  From there, John and Karen headed back to their hotel, and Patty and I headed to the Hotel Oberland to get some dinner.

TBD.

Patty had been craving Rosti, and she had seen it on the menu.  I had the Oberland Salad.  Both were very good.  With a couple of mineral waters, the check came to 59.00.

From there, we headed back to Studio Inferno, and we called it a night after a very nice day.