OK .... It only took twelve hours, four trains, two buses, and one cable car to reach Gimmelwald - this idyllic hamlet in the Swiss Alps. The last train being via the Golden Pass Panoramic route from Luzern to Interlaken.
Walter's modest hotel, clings to a mountainside, with pastures on one side and 10,000 foot glacier peaks across the valley (yet it seemed I could just reach out and touch them with my finger tips). We spent 2 nights in this area known as "The Top of Europe."
Walter's menus, though limited, were delicious - he was once a cook for Swiss Air, before retiring in 1990!! He then opened this rustic hotel in the mountains. Now in his late 80's he is right up to date with politics, world events, and tells many a good story.
The only sounds to be heard from our bedroom windows were waters cascading down the mountainside to the fast flowing river in the valley, musical bells on the cows/goats grazing on the nearly vertical slopes.
Both days, in the late afternoons, the clouds come rolling in... quite dramatic and spectacular.
We took the cable car up the Schilthorn to the revolving restaurant made famous in the 007 movie "On Her Magesty Secret Service."
At 10,000 feet the views were spectacular of the mountain range between the Jungfrau and the Eiger. We took our time coming down, hiking, picnicing and just enjoying the views. Each little chalet, perched on the hillsides, proudly displays proflic flower boxes, neat gardens and stacks and stacks of firewood ready for the winter.
This is THE place to get away from it all, and if hiking is your passion, there is none better.
We completed our Swiss experience with an overnight stop with a new couchsurfing friend, Jackie, in Chateau d'Oex. Jackie graciously showed us around her lovely little village and accommodated us for the night.
As it turned out we took the Golden Pass route again from Interlaken to Montreux...spectacular scenery the entire way!
We are off to Italy!!
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Location:Gimmelwald
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