A Winter Tour of Switzerland – Take Four: Lake Brienz, Meiringen, Grindelwald

Hello again

On a lighter subject than recently, and while the U.S. are casting some dies on Super Tuesday, a few more visual memories of a fabulous train excursion with my friend M. up to Lake Brienz, on to Meiringen along the Aare canal in a landscape magical with fog and hoar frost. Later in the day, we travelled down again to Interlaken and up to Grindelwald.
Hope you'll enjoy.

Dreamy Lake Brienz in the winter sun -- views from the train waiting to continue on its journey upriver to Meiringen.
Date: December 30, 2007; time: about 1:30PM. We didn't actually set off all that early. The weather in Bern wasn't that great, so we slept in a little. Sometimes I can even hold my camera straight…
Soon we were off and into a misty, hoar-frosty winter wonderland shot through with sudden glimpses of blue sky. There were patches when the fog was thick on the ground so that we felt as though we floated in the clouds. Fantastic!
Next, some views of Meiringen, which attracts a lot of Sherlock Holmes lovers. Me, I prefer its other speciality, the "Meringue", a yummy confection made of egg white beaten stiff, a little sugar blended in, baked lightly in a warm oven, and served with lots of real whipped dairy farm cream. Taken in moderate doses it's no more fattening than coke and a burger, say...
Every now and then, the clouds ripped open to reveal a snowy peak. After a lovely meringue dessert – M. has all the photos – and a short walk about the village, we head back down…
… to Brienz, along Lake Brienz, and to Interlaken before we head up another valley to Grindelwald. The late afternoon sun paints a shiny path into the icy waters of the lake. Across the lake, above the mist, is the famous Giessbach Hotel and waterfalls. And right at the top of the mountain, left, is Axalp, a small, family friendly skiing resort -- great for spring and summer hikes, too. The snow reveals some impressive landslide areas that are much less prominent in the summer. Nothing much grows there, and there are no dwellings at the foot of that wedge, because the mountain is constantly on the move.
Someone's decided to leave their boat in the water -- perhaps they're hoping for a mild winter and early spring. Next, a few shots taken from the train chugging along the shore of Lake Brienz:We're almost in Interlaken now. The setting sun is adding a rosy hue to the clouds. Time: about ten to four.

More than an hour later, we're in the "real" mountains, swiftly riding up the valley of the Schwarze Luetschinen (the black Luetschinen, or slippery river). We've travelled westwards, almost catching up with the sun.
The train kicks up a storm of freshly-fallen powdery snow as we head up the valley. I wonder how much longer there will be enough light for me to keep snapping pix...
Well, there's a lovely mackerel sky to distract me:A fairly typical modern train station in the Bernese Oberland, complete with station clock, maps and timetables, yellow letter box and phone box. And, of course, the name white on dark blue.
The fog rises from the Schwarze Lütschine -- here it is: an innocuous stream … but it can kick ass in the snowmelt and thunderstorm season. (Some of you may remember the disastrous canyoning accident a few summers ago. Such raging torrent episodes have been getting more frequent -- an impressive photo can be found at http://www.jungfrau-zeitung.ch/artikel/?cq_*e5458b3d=ivxPU=879877bl )
But today is harmless, if cold.
At Schwendi, the snow's getting thicker on the ground, the road is white -- real winter. That's what we've come to see.The setting sun really is pulling all the stops out to paint the clouds.
To actually see the famous peaks of the Bernese Oberland – Eiger, Moench, Jungfrau – the village of Grindelwald itself is not the best spot. But who cares when they can observe this kind of spectacle (views taken at Grindelwald-Grund, an area I knew quite well when I was about six: my paternal grandfather was a joiner and posted there for a few summers building a whole series of identical chalets for holiday makers -- building boom/tourist boom of the late 1950s -- and my Grandmother sometimes took me along on her visits):I was strongly reminded of an early morning view in the Scottish Highlands, when the rising sun cast a fiery glow up the clouds above Ben Etive to make it look as though a volcano was erupting. Sadly, that day last October, I couldn't stop the car and get out -- no safe spot to stop. Maybe next trip -- coming soon!

But back to Grindelwald: the village was in darkness, very busy with holidaymakers, cars, buses, coaches. M. and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner at one of the lovely restaurants in the older, higher part a little distance from the train station. We made our 8PM train by the skin of our teeth, and were back in Bern at about 10PM. A good day!

Next in this series: Take Five – A visit around Bern and a trip to Münsingen; Take Six – Train and bus ride to the Gurnigel Area (Bern-Fribourg Alps) -- don't hold your breath, though. I may be gone a few days...