David's Diary: Friday, October 5, 2001

Bernese Oberland, Switzerland

With all of us homesick for mountains we decided that today we would get our fill of them by visiting the Bernese Oberland. Less than hours drive from Bern we were in the heart of the mountains. Our journey first took us past the town of Interlaken where we then turned up the Lauterbrunnen valley leading to Stechelberg where we planned to catch a cable car up the mountain.

The road reminded us of the drive from Squamish to Whistler in our home province of British Columbia. The road wound through the valley and the railway line ran next to the road for part of the way. But the houses and mountains looked uniquely Swiss and not Canadian.

Gimmelwald

We took the cable car up to the village of Gimmelwald and then onwards to Mürren. Both villages have no road access and sit perched 800m (1000 feet) above the valley floor. The cable car rises straight up what appears to be a vertical cliff face after which you feel like you have ridden a magic carpet into a different kingdom. Cows peacefully graze on mountainside fields with pedestrian paths joining the two villages.

After Mürren we kept on heading up to the Schilthorn summit. At 2170m (10000 feet) the views of the mountains are unforgettable and you can see all the way back to Thun and Lake Thunersee which we had driven by just a few short hours before. Schilthorn is also famous as the location for the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."

Valley Views With the Family

We found Schiltorn a bit too touristy, so we headed back down to Mürren. There we felt like we were in the true Switzerland, although the abundence of hotels let us know that it was only because it was October that things were not more crowded. We walked from Mürren to Gimmelwald and marveled at the views up and down the valley as we passed farmer's huts that looked like they had been there for hundreds of years. A day in the Bernese Oberland helped cure this family of its mountain blues.