After a great week in the Leukerbad area we headed north to a little town called Meiringen. Our friends Don and Shirley had done a trip to Switzerland a few years ago and had stayed at a hotel there they recommended to us. We loved the Alpin Sherpa and the little town of Meiringen.
Meiringen, a town of about 4500, was nestled at the end of a valley with those big beautiful Alps surrounding it. The little downtown area was a decent size, with a couple grocery stores, clothing stores, cafes, and of course several coiffeurs (hair dressers - because no matter how many people live in their town, they need their locks to look good). The town is known for: 1) being the birthplace of meringue (think the top of a lemon meringue pie, minus the pie - I know, initially it sounds really good but we ultimately were not that impressed) and 2) its debut in the Sherlock Holmes novels. Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of the novels, had Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson stay at a well known hotel in town and then go to the Reichenbach Falls where Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis would then fall to their deaths (and the novels would also end). Full disclosure: I've never read Sherlock Holmes. And had no idea this is how and where he died in the story. The only thing I knew about Sherlock Holmes was that funny little hat he wore. Well apparently I am on an island here. There was a whole museum dedicated to him in this little town, as well as statues and tours of the falls. Who knew?! We didn't make it to the falls but did visit the museum on a very rainy day (along with every other tourist in town). And, after visiting the museum you'll be glad to know I have put the books on my list to read (this list has grown exponentially on this trip...).
Similar to our last stop, we used Meiringen as a home base to explore other areas. We were the star pupils of Rick Steves, doing his walking tours in most cities and taking his advice on hikes through these areas. Here were the high points:
- Lucerne - we headed into this town on a Sunday and found out that most shops are closed! But we had a great time doing Rick's walking tour, wandering along Lake Lucerne, checking out the Chapel Bridge (a bridge from medieval times that is lined with beautiful flowers) and going to the Rosengart Museum. Angela Rosengart and her father were art dealers and they developed relationships with many great artists - Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, among others. They had built an enormous collection of paintings from these artists (some of which were gifts from the artists themselves), and Angela opened a space for the public to enjoy them. It was one of the coolest art museums I've ever been to. One of my favorite parts was all the photographs they had of Picasso which were taken when he was a bit older by an American photographer.
- Interlaken - the day we ventured to Interlaken the weather gods were not in our favor. It poured almost the entire day. We walked around the downtown here, took Rick's walking tour, and people watched.
- Ballenberg - an open-air history museum, Ballenberg gave a glimpse into how life in Switzerland was lived hundreds of years ago in different areas of the country. There were houses, dwellings, shops, and sheds that had been moved and rebuilt to show what life was like for the Swiss. They also had demonstrations of bread making, wood working, weaving, cheese making and chocolate making. My Mom was in heaven. And I thought it was pretty cool too. The museum was huge and took about 30 minutes to walk from one end to the other. There was so much to see here and we just hit the high points (which meant cheese and chocolate came first).
- Lungren - we spotted this small this town our first day coming on the train into Meiringen and knew we had to visit it. Located down in a valley with a bright blue lake, we immediately saw the massive stone church perched high up on a hill overlooking the town. The hills surrounding the lake were bright green filled with trees and the Alps were set in behind. If I had an image of what Switzerland looked like in my head, this place was it. We didn't do much here - walked through town, looked at the church, and ate at a small local cafe for dinner.
- Berner Oberland Hiking - similar to our Matterhorn experience, the public transport and accessibility of the hiking and mountain areas was just amazing. Our first day exploring this area we took all different modes of transportation to get up to Mannlichen, a 6700 foot viewpoint. Immediately stepping off the Gondola we had a jaw dropping view of the Monch, Jungfrau, and Eiger peaks (among others). These peaks are some of Switzerland's most well known, and Jungfraujoch (the saddle between Monch and Jungfrau) is considered to be "the top of Europe" - at 11,333 feet it boasts Europe's highest train station. At the beginning of our hike we met a herd of cows (with their signature bells on) and kept seeing more and more of them all the way until we hit our next village, Kleine Scheidegg. How Swiss is that?! From there, we curled around the mountain and walked all the way down to the town of Wengen with bluebird skies and peak views the whole way. What a day. Our second day in this area it was a little overcast, but we checked out the town of Murren, then hiked down through a waterfall to the village of Gimmelwald, an adorable town of about 120 people about as Swiss as they come.
What a beautiful country! I felt so lucky to be able to spend two full weeks here and really get a taste for the people, culture, and their great outdoors.
Highlights:
- Hike in Jungfrau - I think this was my favorite hike we did in Switzerland. The views were unbelievable the whole day and we were able to see the glaciers up close. It also helped that we didn't have a cloud in the sky this day.
- Gimmelwald - what a quaint little town! Fun to see and learn about a very small Swiss town. I also really enjoyed the hike we did to get there.
- Rosengart Museum - I did not think a museum would be a highlight of mine in Switzerland, but it was! Such a cool story and fun to see the artists in a different light.
- Lungren - Picturesque, unplanned and just perfect!
- Meiringen - This town was a great size, fun to walk around in, and was very accessible to other towns in this area. A great home base for a week!
Lessons Learned:
- The cheese here is really good. So is the chocolate.
- People really know how to garden here. Everyone has flower boxes in their windows and they look amazing. Green thumbs galore.
- I understand why it is so green here. It rained. A lot.
- It's a constant guessing game what language people are speaking and what you should say back - will they address me in French? German? English? I finally just started saying hello to everyone so they knew straight away I wasn't a local (but then again it was probably pretty obvious we weren't locals).
- There's a real sense of pride here. Everyone has a Swiss flag hung at their house. And I can understand why...one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!
Thanks for reading - we're onto Austria next to make our Sound of Music dreams come true!
Breathtaking view of the peaks.
Look at all these cowbells! (In Gimmelwald).
Adorable farmhouse at Ballenberg.