Thanks Annika, Slowpoke.
The unique color of Lake Brienz explained as follows (more turquoise-blue really, not the ‘deep-blue’ that I mentioned above):
(www.lakelubbers.com/la ke-brienz-1143/)
‘Lake Brienz (Brienzersee in Swiss) displays beautiful turquoise and emerald hues, colors often associated with shallow Caribbean waters. However, Lake Brienz is not shallow, plunging to depths of around 800 feet. Its beautiful colors result from glacial particles known as "rock flour" that reflect the blue-green sector of the light spectrum’
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Rock_flour)
‘Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of fine-grained, silt-sized particles of rock, generated by mechanical grinding of bedrock by glacial erosion’
‘When the sediments enter a river, they turn the river's colour grey, light brown, iridescent blue-green, or milky white.’ (the river stream running alongside, while you are riding on the Glacier Express, or on the train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, are of these colors – grey/ iridescent blue-green/ or milky white)
‘If the river flows into a glacial lake, the lake may appear turquoise in colour as a result’
The lake ride we did was Interlaken-Brienz-Interlaken. When the ferry stopped at Brienz (it stops for 20mins), we were also greeted by a pretty sight – the train that takes you up to Brienzer Rothorn, was pulling in to the station. That 100 year old steam engine was looking bright and sparkling new! I requested the driver if I could step in and have a look? He was kind enough to say “Yes!”. So I climbed up and spent a couple of minutes. The carriages themselves were unique – the roof sort of rolls up, and so its all open to the sky – like a convertible. A ride up the mountain, with that open top, has to be fantastic…
Lausanne Olympic Museum : Lausanne is the HQ of the International Olympic Committee. There’s a museum in the same location, which we didn’t visit; but a beautiful point of interest is the 100m track in the same premises. In a lovely piece of creative work, you get to ‘race’ with Usain Bolt, in a ‘virtual’ sense.
This is how it works – red lights line the entire 100m track, from the starting-point to the finish-line. As you set off on the race, there’s a sensor that picks up that you have set off. It then sets off the row of lights alongside the track: one by one, in sequence from start to finishing-line, they come on. The lights are progressing up the track, at the same pace as Usain Bolt, had he been running alongside you!! So your experience is that of racing with him! That’s when you realize how stunningly fast this guy really is. Especially, stand next to the track, about midway, and watch him ‘running’ from left to right… the speed is incredible.