Aug 17, 2013 - 3:36 PM
Report 4
Showery today (Wed) but stuck with our plan for the day and managed to dodge most of the rain. We took train to Reichenbach to take post bus to Griesalp – what an amazing route! We avoided getting wet by having a lovely lunch. It wasn’t the weather for walking so we rode back down and took a bus to Frutigen, wandered a bit during a break in the rain, took another bus to Kandersteg, then train back to Thun. Rain forecast almost everywhere for Thurs. so instead of sitting in the apartment watching it, we decided to go on a long train trip to investigate for future reference; we went on a 4-train, 4-hour trip from Thun to Arosa – last train trip was like a shorter version of Glacier express with tunnels, bridges and viaducts. A young man in the tourist office gave us lots of ideas for future visit in better weather and suggested we take gondola up to Weisshorn as there is an excellent restaurant with own bakery on premises at the top. We did this – you can watch bakers making cakes and chocolates! And the food was good. We then embarked on the long trip back and got caught in heavy rain on arrival in Thun! Another first on Saturday – we went by train to Gstaad, then bus to Col du Pillon and gondola ride to Glacier 3000. It was a bit confusing when we got there as the first runners in the run from Gstaad to Glacier 3000 were just starting to arrive and stewards were keeping tourists at bay! Went up to the viewing point – clouds starting to form so we couldn’t see whole range of mountains – went for some lunch then took sesselbahn ride down to the glacier and went on a “snow-bus” ride on Glacier before eventually retracing our steps to bus stop. Took slight detour to Les Diablerets before returning to Gstaad then back to Thun. Thunfest in progress this weekend so streets full of merry-makers! Sunday – went back to Mannlichen for Alphorn Fest – very impressive sight of 78 Alphorn players in ¾ circle all playimg at once accompanied by 9 flag-swingers. Also a performance by a singing group. Between the big group performances there were performances by individual small groups, including a duo from England and a group from Japan! Went down to Grindelwald for late lunch then train to Interlaken and boat to Thun. Final day – decided to walk along lake-side from Thun to Oberhofen where we had lunch before a stroll through the gardens –then bus back to Thun so we could tackle the packing.
All in all we had a very successful holiday, visiting many places for the first time and using our Swiss Pass to great effect. Needless to say we will be back next year!
Maggie
