Europe, 2022, Day 3, Bernese Oberland

I slept for a good 6 1/2 hours waking up around 4am. No luck at first falling back to sleep so I chatted with Mikey for a bit after he got home from a long day at work.

I finally fell back to sleep and woke up to this morning view.

I got up and had some cheese, smoked sausage and raspberries for breakfast. Good start.

This trip I wanted to explore the other side of the Lauterbrunnen Valley. I’ve seen quite a bit of the Gimmelwald side of the valley (and will see more) but it today was about getting to the other side and taking a hike called the Panorama Hike.

I took the gondola down to the floor of the valley. It’s a long way down. (Here’s time-lapsed video of the assent. The video headed down wasn’t very good.)

I almost missed my bus since I was watching the paragliders land and do stunts. These daredevils are fun to watch.

The two videos above kind of show both sides of the valley. The valley was carved out into its current “U” shape by a huge glacier. And I am heading to the side that I can see out my bedroom window. Gondola, bus and train take me to Wengen where I will catch another gondola to Männlichen.

I had 20 minutes before the next gondola. This was nice timing since i needed to do some shopping. I didn’t bring any pajama bottoms and I am sharing a bathroom. No pajama bottoms makes for an awkward, middle of the night run to the toilet, so I found a little shop and grabbed a cute pair. I threw them into my hiking pack which also contained some of the smoked sausage I packed for the hike. Now my pajama bottoms smell like smoked sausage. Not really a complaint…just an observation.

The Panorama Hike begins at the gondola station and continues around 5 km to Kleine Scheidegg.

The Eiger peak was in front of me nearly the entire hike.

To my right is the Gimmelwald side of the valley.

To my left is Grindelwald, a very touristy town, not to be confused with Gimmelwald.

The hike was great. Stunning views the entire time.

Toward the end of the trail I stopped at for lunch at a restaurant with a great patio for lunch. I had a very German Hackbratten with noodles and Brussels sprouts. I wasn’t expecting much, more there for the view, but it was all quite tasty.

A few minutes further down the trail brought me to Kleine Scheidegg where I caught a train back down to the valley floor. Since the train goes up and down some steep inclines it has a cogwheel configuration. (See the image of the track below.)

It was a lovely trip back to Gimmelwald. I was ready for a nap so I set my alarm for 1 hour. I slept for 2. Must have needed it.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. Just had some snacks for dinner since I had such a big lunch. Did a little planning for tomorrow. Depending on how my legs and feet feel, I may take another hike. We’ll see.

For now I am off to bed in my new smoked sausage-smelling pajamas.

In an unrelated note, this was in the Wengen restroom. Good to know…