Gimmelwald, day 7, Munich/Switzerland, 2024

Another lovely day in Gimmelwald. With nothing on the agenda for the day other than dinner at 7pm, I headed out after writing up yesterday’s blog and making some breakfast.

I got to the gondola to go up the mountain for maybe a ride up further on the funicular. The gondola was departing just as I was arriving and I didn’t want to wait for the next one so I just walked the loop around Gimmelwald to grab some pictures.

My whole time here I’ve heard the rumbling of avalanches. I recorded a clip of one. Turn up the volume and you’ll hear what kind of sounds like running water. It’s not. It’s an avalanche.

The sound of an avalanche

This was happening so regularly. Tobias and his wife told me the lower sounding avalanches (they sounded like big low rumblings of thunder) were from the Shcilthorn peak on our side of the valley echoing off the other side of the valley. The avalanches higher in pitch, like the recording above, were from the opposite side of the valley. When the clouds weren’t in the way you could sometimes spot them.

Avalanche across the valley

This was happening so frequently, 3 or 4 every hour in the afternoon. It became like a game to try and spot them once I heard them.

Here’s some clips from my stroll.

Alp kitties were very friendly today. One (turns out his name is Speedy) decided to join me on the porch while I had coffee after a very long nap. He sat on my lap for a while and purred, then joined me on the seat next to mine as we watched the world go by. I miss my dog so I was glad to get an animal fix.

Cat Magnet

He should have been named Sheddy. Tobias, his wife and two kids showed up so I was able to give the little Folkmanis puppets I’d brought for them. Francheska (Tobias’s wife) noticed Speedy’s fur all over me. Turns out it’s their cat. She grabbed a lint roller and handed it to me. I showed them pictures of Lainey and said I was used to the shedding. Francheska just peeled off a layer of tape from the roller and handed it back to me. “You need it twice.” 🤣

They served me espresso while we chatted on the porch. It was a nice farewell visit before I had to head over for dinner.

While I walked across the street to eat I couldn’t stop from taking some final pictures before it got dark.

Small peak on our side of the valley plus a crescent moon

Dinner was Rosti, shredded potatoes with cheese, ham and egg. It was pretty good. (Hotel Edelweiss in Mürren has an amazing Rosti. This one was just ok.)

I chatted a bit with a couple from Indiana. We discussed where we’d been before we got to Gimmelwald. (The husband has been coming here regularly since 1998!) I mentioned Munich and the wife said she’d gone and visited some of the Willie Wonka sites, too! For just a moment I felt slightly less nerdy.

I headed back to the Guesthouse and got to video chat with Mike who was over at my parents house with their new puppy.