Canton of Bern: Day 2 – Below the Jungfrau

For breakfast, we stayed at our Airbnb and ate our groceries from yesterday: we bought a pretzel and two discounted quarter pies (the discount owing to slight visual defects). We then walked over to the train station and set off in the direction of Lauterbrunnen. Heaving under the heels of visiting multitudes, this quaint Swiss village owes its popularity to its dramatic setting. Steep cliffs frame the village on all sides, with several waterfalls vaulting nimbly over the western walls and bright meadows filling in the gentler slopes on all sides. Lauterbrunnen is also famous for having inspired Schiller and other romantically minded Germans.

We did not spend much time in Lauterbrunnen, as the main item on our agenda for the day was Schynige Platte. We only walked down to the Staubbach Falls where, having found a trail of people snaking its way up a hill, we followed to what we thought would be a very well-placed lookout point. Instead, the path led us through several tunnels directly under the falls; I assume people find it nice to gaze into the sun through the rushing water, but with the blinding light in my eyes I only found it wet. Having been thus disappointed, we walked around the town for a while before taking the next train to Wilderswil.

Wilderswil is a small (and somewhat less picturesque) town that serves as the terminal for the funicular to Schynige Platte. We arrived there just in time to buy our tickets. Having conducted very diligent research, we knew not to expect them to be particularly cheap, but thanks to a gift of visitor cards from our Airbnb host, we at least received a modest discount.

The ride took almost an hour and took us to a height of nearly two thousand metres above sea level. From the windows, we saw Interlaken nestled in between two turquoise lakes, and above them green meadows, towering mountains, and forests slowly changing colour with the onset of Autumn. Riding through the upper tunnel, we suddenly came in sight of snowcapped mountain peaks. They were surrounded by a sea of clouds, which slowly but surely grew over the plateau until the entire sky turned grey. We made a short loop around the major viewpoints and took the funicular down again, thankful that we had witnessed at least a short spell of good weather.

Staubbach Falls
Lauterbrunnen Church
The valley of Lauterbrunnen
The waterfall
The valley again
Lauterbrunnen
A cliff
The view from the train
The view over Interlaken
The view from Schynige Platte
Another view
The train to Schynige Platte
Lake Thun
More views of the Alps
The Daube rock
Another view of the lake
Oberberghorn
Another view of Oberberghorn
Brienz Lake on the left
A view of the Bernese Alps
Some kind of epilobium
An Edelweiss flower
A gentian
A view of the mountains from Interlaken

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