Time to leave Luzern, we breakfasted and made our way to the train station. It was only a 10 minute walk, even with suitcases. Then we bought tickets to begin our convoluted trip to Mürren. The first leg was the Interlaken Express. Ken's suitcase is just holding together so he did some running repairs with gaffer tape while we waited. Everyone was waiting around two carriages as the time of departure approached. There was way too many people for the room. Just about then a whole great big train rocked up and we all raced to get seats. We made ourselves comfy, stowed our cases and settled in for the almost 2 hours of scenic travel, with great big picture windows.
The landscape was beautiful . We went from the city and town to farming land and then to the hills and lakes as we climbed up and up. The water was turquoise and there were people on boats fishing. At some of the lakes they were swimming and enjoying the summer. The beauty was distracting! I had to give in and stop typing and just enjoy.
We made a few stops along the way as people continued their holidays in different places. They all looked good.
Finally we arrived at Interlaken and I left Ken with the luggage and went to buy the next leg of the journey. I got tickets to Lauterbrunnen and then more for Mürren. We had a short wait and we were on our way again, on a little train that climbed up. Not as comfy or as fast, but you could open the windows and enjoy the views of the mountains getting bigger and bigger. We could see some snow caps glistening in the sun.
Once in Lauterbrunnen we followed the signs to our Mürren connection, which was a cable car! Not a long wait and we were on our way, climbing very steeply and getting excited . The cable car was reasonably full, but we were the only ones with luggage. Arriving at Grutschalp we were straight onto a train that took us to Mürren. This one was even smaller and a short journey.
We arrived into Mürren and had to walk to our accommodation. We were worried that we would have to lug our cases up cobbled hills. Mürren is a vehicle-free town. It turns out the streets are smooth and there is not a lot of slope to get to our hotel. And they have signs pointing to all the different hotels.No way to get lost! A few minutes down the track and we found our Sports Chalet.
It is very basic accommodation. We knew that when we booked, but I had forgotten about the twin beds. We do have our own bathroom, which is really nice.
But...The.Views!!! So good. The balcony doors open to a vista that is breathtaking. We can see from the Eiger, the Monch and the Jungfrau and beyond. We cannot take a photo to fit it all in. Amazing! The clouds cover some of it at all times. It is a changing panorama.
We went for a walk around the town to get our bearings . There is not really much to see. The Coop supermarket is closed because it's Sunday and there are only a few others. There is an indoor swimming pool and sports centre and a handful of restaurants. It is not really very busy. We stopped for a great crumble cake, cherry for me, apricot for Ken and average coffee, served by an efficient and aggressively friendly waiter!
We went back home and found that the hotel does have a bar! So we had a drink and watched the clouds come in. The whole town was enveloped and then it started to drizzle. We went upstairs to do some research, though without Internet. It only works on the ground floor and really only in one little corner, where everyone gathers to check emails and contact family.
After a short, light shower of rain, we were blessed with a stunning, vivid rainbow almost painted onto the rocks of the mountain. You could also see another very faint one above it. The rain cleared and the clouds cleared, bringing the amazing mountains back into brilliance.
For dinner we went to the Bellvue Hotel . It was a little cool outside so we sat and admired their views from inside. (Not as good as ours. We are on the edge of the escarpment and no one is blocking our view). Ken had wild boar tagliatelle and I had venison goulash. Both were really good. The waitress was efficient.
After a quick whip around town to see if anything was happening (it wasn't) we made our way back home and hung out in the foyer for a while to attend to banking and communication. There was a guy downloading files hogging all the data so it took a while which gave Ken enough time to be distracted by the vending machine and buy a chocolate (even though he didn't have room for dessert).
We planned the next day and went off to sleep in our single beds!


Steps 11,215
Kms walked 7.7