We woke to find that the hot water wasn't working in our bathroom. Ken went down to reception and they said they would fix it. I took the opportunity to sleep a little more. The views outside our window were still amazing, I don't think anyone could ever get tired of this.
Breakfast was a good continental spread, but no pastries . We probably don't need them.
We were waiting for the perfect day to go up to the top of Schilthorn Mountain, so today we instead caught the funicular up to Allmendhubel, 1907 metres high. The funicular was very steep and a short ride. It was green and pretty at the top with lovely views over the town and the valley below.
We opted to do the walk back down to Mürren. The track was easy and we could see the cows, with their constant bells ringing and the farms dotted along in the valley. There were waterfalls and creeks rushing, birds chirping and the occasional whine of an angle grinder as the farmers went about their summer maintenance.
As we were walking along a stream we saw an old farmer wielding an axe. He was chopping branches and making some sort of beaver type dam across part of the waterway. I'm sure there was a good reason. We did happen upon him as we were sticking our noses into his barn. He was friendly and didn't even raise his weapon at us!
This is a really family friendly walk, but without safety barriers to stop you falling down a steep slope to the river below. Which is nice, look after yourself and you will be ok. They do have a really cool adventure playground on the track with jungle climbing, see-saws, a flying fox and much more. We had the place to ourselves and had a great time!
We made it back to Mürren and headed back home to plan the afternoon. We popped into the Coop store and found the most unfriendly lady at the checkout. This was not a job she was she was enjoying . We bought some croissants which proved that there is a big difference between Switzerland and France - these were whole-grain croissants!
We walked down the 275metres to Gimmelwald, a steep picturesque track into the little town. We were sitting eating our croissants (which were quite good, by the way) when a group of 3 Japanese ladies approached and asked if one of them could have her photo taken with us. They were fun and were taking photos of absolutely everything all the way down.
As we arrived into Gimmelwald we saw a little crafty shop called Misch Masch. Ken had read something about how good their sugared almonds are so we stopped in. The lady immediately asked us if she could help. We said no thanks, and kept looking and she gave us a minute then asked again. I bought the almonds and we left. The nuts were good.
There is not a lot in this town. The hostel looks good and there is a Pensione with a fun looking beer garden. So we stopped for a beer and enjoyed the sun.
We hopped on a cable car to make the steep climb back to Mürren . People can obviously read a timetable better than us. Just as we think it will be a relatively empty car, a crowd of 30 turn up and we are all squished in. It is fair to rely on the Swiss timetable, it is efficient and always correct.
We went back to the Coop with a little trepidation, but found a lovely lady. We bought some wine and sat on our balcony enjoying the views and chilling for a while.
We had dinner at La Grotte in the Blumenthal Hotel. We had made a decision to have fondue at some time up here and tonight was the night. It was good, but it was a lot of cheese and bread!
Mürren has three main nationalities visiting - Japanese, Chinese and American. The Americans are an older demographic (even older than us).
The place was cosy and kitsch, the waiter was a bit like Manuel, complete with bow tie, from Fawltey Towers and his Boss was a little Basil-like. They were entertaining to watch.
We finished the meal with tea and coffees, accompanied by Swiss grappe, I had old pear and Ken had old cherry. They were quite good.
We walked home in the light rain to return to our beautiful view over the mountains.

Steps 15,129
Kms Walked 10.1