Editor's note: The first five weeks of the Anderson's trip was done apart from their Untour and is therefore not included in the text below.
Wednesday, Aug. 27
After breakfast we walked through a forest past the Hotel Rosenlaui down to Zwirgi (elevation 3,210 feet), at the top of the famous Reichenbach Falls. The spray from the falls cooled us as we walked over a little bridge and down steps to the bottom of the falls. We noted the white star on the cliff across from us, the spot where (supposedly) Sherlock Holmes battled his arch foe, Moriarity. We rode the funicular from here down to Meiringen (elevation 1,970 feet), just as we had done 18 years ago. After shopping for groceries and checking our e-mail, we had a picnic lunch. We validated our 15-day Swiss railway/boat/bus pass that was part of our Untour package for the next two weeks. Then we rode the train up to Brunig Pass and the post bus from there to Hohfluh. Just as we had been told, we found Frau Erica Schumacher, a delightful Swiss lady approaching her 80th birthday and owner of the chalet where we would stay, standing by the roadside waiting for us. She took us to her chalet, down from the road at the end of a path. When we saw the milk, cheese, bread, fruit, and chocolate bars and the fresh roses she had been so kind to provide us, we knew our next two weeks would be happy! Our apartment consisted of a living room, two bedrooms, kitchen, and bath. It was very well furnished, and there were many maps and travel brochures. We had a sweeping view across the valley of the Aare River, from the Reichenbach Falls on the left to the high mountains south of Lake Brienze on the right. Below us on the alp, several horses grazed.
Thursday, Aug. 28
We walked from our Hohfluh chalet down the mountain path to Meiringen for the Untour guests' orientation meeting to familiarize them with Swiss trains, places to visit, etc. All guests were Americans, including three other couples from Phoenix who, like us, were escaping the heat. We were told that there would be only a few optional trips planned by Untour; otherwise we were on our own. After the meeting we rode the train to Brienze and boarded a steam-powered side wheeler that took us across the lake to Interlaken Ost (East). After a three minute train ride to Interlaken West, we walked along the Aare River back to Interlaken Ost. We bought groceries and rode the train to Brunig Pass and the bus to Hohfluh.
Friday, Aug. 29
It was a rainy day, the first of several to come. This made us so thankful for the many days of nice weather while we were walking! We did take a walk on the Panorama Trail from our chalet over to Reuti. When the clouds lifted we had good views across the Aare River valley of the Wetterhorn, Grosse Scheidegg, the huge Rosenlaui glacier, and the Reichenbach Falls and the funicular we had ridden two days before. We took the bus back.
Saturday, Aug. 30
We walked on the Panorama Trail from our chalet to Brunig Pass, where we boarded a train with other Untour guests, headed for Interlaken West and a boat ride on Lake Thun. It was a rainy day, but we had nice views of Spiez and other towns on the lake. We walked around the city, ate some bratwurst at a street market, visited the Thun castle high on a hill, and watched kayak paddlers “shooting the rapids” below a dam in the Aare River. We returned back to our chalet by train and bus. That night after dark we had heavy rain and high winds. Eighteen years ago there was a similar change in weather with rain and snow at higher elevations, on the last Saturday of August just like this year!
Sunday, Aug. 31
When we awoke, we saw new snow had dusted the tops of the mountains across the valley of the Aare River from our chalet windows. We decided to go to Luzern, which is about a two-hour train ride from Brunig Pass. In Luzern we walked across the famous wood bridge and along the lakeshore, before returning to the railway station for our train and bus rides back to our chalet.
Monday, Sep. 1
We went by car to Reuti with Marianne, the Untour leader who was staying all summer in the middle apartment of Frau Schumacher’s chalet, and Margrit, the local Swiss Untour leader. There we joined other Untourists for the cable car ride up to Magisalp to visit the cheese maker. Due to the snow Sunday morning, she made her cheese the night before, so we had to miss the demonstration. But we did see the cheese storage hut and bought a half kilo (1.1 pounds) of cheese. Afterward, we rode the cable car up to Planplatten (elevation 7,355 feet), just as the sun disappeared and the clouds rolled in! We walked across the ridge in fog and clouds to the Balmeregghorn (elevation 7,560 feet); the spectacular views possible from this trail weren’t visible today. It was cloudy but there was no rain. We did encounter the droppings of a large herd of sheep, which obviously had spent the prior days standing on the trail we tried to walk on. Five other Untourists walked with us, but they rode the chairlift down to the lake by Melchsee Frut while we walked down. They had a lengthy dinner at a restaurant, and we had our usual picnic lunch by an old church at the side of the lake. While they were eating we kept walking on down to Stöckalp (elevation 3,000 feet), where we waited for the post bus to take us to the train station at Sarnen. The clouds continued to obscure most views, and the main thing we saw were many cows along the way. While waiting for the bus, the other five Untourists arrived on the cable car. We arrived back at Hohfluh just before the grocery store closed, so we could buy the things we needed for dinner that night. This was fortunate, since we had invited Frau Schumacher and Marianne as dinner guests. Mary’s menu included soup, ham slices, risotto, zucchini with onions, salad, and ice cream brought by Marianne.
Tuesday, Sep. 2
On a sunny and pleasant day, Phil walked to Brunig Pass to meet Jürg and Sylvia. They had driven up from their house at Bolligen, north of Bern, to join us for lunch. Mary prepared a healthy American lunch for them at our chalet. Later, we took advantage of the beautiful day, and Phil and Jürg walked to Wasserwendi on the Panorama Trail, returning by post bus. Mary and Sylvia walked around Hohfluh village and back to our chalet.
Wednesday, Sep. 3
We caught the 6:52 am post bus on the road above our chalet to begin our train trip to Lugano, via Luzern and Arth-Goldau. It was cloudy most of the way, but partly sunny in Lugano. We walked down the steps from the Lugano railway station to the town on the lakeshore. Our route was on narrow, steep streets past the cathedral and many interesting shops; there were no cars until we reached the bottom of the hill and crossed some main streets. There were some sail boats on the lake. We had a pizza lunch at a restaurant and could see the lake from our table. Afterward, we had delicious gelato we bought at a lakeside stand by the entrance to the park. We returned to our chalet at Hohfluh at 7:00 pm.
Thursday, Sep. 4
We took the train through Luzern to Zug. We walked through the old city and had a picnic lunch by the side of the lake. We visited a handicraft fair but found nothing to buy. We walked past many beautifully restored buildings in the Old City, some as old as the 13th century. We returned by train to Luzern, where we boarded a boat for a beautiful ride on the lake to Alpnachstad. Then we caught the train to Brunig Pass and the bus to our chalet.
Friday, Sep. 5
We had another long day trip, this time to Zermatt via Interlaken Ost, Spiez, and Brig. We made our tight train connections at Meiringen (4 minutes) and Spiez (3 minutes) going, and at Spiez (4 minutes) and Interlaken Ost (7 minutes) returning. The narrow gauge train from Brig to Zermatt was very interesting, with several rack sections for cogwheel operation, steep grades, sharp curves, and steep canyon walls with glaciers high above. There was a huge rock slide at one place, which indicated that the Swiss Alps are still undergoing major geological changes. We found Zermatt to be a big tourist community with many hotels, stores, and houses. We quickly located the Zermatt Tourist Office, which directed us to the station for the underground funicular up to Sunnega. We rode the funicular up 2,000 feet to a 7,600 foot high plateau where we had excellent views of the Matterhorn and several nearby mountains. It was partly cloudy, but the Matterhorn remained clear for our view, while we ate our picnic lunch on the shore of a lake named Leisee. (The lake level was being maintained by water from a pipe coming from somewhere!) After lunch we began our walk down, first through the picturesque village of Findeln. The houses had the slate roofs characteristic of this area, and there were narrow paths instead of streets. The landscape was very dry, with very little vegetation, and there were ski lifts everywhere. We saw many glaciers and high peaks, but the Matterhorn stood up above all of them. Our walk from the top of the funicular back down to the Zermatt railway station took us two hours. When we arrived at our chalet in Hohfluh, we had been gone 13 hours.
Saturday, Sep. 6
Today it was partly cloudy with occasional showers. We walked from our Hohfluh chalet down the hill to Meiringen. After checking our e-mail, we walked to the Aareschlucht and through the narrow gorge of the Aare River to Innertkirchen. The gorge is only a yard wide at one point and up to 600 feet deep. It was formed when the valley behind was filled with a glacier believed to have been 3,000 feet thick. The water draining from the glacier cut the gorge through the rock dike. We walked for 4,600 feet on a boardwalk suspended over rushing rapids. On the way we had our picnic. After leaving the gorge we walked another mile along the river to the small village of Innertkirchen. From here we returned to Adelboden on the tram, which uses a tunnel parallel to the Aareschlucht. Then we rode the cable car up to Reuti and walked across on the Panorama Trail to our chalet at Hohfluh.
Sunday, Sep. 7
Today was a partly cloudy day. We rode a train to Lauterbrunnen via Interlaken Ost. Then we rode the funicular up to Grütschalp. Instead of taking the connecting train on to Murren, we found a nearby grassy spot not recently visited by cows and had our picnic while watching the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau in the clear sunlight. There were clouds across from us on a mountain called Mannlichen. Behind us some parasailors were taking off and soaring over the deep valley. We rode the funicular back down to Lauterbrunnen in time to see members of four Swiss bands assemble for a parade. The bands were from Murren, Wengen, and Lauterbrunnen. Also in the parade was a Feldschlossen beer wagon pulled by six large draft horses. We enjoyed watching each band pass by and then followed the last one with townspeople as everyone proceeded to a park south of town. Here there was a large tent with food, drink, and music. Afterward, we walked back to Lauterbrunnen and took the train to Hohfluh.
Monday, Sep. 8
Rain last night was heavy, so we slept late, relaxed, and cleaned house. That afternoon we walked under clouds on the Panorama Trail to Reuti, where Untour had invited all its guests to dinner. We were entertained by Swiss yodelers and musicians. The man who played the alpenhorn let us try to blow it, but Phil was able to get only one long, steady note out of the horn until his breath ran out. He pretended he was playing the trumpet again after 50 years!
Tuesday, Sep. 9
Since it was cloudy and trying to rain, we decided on another long train trip, first toward Luzern to Hergiswil, where we boarded the train to Engelberg. This was a fascinating ride up a steep cog railway, but it was so foggy we couldn’t see a thing. We returned and traveled via Luzern to Götschinen (at the north end of the tunnel under the Gotthard Pass, on the busiest rail route across Switzerland). Here we changed to a narrow gauge train to Andermatt and then to Brig. We saw many snowy mountains and glaciers, even though it was a cloudy day. From Brig we rode trains to Hohfluh via Spiez, Interlaken Ost, and Brunig Pass.
Wednesday, Sep. 10
We again caught the 6:52 am post bus for Meiringen and then rode five trains to Lausanne, via Interlaken Ost, Spiez, Zweissimmen, and Montreux. This is one of our favorite trips -- over the MOB Railway (it climbs steep grades without using cog wheels). After a picnic on a terrace in Lausanne, we boarded the TGV for Paris. We arrived on time and walked from the station to our hotel, the Hotel Lille. This small, reasonably-priced hotel is two blocks south of the Seine (on the Left Bank), across from the Louvre and behind the Musee d’Orsay. That night we enjoyed a fine dinner at the Auberge de la Reine Blanche, a small restaurant on Ile St. Louis, an island in the Seine, where we have eaten several times before. The restaurant was almost full of Americans who had responded to a travel recommendation! Afterward, we walked along the Seine to our hotel.
Thursday, Sep. 11 Paris
Today we walked through Montmarte and on the way passed the Moulin Rouge nightclub, still in business after more than 100 years. We had lunch at a restaurant on the way. On the highest hill in Paris, in front of the Church of the Sacre Coeur, we looked out across the great city. In the afternoon we bought a beautiful artificial phalaenopsis orchid centerpiece at Emilio Robba’s store south of Boulevard St. Germain near our hotel, where we bought an artificial poppy on a previous trip. That night we ate in a restaurant near our hotel. We then walked to Sainte Chappelle, a 13th century chapel on Ile Cite, an island in the Seine, which is known for its beautiful stained glass windows. At night they were not lighted, however. Instead, we enjoyed the chamber orchestra concert of classical music in Sainte Chappelle. Afterward, we walked along the Seine to our hotel.
Friday, Sep. 12 Paris to Phoenix
We took the Metro to Charles de Gaulle Airport and boarded our United flight to Washington Dulles Airport. From there we flew on United to Phoenix. Both flights were on time. We were happy to reach home 19 hours after leaving our Paris hotel and were surprised to see how our plants had grown in seven weeks!
