Interlaken Carousel: Merry-Go-Round in the Swiss Alps

GRINDELWALD, KLEINE SCHEIDEGG, & LAUTERBRUNNEN, SWITZERLAND – June 5, 2006
(rough notes only)

Morning train via the “Golden Pass,” one of Switzer- land’s most scenic rail journeys, to Interlaken, jumping-off point for a litany of alpine adventures, pleasantly situated between Lakes Brienz and Thun (get it? Inter-lake-n)

Bought a day pass on the private rail, looping through the Jungfrau region. It is from this area that you can take a cable care to the “Top of Europe,” Jungfraujoch, which towers at 3454 meters.

Kleine Scheidegg – mountains hidden behind thick layers of white, liking trying to see through a glass of milk

Hiked to the observation tower through clumps of snow and pulled my jacket tighter against my body to ward off the harsh winds whipping across the high mountain plains

Descended to Lauterbrunnen, train snaking through steep mountainside. I spotted the underbellies of a herd of goats as they snack on grassy patches in an open field, our train descending sharply as we disappeared around a bend beneath them

Here and there, slender rivulets of falling water cascaded over mountain- top ledges, their downward path quivering back and forth as though they couldn’t make up their minds which journey was the quickest to the valley floor.

Chapel and graveyard, tombstones with wooden crosses.

Everything is wood – design, decoration (tudor-style, half-timbered houses), resourcefulness (park benches, fresh mountain water collecting in hewn tree trunks carved out as giant bowls)

Cows in a field, their necks each displaying a shiny bell that tinkled as they moved around the field

~Melanie