Switzerland Part 2 — Mürren

After our adventures in the Interlaken Valley, we moved our base camp further up the mountain to the village of Mürren.
This magnificent little village is only accessible by hiking trail and train. Since we had a bit of luggage (including the computer I’m typing on), we opted for the easier, but still picturesque train.
The period after Easter until mid-May is in between the winter and summer seasons. So, most shops (and people) are closed/gone on holiday. Fortunately, in early May, some places are opened back up. Such was the case for the B&B where we stayed. The owner of this lovely place, Denise, opened a day early. It was the perfect location and if you decide to trek to Mürren, we highly recommend the Chalet Fontana.
Since there are no cars in the town (except a couple work trucks that seemed to be everywhere at once!), hiking was the plan for our time there.
Mürren is on the east side of the Lauterbrunnen Valley and offers a great view of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains on the other side of the valley. Although this is a resort town, we virtually had the place to ourselves. The hiking trails were very easy to navigate and gave views that are second to none. As you can see here, at 1,650 meters (or 5,400 feet), it is often already above the clouds.

Here’s a perspective of Mürren as we emerged from the trees.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t an abundance of wild fauna, but there were quite a few domestic and relatively tame ones for our viewing pleasure.

Here we are on another hike. This is one of those times I wished I brought a tri-pod with (or that there were other people on the trail). So, I used a small pile of rocks instead. Anna makes a nice blond pine tree, don’t you think?


Here’s the view back down to Mürren.


The mountain wild flowers were very pretty too.


The plan for this hike was to go all the way up to the gondola station, Birg (2,677 meters or 8,800 feet), then ride that up to the peak of the Schilthorn (2,970 meters or 9,750 feet).
However, for those who have accompanied us on hikes in other locations you know that I can be a little zealous in my hiking goals… This time though, Anna talked some sense into me. The clouds covered Birg and she said she saw lightning. While I didn’t see the lightning myself, I trusted her judgment and reluctantly acquiesced, so we headed back down the mountain.
Anna wanted this picture as proof that it was indeed bad weather…

The next day, it had cleared up sufficiently to actually see Birg and the Schilthorn Peak. Instead of retracing our hike to re-attempt the peak, we opted for the easier gondola. Again, since it was early season, the ticket prices were reduced (although still expensive).

On the peak there is a revolving restaurant called the Piz Gloria. It was completed in 1968 and it’s claim to fame is that before it opened to the public, it was used in the James Bond film, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” in 1969. For those who have actually seen the film (neither Anna nor I have), it was the one where George Lazenby played 007 (after Sean Connery and before Roger Moore). The view, although partly obscured by the haze and clouds was still beautiful.

Here is the view looking back down at Birg. You can see there was a bit of snow on the trail. As it has been in Germany, this spring has been exceptionally warm. Denise told us she skied down from here just two weeks before. Now, there’s hardly any snow left. Perhaps next time we come back, we’ll come to ski (and hike).

Yet another view of Mürren. I couldn’t help myself, it was just too cute.

Here are a few images from yet another hike. This time down past the smaller (even more remote) village of Gimmelwald. It has been saved from further development by its designation as inside an avalanche zone.

There were pretty wild flowers here too.

This waterfall was Anna’s favorite.

Trümmelbach Falls was my favorite, but this one was my second favorite.


Swiss architecture all over the country was beautiful, but in the mountains, the combination of synthetic and natural was amazing.

The next morning, we packed up our bags and headed back down on the train. We really enjoyed our time back in the mountains. It was hard to leave, but we are excited that the Alps are only a (relatively) short car-ride away.
Up next is a bit of relaxation in the bath town of Baden-Baden on the edge of the German Black Forest.
–Jim