Grindelwald or bust

After a much needed night sleep- we met for breakfast where we enjoyed (even though we were all still so full from last night) too much meat, cheese, bread and of course Nutella! Then, off to the Mannlichen train to start todays excursions. We got to the top of the gondola and decided to take a 500 ft climb detour to check out views of Interlachen, some new valleys and peaks that we hadn’t seen yet. But first, I would be remiss to not mention Becky and Dave’s “operation” game as Dave attempted to Macgyver Becky’s raincoat clasp from the grates and as it was almost free (Dave’s masterful manipulation of a pen thru the grates) Becky let go (almost purposefully, like she had a plan developed years ago to purchase a raincoat, with a clasp, and a deep desire to take said clasp across the Atlantic, past France, to Lucerne, to Mürren, and up to Mannleich so she could then, almost saddistically, certainly with purpose, kill it) and dropped it down to be lost to the Swiss alps forever. The views were picture worthy, except for the cloudiness, the awful drone buzzing around and Dave’s unwillingness to take a good pic. But we ended with a laugh as Becky crawled across the huge bench to avoid getting near the edge.

As we were getting ready to start our true hike, the clouds rolled in and it started to rain. We were at the top of a winter ski lift so went into the lodge for a quick game of Euchre to pass some time and then we were really off. Becky and Mike won the game, which is totally common and what usually happens when we play. The hike is mostly downhill which we all are enjoying after yesterdays climb. We were on a different side of the mountain peak which afforded us views of Eiger, Jungfrau, and Moench as the clouds moved away. Plus- we got lucky enough to see three rams chasing each other across the mountain range. We stopped midway through our hike at Kleine Scheidegg for a picnic charcuterie overlooking the three peaks. Minus the all the flies- it was delicious. And Dave would say minus the 9 CHF apple cake we bought, it would have tasted even better. To end the meal, inspired by the Oliver-named Coke bottle, Mike introduced the American yodel… a visceral, involuntary belch, heard across the alps. On the German-side the people call it “the Grischweidel” while French referenced it as the “dirty American mouth-gas”.

Our original plan for today was to walk an additional 5ish miles back to Wengen, then train back up and over to Grindelwald, but we decided to take an alternative route 5 miles straight down to Grindelwald. You may think straight down sounds easier, but trust me, downhill is tough. But we made the best choice. Our new path afforded us gorgeous views of the Eiger cliff face, fresh alpine cheese to purchase, ice cream and espresso stops, and surround sound cows along the way (along with surround cow smells). Not to mention the chance to watch Dave almost get trampled by a cow as he got too close to a baby cow drinking from its mother. One of the most special moments from the day was a small diversion to a waterfall where Becky put her feet in the stream, Mike and I rinsed our hands in the cool water and Dave took a nice nap in the shade of a tree. We finished our hike with a walk straight up to the beautiful town of Grindelwald and a stop at the train station to get the Oliver’s bags (what’s up with their luggage being lost all the time??)!! All in all, we hiked down 4490 feet. This is the equivalent of:

-hiking from the top of the highest point in Massachusetts (mount Greylock) down to the ocean and then hiking down another 1000 feet under the water.
-hiking down mount washington from the peak to the trailhead
- walking down the Empire State Building 10 times
- 1.5 times the height of the Burj Khalifa
- more than 3 times the height of the Eiffel Tower

We finally made it to our charming hotel, after an additional 25 minute walk , quickly showered and headed out to Barry’s for some fondue, spritz’s and burgers. Maybe we will make it for a game or two of Euchre but we are all looking forward to a good nights sleep tonight.

Followers of this blog should know what part of this post was written prior to publishing by Dave.

Today’s step count: 28,499 steps, 12.8 milesLäs mer