Mürren: Exploring Crowd-Free

By 4:30p, we were back in our room at the Hotel Alpenruh. We sat on the balcony to relax for a bit and rest our weary feet. The peaks were showing evidence of clearing, however, that didn’t last long. The sky had been getting progressively more overcast … the cloud deck getting lower. Soon enough the mountains were back in hiding.

We left the hotel around 6:00p to get some dinner and go for a wander. After the hub-bub earlier in the day, the streets were eerily quiet; the atmosphere peaceful. The day-trippers were gone. The village now belonged to the residents and those of us who were booked into accommodations. The overlook that affords some of the best views was no longer a beehive of selfie-takers who posed interminably until they got the perfect shot for their social media pages. Time to take a selfie or two of our own. Except that the light was really blah … we’ll try again tomorrow, but at least we have the photos from when we braved the crowds at lunch time.

As we strolled along the main street, we perused menus. Eventually, we settled on the restaurant at the Hotel Edelweiss … partially because of the terrace with its view of the mountains. We were about to be seated when it started raining. So, we ended up dining indoors instead … which was perhaps a good thing as the temperature had dropped and it was turning chilly. Good food … schnitzel and a salad for Mui; rösti with pears and raclette cheese for me … good, but oh so rich.

Our after-dinner stroll took us off the main street. Hardly anyone was out and about. We passed residential homes and boutique hotels; stopped to enjoy window-boxes overflowing with flowers; and checked out the carved statues we came across. When we found the door of the Marienkappelle Catholic Church open, we went inside for a quick peek. The church was built between 1892-1893 as a post and beam structure, with neo-Gothic style windows. It is apparently one of the first Roman Catholic churches in the Bernese Oberland. The stained glass windows standing out in the otherwise simply decorated church.

As we were meandering, we heard the distant notes of music. It sounded like it was coming from a marching band. Walking towards the music, we found the band walking in the direction of the Alpines Sportzentrum. Turns out that tonight was folklore evening. A cavernous hall was filled with picnic tables; at the stalls along one wall food was being prepared. Too bad we didn’t know about this earlier. Too full from dinner, we continued our stroll … this time towards the hotel for a good night’s rest.Читать далее