Monday, January 02, 2017

High on a hill stood a (not actually) lonely bureaucrat...

Trains. I'm rather fond of them, fond enough to spend much of the day on them if given the opportunity. Ros is not so keen, unless there is a purpose. And so, day 3 started with a train ride to Lauterbrunnen, the other branch of the Berner Oberland Bahn. The train was packed with tourists evidently bound for the Jungfraujoch, as well as skiers heading up for some time on the slopes.

There hasn't been any snow so far this winter, but it had been cold enough for the authorities to start up the snow cannons, and you could see white ribbons, filled with small dots, running up the hillsides.

Lauterbrunnen itself was a bit grey, partly because the village sits in a bit of a gorge, with high cliffs blocking out the sky, but as our connecting train reached Wengen, the skies cleared and we were joined by dozens of skiers, all in search of a sense of motion. It turns out that a ski pass entitles you to use the railway to get back to the top of the ski run, so people circulate up and down.

Naturally, for this is a country which is nothing if not organised, the trains have racks to hold skis in so that you don't batter some hapless tourist with them, and they interconnect with the ski runs so that you don't have to walk too far.

At Kleine Schiedegg, the sun was shining out of a gorgeously picture-perfect sky, and hundreds of skiers of all ages were milling around until their turn to push off onto the run came. And again, because they are Swiss, they don't have to be managed, they ski with respect towards those around them.

We headed off towards Grindlewald again, past more skiers, heading downhill fast, with lunch in mind. Rosti is not entirely a core part of our diet these days, but you do need to cut yourself some slack on holiday, and it was very good. A brief walk through the town, and it was time to head back to base. We had a gala dinner to attend...

No comments: