Blerf Blog: Grindelwald: The beginning of the end...and the end of the beginning?

We chose to end our Swiss vacation in Grindelwald on recommendation of Patti's uncle who had been several times and loved it. He's been around the world, so.... It was a great choice.

We said good bye to Leslie and Eric at the train station and hopped on the train back to Interlaken, then changed to the Grindelwald train.

Climbing out of the valley after leaving Luzern

Nice, comfy meter gauge train

Climbing using rack assist.

A steam excursion train at Meiringen, where our train changed directions for Interlaken

Our hotel was literally 100 yards from the train. By plan. No luggage schlepping allowed!

Train station as seen from our room balcony

The room had flower boxes of petunias on the balcony. That was nice, but looking up from there was Mt. Eiger! Perfect.

Room view

Our plans were to explore the area and some of the trails - Wanderwegs as the Swiss call them. So the first thing we did was jump on a cable car up to First. The area at First has lots to do. Easy short trails, long hard ones, mountain carts and scooters you can coast down on and some food and shops.

The trails in the area, and in fact many places in Switzerland, have restaurants on them!

Who's on First? Us!

The view across Grindelwald

The view from First

Cable car heading down from First...and ubiquitous cows.

We scouted the area a bit and took a look around and then headed back down for dinner.

Roesti, I believe!

A good start. The next day, Patti has Leslie's cold symptoms and is pretty tired. We decide to try a hike anyway.

We identified a nice trail, not too long, not too much up and down. You take the railway to Kleine Scheidigg and...

...hunt for the trailhead. Don't ask for directions, now, Don!

...finally find it and start walking.

...and come to a sign. "Trail closed - landslide danger!"

Board the train for Kleine Scheidigg

On the train

The train actually goes down hill to Grindelwald Grund before climbing up the mountain

Heading up the hill

Looking back toward Grindelwald

Monk? Jungfrau? ...not sure

At Kleine Scheidigg

As far as we got on our aborted hike. A view of Kleine Scheidigg

Standard Swiss trail sign. These are EVERYWHERE!

Plan B, walk the trail back down toward Grindelwald and stop for lunch at Alpiglen, then take train back down. Patti is wiped out and we take the afternoon off.

Our down hill trail to Apliglen

The view along the trail

Dead tree

Not-quite-dead tree

Hiker. Socially distanced

Oh, look! It's Patti

Alpine wild flowers were everywhere

Another trail view

No trick. These trains climb mountains.

Yeah. Julie Andrews is missing...

Alpiglen. End of hike and lunch!

Local brew. Good!

Train to take us back to Grindelwald

The next day, we need no alarm clock. A "cow parade" wakes us up. They move the cows from pasture to pasture depending on the season, and sometimes the route is directly through town.

The next day, we try a bit more of a hike. Cable car up to First, trail up to Lake at Bachalpsee, a really tough hike to restaurant at Waldspitz, then continue on to the cable car station at Bort. The day started out nice and sunny, clouded up, and started raining after lunch. We are done for the day!

Eiger. On the way up First.

At First

Map

Actual.
Trails to the right in this picture are where we'd wind up later today.

More Alpine flowers

Snow block trail. This was an easy one.

Alpine Patti

Bachalpsee. Alpine Lake. Not completely thawed, yet.

Now for the hike back down. Not the way we came, but a tougher mountain trail that loops around to a restaurant and finally a lower cable car station.

Lots of picking our way through snow backs, slippery rocks and a train often more of a goat trail than a place to hike.

Crunch crunch!

Really?

Yikes!

Is that the path or this?

Phew!

But, always more flowers.

Look! We're somewhere!

...and scenery that never quits!

Lunch spot!

Wurst and Rösti and soup for lunch.

Fancy display in bathroom!

Heading out after lunch.

After lunch, it was cooler and raining. The trail is a long series of switch backs that finally open up onto fields of flowers.

...and a stream

...with cows.

and more flowers.

We wind up a cable car station, Bort. We hop on and head back down the mountain for our hotel.

Patti still feels a worn out and has some cold symptoms, so we break out a Covid test.

Positive!

I take one. Negative. Uh, oh. Tomorrow we need to get negative Covid tests to be able to fly home Thursday. It's looking bad. We start thinking about what we need to do if the "official test" comes in positive.

One of those things is laundry. We have managed until now doing some in hotel sinks, but we are really, REALLY out of clean clothes. Laundromat needed. None in Grindlewald, but there is one in Lauterbrunnen - only a 40 minute train ride away. Jam all the stuff in a suitcase, and off I go. I'd never taken a train to a Laundromat before...

To the Laundromat!

Changing trains in Zweilütschinen

The laundromat...

...with a view!

While at the Laundromat, I wander away for a bit and take in the views.

Waiting for the train back to the hotel

Later that afternoon, Patti is feeling pretty good and we cross our fingers and head out for our official test. No good. Patti positive. Me negative. What now?

The rules are: if you are positive, you are considered "recovered" in 10 days. No shortcut to test negative before. Doesn't matter if you are still positive on day 10. Ten days = recovered, so, 10 "bonus days" in Switzerland for us.

Restrictions? Wear a mask around others. Stay away from vulnerable people. That's pretty much it.

We spend the next several hours planning. We buy another 8 days of Swiss Travel Pass. The trains are well ventilated and we'll stick to sparsely patronized trains as best we can. (the SBB app shows you how crowded each car on each train is, typically).

We check with the hotel about staying longer. All they can do is one day. We take it. Where to go? Bern looks good. We find a hotel for a five day stay there. We can do day trips from there - it's on a major rail route in Switzerland.

We make a plan to stay near the airport in Zurich for a the last few nights.

We reschedule our flights for June 11th.

We are set.

The only bad thing that can happen now would be if I got Covid. But, despite being exposed at close quarters for over a week, I'm negative. Hybrid immunity! Covid in December, boosted in March. So, I'm not too worried. Still we crack windows in the hotel rooms and monitor CO2 levels. We also decided to stick to in room or outdoor dining until Patti is negative.

BONUS TIME!

Grindelwald bonus day! We were supposed to take a train to Zurich and fly home but instead, we take the cable car up to First, again and ride the "mountain carts" down the trail to Bort.