Journal: Pages 7-8
2nd July, Tuesday: Grindelwald - Männlichen cable car
Hike: Kleine Scheidegg - Wengernalp - Wengen
I didn't have an itinerary for this day even as I left my hotel, and caught the first train for anywhere, as before -- back down to the Lauterbrünnen and Zweilüschinen.
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A quick detour to Grindelwald
-- perhaps the most blatantly commercialized of the Jungfrau resorts, thanks to
its motorway access and dizzying array of ski runs, facilitated by no less than
3 aerial cable cars. The Grindelwald-Männlichen connection is the
longest in Europe.
A brief but vigorous walk brought me from the Grindelwald station to the cable car station, by way of paved paths behind rustic houses and pig pens -- a taste of what was to come later. |
FOOD IN SWITZERLAND
Aside from pork, poultry and cheese, everything else taken for granted by our mobile, cosmopolitan palate must be imported. The menu of the Italian restaurant I patronised twice had this entry: "horse meat steak -- why not try something new?" This naturally adds to the relatively high cost of food and dining in Switzerland.
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Thick fogs made Männlichen a disappointing destination for today, but the 30-minute ride itself was most delightful. My impromptu travel companion and I enjoyed an alpine serenade at its best: a chorus of cowbells rung by the grazing herds!
Back at Grindelwald, I made the connection to Kleine Scheidegg (ever the staging ground for the hordes of Japanese tourists making their way to the Jungfraujoch), ordered a simple lunch of sausage and potatoes, and began what the map and the signs told me would only be a 2:45-long hike, a mostly downhill walk back to Wengen.
The 4-hour-long trek can be characterised by the following stages:
(1) Kleine Scheidegg-Lauberhorn. Rolling hills consisting mostly of meadows are now bedecked with the amazing colours of the Alpine spring.
(2) Lauberhorn-Wengernalp. The broken granite that keeps the paths intact REALLY HURT one's feet. The Eiger glacier and glimpses of the Lauterbrünnen