A Rainy Day in Mürren

 (A multi-part recap of my recent September trip to Switzerland.)

As I went to bed on our first night in the charming Swiss village of Mürren, I hoped that the weather forecast for the next day would be wrong.

Sadly, it was right on the money.

Foggy morning in Mürren

Kim and I awoke to find a dense fog cloaking the streets.  Visibility was down to about one block.  There would be no mountain views today!

Walking to the cable car - no mountains in sight

Which was super unfortunate, because today was the day our tour had scheduled a cable car ride to the top of the mighty Shilthorn mountain.  Not only fog, but rain began spattering on the sides of our tram as we ascended up the mountain to our morning's destination.  Adding to our discomfort, temperatures hovered right around freezing.

Cable car station to the Shilthorn

Our guide Tony had scored breakfast reservations at the famous Piz Gloria restaurant located on the Schilthorn's very tippy top.  This necessitated an early departure from Mürren that morning.

Breakfast buffet at Piz Gloria

Piz Gloria was a revolving restaurant located on the Shilthorn's summit.  It was featured prominently in the James Bond Movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service as the villain's mountaintop hideout.

The restaurant seating area rotated

Besides the James Bond movie, Piz Gloria's other claim to fame was its breakfast buffet.  And it was gigantic!  They seemed to have every type of breakfast food one could want and then some.  I gaped at the wide array of meats, cheeses, baked goods, yogurts, juices, breakfast cereals, even champagne!  And they had the best croissants.  Kim and I filled our plates and sat down at one of the tables.  The seating area rotated slowly so diners could take in the views, which were supposed to be fantastic.  Except today there was nothing to see but a bunch of white fog.....oh, and a large construction crane!

There's supposed to be great mountain views here.....

Adding to my disappointment, the summit area was under heavy construction.  A large cable car was being built that would provide a direct connection between Stechelberg in the valley and the top of the Shilthorn (we'd walked through the lower construction area yesterday at the Stechelberg terminal.)  A huge crane towered over the restaurant and due to the construction, many of the outside viewing areas were closed to the public.

But all we saw was dense fog

Oh well, with all the foggy weather there wasn't anything to see outside anyway.  But since we were there, Kim and I decided we had to at least take a gander around the outer walkway.  After stuffing ourselves at the breakfast buffet, we waddled out to the viewing platform and posed for photos at the signed skyline viewpoint just to prove we were there.  I tried my hardest to imagine the magnificent mountain panorama that was hiding behind the clouds.

Foggy selfie

Time to duck back inside.  Kim and I passed through the very expensive gift shop before descending to the building's lower level.  Here was a museum commemorating the James Bond movie that was filmed on this mountaintop.

James Bond Spy World museum

On Her Majesty's Secret Service was a James Bond film released in 1969.  It was the sixth in the James Bond series and the first and only to star George Lazenby as secret agent 007.

Riding the bobsled

The museum had some fun interactive exhibits.  One was a bobsled simulator that had participants riding through a course chased by the bad guys (complete with gunshots and explosions.)  Kim, Lotti and I jumped into the bobsled and tried it out.  The entire thing was filmed, and you could view the video afterwards.  Ours was pretty funny!  I think you could also buy a copy of your video in the gift shop, but Kim saved some Francs by wisely recording the entire playback with her cell phone.  

Here's our bobsled movie!

Another fun exhibit at the museum was a helicopter simulator, where you took a scenic ride over the mountaintops, while trying to evade the villains.

Helicopter simulator

The museum displayed a bunch of movie memorabilia, and there was a large theater that showed clips from On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  Kim and I watched a few minutes of the presentation, and I was racking my brain to remember much of this movie.  It had been many, many years since I'd watched any James Bond film.  The skiing scenes were really cool, so I made a mental note to see the movie again soon, especially since I'd now visited one of the places it was filmed.

Map of the new lift that's under construction

Of course, everyone had to visit the restrooms before heading back down to Mürren, and we were delighted to discover the James Bond theme continued into the WC's.  The place was decorated with spy-type motifs.  Upon flushing the toilet, I was startled to hear the James Bond theme start playing.  Someone else flushed and heard voices from the movie's cast.  A fun finish to our museum visit!

Time to go back down

Unfortunately not all of our tour-mates made the trip up the Shilthorn.  A cold virus was sweeping through the group, and three of the husbands didn't feel well enough to go.  When Kim and I returned to Mürren, we found one of the guys masked up and standing outside the hotel, warning us to stay far away.  He didn't have to ask twice!

We decided to walk to Gimmelwald

What to do now?  Our tour had the entire rest of the day free to explore this alpine wonderland - but it was foggy and threatening rain.  Tour friends Karen and Cindy mentioned they were planning to walk the short distance down to the nearby village of Gimmelwald, and invited Kim and I to join them.  Having consumed many calories at breakfast, we both decided getting some exercise wasn't a bad idea.

Still no views

We were joined by tour-mates Debbie and Dave, a sweet couple from South Carolina.  Everyone grabbed rain jackets and umbrellas (if you had them) and our merry group meandered to the beginning of the paved trail that led visitors from Mürren to Gimmelwald.  The official trailhead was marked with a colorful wooden sign.  It was a mere 1.5 km (or 0.9 miles) and 900 feet of descent downhill to Gimmelwald.

Walking past the outskirts of Mürren

Off we went through the fog!  The path led us through the lower portion of Mürren, past residential homes and their colorful gardens.  The buildings slowly gave way to wooded slopes.

Spiderweb in the rain

It began to rain, first just sprinkles but it soon transitioned into steady showers.  Raincoat hoods and umbrellas went up, and I wrapped my backpack's rain cover tightly around my camera.

Things got wet in a hurry

The paved path continued downhill, past rock retaining walls lining the uphill side of the trail.  In some places logs arranged in a tripod-like configuration contoured the slopes above.  I later learned these aided in stopping avalanches, which I assume could be a problem here in winter months.

Almost to Gimmelwald

The rain and gloom continued as we made our trek downhill.  On a sunny day, I'm certain the views here were spectacular, but today we were lucky if we could spot something 50 feet away.

Welcome sign

My friends and I soldiered on with our soggy shuffle.  We came out of the forest into a wide open green pasture, sloping steeply.  A fence followed the downhill side of the path.  Up ahead, we could make out a few buildings in the fog.  Approaching the nearest building, I spotted a sign affixed to its outer wall.  The sign read:  "Wilkommen in Gimmelwald."  We'd arrived!

We were getting mighty wet!

Yahoo - wet and cold as I was, this was a most welcome sight!  By now I was ready to get out of the rain and warm up with a hot drink.

Adorable wooden building

However, our group still had a bit of walking to reach Gimmelwald's lone tiny restaurant.  We passed by a couple of charming wooden chalets, all with the traditional flower-filled window boxes I'd come to expect in Swiss villages.

Gimmelwald scenes

I passed by a large pasture and got to see my first real Swiss cow, up close and personal.  She was a beauty, with tiny horns, big, dark eyes, and long lashes.  This pretty Bessy even had a traditional large cowbell dangling from her neck.

A real Swiss cow!

The paved path continued its downhill descent, meandering past more wooden houses and barns.  Everything was incredibly charming, which necessitated frequent photo stops so I could capture it all.  Bringing my camera constantly in and out from under the raincover's protection didn't help keep it dry.  Soon not only was my camera wet, so were both sides of my raincover.

Wooden barn

But I continued taking photographs, as I assumed this was probably the only time I'd ever visit this cute little village.  

Can you spot the cable car?

Despite the less-than-ideal weather, I was enjoying my walk through this delightful berg.  Won't you join me for a rainy stroll through Gimmelwald in the next few photos?

Gimmelwald was perched on a steep hill

Artfully stacked wood pile

Lots of colorful flowers at this chalet

Flowerbox close-up

Many of the homes had gardens

Another barn 

More window flowers

Drinking trough for livestock

Our soggy crew

So many lovely flower gardens!

Gimmelwald cheese building

Lonesome bench

Finally the path made one long, sharp switchback and the concentration of buildings began to get denser.  We passed by small, storybook-looking wooden cottage with lot of plants on its porch and tools hanging from its exterior.  I later learned this building was used to store the cheese that was made in Gimmelwald.

Time to get out of the rain at Pension Gimmelwald

At the far end of this path we finally arrived at Pension Gimmelwald, a small hotel and restaurant.  The place had an "honesty shop" at one end of the building.  There was no clerk, customers left money in a designated box to pay for their purchases.

Hotel door

By now we all were soaked to the bone, so this restaurant was a welcome sight!  The entire crew straggled inside and removed wet outer garments.  The warm atmosphere and cozy blaze in the fireplace felt wonderful.  Fortunately, the place wasn't horribly busy and our group was able to claim one of the large tables.

Kim tries the Schwarz Mönch beer

Pension Gimmelwald was known for its famous Schwarz Mönch beer, brewed on the premises.  Although I was looking forward to trying this award-winning dark beer, I first opted for a cup of hot tea.  Not only was I chilled to the bone, all morning I'd been fighting some congestion in my throat.  I kept writing it off as allergies, and hoped that drinking a bit of hot beverage would clear things up.

Our crew, drying off in Pension Gimmelwald

Kim, of course ordered a mug of Schwarz Mönch beer.  It looked so tasty, after finishing my tea I had to try a pint of my own.  I'd completed my last round of antibiotics the previous day, so was extremely happy that I could drink alcohol once again (and yes, my pesky infected zit was finally on the mend.)

Lotti and Elmo trying the local beer

Elmo and Lotti also liked the local brew!

Another view of the Pension Gimmelwald building

We spent a good long time in Pension Gimmelwald, drying off and enjoying food and beverages.  It was such a pleasant little place.  No one was in a huge hurry to go back out in the rain.

Cowbell collection

But finally the urge to move on motivated us all to leave the comfy, warm restaurant and venture back outside.  While passing by again, I did a quick inspection of the honesty shop's wares, but didn't find anything I desperately needed to buy.  

Vibrant petunias

Kim and I walked back uphill to check out a huge collection of cowbells hanging from the eaves of one building, that we'd somehow missed on our initial trip.  Then Kim stopped to pet a friendly local cat.

Kim petting the local kitty

Gimmelwald was such a adorable little village - the place had absolutely enchanted me.  It was hard to leave.  I wanted to stay here all day, just taking photographs of the place.  But the weather finally convinced Kim and I it was time to head back to Mürren and our hotel.  But this time there'd be no uphill walking in the rain.  Since all the mountain towns were served by cable cars, we hopped into the nearby tram with Karen and Cindy, and it whisked us back uphill.

 

Time to ride back up to Mürren

Of course Kim and I hadn't traveled all this way to Mürren to spend the afternoon sitting in our hotel room, so after a quick break, we headed out to visit the shops along the town's main street.

Lots of places to hike!

We passed by this signpost with lots of destinations listed.  So many great places to hike!  Too bad the weather was so lousy, I would have loved to see the views from some of these trails.  I guess I'll just add Mürren to my ever-growing "visit again" list.

Lovely building in Mürren

The rain had slowed down, but showers continued off and on throughout the rest of the afternoon.  I still wasn't feeling great, and my throat was starting to develop a tickle.  Thinking again that a hot drink might help, I convinced Kim to drop in a local coffee shop.  Maybe a hot latte would do the trick?

Colorful flags

Although the latte I ordered was delicious, it didn't do anything to help my throat.  As a matter of fact, as Kim and I walked back to the hotel, it was starting to feel mighty sore.  Oh no.....I made a horrible realization.  I was coming down with the same cold that was plaguing my other tour-mates!

A wet walk through town

Back at our hotel room, I confessed my suspicions to Kim.  We immediately both donned masks to hopefully protect her from catching it too.  I was really starting to feel poorly - not only did my throat hurt, my head was beginning to feel congested.  Ugh - I had just started to recover from my facial infection and now this!

Mürren water trough

Although I'd packed medications for upset stomach and allergies, I didn't include anything to relieve the symptoms of a cold.  Mürren had a small Coop grocery store across the street from our hotel, and I went over there to see if they carried any cold medications.  Nope - the clerk sternly told me they didn't stock such items.  So I was left sucking on cough drops and taking Tylenol for relief.

Artful cappuccino

We'd planned to have dinner with some of our tour-mates, but now that had to be canceled as I didn't want to spread my germs to others.  Although I encouraged Kim to go on without me, she braved dinner with her sick friend instead.  But she wisely sat at the far opposite end of the table, trying to put as much distance between us as possible.

Kim trying to avoid my germs at dinner

Sleep that night was hard to come by.  Although I tried to lay down with my mask on, the combination of the mask and my congestion made it hard to breathe, forcing me to get rid of it.  Kim slept with the window open and head at the foot of her bed, trying to stay as far away from my germs as possible.

Hopefully I'd feel better in the morning and Kim wouldn't become the next casualty of the tour group cold.  Check back for my next post to see what happened.