Another Beautiful Place! (6/9)

Here I am on another balcony overlooking yet another beautiful lake!  This time, it’s Lake Brienz, and the balcony is on the 2^nd floor, not the 5^th. (Actually, in U.S. terms, I’m on the 3^rd floor, because the ground floor is zero, not one. And I was on the 6^th floor in Brünnen – but in Switzerland – and Germany – I’m now on the second floor.) It’s a spectacular view – not quite the same as the other because I don’t have the dramatic sweep of the lake, but it’s pretty nice.  The lake is teal – not blue, not green, teal! It’s the most beautiful shade.  I’ve only seen a color like this in a lake in southern Chile – nowhere else that I can think of. Directly across the lake from me are mountains that still have some snow on them, as well as other mountains that have heavy pine forests. So, how I got here:

I left Lucerne by train at about 11:00 AM. Actually, I got to the train station right at 11, and the person at the information desk, when I asked how to get to Brienz, told me to take the train immediately in front of me, which left at 11:06 and was headed to Interlaken.  There was a ticket machine right in front of the train platform, but I seemed not to be able to buy the right ticket - language issues on the machine – so I decided to board the train without a ticket and buy a ticket directly from the conductor on the train. I knew that in Germany, that was a no no – but didn’t know what the consequences were in Switzerland.  Anyway, I got on the train and told the conductor my story.  He was very stern, and clearly indicated his disapproval.  He sold me a ticket with a 10-franc penalty – just over $10, and understood what had happened when I explained, but . . . in Switzerland, rules are rules.

Anyway, I got off at Brienz, not knowing what to expect.  I came to Brienz not because of the beauty, but because it is the town closest to an outdoor museum, called Ballenberg, that had been recommended to me.  It sounds like a cross between a museum and an amusement park that is billed as “living history.”  We’ll see . . . Anyway, I had booked a room on the lake front. It turns out it is a lovely room – a single room with a sink AND a hot water kettle with TEA in the room! And this wonderful balcony! This is an Indian hotel that offers Ayurveda.  I THINK that’s why the tea. Anyway, it’s nicely decorated and really pleasant. (My place in Lucerne was fine – clean and safe – but looked out on another building 2 or 3 feet away, and a construction project.  It was hot and dark. By comparison, this is heaven!)

I didn’t know whether it was worth going to Ballenberg by the time I was ready today – at about 1:00 PM, because I didn’t know how big it was or whether it would give me time to really see it, depending on the closing time. The clerk at the hotel was REALLY helpful. Not only did we agree that today wasn’t right because it would close at 5:00 PM, but she made sure I had information about the other things I found in my tour book for Brienz. I wandered into two shops that featured wood carvings.  They are beautiful and really pricy.  I was pleased to see them because I’d been wondering about wood carving in Switzerland. One of my cousins brought me back a beautiful carved wood puppet from Switzerland that, some 50 years later, is still one of my favorites in my doll collection. I hadn’t seen anything like it here – and I still haven’t – but at least now I’ve seen some carved wood. Then, after an outdoor lunch on the lakeshore, I went in search of the Rothorn Bahn – the cog railway that goes up a mountain here in Brienz.

This was a peak experience!!! Wow! This railway was begun in 1892, when steam power was new and exciting. It goes up 2351 meters, and the railway is 7.6 kilometers long – so you know there are a lot of twists and turns. (I can’t find the number of feet high the mountain is, so I hope you are good with the metric system!) I remember reading about a cog railway in Switzerland, when I was about 12 or 13 – about the time I began to long for the opportunity to come here – and I remember thinking it sounded like a lot of fun. What a ride! You start out chugging up through the residential part of the town where there are a lot of chalets, all of which look really traditional, built of wood, with lace curtains in the windows. Then you go through heavy forests – not pine, maybe oak- and a couple of tunnels.  All this way, you have spectacular views of this teal lake (which at 9:32 PM still looks teal) and the mountains behind it. There’s a midpoint, where there are a bunch of chalets. I think it’s a place where people bring their cows to graze in the summer, although it may be a year-round residence. There’s also some kind of food and lodging there for tourists. There were lots of cows grazing – make that cheese, cows!!!! We continued on through more forest – by now, pine – and then we reached the timberline.  Above that, there were a few more chalets that looked boarded up.  I couldn’t decide if they were out of use or whether the summer residents, and their cows, hadn’t yet arrived. By this time, we began to see bits of snow still on the mountain around us – and less and less grass as we moved on. Finally, we got to the top – and the fog rolled in.  Actually, it was beautiful, and we could see bits of teal – the lake – through the fog. Mine was the last train up the mountain today, and they had told me when I bought the ticket that I would have only a few minutes at the top before I had to turn around and come back again.  They weren’t kidding!  I didn’t have time even to walk to see the hotel and restaurant that were at the top, or to buy a bottle of water. The train started back down in about 5 minutes.  (It was OK. They warned me – and the ride was spectacular anyway.) So, chug, chug, chug, we went back down the mountain. It’s hard to estimate how many photos I took on that ride (with my phone), but my phone was almost out of power when we got back down. A number of people on the train I took up the mountain stayed there overnight. There were some college-aged “kids” with big backpacks who looked like they were going to camp overnight. THAT would be an adventure!  It was pretty cold at the top – and I was in a short-sleeved top – but I’d been warm all day, so I really didn’t get too cold in the short time I was up at the top. What a ride! If I were to come back here, I think I’d try to plan to stay overnight at the top, at least one night. But the cog railway and the hotel with a balcony were total surprises when I came here in search of something else!

I walked back to the hotel and decided to have dinner there. Their restaurant has outdoor seating right by the lake.  I sat down and ordered – and then it began to sprinkle. All of the guests picked up their stuff and went either inside or to the covered balcony.  I ended up inside, with a window seat with an almost better view than I’d had outside. I had asparagus ravioli, made with Gruyere cheese. I mention this in part because it was so good and because it seems as if restaurants have been celebrating asparagus season ever since I arrived in Switzerland!  There have been all kinds of asparagus specials wherever I’ve gone, particularly in May before Munich. Now it seems a bit late for asparagus season, but that’s what was on the menu, and it was delicious!

It’s finally gotten dark.  I don’t know what I’ll find at Ballenberg tomorrow, but I’ll probably enjoy it. Regardless, it’s brought me here – a delightful surprise!