After waking up and having breakfast at the Essential in Interlaken, we realized the weather was going to be poor with rain and snow. We decided to go to places that we’ve been before, starting with Eigergletscher where it was snowing. We followed up with Kleine Scheidegg and Lauterbrunnen before returning to Grindelwald First and Eigergletscher again. We ended the day with dinner in Interlaken.
Morning
After waking up at the Essential by Dorint in Interlaken, we had breakfast at the hotel.
We returned to our room to decide what to do. The weather didn’t look good with overcast skies, low clouds, and rain.
We decided to stick to places that we’ve been to as there wasn’t much point in going to a new mountain top and not being able to see anything but clouds! So, we went downstairs to catch the next train to Interlaken Ost. Thanks to the Berner Oberland Pass, there is no additional fare to take this train or for any of the transit that we’re considering today.
After arriving at Interlaken Ost, we caught the next train to Grindelwald.
Eigergletscher
After arriving at Grindelwald Terminal, we could see from the windows that the clouds were very low.
We got on the Eiger Express and headed up to Eigergletscher. The weather was not good.
The gondola was pretty fogged up, not great for photography. Trying to clean up a little circle on the glass was only moderately successful and didn’t last long.
As we ascended through the clouds, at times they cleared enough for us to be able to see the landscape below, particularly the trees. Unlike when we were here two days ago, hey were all covered with fresh snow!
After arriving at Eigergletscher, we went outside to take a look. Unlike our last visit over the weekend, the ski area wasn’t open so there weren’t many people around. There was a nice layer of fresh snow on the ground, perhaps a few inches. There was basically no visibility as we were basically inside of a cloud.
We decided to go around the Eigergletscher station building to take a look at the view to the north.
Visibility was pretty minimal. Definitely not enough to see anything in the valley below or even the bottom of the chairlift that ends here. While the scenery was probably quite nice with all this fresh snow, we couldn’t actually see much of anything!
We returned to the station and walked across the railroad tracks via the overpass to access the platform below.
It was a little slippery on the areas that had been mostly cleared of snow.
We walked down the platform while waiting for the next train to arrive.
Soon, we saw the next train arrive from Kleine Scheidegg. This is the same train that would take us there, though, it was still 10 minutes or so until departure time. As the train stopped at the platform, we saw a second train on the other track headed towards us.
This train was operating as a staff train and was carrying some cargo behind it. The driver, or engineer in American English, waved as he passed by.
After seeing the train pass by, we walked up to the one that was stopped to get on for the trip down to Kleine Scheidegg.
Kleine Scheidegg
There wasn’t much to see today on the short trip down to Kleine Scheidegg from Eigergletscher!
The trip is pretty short, around 8 minutes.
We decided to walk around a bit. Although it was snowing here, visibility was actually a bit better than up at Eigergletscher.
We won’t be needing these today…
The train to Grindelwald departed while we were standing on the viewing platform.
We walked around a little bit to the east. Here, we encountered some other tourists who had a plastic snowball maker who tossed us a snowball to play with.
We decided to walk to the north to take a look. During our last visit, we had lunch in a restaurant on the north side of the cluster of buildings that make up Kline Scheidegg. Very different scenery today, though it did seem that visibility was improving. We could even make out the sun shining through the clouds!
The chairlifts here were silent today, like the ones up above. It seems there is currently no weekday skiing. Also, we’re not sure if this particular lift was open over the weekend or if it was just the one going up to Eigergletscher.
A little bit of sunlight!
We walked up a short steep slope to find a pond, possibly used for snowmaking purposes. It was very beautiful when we saw it last year!
It did look like some of the businesses were open, though there weren’t really any customers. We looked back at the Kleine Scheidegg station and saw a tiny bit of blue sky above!
We decided to take the train down to Lauterbrunnen. There it is at the station!
Lauterbrunnen
Soon, we were on our way down!
Visibility was poor in this direction but we did see some beautiful snow covered trees!
We couldn’t see too far though. The background is supposed to be mountains here!
Visibility improved as we descended.
Eventually, the snow no longer completely covered the grass and the trees barely held any snow at all.
We actually had considered getting off at Wengen and taking a look around the little town, which is basically right above Lauterbrunnen. While we did visit Wengen on our previous trip, it was just to go to and from the aerial tram station at the edge of town. But, we decided to stay on the train to continue on to Lauterbrunnen.
As we continued to descend, we could see up the valley to the south.
Lauterbrunnen is famous for its many waterfalls. Staubbach Falls, the one behind the church, is right on the edge of town.
So, where to next? We decided to go to Grindelwald First!
Grindelwald First
We hopped on the next train leaving Lauterbrunnen. To get to Grindelwald, we took the train here, to Zweilütschinen. The train continues onward to Interlaken. We waited for the next train from Interlaken to Grindelwald.
Grindelwald was wet from rain.
We walked directly to the gondola station. Visibility was much better than up in the mountains but still a bit limited.
The initial part of the ascent was basically the same as when we were here two days ago, other than the weather. But soon, we started to see a dusting of snow on the trees!
Soon, the ground was covered in snow and the trees held more snow.
We passed through the intermediate gondola station at Bort without getting off. There were a few people down there enjoying the snow!
There was more and more snow as we continued to ascend.
Soon, we reached First!
Very different from when we were here two days ago! It was packed with people then! Today, there were only a few people walking around.
A very minimal queue for the viewing platform at the end of the First Cliff Walk!
We didn’t see anyone on the actual cliff walk path below. The First View above was a bit more popular.
We did walk out onto the platform. For whatever reason, I didn’t actually photograph the end of it. We did get our picture taken thanks to another tourist though.
After we walked off the platform, there was no one on it!
We decided to get some food up at the cafeteria style restaurant at Grindelwald First. We got the Swiss macaroni and cheese and ate it properly this time by mixing in the apple sauce! It was good but would have been better if the macaroni and cheese was warmer. The speck was a more reasonable temperature as it was freshly grilled.
We also had a slice of apfelkuchen (apple cake). It was very good!
After we had our late lunch, we headed back down on the gondola.
All the adventure stuff was closed today. Possibly because it is a weekday? Or because of the weather?
We enjoyed the snowy scenery on the way down.
Why did we photograph this cement truck that was by the gondola station? Because it is displaying an Iowa license plate on the windshield! Maybe because it is NEUTRAL, like Switzerland is supposed to be? There is also a smaller black BE1 license plate from Iowa next to it. BE is the abbreviation for the Canton of Bern, which we are in.
Eigergletscher
It was still early, just after 3pm, so we decided to go back up to Eigergletscher via the Eiger Express!
We caught a bus this time for Grindelwald Terminal as this would be faster than walking to the train station and taking the train down.
Here we are again! There is less condensation forming on the windows compared to our ride in the morning!
We could see that we were, once again, headed into the clouds.
But, visibility was better than before! We could actually see the snow covered forest! It was quite beautiful, despite the visibility still not being great.
Long distance visibility in particular was still poor. Just not as poor as in the morning!
Eigergletscher was basically deserted! We arrived right as a train was departing for Jungfraujoch with another scheduled to depart in 30 minutes. We’re not sure what its like up there today. It is a higher elevation so its possible its above the clouds. Or it might not be! At any rate, it isn’t included on the Berner Oberland Pass and we’ve been there already so we’re not going today!
We exited the station to take a look outside. The weather was a bit better than in the morning but not by much!
This is about all we could see when looking out to the north.
A closer look at the snow on the fencing.
We walked a bit closer to the chairlift before turning around to return.
No mountains in sight!
We headed back inside the station and took a look from the overpass above the railroad tracks.
On our way to the entrance for the gondola, we passed by the train to Jungfraujoch on the platform. It should be departing just about now! It boards from the other side so that they can check tickets and control access.
We headed back down on the Eiger Express.
There is a Christmas tree in the Grindelwald Terminal station. We decided to photograph it today on our way out to catch the next train to Interlaken.
Train service is fairly frequent right now at 30 minutes between trains.
Interlaken
After returning to Interlaken Ost, we caught the next train to Interlaken West.
We decided to eat at Vintage Chuchichästli, a restaurant in Unterseen, the town across the Aare from Interlaken. Unexpectedly, this turned out to be a Swiss-American restaurant! We’re not really sure exactly what that means. We’ll see!
House recipe hamburger 200gr., with Swiss raclette cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, served with Vintage sauce”
The burger was better than we expected, though it was more medium than medium rare so it was lacking in juiciness. Unfortunately not up to the standard set by Melt Gourmet Cheeseburgers in Leesburg, VA, but so far pretty much nothing we’ve been to is as good as Melt!
Beef, onion, tomatoes and paprika served with choice of mashed Potatoes, spätzli or pasta”
The goulash was excellent! We haven’t really had goulash other than a few times. After looking at my own Facebook history, we’ve oddly only had it at Vail and Taos!
Overall, it was an excellent place for dinner, though it still seems more Swiss than American to us. It even has cowbells hanging on the wall!
We received a drink coupon when we checked in at the Essential so decided to use it at the hotel’s bar after we returned. We got glühwein (mulled wine). This drink is typically served warm and is extremely popular at Christmas markets. Maybe we’ll have more later on this trip!