Walter's

I've mentioned Walter's a few times and thought I'd give you a little info about it. Walter is 88 and still does all the breakfast and dinner cooking for his guests. Tim is the "front man." Tim is from the UK and an absolute joy. Not that Walter isn't nice, he is just a guy that stays in the background and doesn't say a whole lot.

Walter's sits at the top of Gimmelwald. There are two ways to get there from the cable car: a road (about 15-18 minutes) or a path/stairs (about 5-10 minutes). Most of the time we took the road. It was a lot easier for Charmelle. Here is are two photos on the trail from about the middle, looking up and looking down.





The rooms at Walter's are small, but work fine. We have a community restroom on each floor, but a shower in each room. 5 minutes of hot water cost 1 franc. According to Tim, this was to make sure everyone had hot water for their shower. It's really no big deal for me, but Charmelle liked 10 minutes. We definitely made ourselves at home, as you can see in the photos below. The view every morning made this quiet little lodge seem like a 4-5 start villa.

Max and the Angry Birds

I had one of the most enjoyable times last night. First, Max, the son of the Germany family staying at Walter's, has been very shy of the 4 days we've been here. His dad speaks pretty good English, and we've all been chatting with them. Max, however, has just been a typical shy 6-year-old. He really likes Angy Birds and did bring down his stuffed Angry Bird toy to show us.

Charmelle had tried to play Angry Birds with him on her iPad, but something wasn't working. So I went up and grabbed my iPad and off he went. He cranked though levels like a master. He even provided color-commentary for us. It was a really cute thing to watch and hear.

I decided to introduce him to Train Yard. For those that have not played it, don't start! Basically, you have to draw train tracks to carry the train or trains to the destination(s). Some times the trains need to join, other times they need to collide so their colors can mix, etc. it's a lot of fun and takes a fair amount of problem solving skills, at least for must of us adults. Then the is Max. I showed him how to draw the tracks and somehow he and I went through the basic "rules" of the game. The amazing part is, I speak maybe 20 words of German and he speaks no English. In any event we did it. He successfully completed tons of levels. It was a lot of fun. He also is a very talented artist for a little guy. He drew us 3 pictures: an iPad with Angry Birds and 2 about Train Yard. Then he asked for our address and email. I can't wait to get a message from him. It was great!

We also had 2 new couples join us at Walter's. One was from Iowa and had completed their first RAGBRAI last year. Believe it or not, they didn't know Bruce Spitzer or any of his family I could name. I told them I was suspect of their actual Iowa roots. She is a 6th grade teacher and he is an IT person. We spend a lot of time talking about Ed Tech things and RAGBRAI. The other couple was from Huston, but originally from Lafayette LA. They were getting ready to move to Washington DC where he will be starting a new position as a graphic artist. It was a lot of fun just drinking wine and chatting.

Some random photos from Murren & Gimmelwald

I have taken so many photos in just the few days we've been here, I can't make posts for all of them. So I'll just drop of few of my favorites from this region into this post.

A wet walk around Gimmelwald

After a nice long night and a couple more big thunderstorms, we got up and decided to check things out. We grabbed a nice European breakfast down stairs: fresh bread, butter & jam, OJ, Swiss cheese, and hot cocoa.
One thing is certain, the beds are not made for anyone over 5'8". My head touches one end and my feet hit the other with my knees bent. So I to tossed and turned a little, but still slept well.


Jo & JJ were not up, so we decided to wander down the hill to Gimmelwald. Walter's is a 15 minute walk up from town, so with Charm crutches, it's a little more of an adventure. When we arrived yesterday, we took the trail (shortest distance). This morning she and I took the road. It was raining and we figured the road would be easier. We were right. Plus, there were some great views. Here are a few of the local critters trying to stay out of the rain. And then there are the crazy humans that think Gore-tex is all you need.






Once we arrived in town, we enjoyed the Honesty Shop (Europe's first unattended village shop). Then we hit the Pension for lunch, make that a yummy lunch! We chatted with the Australian bartender and enjoyed mountain veggie soup and an assortment of cheeses, meats, and pickles. It was outstanding. Charmelle went on another successful fly hunting expedition and we enjoyed chatting and taking in the scenery.




The walk back up the road wasn't too bad. The rain had stopped and the views were even more amazing.












On the way back up, we saw Charmelle's next investment coming down t road from above. She thinks this would be a good idea, I don't know about that.




We got back to Walter's as Jo & JJ were heading out. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be clear and nice. We plan to head up to Murren and take in some more sights.

Good morning Switzerland

When we arrived yesterday there was a lot of cloud cover and it had been raining on and off all day. Thus, we couldn't see the mountains very clearly. Last night brought in another thunderstorm. Lots of lightening that lit up the sky quite beautifully.




When we woke up this morning there was still a lot of cloud cover, but we did get a better view of the mountains. The first photo is literally the view from my pillow. Then I sat up and took the second photo. The run off from the storms and glacial melt is unreal. There are waterfalls streaming down the mountain everywhere you look.
The frequent rain and glacial melt has the rivers running very fast. The interesting thing is the river water is almost white. It is sort of this murky or cloudy gray. I spoke with our host about this and he said it is a combination of the glacial melt and the soft rock in the mountains that erode. That made me think there wouldn't be any fish in the rivers. According to Tim, there are some fish. He didn't know the species off the top of his head, but said many locals do fish them.



I think today will be a lazy day of rest and exploring Gimmelwald. We're expecting more rain and clouds throughout the day. However, tomorrow is looking like a great day to do a little hiking and exploring.

Dinner, conversation, and wine

All four of us were beat and took naps. Even though all the books say not to sleep when you arrive, we had to get a little rest. Then we got up and headed for dinner. So far we eat, sleep, and eat some more. None too shabby, if you ask me.
Dinner was good, no photos, sorry mom. We started with leek soup, then rice with veggies and a mushroom sauce over some veal. I don't eat veal as a rule, but I believe in eating what is served when you are a guest, so no nasty remarks please.
What was fun was chatting with the others at the table. One couple was from MN, just east of Fargo. They are with their adult son. He works in Zurich. The other family was from Redondo Beach CA. The we're with their young daughter. Then there were two young guys from TN and a German Family with a young son.




We ended up hanging out with the two guys from TN and making sure all the wine bottles on the table were empty :-) it was a yummy table Merlot that matched up well with the dark chocolates we brought down after dinner. The real excitement was hunting flies. According to Tim (our host at Walter's), there are a lot of flies, because there is a lot of cow shit. There are a lot of flies, so I'll trust him. Walter's has a "tennis racket/bug zapper" that really packs a punch. Yes Henry and Bruce, I touched it! Note: there is an inverse correlation between the accuracy and speed of swinging the bug zapper and the amount of wine consumed.

Lunch!

Our first stop was at the Mountain Hostel for lunch. It's pretty amazing to be sitting up here looking down in to the valley when 24 hours ago we were driving to the airport.

Lunch was great. Bean and pepper soup, and veggie quiche for Jo, JJ, and Charm. I had the Backpacker's Special. It was pasta, ground beef, sausage, veggies, and a tomato sauce. Great spices and flavor. In addition to the great food and view, they had Eric Clapton playing on the stereo, not a bad first day. After lunch, it was time to head to Walter's. This was an up hill trek that had all of us a little tired, but we made it. Time for showers and some rest.

On the way to Gimmelwald

We really did take three trains, a bus, and a cable car. The mass transit




system here is something to be respected. Things run on time, they are clean and so far they are understandable. I've included a few photos of the journey. There are Jo, JJ, and Charmelle heading to another train.




The first two trains were about an hour each. Then we had a short trip of about 20 minutes. After that we packed into a bus for 15 minutes to the cable car. The cable car was pretty empty. One passenger mentioned that it is cheek-to-cheek during ski season. We enjoyed a nice quiet ride up.




We are sitting about 4,000 ft above sea level here. As you can see from the photos, it's a little cloudy today, but still quite amazing.

Location:Gimmelwald, Switzerland