Schynige Platte

The day after we toured the Chateau Chillon, we went on another trip to the Bernese Oberland, region of classic Swiss scenery.  First we used our Eurail pass to ride to Bern, closer to the interior of the country of Switzerland.  From Bern, another train east to Interlaken, whose name means "between the lakes" --the Thunersee and the Brienzersee.  From Interlaken, another short train ride to the village of Wilderswil, where our adventure really began.

Here we bought a ticket for a cog train to go up the mountain to a plateau called Schynige Platte. The train was almost ready to depart, and we didn't know where to sit; all the wooden slatted seats seemed occupied.  All of a sudden, the conductor opened up a little private compartment with 2 small seats, lots of room to stand up in, and windows that opened; we could even hang out the window if we wanted !  We each took a window; at first Terry took the "good" side with its views of the receding Interlaken and the big lakes. Then the good view switched to the other side.  We were going up very steeply at about 5mph.  Lots of opportunity to keep snapping pictures.  It was like being in British Columbia, but much more spectacular. 

This is really how steep some parts were--we could tell on the way back when another car closely followed behind us at the end of the day.

About 50 minutes later we were at the plateau, 1967 metres above sea level.  From there, signposts indicated trails in several directions.  We chose a short one, which was fairly steep, but which was supposed to take 50 minutes.

Blue gentian

The Alpengarten featuring local flora would've been much more exciting in the spring, but a few remnants remained.

At some point we could see the three snow clad mountains rising up in majestic splendour: Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau; this latter over 4000 m. high.

It was a little brisk and cool up on the mountain, and the trail a little challenging. 

On the way home we took the train a different way.  It was supposed to be a panoramic ride through a mountain pass, down to Lake Geneva to Montreux, near Chillon.  It was dark, however, and we didn't see much of the pass. 

It took me a week to get over our two days of outings, but this one was worth it, too.