Days 3-4: Schilthorn, Interlaken, Basel

I had originally planned for us to do the Jungfrau trip AND hike to the Trift suspension bridge near Meiringen in the same day. This was my most foolish idea of the whole trip. I've learned now, you do not mess with missing the last scheduled cable car down the mountain of the day. Luckily I caught my stupidity before we actually attempted it. Instead, we chose to go to the Schilthorn and then ride down to Birg which is supposed to have some awesome hiking. Since Gimmelwald is the first stop on the aerial cable car trip up to Schilthorn anyway, we could make the 8:30 am lift and sleep to a reasonable hour. Although, in our rush to catch the 8:30 lift, we bought some tickets erroneously because until Mürren, our GAs and Swiss Passes were valid. The extremely nice lift driver caught our mistake and personally walked us to the ticket counter in Mürren and helped us get a refund. We promptly got our money back in cash, but with a processing fee of CHF 5 withheld. The Swiss are precise, the Swiss are efficient, and the Swiss charge a fee for everything.

The cable car ride was crowded but short-lived

High heeled shoes strictly prohibited on the Schilthorn

The Schilthorn is not the highest mountain around, but considering my lack of a stomach for crowds, I preferred it. We also saved hundreds of francs choosing it over Jungfrau--because of the Jungfrau's popularity, they give only a measly discount for GA and Swiss Pass. The Schilthorn was also the filming site of the Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service and they play up that connection to the nines. The instant the cable car swung out of the Mürren station, the Bond theme song came on, and up at the peak, the observation deck sported two life-sized 2D figures: one of Bond, played only this once by George Lazenby, said to be the worst Bond ever, and one of the villain, who is clearly the inspiration for Austin Powers' Dr. Evil (I was thrilled to discover). We ate a lovely brunch with complimentary glass of Prosecco in the Piz Gloria revolving restaurant, named after the fictional evil research lab in the movie, and then ventured out on the deck. Clouds would obscure the views but then clear out a few minutes later, so we weren't disappointed. There was also a smaller observation platform that you had to hike a short distance out over the snow to get to. That was pretty scary even with the fence and handrails, so naturally I loved it. Looking out over the edge into the fog, it really seemed like an endless abyss.

Our next stop was Birg, where we planned to hike. But they are in the middle of a big construction project to build a new observation platform there. We were the only people around and it seemed that most if not all of the hiking was closed off or if not, highly dangerous and likely fatal. We ventured a few feet down a sleety, rocky path (past a sign that said "Mountain Dangers! Hike at your own risk!") and decided against it. We caught the next cable car down to Mürren and hiked a flat but gorgeous path to Grütschalp from there, picking up some fresh Alp cheese and yogurt from a stand along the way. A really nice thing along many hiking trails and just in smaller towns in Switzerland is that people put goods out for sale on the honor system. Take what you like, but leave some cash or suffer the guilt of thievery. There was the option to do that for the cheese, but we rang the bell for service because we wanted samples. Before we could finish our treats it started to rain and there was even one huge thunderclap (had it been winter I honestly would've prepared for an avalanche). But within maybe 30 minutes everything was clear again. This kind of quick weather change proved to be common during our times hiking at higher altitudes, and it never ruined anything. We just packed ponchos.

Thanks, but no thanks, Birg.

From Grütschalp, we rode the cable car down and made our way back to Interlaken. With some unexpected free time left in the day, we departed from my itinerary and decided to try the Harderbahn. A funicular that was built during Interlaken's Victorian tourism glory days, it winds up the hill like an incredibly slow roller coaster to a great view of the two lakes (Thunersee and Brienzersee). But it was miserably crowded and too expensive for what it was, in my opinion. I wouldn't do it again. Then we rode back down, wandered around the city of Interlaken, had cheap sandwiches for dinner and grabbed some beers at Coop Pronto for the train ride home. I was excited for my parents to experience drinking beer openly on the street and in the trains, so when I saw the Coop I just went right in. But it was brimming with tourists who spoke neither English nor German and many of whom had no Swiss francs but couldn't communicate with the cashier well enough to understand that Euro paper is accepted but not Euro coins. I waited probably 15 minutes to buy three beers, CHF 1.80 each. Bah! Tourists.

We spent the next day in Basel again because Juna's contemporary trombone group was playing a concert. In the morning my parents and I went to the Spielzeug (toy) Museum, where my Mom enjoyed the intricate dollhouse setups (my favorite was a miniature amusement park with rides that actually functioned) and found some Steiff stuffed animals she used to have as a kid. She was ecstatic. Then my parents went to the Tinguely Museum by themselves while I taught some piano lessons. I think the Swiss transit system is easy to figure out, but they kept saying how glad they were that Juna and I were there to manage all the train transfers. Still, they navigated the bus route all by themselves with no problem. That night, we went to Juna's concert where my parents got to hear world premieres by some great young composers and afterwards eat bratwurst and meet international students from all over (Germany, Poland, Serbia, England, the Netherlands, off the top of my head). They really enjoyed the whole evening, and it helped remind me how cool it is to live in Basel.