Switzerland day 6

The highlight of our visit so far - a day in the Alps!

We set out at a reasonable hour on the 08.13 train heading due west for a short distance and then due south.  After about 90 minutes we arrived at Interlaken, a lovely town located between two large and very beautiful lakes.  As you may have guessed, that's where the town gets its name.  We boarded train number 3 that took us closer towards the foothills of the Alps, to the town of Lauterbrunnen.  This latter section was one of those cog driven rails, like when we went to see the Matterhorn from Gornergrat.  The next stage was a regional bus that took us to Steckelberg.  This was where the journey became more interesting and a whole lot more spectacular.

At Steckelberg (altitude 867 metres) we squeezed into a cable car along with about a million other sightseeing tourists just like ourselves.  The cable car took us up to Gimmelwald (1363 metres) where we simply changed over to cable car number two that took us to the beautiful mountain village of Mürren (1638 metres).  No time for wandering around just yet - we went straight on to cable car number three that took us up the longest stretch of the ascent to Birg (2677 metres).  Finally cable car number four took us up to the top of mount Schilthorn (2970 metres).  There we spent a couple of hours taking in the wonderful 360° views of some of the most awe inspiring mountain peaks of the Swiss Alps.  It truly was magnificent to behold in all directions and the weather could not have been more perfect.  We were blessed with bright blue skies,  no wind and virtually zero clouds for all the time we were up there.

The viewing point, together with it's extensive visitors centre and rotating restaurant, named Piz Gloria, was featured in the James Bond movie,'In Her Majestey's Secret Service', and they have been milking the bragging rights ever since then.  There is a lot of the 007 theme branded all over the place, which I suppose adds somewhat to its appeal.  At least it has been done tastefully.

We took lots of photos and selfies in all directions.  One of the more popular views takes in the peaks of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in a row from left to right - see the background of one of our selfies below.

We very reluctantly boarded the cable car again for the return journey.  First stop was at Birg where we got out to walk around a bit more.  There is a 'Thrill Walk' that is basically a steel walkway about 200 metres long, built onto the side of the cliff face. You can see through the steel grating as you walk along, plus there is a section where the walking surface is clear glass and another where you can walk along a length of loose cable (with a safety net below!)  Yes, of course we walked all the way along it and back again, taking lots more photos as we went!!

Back in the cable car, heading down again, this time stopping at Mürren.  I doubt you will find a better example of a more quaint, quinticentially perfect Swiss mountain village anywhere.  We strolled through the village, stopping in at one souvenir shop before boarding a little regional train that took us to Grütschalp.  We found ourselves sitting between 2 South African couples also on holiday - we recognised that they were speaking Afrikaans and ended up chatting with them for a while.  Onto another cable car that took us back to Lauterbrunnen, followed by more trains to bring us back to the hotel in Aarau.

In total today we have been on 8 trains (of which 2 were cog driven), 7 cable cars and 1 bus.  We have covered about 320 km on the ground and about 2,605 metres in altitude ... and the same back down again!  No wonder we are feeling drained, but it was definitely worth it.

Today has to feature in one of my top 10 most beautiful places ever visited in the world.