Wednesday, April 16
Oh what a rainy day it is 😆 I had slept with my window cracked open to vent the hot air that accumulates in my roof unit but got up at 5am to have a call coordinating next week's vacation (timezone whiplash via Hawaii) but it was good that I did because I was able to close the window just as the rain started. The call was quick and I quickly returned to bed for a few more hours.
I next awoke groggy but pushed myself to make it downstairs to try out the breakfast buffet that had come with my room (a pretty sweet deal considering the room was only 90CHF). The buffet was a bit chaotic: two clearly overwhelmed workers handling 9 families spread out through the classic Alpine dining room converted into a Chinese hot pot restaurant.
My first outing was to a cave system about halfway around the Thunersee. I'm betting the place was empty yesterday when the weather was nice, but today's rain must have flooded the place with water and people. It's an easy bus ride from Interlaken to the St. Betus-Holen, it's the walk up to the caves that could be tricky for some people. The caves might be a little too touristic for my taste, but I did enjoy myself and managed to avoid bumping my head.
I wasn't the only person who thought to visit the caves today, there were plenty of other people with the same idea.
But it seems the spring rains are the perfect time to visit to ensure you get the full cascade effect.
Despite a lot of visitors, I didn't think the cave was too crowded. Instead, I was surprised by how manicured the place was.
With lots of moisture and lamplight, it looks like many plants have set up shop and have thrived in what would otherwise be a dark cave system.
The cave has an in&out path, forcing people to double back along the main caverns. Here's as far as you can go.
I was struck by these tiny spaghetti stalactites and then lush fern leaves.
It was cool to see so much water flowing in the system; I'm glad we didn't get flooded out but also didn't have a a bunch of stagnant pools
While waiting for the bus back to Interlaken to reclaim my luggage, I made a picnic lunch of cheese and bread again. It was a very hardy meal, but fear not, I think I'll still have room for cheese at dinner tonight.
This ended up being a hard cheese in texture but was no match for my pearly whites 🦷
I said goodbye to Interlaken and made my way to the next stop, recommended to me by Berner Oberlander coworker as a bad weather plan: the town of Thun. The town itself features a very nice old town; I particularly one street with raised walkways. After a bit of wandering, I directed myself to the castle and its museum. The museum talked about the history of the town through the lens of changes to the castle itself, the city's emblem. Maybe I need to brush up more on Swiss history overall...
A quick walk about Interlaken for exploring and chocolate buying revealed some interesting finds!
So many gadgets built into one pillar; they couldn't just used the data from Meteo swiss in the 1800s?
I don't know how interesting a mowed field is as a town point of interest, but I suppose it is an interesting cultural item to have enshrined in the city plan. And to be fair, it makes for an excellent landing spot for parachuters from Harder Kulm.
Refueling with some delicious bone juice. Definitely better than the raw milk I tried earlier this trip.
The train in Thun drops you off just across from the ferry's canal dock. Turns out there's also a bunch of buses in the area too, these guys have really got their transit design down.
Some interesting finds outside a local grocer. I'm tempted to take a full wheel of raclette or these freaky mushrooms, but I managed to temper my impulses 😂
Instead, I rinsed my snack cucumbers in the public fountain, I'm going to miss the water of all fountains being potable.
I feel this is one of the first times I've seen clothes hanging to dry here in Switzerland; I guess they just chose a rainy day by chance.
Thun also has foot bridges crossing its canals, complete with covering and gates to regulate flow and eddies.
The main drag of Thun was pretty cool with two tiers of shops on both sides of the street.
Das rathaus; you can tell the sun is trying to break through but not quite succesing
I got a bit off the beaten track enroute to the town's castle, that's where you find gems like this sign or the quiet stairwell snaking between houses.
Thun came under the rule of the Berners, like Interlaken, via the dukes of Zahringer and Kyburg.
Under Bernese rule, Thun had several hundred years of governors, each with their own crest. I'm a big fan of chicken for office
I'm a little more concerned about the skeleton governor, I'm not getting the warm and fuzziest from his slogan campaign "a skeleton in every body".
The castle itself has been modified multiple times: raising the roof, adding extra floors, and even digging to the foundation to add lower levels.
The view from the top showed a decent panorama, though climbing into the for turrets involved some slight head bumping 😅
The coolest part of the roof for me was the interactive light display, which highlighted certain examples of carpentry techniques or specific roof changes over the course of the years.
The museum had a special exhibit about decorative porcelain from the Thun area of Switzerland. Apparently the region featured some impressive pottery works for many years that have since gone the way of the dodo.
I finished up my tour of the castle by descending along the city wall; they've done some interesting things with integrating the wall into walkways or even into houses.
I wrapped up the museum and its special exhibit and made the 5pm train for my final stop for the evening: Montreux. I'd booked a hotel in Montreux last night considering the forecast shows just as much (or more) rain tomorrow, so I'll need a good indoor morning activity before getting to Geneva in the afternoon. Montreux was a spot I'd never actually stopped to explore, so I booked it but I realized on the train that I could have just as easily spent the night in Bern. Oh well, guess I'll leave a little more of Bern for my next trip.
Spotted on my way back to the station: surfing in Thun using the waves from the dam! It was pretty clever to use a rope tied to the bridge to swing one's way out to the prime wave.
Those better be good wet suits; without a doubt, that water must be frigid.
Et comme ça, I reached Montreux. Behold, the wonderful view of the lake on this cloudy afternoon.
It was a quiet night in Montreux. Aside from dinner, I walked around a bit in the old town of Montreux at night in the rain; the old town is a lot of hills but I found it charming enough. I called it a night when I realized my pants were getting wet as my rain jacket began to divert droplets down to my pockets.
I'd yet to try the dish called a "croute", and sure to its name, it was a piece of toasted bread accompanied by sauce and other things. Not the most fabulous meal, but I can see it be a classic if macaroni isn't readily at hand.
After dinner, I took a stroll through the old town nestled on the slope of Montreux. It was just me and the drizzle this evening.
The view with the rain and clouds wasn't all that impressive, but the ambiance I had to myself was cozy.
As far as I can tell, Montreux isn't a particularly large town but I enjoyed my evening stroll. You know that sensation in your gut when you're walking somewhere quiet and abandoned? Yeah, it was like I had a whole city to myself.
This one brought a smirk to my face; it's certainly a way to enforce the limit of the parking spot.
Freddie found some peace while living in Montreux but on a rainy night like this, his statue becomes a bit frightening.
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