Rosenlaui - smallest village in Switzerland
The journey to Rosenlaui is a treat - we set off from Jubilaumstrasse by bus, caught the train to Interlaken Oost where we changed traveling alongside the lake to Brienz and onwards to Meiringen hopping the little Post Bus to Rosenlaui. The bus crawls up the narrowest of roads, announcing it's progress up the switchbacks with a paa-pa-paa to warn the odd motorist who is brave or foolhardy enough to attempt what is a hair raising journey. Higher and higher for about 40 minutes until the steep pass opens to reveal a flat plateau and Rosenlaui Hotel set in an arena of Toberone mountains crisscrossed by ribbons of waterfalls. The hotel is family run - one of those small, unpretentious precious places with no internet connection, no TV - just peace and quiet with marvelous walks and delicious meals.
Nietszche and Goethe came here to write and Mendelsohn also spent holidays at the hotel. The weather forecast predicted rain and we arrived on a lightly overcast hot afternoon and decided to visit the Gletchenschlught (glacier ravine) close to the hotel. What a contrast it was going from the heat into the narrow opening next to the rushing water occasionally so loud it set up an oscillation - quite confronting and frightening. It was most impressive to see the power of the water - mostly from the melting glaciers brrr -so freezing.
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| Jan and Anna next to the glacier ravine |
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| Anna on lawn in front of Rosenalui |
The next day dawned crystal clear thankfully contrary to the weather forecast and we set off for our morning walk through forests with hobbit-like mossy undergrowth, alongside a stream through fields filled with masses of multi-coloured flowers the variety quite staggering one's gaze constantly being lifted to the magnificent peaks with only a vestige of snow remaining. It's here that we noticed the affect of global warming - the glacier used to come quite far down the mountain and now clings precariously to only the highest north-facing slopes.
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| Walking to Grosse Scheideck |
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| Eiger from Grosse Schiedeck |
We were extraordinarily lucky with the weather because in the late afternoon the storm arrived with a flash of lightening, shards of water lashed down and trees were blown over delaying some of the dinner guests who had come from Meiringen for the soiree during dinner. Coincidentally one of Anna's friends came up to do some modern yodeling - you can imagine Conal's reaction. He managed to contain himself but to our amusement left before it was over.
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| Blue skies to misty mountains |
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