It's amazing what can make someone feel guilty today.
I am in Grindelwald Switzerland today. That is, July 9th. This is a town near Jungfraujoch. Jungfraujoch is a notable saddle in the Bernese Alps, connecting the two four-thousander peaks Jungfrau and Mönch. By four thousand footer, they mean meters, not feet. Jungfraujoch is the SADDLE between the two at 11,371 feet. Irene and I went here when we rode the alps. There are tunnels in the glaciers you can walk through, and a train that goes up to the saddle that is nearish the tops. Great place to go if you can. Take the train, either from Grindelwald or Interlaken, but take it early, as it gets pretty darned crowded later even in the off season.
If you remember the Clint Eastwood movie Eiger Sanction, well, you are old. But some of that movie was filmed on the Eiger Mountain near here. And you may have heard of the company North Face. It is the North Face of Eiger Mountain they are named after. Or so I was told. The company was actually was named after the north face of Half Dome in Yosemite Valley, but when the company expanded, it said it was named after the north face of any peak, which in the northern hemisphere typically gets the worst weather. Or so it is said by Google, who is never wrong. And Eiger is in one of my pictures or movies somewhere. Honest. It is behind the hotel, and I think the peak is off to the right of my video, but I am not sure.
But that is not why I gathered you all here. Grindelwald was recommended to me by another rider, and I had seen it from the train to the top of Ju... so thought it would be good. The center of town is seriously your typical family tourist town with crappy, very expensive food, bad to decent overpriced accommodations, and far too many people in peak season. If it was not for the fact that it is in one of the most incredible locations for scenery I would have bolted as soon as I saw the main street. BUT, as you can see from the photo and video from the back yard bar at the hotel I am at, it is unbelievable. And the scenery here is just a taste. There are also many other great options if you are planning on staying 3 days or more, as there are tons of very affordable, really interesting AirBnB's that require a 3 day minimum. Not to mention camp grounds, and Hostels etc.
VIDEO of Grindelwald 16 MB
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Much of the food in town is Pasta. ALL of it is OMG expensive. Even for Switzerland, which is pretty darned expensive. I asked for recommendations, then walked around town to see what else was there. I ended up at the recommended pizza, and ONLY pizza shop called Uncle Tom's Cabin, or more specifically, Onkel Tom's Hutte. I felt a little guilty eating at a place of that name, but the pizza was ..... pizza and a pie was only a little expensive, except it was a Mini at more than our normal full size price. Oh well, since my accommodations and food up until now was costing me less than if I had been still living at my apartment I can handle a few days of sticker shock.
OH, and another thing, the Swiss often accept credit cards. In Germany, even many of the hotels do not accept anything but cash. That is good, and bad, but definitely foreign to many of us.
Link to MORE PHOTOS:
