Foodivore: Wengen

Swiss banks: less secure & with a more diverse clientele than imagined

Sharing a beer

View from the room

Taking the ausfahrt (exit) out of France, we found ourselves in the land of extremes, Switzerland. We arrived in beautiful sunshine. To get to our home for the next 4 nights we had to leave Pierre and train it to a small carless village called Wengen. The trains are more funicular in their design, that scale the side of the mountain with gorgeous views over mountains, waterfalls and small Swiss villages. Arriving in Wengen it was just a short hike to Hotel Belvedere, home. Stepping out onto our private balcony, the view was breathtaking (and not because of the altitude, Wengen is at 1274m). We had an expansive view over the verdant valleys, tall waterfalls and mountains, including Jungfrau and it's snow covered peaks... the perfect place to sit with a glass of wine and absorb the clean mountain air. Our first full day we decided to work off some of France and climb some mountains. We must confess to taking the easy option for the first 1000m of the climb and caught the mountain train up to the start of our planned walk for the day...though we more than made up for it during the remainder of our 5 hour trek. The views of the Swiss Alps were breathtaking as we descended and ascended through the mountains on a gloriously sunny day. The sun glistened off the snow peaks of the Jungfrau as we heard the whistling of the marmots, the bells of the cows (and occasional donkey...everything is better with a donkey), the sounds of falling rocks (mostly from psychotic cyclists rather than avalanches for which there were warning signs). We stopped for a cold drink with some goats on the way down the mountain. Could you imagine a more perfect Alpine summer day? The sun streamed down (about 27 degrees, with a bit of peeling to show for it), a gentle breeze blew (but never when we were walking uphill), and the Swiss were thoughtful enough to ensure that their drinking water was icy cold. The views up across Jungfrau and down towards Grindelwald were breathtaking - naturally. Here's the thing about Switzerland that everyone else has always said and is really true: the colours are incredibly vivid, and everything really does look like an oversaturated postcard. The big difference is that it's real, and we drank in every electric-koolaid-coloured moment.

Aere Gorge

The fondue was well deserved by the time we descended back to our alpine retreat in time for dinner. A foodie heaven Switzerland is not but we did have a couple of highlights...other than the fondue; a divine velvety creamed spinach & garlic soup and a warming liver dumpling broth. There's also the cheese, we discovered a fabulous local cheese called Challerhocker and another made nearby beneath the north face of the Jungfrau. A bit of extra cheese was also naturally found in the fondue of which we had a gorgonzola one and a traditional which you could taste the rich flavours of the local wines used. Switzerland is not for the fainthearted or the short pocketed, it is ridiculously expensive. The short train ride to the start of our walk, one way for two people, took a total of 10 minutes but cost 40 Euro (about $70), no wonder we walked the return journey.

Our second day was somewhat wet, what a perfect opportunity to go to Aere Gorge, this is the gorge where a couple of Australians were killed in a flash flood a few years back. The gorge is a long stretch of narrow cliffs for which a torrent of water flows though and you are positioned on a platform path that trails it a few metres above said torrent. The day cleared a little for our stroll through Interlaken and a scenic drive through the hills. Switzerland is certainly a place to which we'll return and our hotel in Wengen, Next time we'll stay a little longer and get the six day train pass to take us through and to scenic locations. The only disappointment was a planned visit to the glacial ice caves Tracey visited 18 years previously. Unfortunately we discovered the glacier, its cave and carved sculptures, has since melted.