We woke to a beautiful blue sky this morning (you can see the mountains!) and a chilly 10 degrees. We were spoiled to another interesting breakfast session this morning. Viktor and Renate seem like the most unlikely couple and yet they obviously adore each other. They are going ‘Glacier Hiking’ next week, and their goal within the next few years is to cycle to the Black Sea (a mere 3000 km), and to walk to Spain. Renate cycled to Bosnia a few years ago.
We talked about the changing borders over the years and how you can by circumstances become ruled by a country you don’t particularly want to be ruled by (a completely alien concept to us kiwis from an island nation). Renate told us about her grandfather who is living in the same house, in the same village, that he was born in. When he was born he lived in Croatia, then he lived in Yugoslavia, and now he lives in Bosnia … the same house. But you get the impression that the simple village life carries on regardless, the cows still need to be milked, the pigs still need to be fed, and the hay still needs to be turned, no matter what the politics of the country.
We also asked about the 21 cats. She said that when she arrived, there were 29, plus the 2 that she brought with her. They agreed that it was too many and that they would keep the ones that they could catch. So they now have 21 healthy cats. Although we didn’t see many of them, there were only four around the house and the others are either in the barn or in the fields catching rats and mice, along with the foxes.
We left today heading for Leissigen, which is just out of Interlaken. It was a pleasant drive which we took at our leisure. We perambulated along taking in the scenic views of the chalets sprinkled along the hillsides, rising up to the forest line and then rising again to the tall peaks. We stopped at Thun at the western end of the lake by the same name. We stopped for a short stroll and were once again exposed to the Swiss attitude in the car park. The parking was limited and it was a matter of squeezing in between the trees where you could (in an orderly manner of course, after all this is Switzerland). There was a guy sitting in his car opposite us, who when he saw a car indicating to turn in and park next to him, he backed out and reparked his car at such an angle to insure that there was no room for another car. This is exactly the attitude that we have trouble relating to, and we have seen it repeatedly.
After the leisurely drive, finding our accommodation once we got there was another matter altogether. After asking directions every few hundred metres we finally found it. Being on a farm, there was no address as such. As it transpired, it was up what is known as a ‘Mountain Road’ but it is more like a goat track with steep sides, and the occasional passing bay for when you meet another car, that is more suited to motorcycles passing each other. We proved these passing bays are really just for peace of mind, rather than a practical purpose. We met a large van in one of these bays, driven by a very large Swiss woman in the normal aggressive mind set that we have yet to become unaccustomed to. She immediately developed that look that said ‘get out of my way, what right do you have to be here’. Why are these people so aggressive, why do they never smile, why are they so unhappy? At least, that seems to be the case when they are in their vehicular cocoons. Is it because they are all ‘Bankers’? We have decided that our mission whilst in this country is to make at least one person smile per day.
Meanwhile, onward we went up the goat track listening to the bovine glockenspiel of the cow bells, towards our B&B, located at over 800m above sea level. This is an old chalet, which operates as a restaurant as well, with plenty of room (except for ceiling height), and more bathrooms and toilets than you can throw a stick at.
After settling in, we headed into Interlaken with the milky white, icy looking water, the beautiful blue cloudless sky, and the snow capped mountains looking down. Predominated by Mt Eiger (3970m), Mt Mönch (4107m), and Mt Junfrau (4158m), ‘Ogre’, ‘Monk’ and ‘Virgin’ respectively. We moved on from here, walking around to another little village not far away by the lake called Bönigen, with an icy lake on one side and old chalets crammed together on the other. Old women looking down from their attic windows and you can almost see them thinking, ‘who are you, you don’t belong here’, before quickly ducking behind their curtains. Only to be replaced by their neighbour doing the same, and this progressed all the way down the street like a Mexican wave. They really do have too much time on their hands.
One of the well promoted events here is their live theatre show of ‘William Tell’. I had forgotten that this was his stomping ground. Once again we were interested in the perspective shown by the locals on the events of that time. The promotional material for the show says; ‘It tells of the hardship and suffering of the Swiss people over 700 years ago when their land was under the tyrannical rule of Austria, and of their heroic struggle for freedom.’
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