Hiking tour in Switzerland

Saturday, September 2, to Thun

When the waiter served breakfast today, my stomach growled at him, and he offered me another round of everything. Thank you, friend, that’s almost enough.

There was a train to Thun every three minutes, at least at the time we arrived on the platform. Clean, fast, non-stop. When we got off the train, we looked around for a local street map, didn’t see one. Went over to the window where they sold tickets for the Thunersee steamer cruises, asked the guy if he knew where the Hotel Elite was.

He was extremely helpful. Left the window, came outside, showed us a little computer information screen, grabbed another passer-by… Unfortunately, he was answering the wrong question. He thought we wanted an hotel – any hotel. Whew!

Once we finally shed him (the one piece of really useful information was the direction of the town center), we found a kiosk and bought a street map. (Street maps were posted, as it turned out; we just didn’t see them until later.)

Thun is built along an island in the river Aare, so there are bridges and waterways everywhere. Old town, narrow cobbled streets, open-air market. Part of Untere Hauptstraße (sounds more romantic than Lower Main Street, doesn’t it?) comprises elevated sidewalks, with businesses both above and below. And high overhead is the Schloß. If Bern reminded me of San Francisco, Thun reminds me of Sausalito!

The Elite hotel was new-ish, modest, friendly, a Minotel just outside the old town. No complaints. Dropped off our stuff, went out to explore.

Directly across from the hotel are the old city walls with their old city towers, intact in both directions. We followed the wall up the hill to the Schloß, which is now a museum. Decided to save it until later; wandered past the Stadtskirche, and back down to the flea market in the town. Nice place, rivers, islands, bridges, a pleasant, cool, sunny day.

Went to the Bahnhof to see about seat reservations for our train home next Saturday. Did the whole thing auf Deutsch: Jacky picked up the parts I missed, and vice versa.

Then we went for a walk along the north shore of the Aare, out toward Thunersee. Very nice! There’s a monument where a house used to stand: Brahms spent three summers here. Fitting, since I’ve had his Requiem running through my head all day. Interesting to see the lake steamer backing into the river. I guess he needs headway against the current, and the river is too narrow to turn around at Thun.

Right at the mouth of the river is the Schloß Schadau. We walked on east until we found Schloß Hünegg at Hilterfingen. Wedding pictures in progress.

Stopped in the town for snacks. I wouldn’t have tried Chiquita banana drink if there had been an alternative, but it turned out to be pretty good. Then we hiked up a steep trail and returned toward Thun in the woods.

Back to the hotel, ready for naps. Jacky looked over our tour bumpf. It starts out in a reassuring way: the weather isn’t as bad as its reputation. And besides, the worst day hiking in the Alps is better than the best day in the office. Then we discovered some new information: they rate tours A through C for difficulty, and we have signed up for a C. Also discovered that we signed up for the leaderless option. Um, okay. Should be an adventure. The idea is that every day we climb out of one valley, hike across and down into the next valley westward, where we find our hotel du jour. They included a map to illustrate the idea, a picture map. Oh, great! – We’re going off on a leaderless hike in the Alps, and our only map is a wall poster?

They also want us to have picnic stuff, and (oh, yes) they recommend a pair of topo maps, not included in the package. Sigh! Shoes back on, out to the Bergsport store where we got some plates and dishes. They didn’t have the prescribed maps, sent us to a Papetiére, which also didn’t have them. Finally we found a Bücherei that had an adequate substitute: 60.000 to 1, rather than 50.000, and we’ll be a little off the map on one or two days, but I think it’s ok.

Now that we were back out on the street, we decided to visit the Schloß museum instead of going back for naps. Interesting place. Great views from the towers.

Back down in the town, they were getting ready for the 4 PM start of a race. Probably 10k and 5k, but we didn’t actually see any detailed information. Good turn-out. Streets taped off, cars being diverted. We thought we’d seen an Indian restaurant earlier, thought we’d find a beer and maybe a samosa or two – but it turned out to be only an Indian grocery store. Back to the hotel for naps and showers. Sorted the luggage into the big pack, to be schlepped from hotel to hotel, and the small pack for the trail.

Halb-pension means dinner is included with our hotel room. Ok, but we probably wouldn’t do it again – reduces our freedom of choice, and we could always eat at the hotel if we wanted to. We ate on the terrace, with a view of the Schloß. The Germans know Bier and Brot, but the French and the Swiss know meals and service. Both of us were served at the same time (what a concept!), and the meal came with – with salad, with veggies, with bread. So far superior to a German restaurant it’s almost embarrassing. A well-paced multi-course meal. Too much fat, too much salt, but good anyway. One of the choices on the menu was Steinbutt. I had no idea what a stone-butt might be, ordered it to find out: it’s fish.

At the Schloß this morning, Jacky saw posters for concerts tonight. There were even two to choose from: Mendelssohn and a didgeridoo performance. Ha! No contest! We walked out to the Scherzligkirche, where the didgeridoo performance was to be, past the side-wheel lake steamer setting forth on its evening cruise.

The Kirche is next to Schloß Schadau, which we walked around. It’s a culinary museum, and of course, that kind of thing can’t possibly be demonstrated in showcases: it’s also a restaurant. If we ever get back here, it might be a place to try. Assuming, of course, we have dress clothes along with us. The Kirche itself is around a thousand years old, very plain. There are murals, badly faded, on the walls. The seating comprises alternate rows of backless benches and pews. This provides a lot of space when it isn’t full. Even better, beneath the benches are hot water pipes, so while you rest your feet, you keep them warm as well!

There were five pipes lying on a table at the front; the performance was advertised as didgeridoo and dream pipe, and I have no idea which is what. In any event, a minute or three after the 8:30 starting time, the scruffy-looking guy selling tickets at the door closed up the cash box, walked to the front, picked up one of the instruments and began to play.

I especially liked the pieces where he walked out amongst the audience and moved the pipe around. There was a lot of colour, texture, dynamics, directionality to the sound. Music? Hmm… well, on the one hand, it didn’t sound the slightest bit like Beethoven. On the other hand, if Beethoven had ever heard one of these things, you wonder what he might have done with it. Definitely a worthwhile way to spend an evening.

Jacky said I looked like a critic for the Greater Thuna Times, with my camera and notebook. Ha! If I reviewed a didgeridoo concert, it would be more of a Loony Thun!

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