Biked 19 km from Meringen to Iseltwald
Switzerland Photos



Iseltwald



Again I am sitting on the balcony with the spectacular view of the vast majestic mountains overlooking the grandiose Lake Beinz. Instead the sound of waterfalls, there were the rustling waters of the Brienzersee crashing against the docks and shores below. The lake is enormous and, like their surroundings of immense and imposing landscape, calm and peaceful. Off in the distance, across the grand lake, we hear a French horn band playing an up-beat folk tune. Rana and I started the day in the rain. It was a bit chilly; however, we were grateful for its cool temperatures and refreshing rains as we rode and walked our bikes uphill.


Meringen Airforce


While on our way out of Meringen, we passed many small residential areas, and small farms and suddenly the air was filled with booms of plane engines from five over looming fighter jets above. One of the jets started to get bigger and bigger and closer and closer. At first we thought the plane was going to fly into the nearby mountains, and then we realized it was actually landing just a short distance away from where we stood! After the first plane descended a second plane came in for a landing, then a third and so on till all the planes landed. Rana thought it was the coolest thing he saw, especially when the landing runway and airport was just next to our biking trail. The planes crossed our bike path towards the mountains where a hanger door lift up from with in the rocky walls and the planes disappeared into the mountains.
“COOL!” Rana shouted.
I was able to find a movie clip from YouTube.com of the planes we saw. You could also see places and the landscape and lakes where we actually biked through. Swiss Airforce


Getting behind a waterfall


As we made our way up hill towards our next destination, we were rewarded with vast panoramic views of cities, lakes, and mountain-scapes. We also took a short break at a waterfall where we hiked up towards the falls by foot and walked behind the falling waters beneath the rocky ledge. The sounds of the crashing waters were roaring and beckoning us from the biking trails. There were walkways that crossed the falls and went behind the falling waters. The waters were frigid. The view looking out to mountain from behind the waterfall included a Victorian style architecture that seemed to sit on a rocky ledge at the bottom of the falls far off in the distance. It was a hotel and I imagined how romantic it would be to be married or honeymoon-ing there in a room with a spectacular view. I would also imagine one would not find the need to ever even leave the room! I could have spent a good part of the day exploring and hiking around the waterfall and Rana and I had it all to ourselves. We continued our journey, again uphill, from the waterfalls onto a rocky unpaved path where we were warned by a sign exhibiting a stick figure on a bike falling off a cliff. At the top of hill after god-knows-how-many-miles, we, once again, were not disappointed with our views. Not too far off in the distance, we can see a small town which sat on a crescent shaped peninsula which stretched out into the middle of the lake with a prominent traditional style chateau sitting proudly, as if it served as an emblem of the village, on the very tip the cape. It was Iseltwald! The town was quite small and consisted of several hotels, restaurants, abundant yet quite residential community, and one grocery store. The private home all had an arts-and-craft feel with small vegetable gardens and colorful flower in front of each building. Rana and I pretty much concluded Iseltwald to be a type of retirement community, not only because we saw a lot of “mature” people, but the only kids we saw there belonged to the tourists. Rana thought it would be a great place to retire, I, on the other hand, thinks I would eventually go insane out of extreme boredom; however, it is really a great place to visit. As for the prices of restaurant foods, two small glasses of non-refillable carbonated water costed us 11.50 suiss-francs. We wised up and decided from that point on to purchase foods from the local grocery stores which was substantially cheaper compared to eating out.

Our reservation was with the Strand Hotel and again, we were not disappointed with our room and view. Rana and I did enjoy our walks around the town, but not without a good shower and nap after our approximately two hour and predominantly uphill bike ride. Our buns were relieved to be sitting on practically anything other than a bike seat. As sore as we were, it didn’t keep us from sitting out onto our patio soaking in the spectacular views and sounds of the turquoise grandiose lake below, the mountains beyond, and blue skies above...even if it was drizzling outside.