Learning to Yodel in Switzerland

On the ride from Italy into Switzerland, I took a rare journey to the front of the bus, to investigate the source of a few ’80s tunes I’d faintly heard. Turns out, the view in the front is better, the music is louder, and it doesn’t smell so much like the bus’s WC. Who knew?

To get to our tiny village destination of Gimmelwald required a steep cable car ride up the side of the mountain. There were no cars here, just wheelbarrows, a hostel, a few scattered houses and a fantastic view.

Dinner at the hotel started with innkeeper Liese ringing a VERY LOUD cowbell; despite that, the bratwurst was quite tasty. Most of us played cards late into the evening, out back on the hotel’s cliffside veranda.

First, There is a Mountain

While half of our tour group woke up bright and early to summit the Schilthorn, Angie and I instead again opted for clean clothes, doing laundry and hanging it outside to dry on the clothesline.

After breakfast, we explored many types of Swiss public transportation: a cable car down to Stechelberg, a bus to Lauterbrunnen, a steep uphill train ride to Wengen, and finally a lift to Mannlichen—the top of the world, as far as I can tell. Quite obviously, God lives somewhere up here in the beautiful Swiss Alps.

After a thoroughly pleasant afternoon hike across the mountain, our group wound up at a remote chalet for a goulash lunch. On the way there, we heard the distant rumble of a glacial avalanche, making me glad it was summer and not winter right now.

After lunch, we watched dozens of hangliders swirling around in the air high above us. Then we marched on, hiking to the tiny town of Kleine Scheidegg (three buildings and a teepee selling beer). On the way to our last stop, a train station in the middle of absolutely nowhere, Mark loudly showcased his impressive yodeling skills for us.

Rural Nighttime Entertainment

On the train ride back down the mountain, I chatted with a British couple celebrating the anniversary of their first trip to Switzerland together 50 years ago.

On the playground back in Gimmelwald, Angie and I joined the others on the steep slide and the swings until dusk. Watching the reddish-pink sunset over the mountaintops was especially breathtaking. Once it was too dark to play outside any longer, we all retreated for drinks and spades on the back porch of the hotel, lit up with colored Christmas bulbs.