Wengen , the Maennlichen and the Eiger, Berner Oberland

I felt very excited as I changed trains in Lauterbrunnen and started the climb to Wengen, perched 1300 m above the valley, my home for several years in my early twenties. It was here where I fell in love with Switzerland , with the outdoors and finally at the end of my last winter season, Jim, my ex husband.  What fantastic memories I have of my time there. I made sure today that I got away from crowds to have time to reflect.

As the only receptionist at the family-runAlpenrose Hotel , working hours were long and life was pretty busy, especially when the hotel was full, but I worked hard and  played hard! There was always support from the family at busy times, and guests returned year after year in many cases making it a real pleasure to be there to welcome them back.

 I was really lucky to have a room on the first floor of the chalet in the picture below, with balcony and truly breathtaking view.

 

Imagine waking to this view in the morning!

 

I never got tired of opening the shutters and seeing the Lauterbrunnen Valley and of course the snow clad mountains of the Jungfrau region.

After a super visit to the hotel, a look around and meeting with my previous boss Paul and my friend Margaret, his wife, I took the cable car to the Maennlichen, where I used to love skiing in winter and walking in summer. The view down on the Lauterbrunnen Valley is spectacular from there too!

 

Wherever you look the scenery is just wonderful and the colours of the rocks, the plants and the little tarns all add to this beautiful scene.

 

The view to the Grosse Scheidegg is fantastic and I was thrilled to see the two tarns in this next picture. You will see why later in the blog!

 

There were some signs of autumn colour on the pretty lichen- covered stones.

 

I consider this walk to be one of the most magnificent easy walks I have done. The sheer North face of the Eiger is just so impressive and dominating.

 

So, back to the tarns. I had photographd them many years ago and although I had visited them since, I was not lucky enough to have a clear and still day. Although at the start of the walk the Eiger was partially shrouded in cloud, as I left the main path and walked down to the tarns, the North Face suddenly became visible, and with it this lovely reflection in the tarn.

 

It was a lot of travelling today, but so fantastic to have visited the hotel Alpenrose and to have met up with Margaret ( who after 40 plus years still has her lovely Scottis accent)  and Paul, who have run the hotel for the past 40 years. It was another wonderful trip down memory lane. What a brilliant year this has been for reminiscing!