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| The view from the Top 'O Met terrace Interlaken |
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| 18th floor of the Hotel Metropole... they do a nice rahmschweinschnitzel too! |
This page includes general topics of interest about the Bernese Oberland and Switzerland generally.
Above the state of the Susten Pass as of 9.45am
Tuesday 6th May!
You will love the new real time running maps for Swiss Railways.
You can put in a station name and watch the trains actually move across the map.. exactly as it is happening! Great..
You can click on the trains icon for information on destination , how long to get there, and speed!!!
SATURDAY 10th March 2007
This week a report by Swiss resorts including Wengen, Muerren, Grindelwald and Gstaad
has analysed the likely consequences of the expected global temperature rise of one to two degrees over the next 50 years
and it’s no surprise they’re conclusions are…. much less snow.. Well I mean look at this year! Many resorts
now rely on the ski season for upto 80% of their income, but the report says that in future, resorts under 1,500 metres should
not focus on skiing as their main attraction. The professor of leisure and tourism at the University of Berne says "Skiing
will have to become just a side attraction, and not the main attraction anymore" "You'll come here for nice walks, for wellness,
and besides you'll do a little bit of skiing, but skiing will disappear as a main attraction" Gstaad has already started
to invest heavily in luxury spa facilities. "Already a third of our winter guests don't ski," said one official.
The Bernese Hoteliers Association say ‘It's a huge challenge,and it will be painful, that's for sure
The Prof at
Bern Uni is none the less upbeat. He says "As the climate gets warmer, many people may want to escape hot humid cities for
cool mountain air." From Liz and my point of view those hot summer days are very splendid, walking up in the mountains and
enjoying the gentle cool clean air off the glaciers… Oh yes there lies another problem.. no glacier ice by the end of
the century.. Sorry Catherine.
Click here and download an 82 MB 14 minute movie about the Bernese Oberland.. It's big.. the movie and the Oberland! Save
the movie to your hard drive and play from there because it doesn't stream well! includes Interlaken, Lake Brienz, Railways,
Lauterbrunnen, Winteregg-Mürren, Kleine Scheidegg, Grindelwald, Eigergletscher, Eigerwand, Eismeer, Jungfraujoch, Ice Palace,
Ice Plateau, Mountain World, Sphinx, Harder Kulm, Schynige Platte, Alpine Garden, Falconry, Sledge Dogs, Hiking, Winter, Skiing,
Lauberhorn Downhill Ski Races, Winter Sports...you know the sort of thing!
SnowpenAir
Kleine Scheidegg - 31 March 2007 with Polo Hofer and Bryan Adams
On Saturday 31 March, the 10th SnowpenAir Concert will begin at 11.00 h on Kleine Scheidegg at the foot of the Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau. On stage will be local bands Nois
and Jargon as well as Polo Hofer & the Schmetterband and Canadian superstar Bryan Adams. On Sunday afternoon, the organizers
intend to stage something special - a concert for the family. Children to age 15 accompanied by an adult will have free admission!
Check out the details by clicking the logo.
The Alps is a major new film to be shown in Imax cinemas around the world starting
in March. It's about a mountaineer who makes a personal journey to make peace with the mountain that killed his father. It
features songs and music by Queen. It was filmed largely in the Jungfrau and Matterhorn regions of Switzerland including Grindelwald.
Check out the new website (still under development by the looks of things!) by clicking here.
Why not test yourself on your knowledge of Switzerland or check out your memory by clicking the link below...
Liz and I both got 16 out of 20 and the website says we should apply for a Swiss Passport!!! Don't
bloody tempt us!!!
The Swiss Tests
It's always interesting to hear and see other peoples views of the Bernese Oberland. Here's an 8 minute tour of Dennis
Callan's Bernese Oberland! Dennis is President of the Hawaii geographic Society, so he knows what beauty is all about!!
Next Dennis takes a closer look at Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen.
No Dennis in our next presentation more delights of Grindelwald. Here a 4 minute video of just a few of the
region's highlights!!
Unspunnen... no not the story of my favourite woolly jumper getting caught in the car
door, but a rather large event having taken place in Interlaken in September 2006. Don't forget you can click
any photo for a larger image.
| The opening ceremony of Unspunnen |
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| on the Hohematte Friday afternoon. |
| Young wrestlers.. |
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| ... on the Unspunnen meadow. |
| One of the many dance groups.. |
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| ... children from the Tessin. |
Mick captured some amazing images from the fireworks! What size is yours Mick?
Radio Beo got very excited, mind you not half as excited as I did when Mascha turned up broadcasting from the
OHA Trade Show outside broadcast in Thun! Wonderful! Sorry back to Unspunnen!
Below 'The bells were ringing for me and my girl!!'
Oh Mascha.....
All that stone throwing!
| Swiss stonethrowing championships |
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| the 40 Kilo stone |
| Colourful costumes from Appenzell! |
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| The final wrestling round on Sunday |
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| Martin Grab(that can't really be his name?) and favourite Jorg Abderhalden. Grab won in 1 minute! |
Here he is Willy in Hi Res! 'Big Willy' we could call it.
'Mistreatment of our planet', 'a fact of nature', 'too many big American cars', call it what
you will, but the fall of millions of tons of rock from the East flank of the Eiger is a consequence of global warming. The
glaciers of Grindelwald like those around the world have been retreating at a phenomenal pace, metres every year, and this
has left the mountains with no support from the ice. Fissures have flooded and been eroded by the melt waters undermining
the integrity of the rock, and hence what is being reported as the biggest rock fall in living memory... in Grindelwald!!!
| GOING... GOING...... |
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| But it won't go while you two are looking at it! |
| Now you see it! |
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Above, the East flank of the Eiger with the Schlosslouwina in the centre, with the unstable bit left
and down a bit ( I think!) Approximately 700 thousand cubic metres of rock have fallen Thurday 13th July, with two thirds
of the mass still to go.
| The crack here is apparent...apparentely! |
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Apparentely there is no danger to Grindelwald with no houses underneath, but the debris could block
the watercourse. Monitoring of river levels and of course the crack which is growing at about a metre per day is going
on in earnest, and the worlds press are arriving for what will undoubtedly be a momentous event.
The rock falling is on the east side of the Eiger, best viewed from Bäregg accessible from the
Pfingstegg cableway.
A micro eartquake might be possible, although a dust cloud is definite as is a change in air
pressure. All very exciting, but what the hell are we doing to our climate. Oh perhaps this should have been on the Journal
page!
STOP PRESS Thursday A dust cloud over Grindelwald as 700 thousand tons of rock fall, only the
first part of what is expected to near 3 million cubic metres in total. It would make a nice rock garden wouldn't it?!
Below is an email from Pete from Louisiana and my response. There are no arguements between me and
Pete, but it points towards why we must all take an interest. If you'd like to nominate your favouite polluter, let me know!
Good Day Carl: Read your piece on the Eiger and the use of the term of "too many big Americancars." Having
just returned back from Switzerland and having spent a good bit of the time in Lugano and Basel I don't recall seeing too
many big American cars but do recall seeing some very large Mercedes, Audi and Volvos and several other non American made
cars. Perhaps, all those Swiss trains carrying thousands upon thousands of tourist into the Berner Oberland might have some
contribution upon the problems the Eiger is having. Drilling large tunnels through mountains sure can't be beneficial to the
enviroment, could it? Mother nature pollutes the Earth with volcanoes, hurricanes and massive floods but the Earth has a way
of bouncing back and better each time. Surely we can do things to aid in helping the enviroment, you will not get no arguement
out of me on this. I remember reading a ariticle put out by the Swiss embassy to Swiss citizens living abroad. The article
was about all the trees dying along the interstate system in Switzerland and they attributed to this as the Swiss were driving
their (american,german,french,italian) cars too much. Maybe if your article would have read too many big cars like american
ones might have been appropriate. By the way, out of the four cars we have only one of them is made in America. Enjoy your
website immensely and hope that you and your family are having a great summer. Best regards from Louisiana, Pete.
Hi Pete..
Good stuff! Actually the worst polluters of our planet are well you
can fill in a country of your choice…… If you take my attitude we all stink when it comes to protecting the environment!
No
one is prepared to do anything to save our planet… English and Americans included… so sod the lot I say!
I
know what I DO,and that’s important, and I’m sure you do too!
Kindest regards. Hope all is well in Louisiana.
Carly
Carl: Good to hear back from you. Saying that too many big American cars are responsible for what is happening
on the Eiger is somewhat like us wanting to blame the French for hurricane Katrina, sounds nice but there is no validity to
it. Our pollution standards here in the US and particular to the auto industry are higher than the rest of the world. Yes,
we have more autos and drive them but to try to parallel that to the Eiger is somewhat ludicrous. If you want to say the US
is the major polluter of the world you have that right to think so even though I do not concur. I believe that Western Europe,
Eastern Europe and the Middle East do a pretty good job at it themselves. Like I said Mother Nature herself does a jolly good
job of polluted the Earth when volcanoes erupt. Sure wish Mother Nature would have not sent hurrican Katrina, yes it clean
up a lot of things that needed cleaning up but left one hell of mess. Best regards, Pete
Hello Pete
I take on board all you say… God bless you all for what you had to put up with Katrina.
Don’t agree on the tourists via the Swiss railway comments though, hydroelectric and
nuclear provide the electric power, but hey let’s leave it there! Our governments seem like they want to!
Carl
Carl: Your premise about pollution hurting our enviroment is right on and that is not what I am trying to
clear. We could discuss who is polluting the Earth until the cows come in and we probably would even get close to agreeing.
Your remark "too many big American cars" is what I am trying to get a grasp on. Are you saying since Americans drive big cars
here in America that they are to be blamed for what is going on in Grindelwald or are you saying that too many big cars like
American one being driven all around the world are the problem. It's that remark alone that I am trying to figure out what
you meant by using the term American cars. Thats the cat that is rattling the cage. Take care, Pete
America is BIG!! Lots of cars…cheap fuel…. not wanting to sign up to Kyoto…
but every car owner wherever they live, in whatever the country, loves their car… America does have it’s fair
share of big gas guzzlers doesn’t it? On the other hand a family near me has four cars…… it’s the
way we have decided to live our lives… unfortunately.
America is the most powerful nation in the world, and I expect
governments anywhere to do the right thing when it comes to climate change. But none of them do……
This is GLOBAL warming… what we all do now will make a difference…. Well we’d
better get a move on! Otherwise there will be little point in going to Grindelwald in the future!
But like ALL politicians, that’s it… end of conversation…..
You’ve got four cars?
Carl
Mike from Radio Beo continues the debate about American cars being a contributor to greenhouse
gases. We thought we'd finished but Monsieur Parkin has other ideas!!! Who am I to say... 'I said so'. So American
cars....
| AMERICAN CARS!!! |
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| BRITISH CAR!!! |
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And British cars! Yes... I'll say no more... Well at least we've BOTH got our foreign policy
right.... oh hell! How do you become Swiss?
We're delighted to be able to add some video to this page, and the first two 'Switzerland a birds
eye view' and 'Bern' are in Quicktime format.
In the first of two Quicktime movies we present a birds eye view of some Swiss sites.... how many can you identify?!
SORRY QUICKTIME MOVIES ARE TEMPORARILLY DISABLED.
Our second Quicktime movie is one abnout the city of Bern
Over to some lower quality yet still entertaining movies from cico.tv. We start with a five minute travel film
about the Swiss Landscape.
And one about the contrasts.
The Seasons
The values of the Swiss
| Poor old Wolfie! |
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| BOB - Bang On Bonce for poor old Wolfie |
Wolves in Switzerland!! 100 years ago, they were supposed to be exstinct, but recently here
was the discovery that wolves are once again back in the Bernese Oberland... not that I reckon they ever went away! Sadly,
a 3 year old Wolfie ended up under the wheels of the BOB!
| Standard gauge wolf... |
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| .... Wearwolf in Wilderwil? |
Don't
be alarmed!!
It’s
Ok, Mike’s playing of the general warning siren on Infotourist didn’t cause chaos around the Oberland. But it
did cause me to want to find out a little more about the civil defence siren system that covers the whole of the country.
The system
has recently been replaced, and the general alarm of a rising and falling sound repeated at two minute intervals is designed
to really ‘cut through’ all that background sound.
Rosemarie’s
recording of the annual test was amazing, hearing the various sirens switch on one by one progressing
up the valley. There are nearly four and a half thousand of these sirens across the country complimented by another 2 and
half thousand mobile ones,
and an additional 750 water alert sirens located near dams in case of dam breaks. In times of peace, the sirens can be triggered to indicate catastrophe or state of emergency,
such as natural disasters, radioactivity leak , chemical accidents, satellite crashes.. The triggering is done via Swisscom’s special high
security infranet built into to every telephone exchange. This returns an indication to the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) that the siren is running. Other agencies involved include the
Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research and MeteoSwiss in the event of dangerous weather,
but every competent authority is able and has the authority to sound their sirens
when they deem it to be necessary. On hearing the general alarm the population must tune into their radio station including
Radio Beo for more instructions, but if the general alarm is accompanied by 12 low continuous tones of 20 seconds that indicates
imminent flooding, and you must leave immediately.
The annual siren test takes place in Switzerland on the first Wednesday of February.
| Switzerland from Space!! |
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| Image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center |
Here are the gorgeous Bernese Alps from space. It's
a late summer view of Switzerland; Jungfrau (marked J - 4158 m), Moench (M - 4089 m), and Eiger (E - 3970 m) North of the
range is Interlaken, flanked by the Thunersee (which NASA can't spell!) and Brienzersee; the long, straight-segmented
valley of the Rhone lies to the south.
On the southern side of the Jungfrau is the Aletsch glacier, the meltwaters
of which feed the upper Rhone; another source is the Rhone glacier at the eastern end. I am reminded that roughly half the
ice in European glaciers has melted since 1850. The U-shaped valleys carved by glaciers are clearly visible in the photo..
My
geography teacher taught me that the Swiss Alps are elements of a great mountain system that was constructed during alpine
folding as Africa and Eurasia collided, starting more than 90 million years ago. Ancient basement rocks (>325 million years
old) of the Bernese Alps were uplifted, folded, and forced northward between ~29 and 10 million years ago. Here endeth the
lesson!
| My first foray into panorama photos! |
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| Piz Gloria on top of the Schilthorn...breathtaking! |
| Hanging proudly in my shed! |
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| You get a nice Gold pin also! |
The Guest of Honour club in Grindelwald.
It was a very emotional occasion
when in 2002, I became a Grindy Guest of Honour. Grindelwald Tourism honours its guests who regularly visit the glacier
village. Nominated by the hosts of Grindy, after ten years, guests receive a distinction. After twenty
years of loyality to Grindelwald the guests are nominated Guest of honour with a diploma and a golden
pin.
The ceremony, a lovely
evening ‘do’, was arranged by Grindelwald Tourism for the four of us that were being presented with this honour.
Over several glasses of wine, and some delicious nibbles, the then Director of Tourism Joe Luggen
thanked us for our loyalty, and explained that Grindelwald now counts over 4000 Guests of Honour.
A
special Club was formed in 1992 to promote, and I quote, ‘the individuality and hospitality of Grindelwald by supporting
projects’ The club organizes events, ensures good communication
between the village and it’s regular guests, and gives them a little something back for their loyalty
(the Guests not Grindelwald!) I am proud to be an ‘EhrenGast’!
Talking about honours, the spectacular rail trip to the Jungfraujoch
and the imposing Jungfrau are honoured with a
special 10 Swiss Franc coin from the Federal Swiss Mint. It is also available as a
“Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe”
souvenir card, and can be ordered
direct from the mint, or from Jungfrau railways.
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