Gimmelwald, Switzerland

There is a little remote farming village in the Swiss Alps called Gimmelwald. I heard about it in Rick Steve's travel guide. The pictures I took really don't do it justice. It takes 2 hours just to get there from the Interlaken West train station. First you take a train north into the valley to Lauterbrunnen, catch a bus to Stechelburg and finally ride the mountain lift to Gimmelwald.

When I visited in June there were probably only 30 visitors (mostly english speaking) and 80 residents in the town. I got my hotel room, dumped my stuff and headed out for a tour of the town. I walked the whole place in 10 minutes. The town is full of small family farms where they mostly raise goats & cows and grow hay to feed the animals. As you walk through the town you are surrounded by the Alps, huge towering rocky mountains. Even in June the mountain tops were covered with snow.

The first day, I met a couple who were actually leaving after a 4 day stay and they told me that they spent their first night in the youth hostel, which was uncomfortable so the next day they found a room for rent in a local family's home. They also told me to go to Esther's Guest House in the morning to buy a freshly baked loaf of bread, cheese and juice for breakfast.

The next morning, I went to Esther's and experienced the fresh bread and then caught the 8am lift down the side of the mountain. I was heading to catch a train bound for Jungfraujoch (yung-frow-yoke) which is the highest point in Europe. I caught a train in Lauterbrunnen, which runs on gears - that is the only way the train can make it up the mountain to 11,333 feet. Once you get to the top of the mountain, you can walk out of the observation deck, which is an amazing view. You can also tour a cave hollowed completely out of ice. There were so many tourists (mostly Japanese) at the top that it was a bit suffocating. Unfortunately, I really just wanted to see the sights and head back down the mountain quickly.

That night I met a couple from N.Carolina. We were sitting outside the youth hostel at some picnic tables, drinking beer and talking about home and land prices near the Raleigh-Durham. Later that night, I met two young women from Melbourne, Australia staying at the youth hostel. I ended up playing pools and cards all night...drinking beer and meeting all young people staying at the youth hostel (from Canada, Ireland, UK & the US) . We all had a great time and I actually won the game of "spoons". I also learned how to play a card came called "shit-face" (last person with cards is a shit-face).

The next morning I struggled through my hang-over and sadly left Gimmelwald to head back to Zurich. I hope I make it back to the Alps sometime - it was special!