Day 4 - Interlaken - Grindelwald – Lauterbrunnen – Stechelberg – Gimmelwald – Spiez – Zweisimmen – Gstaad – Col des Mosses – Montreux - Lausanne

Monday 10th December and we woke at 5.00 AM to update the blogspot. After breakfast, we checked out of the Interlaken Villa Sonnerhof Hostel and made the trip to the Jungfrau base station at Grindelwald via Lauterbrunnen. Visibility was zero and unfortunately we had to forgo the trip to the top. Instead, we drove to Stechelberg and caught a cablecar to Gimmelwald – the vertical ascent of 500m in 5 minutes was gut wrenching. The locals call this region “Heidi Country” and it’s not hard to imagine why. During coffees and hot chocolates at Esther’s Guesthouse, the snow started to pelt down, which created a surreal landscape. We had to get back on the road, if we were to arrive at Lausanne by night fall. The route took us back along the shores of Thuner See to Spiez, where we took the road through the valley of Nieder Simmental. We had a pit stop at a café in Zweisimmen, where we parted with 4 CHF for the pleasure of using their toilets. Stopped for lunch and coffees at Gstaad ( favorite resort of the rich and famous – we almost saw Elle Macpherson apparently ). The climb through the pass of Pays d’Enhaut culminated in the peak of 1450m at Col des Mosses, snow at window sill height, ice on the road, -3 temperature and crazy Audi drivers - nerve wracking and exhilarating at the same time. Descent down from the mountains and back into rain, with a tollway drive along the shore of Lac de Geneve to Lausanne and our destination for the night. At the end of Day 4, score update is 2 snowballs and a rather large iceball to Serial Pest versus one fingernail in the eye ( ouch ) for Baby Sister.

Grindelwald village - location of train station for the trip to the Jungfrau

Grindelwald village stream - Jungfrau cog train in the background

Grindelwald village and ski resort

Aproaching Stechelberg - location of the cablecar to several alpine villages

In the cablecar on the trip to Gimmelwald village

The classic Swiss alpine village of Gimmelwald

Even the locals call this area Heidi Country and there's Hans at the cheese curing house

Aussie flag amongst others at Gimmelwald village which is snowbound in winter

Gimmelwald cablecar station and the fog closing in before the snow

Cablecar descending 500 metres in less than 5 minutes to the valley below

Those cables mark the cablecar route straight up the cliff face to Gimmelwald village

Gstaad village church and cemetery

The drive up through the mountain pass - heavily covered in snow

Top of the Nieder Simmental / Pays d’Enhaut pass at Col des Mosses at 1450 metres - ice covered roads and -3 temperature