Interlaken and Thun, Part 2

 

Out of our three days in Interlaken, the second day brought grey skies

so we decided to reorganise our outings and use this second day

to visit the town of Thun.

First of all a good breakfast in our hotel. 

I was very taken with the decoration on the centre of the saucers!

Here is my morning coffee with the decoration revealed!

We took a train to Thun which only takes 35 minutes. The tracks run

alongside the Thun Lake.

The town has lots of lovely pedestrian streets and the Aare River runs through the town

and outside terraces are dotted all along the water.

Here is part of the river with the covered bridge which we crossed to go and visit the castle.

This is taken from the covered bridge.

The cogwheel that can be seen is part of a mechanism to regulate the flow

of the fast moving water.

A wider view of the same scene.

Here's a view of the church and to the left of that, the towers of the castle further away.

Here is an old painting of the castle as it was in the olden days.

Thun Castle in the city of Thun which is in the Swiss canton of Bern.

It was built in the 12th century and today it house the Thun Castle Museum which is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

We climbed up to the highest turrets to get a view of the town.

This one overlooks the Rathausplatz (the Town Hall Square).

This is the view on the other side, with the church lower down

 and the River Aare running towards the lake.

I liked this closer view of the church steeple and the red roofs of Thun.

We can see the point where the river joins the lake.

The Stadkirche (city church) is the city's main Reformed church.

The church dominates the old town of 
Thun and is defined by its striking medieval tower.

We walk back down the hill to the town centre

and the face of the church tower makes me smile!

Here's the Town Hall Square that we saw from the top of the castle.

An attractive restaurant with parasols on the outside terrace

and you can see the canton of Bern flag on the right: red with a brown bear.

Flowers and a parked bicycle in one of the pedestrian streets

We took the train back to Interlaken and then had a very delicious

and special meal at one of the Indian restaurants!

We chose different vegetarian dishes.

The restaurant was appropriately called Taj Palace.

Some of the flowers I saw in the mountains.

Next time, I'll be showing you our last day's outing on the turquoise lake of Brienz

and our trip into the mountains with a little steam engine!

Interlaken, Part 1

 

My daughter and I decided to go to take a short holiday in the area of Interlaken

The town of Interlaken is a resort town in the mountainous Bernese Oberland

of central Switzerland.

It's built on a narrow stretch of valley between the turquoise-coloured waters

of Lake Thun and Lake Brienz.

This is the view we had from our hotel rooms.

In the background we can glimpse the Lake Brienz.

When we arrived late morning, we left our cases at the hotel

and took the funicular up to a place called Harder Kulm.

Just coming out of the funicular with the lake in the background.

We walked a little way up to the restaurant and enjoyed a typical

macaroni and potato dish in a cream sauce served with crispy onions and  apple purée with

a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese.

This dish is called Älplermagronen (Swiss Alpine Macaroni)

Very delicious with a glass of blond beer.

After lunch, we walked in a woodland area

before taking the funicular down again.

The carved statues (famous in this part of Switzerland) were full of character

and so well made. This one overlooks the Brienz Lake.

The amazing view from the highest point with the Aare River running

into the Thun Lake below.

How about this fellow blowing the Alpenhorn?

The weather was mixed with sunshine and clouds, but we can still

notice the lovely turquoise hue to the lakes.

I think these two are my favourite sculptures.

My daughter liked them too!

We walked back down the hill to catch the funicular down to the valley.

We walked back to the hotel for a little rest and a refreshing shower

before having our dinner in the hotel restaurant.

The view from our hotel and the mountain with snow is called the Jungfrau.

The Jungfrau, at 4.158 meters, is one of the main summits

of the Bernese Alps, located between the northern canton of Bern

and the southern canton of Valais.

This is the first part of our stay in Interlaken.

I'll be adding more photos at the weekend to show the town of Thun.

The view from the hotel restaurant at dinner time.

I'll be showing more lake photos, but I just wanted to end up with this view

on Lake Brienz which I also used for my blog header.

The water really is that colour!