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!

12 comments

  1. Wonderful pictures again. They bring nice memories. I remember the time I was there with my parents long ago. Not much change. Everything looks so pretty.
    The view from the window to the Jungfrau Mountain is amazing.
    Warm greetings

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Gabi! Glad the photos bring back memories for you of having been here with your parents!
      The Jungfrau Mountain only really came into view on the evening of our second day, so I was thrilled to capture it!

      Delete
  2. Thank you for taking me on another lovely trip around your beautiful country.
    Hugs, Sarn xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you could join me, Sarn. Next time, we'll travel on a turquoise lake and climb the mountains in a steam train!!

      Delete
  3. Another beautiful day even if the skies were a bit gray, Sandra! I especially love the shots of the church and marvel at just how old the architecture is in Europe compared to the U.S. We are still in our infancy here, I think! Thank you for sharing and I look forward to Part 3!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Carol. Glad you enjoyed this part of our visit. Itd was a lovely town to discover and I wouldn't mind going back there again on a sunny day!

      Delete
  4. Oh, I love the church, especially from the turret. I wish we had these very old buildings in America, but we're just too new of a nation! It's always good to be ready to change plans at the last moment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Cathy. I loved the church too and it has found its way into several of my photos! I do love visiting very old buildings steeped in history. It seems incredible that so many of them have been standing since the 12th century! Yes, the moods of weather often force us to change our plans, so it's good to remain supple and open to that!

      Delete
  5. You live in a beautiful country Sandra. Love to travel and see the scenes through your photos. All the best!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Lasse! So glad you could join me on my travels and lovely to see you again!

      Delete
  6. Everything wonderful even if the sky was dark. It’s better to have a trip with a fresh air. We are having high temperatures in the south of Italy... until 40’ and more too, somewhere. In the north big disasters with the rain. Not a nice situation.
    Thank you for your pictures,
    Miriam

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Miriam. It was a very lovely day despite the dull weather. My goodness, 40C is very much too hot for me... yes, there has been a lot of flooding all over Europe, including Switzerland, but not in the area in which I live.

      In a few days, I will be adding another series of photos of our three days in Interlaken!

      Delete