Day 8: The Schilthorn and Piz Gloria

Saturday

When I got up Saturday morning, it was a bit of a downer knowing this would be our last full day in Switzerland. I could’ve stayed at Gimmewald for the whole vacation actually, but we still had a lot planned.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Schilthorn, or the Piz Gloria. It was featured in an old James Bond movie (before my time) and somebody or other blew it up. Well, in the movie, that is.

The Piz Gloria is the revolving building/restaurant at the top of the mountain. There is an observatory at the top that lets you see a vast, 360 degree view of the Alps. To get there, we rode a gondola from Murren to the top. The weather was absolutely perfect and what an incredible view! I took a bunch of photos, but most of them will look the same to everyone else but me, so I’m just sharing a few. Lucky for me, I got to see the Gspaltenhorn and its basin from above. What a beautiful peak. Plus, the Eiger was right out there in front, which was cool.

That afternoon, we roamed Murren a bit, bought some souvenirs in Gimmewald at the smallest gift shop you’ve ever seen (where, incidentally, the shop owner who spoke very good English decided to engage us in a political dialogue about who should and should not be the United States’ next president), enjoyed the clear Swiss air and sunshine, and had our last dinner at the good ol’ Stagerstubli. It was nice enough we sat outside!

To be honest, I was downhearted to be leaving in the morning. From the country to the city. We should’ve done this trip in reverse. What were we thinking? As if to soften the blow, the alps gave us a beautiful show of alpenglow. (Is that cheesy poetry or what?)






The Eiger viewed from the Schilthorn.






The Gspaltenhorn massif. Our hike the previous day took us waaaaaay down into the basin below the horn, which you can barely see (if at all).






The Gspaltenhorn. I mean... is this not an amazing peak?





Going...






Going...






...Gone...