Breakfast was wonderful and we sat out on the veranda taking in the majestic views we were starting to take for granted. We left the Hotel Bella Tolla and headed up to the Funicular where dozens of hikers were eagerly awaiting the quick trip up the mountain. We were very glad to not have to hike up from St Luc. We hopped off the Funicular and started our ascent to the Cabana Bella Tolla. We decided to take a slightly longer route to the Medipass by going to the lakes and around. The thing that struck us about this part of the trip was that it was almost completely silent. As we got closer to the Medipass, there was absolutely no sound. No birds, no cowbells, no wind, no cars, no people. It was as quiet as any place we had ever been in our whole lives. You could spend all day here just being quiet out in the grandeur of the world. It’s amazing that something so big can be so quiet. The hiking was rather easy and a pleasant change from the immensely steep climbs of prior days. We made it to the Medipass and clouds were moving in so we ate some lunch at the top and then headed down the trail to Gruben. We had made it into the German speaking part of the Swiss Alps. No more pleasant French conversation, just harsh German that neither of us could understand. The hike down into Gruben was fairly steep and we were thinking that Gruben was going to be this horrible place but it turns out that Gruben was quite a delightful town sitting on a little river. At the hotel, we had ice cream sundaes on the veranda looking out to the mountains and the river. It was SO good. We both got our own. The hotel Schwarzhorn where we stayed was more like a hostel, then a proper hotel, but it was great to have a place to stay and the showers were warm. How people do this trip staying in huts is beside me. Hotels are definitely the way to go. The mailbox where we mailed our daily postcard noted that August 31st would be the last day for pick-up this season. Winter is coming!
Dinner was in stark contrast to prior dinners. We were grateful for dinner, but we missed the delicious food of days past. There were lots of hikers here because there were no huts so all the hut hikers and hotel hikers converged into one space here. We quickly determined that Americans are loud and mostly annoying. There was an investment banker from Portland that we said hi to….we would see him randomly for the next 3 days in different places.
Dinner was in stark contrast to prior dinners. We were grateful for dinner, but we missed the delicious food of days past. There were lots of hikers here because there were no huts so all the hut hikers and hotel hikers converged into one space here. We quickly determined that Americans are loud and mostly annoying. There was an investment banker from Portland that we said hi to….we would see him randomly for the next 3 days in different places.
