Sunday Group

Winter came back with a vengeance when five intrepid members of the Sunday Group made the long journey to the summit of Schilthorn earlier in March. This part of the Bernese Oberland range is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site and it wasn't hard to see why. From the summit at 2960 metres, we had magnificent vistas all around and especially of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, an iconic view on such a clear day.

The journey began at the Zürich Hauptbahnof after an early morning tram ride to our meeting point at 7.45 am. The trip entailed making use of most of Switzerland's excellent transport methods. The first stage was on the fast SBB train to Bern when Vreni handed out gipfeli and the minibar came round with the coffee. Then we rushed to catch our connection on the Deutsche Bahn train to Interlaken Ost; not quite as comfortable as the Swiss train. As we approached the town nestled between the Thunersee and the Brienzersee, we could see the famous trio of mountains with the sun on them. An uplifting sight!

Then we caught the regional train connection to Lauterbrunnen, at the foot of the ascent to the Jungfrau and the Bernese Oberland. From there, we took a bus to the small village of Stechelberg whence the cablecars to the ski regions of Mürren ascend. We noted that the temperature was -2 at the base station. Two cablecars took us up to Gimmelwald and Mürren where it had dropped to -5. I was glad of my chic woolly hat and thermal leggings at this stage. The gondolas were full of skiers heading for the black runs. Using a separate ticket for the last, private stage of the cablecar, we crammed in with even more skiers with their poles and skis up our noses. The mid-stage was -13 and we were shivering. We arrived at the top at midday, where the temperature had dropped to -17 and the snow was over a metre thick. Fortunately we stayed in the warm and took an escalator up to the Piz Gloria restaurant made famous by the James Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. That was the one with the spectacular ski scenes starring George Lazenby, when he married Diana Rigg who was later killed in a car chase, as anyone who has seen the whole franchise at least 10 times could tell you.

The restaurant was fun because only the outer tables revolved while the windows and the inner tables stayed still. It made one feel rather dizzy. Several times I put my camera on the windowsill, only to see it disappearing as we moved on. For lunch we could have had a James Bond cocktail - sadly not a vodka martini, shaken not stirred. Though someone did try the James Bond pasta dish which wasn't very Bond-ish. However the food was fast and tasty and the wine was also delicious after such a long journey. Vreni told us that the architect of the restaurant was Konrad Wolf who designed the place in the 1960s; the restaurant opened in 1969. Director Peter R. Hunt shot the sixth Bond film in this and other Swiss locations between 1968 and 69. The movie juxtaposes scenes from the restaurant with avalanche scenes, shots of professional skiers and Swiss Olympic athletes and the exciting bobsleigh chase, from other locations including Saas Fee, Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald and Bern.

After lunch we ventured out onto the snow-laden terrace to take more photos, but the cold was extreme and we quickly retreated to the gift shop and the Touristorama, a cinema showing an impressive montage of clips from the film with scenes of the construction of the restaurant, which was renovated in 1988-90. Then at 15.03 on the dot, we made the journey in reverse via four cablecars, train, bus and two more trains back to Zürich. A spectacular day out thanks to Vreni, our chairlady whose organisational skills are second to none.

Look out in ZIWA News for more fascinating days out with the Sunday Group. And you can read more about the James Bond movie at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film).

Julia Newton, 31 March 2010


And here below also a picture from the Sunday Group trip to Stuttgart in April
(Porsche Museum - GlassCube Art Museum)