[BlackPearl]

Day 13 - Aigle, Montreux, Gruyères



Aigle

Aigle (French for "eagle") is a historic town and a municipality and the capital of the district of Aigle in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.

Château d'Aigle





From Aigle we went to Montreux. Montreux on lake Geneva is a very popular tourist destination.





Since we had fallen in love with Gruyères the previous day, we planned to go there again.











From Gruyères we went back to the BnB in Ormont Dessous.

[BlackPearl]

Day 14 - Ormont-Dessous to Lauterbrunnen via Spiez



We started from Ormont-Dessous and the next planned stop was the town of Spiez on the shore of Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss canton of Bern. But we stopped at a restaurant in between and had one of the best burgers ever!





We reached Spiez in the afternoon.

A view of the Spiez Castle from the lake





This is Rosie, one of the sweetest dogs we have met. She has got endless energy and played with us for almost an hour!









From Spiez we went to visit the stunning Blausee Lake.

Blausee (literally: Blue Lake) is a small lake, in Switzerland, in the Kander valley above Kandergrund at 887 metres (2,910 ft), near the river Kander. Administratively, it belongs to the Bernese Oberland. The lake has an area of 0.64 hectares (1.6 acres). The water temperature of the Blausee constantly remains at around 8°C all year-round. The lake is populated with trout.

https://www.newlyswissed.com/lake-bl...g-all-seasons/

The legend behind the sunken statue in Lake Blausee

When you visit, pay attention and find the sunken statue near the bridge. The legend of the Lake Blausee statue involves a beautiful maiden and a shepherd who had fallen in love. They would go out on the lake in a boat every once in a while to do what lovers do.
Yet, when the shepherd tragically passed away, the widow would row out onto the lake by herself to mourn. One night, her boat sank and from that moment on, legend goes that Lake Blausee had changed its color because of the tears from the woman’s blue eyes.

A music festival was going to start in the evening and hence we were asked to leave early. We could not spend as much time as we wanted.

Next stop was Lauterbrunnen. We were going to stay in Lauterbrunnen for the next couple of days.

The iconic church in Lauterbrunnen







In the evening we went to a local restaurant and had pizza and burger. Both were strictly average in taste.

[BlackPearl]

Day 15 - Top of Europe - Jungfraujoch

The Jungfraujoch (German: lit. "maiden saddle") is a saddle connecting two major 4000ers of the Bernese Alps: the Jungfrau and the Mönch. It lies at an elevation of 3,463 metres (11,362 ft) above sea level and is directly overlooked by the rocky prominence of the Sphinx. The Jungfraujoch is a glacier saddle, on the upper snows of the Aletsch Glacier, and part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, situated on the boundary between the cantons of Bern and Valais, halfway between Interlaken and Fiesch.

We took a train from Lauterbrunnen to Kleine Scheidegg and then another one from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch.

























While returning from Jungfraujoch we stopped at Kleine Scheidegg for some time, had some refreshments before going back to Lauterbrunnen.











After picking our car up from the station parking lot, we went to a beautiful place for a late lunch. The bacon fondue and the desserts were fantastic and the place was really nice.

The Restaurant









Saw this lovely car in front of the restaurant.





Valley opposite to the restaurant

[BlackPearl]

Day 16 - Grimsel Pass, Furka Pass and Schattenhalb - Rosenlaui, Brienz and Lauterbrunnen

We started very early in the morning and the first stop was Grimsel Pass.









From there we went to Furka Pass.

The iconic Belvedere Hotel



I had to take a picture of the RRS with the Hotel in the backdrop





From Furka Pass we went to to the beautiful Rosenlaui.

Breakfast on the way to Rosenlaui

Reichenbachtal is an Alpine valley in Oberhasli, canton of Berne, Switzerland. It is situated within the municipality of Schattenhalb, connecting Meiringen with the Grosse Scheidegg pass towards Grindelwald. Its water, the Rychenbach, forms the Reichenbach Fall before joining the Aare at Meiringen.

Rosenlaui is the highest settlement in the valley, situated approximately halfway up, at 1,328 m above sea level. The valley is also known as Rosenlauital after the settlement. Rosenlaui hotel is among the oldest in the region, bearing testimony to the early boom of tourism in Switzerland in the mid 19th century.

On the eastern side of the valley rise the Wetterhorn (3,692 m), the Engelhörner (2,782 m), the Wellhorn (3,191 m), besides the Rosenlaui Glacier. Also east of the valley is the Rosenlouwi Gorge, a deep and narrow gorge formed by the meltwater of the Rosenlaui Glacier, accessible by a 500 m footpath.

From Rosenlaui we went Brienz on the northern shore of Lake Brienz for lunch.











After lunch we went back to Lauterbrunnen and roamed around the place for a while. We went up to Trummelbach.





We returned to the BnB after a very long day. View from the room.



We would start towards London the next day. Had to spend the rest of the evening packing before calling it a day.

[BlackPearl]

Day 17 and 18 - Lauterbrunnen to Champagne (France) and Champage to London

Initial plan was to drive non-stop to London from Lauterbrunnen. But after a careful thought we decided that it was prudent to stop somewhere on the way. Rajsri booked a BnB in Champagne. We started from Lauterbrunnen after breakfast.



Rajsri wanted to visit Saint Ursanne on the way.

Saint-Ursanne is an old town and a former municipality of the district of Porrentruy in the canton of Jura, Switzerland which has preserved much of its medieval character

We could not stop for more than 5 minutes in Saint-Ursanne as we had a very long way to go. Just clicked a few pictures of the town and promised to go back to this beautiful medieval town.



On the way to Champagne



We reached Champagne in the evening. Michelle was waiting for us and gave a warm welcome. The BnB was beautiful.







In the evening Michelle asked us what we would like to have for dinner. There was no menu card and Michelle did not understand a single word of English. The communication between us was hilarious. Finally we were able to order a veal chop for Rajsri and lobster thermidore for me. But during dinner the lobster dish was served first. It looked so delicious that Rajsri pounced upon it and took it for herself. I had to eat the veal chop which was also fantastic but not as good as as the lobster. I felt cheated and had to take revenge. But it was a difficult task. It meant I had to go through the ordeal of communicating with Michelle. I showed her the left over shell of the lobster and begged to have one more. She looked confused and then she put her hands on her head in bewilderment. She could not believe that we could eat so much. Finally being such a sweet lady that she is, she made one more lobster dish for me!



Next morning it was time bid adieu to Michelle and start on our way to London.



The drive back to London was uneventful. After reaching home we had to quarantine for 14 days.

-------------------------------------

A few statistics about the trip -

Total distance traveled: 5949 Kilometers

Fuel consumed: 620 Litres

Average fuel consumption: 9.59 kmpl

Cost of fuel: £777

Overall expense: Both of us are foodies and we spend a lot of amount on it in every trip. Usually the ballpark figure for our Europe trips before this was £300 per day for two of us including everything except shopping. But Switzerland is more expensive and this time it was £350 per day. So total cost for the 18 day trip came to roughly £6500.

Cameras used: Nikon D810 with 16-35 24-120 and 70-300 lenses, iPhone 11 pro max, iPhone XS max, Gopro Hero 8 Black and Dji Mavic Mini

--The End--

[vb-saan]

Thread moved from Assembly Line to the Travelogues section.

Awesome travelogue! Nothing much to say, just waiting for travel to be reopened in this part of the world

Thank you for sharing

[haisaikat]

Let me be the first to congratulate you, what an epic Travelogue, the pictures and the locations made me spellbound. For people like me, who have seen Switzerland mostly through the eyes of Yash Chopra, this is a completely different experience all together. Hope to visit here someday in the future while the strength in my joints still stay alive.

The opening drone footage compilation is a terrific starter. This falls nothing short of 5 stars.

The two of you make a wonderful couple, stay blessed.

I feel like being T-800, "I need you car, your drone, your camera and your vacation . . . and I will add the PLEASE".

I just had one question, till date had only seen the Belvedere Hotel in forwards, now I actually get to ask someone who has gone by it, where do guests park cars of they are staying here?

[Samba]

Surreal pics! Brilliant travelogue. Rated 5*.

This pic-



Reminds me of this!

[TechNomad]

Lovely travelogue !! and brilliant pics all around ( incl. the food !!) . This will surely help when we plan a trip to Switzerland . Could you kindly share the booking URLs / passes for the places you stayed / visited , road taxes , driving restrictions if any etc.

Thanks.

[anshu1101]

Stuff of dreams man!! What a travelogue. Amazing vistas, amazing roads, awesome food and a brilliant vehicle. What more could one ask for?

Thank you for the brilliant travelogue, made my day!

[LoneRidder]

Wow, simple awesome. Always look forward to your travelogues. Great details and beautiful pictures!

[51morris]

Fabulous travelogue filled with fantastic pictures of scenery, wheels and food! I've always wanted to drive to Europe from London but the thought of driving on the wrong side of the road has always put me off You definitely inspire me to give it a go.

[PapaBravo]

Stuff of dreams as usual !! I could literally hear Rajsri saying Don't stop in my ears.

I am going to get all the images from you and use as wallpapers. The place-photography-you both-car, everything is just perfect.

Can't wait for the restrictions to relax and do a trip with you guys.

Till then, keep 'em coming.

Cheers

[anandavinash]

Blackpearl, this travelogue is incredible. I have been fortunate enough to see most of the places mentioned by you over a period of 17 years of travel to Southern Germany and Switzerland. A lot of my travel within CH has been by road too but never thought to document it in such a detailed manner.

If and when you do make it back to Zermatt, en route to Gornergrat is a stop known as Rotenboden. A short walk (downhill) from this station takes you to Riffelsee from where you can enjoy stunning views of the Matterhorn. The picture below is what I managed to get on a clear day in October 2019.

Despite traveling at least once a year on work to Switzerland from 2004, 2019 was the first time I went to Zermatt / Gornergrat and was fortunate enough to get this view. My wife and I drove down from Gstaad to Taesch and back the same day. Had a lovely new Mazda 3 to drive around.

[RJK]

Fabulous stuff!

You really are living my or rather many of us on TBHP's dream man!

For some of the pics of the RR, I think JLR should pay you, such outstanding photos with perfect light & location. Enough to say you're putting the RR to proper grand touring use