Sojurn in Wengen 2017: a change well needed. Latest views, times, comments, &etc.

Latest updload is 20th October 2017 at 17:48.


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Up here, there's now a DSL internet link (well, for a couple years now) so in theory at least it's possible to keep up to date with my webpages, e-mail and so on - but in practice, especially the first couple of weeks up here there is sometimes so much else to do which is far more enjoyable and takes time so the internet takes a back seat as it were. Besides of which I had to re-install the main telephone here since Swisscom has now gone digital on a national basis, meaning a new 'phone interface and the necessary cables and all that, but it's been 6 weeks odd now so I'd better get down to something.

Since I often forget to copy up various momentoes, photographs and so on to this webpage I thought that while I'm having a bit of a 'rest' day I'd collect some more of the publishable bits and pieces and put them in order, so there's more updates just below.

Coming up, where you get off.

(Stop giggling at the back there...!)
As before things are not in any particular overall chronological order! First-off there's virtually no cars up here (you can't drive up from the valley, you come with the rack-and-pinion railway (narrow-guage) from Lauterbrunnen up here to Wengen station. The station was 'modernized' a few years back and in my opinion it could have been done in a more fitting manner at least with some traditional wood covering over the new concrete walls below rather than leaving that bare. That said the station still has it's own charms at the same time as helping the traffic to the Jungfrau which many tourists come through to see. This is the station building:

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Now just as a quickie, this is a little like what I'd have preferred it to look like (still allowing for the proper ventilation, safety constructs etc.) - what d'you think? Here-:

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Here you can see the 'many' platforms it has (in fact it's just the 1 line to and from the Lauterbrunnen valley with a couple of double sidings to allow for up- and down- passing).

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Around little Wengwald.

While we're on about stations (no, I'm not a 'railway nut' and I don't stand around on platforms in the rain wearing an anorak!) I must mention the small station on the way up to Wengen from Lauterbrunnen, called 'Wengwald'. It is a railway station, but it is rather small, serving mostly the locals from that area, and believe it or not it is a 'request stop', i.e. the train will stop if you hold out your hand as a request!

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That's the whole station - this is where you'd get on the train (the 'platform' is around 6 feet [or 2 metres] long):-

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By the way the train looks rather like this if you didn't make it to the station on time and missed it!

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Some of the features of this railway (the Wengernalpbahn) are quite different from what you might expect, mainly due to the sheer gradient it climbs and to the number of tunnels which it runs through - most of which were originally dug out by manual labour and a lot of hand tools over a hundred years ago, although there were of course some air and steam powered hammers and so on even then. This is the lower entrance to Wengwald coming up from Lauterbrunnen.

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now with the passenger train coming into view (notice the narrow track guage) here

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and the view of that train as it comes into the station:-

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Once it leaves the station it goes on its way to Wengen, this is the sort of incline that it has to travel upon as it climbs away from Wengwald (yes I know I left my camera kit in view but as many who know me will tell you, I'm lazy...):

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While I was around there was a goods train that also went up to Wengen, well how else do the village shops there get their stock sent up? It was only a tank wagon plus a few trucks carrying other items, the 'engine' that drives it pushes it from the rear - you can see the Driver and the Guard (same man!) just here:-

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Sometimes, though, the train just can't reach where you need to make a delivery, for example for larger material or more typically for more isolated sites such as ski slopes in preparation. So it's fairly normal to use other kinds of transport, the kind which you probably aren't used to find ringing your doorbell for a garden delivery:

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As a matter of interest, for medical purposes e.g. when someone has to be brought to hospital, that mode of transport is also used to take a patient from the local (excellent) doctors' surgery when needed.

Up from Wengen on the way up to Wengenalp and Kleine Scheidegg there's a stop at Allmend and the view from below Wengwald, quite a distance, is a long way; Allmend station itself (also a request stop in the summer!) is towards the left and the ski-lift building is towards the right - but it is a distant view:-

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Also a more distant view which is on the way down from Wengenalp is called the 'bumps' for its nature as a ski slope, but it's also a fine hike to do with a lot of nature to see on the way:-

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Up to the Mannlichen.

There's a cable gondola that takes you up to the Mannlichen from Wengen, and it used to go from its' station at the top of Wengen but it now has a newer station local to the centre of the village - from there you can see some upper views of the village:-

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and here there's a view to the right of that with the covered ice-rink for curling to the right under the light-brown-ish roof:

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Once you're up on the Mannlichen you can see a number of breathtaking views, far more than I've had the time to incorporate in this little bit of messing around for the web... for a start the photos here are small-sized to keep filesize down. Anyway, right here with the Jungfrau in the background (yes, I like a jungfrau with me too sometimes...) is the Lauberhorn where the famous downhill ski run championships run down from every year:-

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Up here they seem to have placed some wooden carved statues recently, they do stand out a bit:-

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and this poor fellow all on his own with just his dog up here:-

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Also, they seem to have let one of the village clowns loose (well they haven't caught up with me yet!). Lazing about as usual I suppose:-

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Some folk have suggested that the insignia embroidered into that hat says "Womanizer" - naturally I wouldn't have a clue where such ideas could originate, so before any malicious gossip gets started I must make clear that it in fact says "Wengenizer", far more appropriate!

They do have to have avalanche protection schemes of differing kinds and even for just the Mannlichen there are various railings, borders and walls - some of the upper ones you can see here:

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The reasons for these were made quite clear in early 1999 (as mentioned later on below), the following is the remaining building which was part of the old Mannlichen cable-gondola station, it's used just for storage now:

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For the end of this little outing there's a view of Wengen from above on the way down from the Mannlichen, this is about all of the village except a few farmhouses and things which are a bit remote:-

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Brienzersee (on the boat).

There's a boat excursion we took on the Brienzersee on a very fine sunny day so here's a couple of the shots that show a little of the outstanding view that's to see from the boat. The water is well oxygenated but very clear, which is why you can see the wonderful colour under a good clear sky.
It starts out from Interlaken, and immediately fares under the bridge before getting towards Boenigen:-

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There's all sorts of old buildings on the shore, for example between Interlaken and Ringgenberg, from a rather large manor, chalets, small houses and little boathouses right on the shoreline:-

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Another fine-looking residence in the middle of tiny Iseltwald, further along (about 36 minutes along from the start), I'm wondering if it would be large enough for me but I'm sure it would be a wee bit large for my wallet!!! - Here it is:

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Just a little way on from Iseltwald there's an unreal-looking 'island' full of vegetation you'd see inland:-

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Then further along we go and there's an amazing hotel, virtually isolated physically from anywhere except by using a funicular railcar (or losing thousands of calories on a steep & wandering hike up there) - and there's also a significant waterfall just down the shore from this funicilar:-

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Finally you can see the journeys' end and arriving in Brienz which is charming in itself:

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Is it the drink?

Now one thing has always puzzled me - sometimes I'm wandering around and I see things that really set me thinking. Not that there's anything wrong with that, no, it's just that it's so unusual for me to actually be thinking. I can sometimes be found DOing something, or EATing perhaps, and very often SLEEPing somewhere, but as most people who know me will tell you I try to avoid thinking at all reasonable costs.

NOW, however, I have turned over a new (tea? Not sure, haven't thought about it) leaf since I've seen the promise of a lifetime come true. Take a look and see if you can imagine my thinking:-

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Yes! You've seen the light, I'm sure - my dreams have come true 'cos there's Moonshine in them there hills - for sure and I ain't been thinking about anything else since!!!

One thing I've often looked at while I've been here is a particular rock formation known as the Lobhorn, just to the West here, and this time around it seems to me that there's a change to it, perhaps a chunk of stone has broken and descended or whatever, but in any event that little 'lump' in the middle of the top, seemingly leaning over to the right, wasn't prominent before... I'll have to look at some of my negatives from a decade or more earlier and see if it's perhaps because I need new glasses. (Yes, I used to shoot using 120-rollfilm for better, larger negatives than 35mm, and I still do at times...)
Of course, it just could be the effect of all that newly-discovered moonshine...!

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Sunrises, Sunsets.

Now even up here in the Alps, nature still takes it course, i.e. natural things still happen naturally! I refer, of course, to such things as Sunrise (stop sniggering at the back!) and Sunset. Because we're more or less surrounded by ranges of hills and mountains way above our own altitude, the horizons being therefore higher in elevation, the time between sunrise and sunset is shorter than you might be used to at home somewhere in a less mountainous region. In fact both sunrise and sunset are quite sudden (again due to the high elevation of the horizons) but any clouds can be lit superbly by the sun just below the horizons and give spectacular effects. Ergo, first take a peek at a pair from sunrise...

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Then the same sunrise just starting to shine over on to the Lobhorn (2/3 of the way to the right):

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Of course the next thing that is interesting during the day has to be the sunset, and here's the view from more or less the same positions:

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...and again that sunset now below and behind the Lobhorn:

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Plus, I just couldn't resist another view that presented itself this evening, you don't always see this dramatic a contrast and colouring of the sky this way during the sunsets:

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You can also view from the way up to the Mannlichen (there's a cable-car cabin that runs from the new terminal in the centre of Wengen up to the Mannlichen mount, the 'old' Mannlichen-cable-car was overrun by an avalanche in February 1999). From the 'cabin' you can see where there's another rather nice 'scape...

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Village themes & times.

There was a local 'cheese festival' in the village, which always goes down well together with some entertainment with a lot of cheese sold and a fair few drinks and snacks as well, as you can imagine. The traditional alpine horns were being played:

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and it's apparently fairly thirsty work up there on those horns!

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Next there's also a time when some of the Wengeners wearing traditional costume get to walk in step with the carrying of many 'cow bells' (those massive bells that Alpine cows wear in the pastures up there); they walk in rhythm with the 'swing' of the bells that they carry, right through the centre of the village:

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and a little nearer:

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There's Nightlife!

Now there is some 'night life' here, despite things being nice and quiet all around, it just depends upon what your definition of 'night life' actually is... erm no, I'll not go into details of any bedroom habits but I will show you here what I happenned to catch with my camera later in the evening [without a telephoto lens!]. It was the kind of moon setting together with the clouds well after the sunset that gave a view you'll often not catch at home:

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...and it is amazing how much light that the reflections from the moon actually give, allowing so much to be seen so long after dark (given a wee bit of exposure latitude):

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When we got here together we saw that we had some new neighbours across the path from the front door, they've been there before but some years ago for the last time. I asked one of them if they'd like a 'selfie', but they just said 'bah' in a rather off-hand manner so I guess there's no pulling the wool over their eyes. They're must be bored with the new technology; anyway I took a quickie picture for them and I didn't charge them a penny [sorry, rappen]. After all I couldn't fleece them like that and carry on saying I'm an honest man.

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The Weather!

Just to give an idea of how rapidly the weather can change up here, you can see in the following 3 photos some differences which were at different times during the day! The beauty of the climate here is that the air is so clean and lacking in that sticky humidity - it can be just 9 degrees C outdoors yet that can be fine for walking in shorts and short shirtsleeves! Mind you there are times when it might be 18 degrees and it'll be time for putting on a coat (although rarely); in the real winter it does of course get right down below freezing but again without that dirty humidity.
These are the three photos of the view across the way at differing times:

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... and then:

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... and then we get down to this:

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Well that's it for the moment, there'll no doubt be more coming as soon as I get a round tuit [there's a definition of what round tuits are elsewhere on my site, suffice to say they're difficult to get hold of], I'll do my best to update this with more comprehensive information.


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