{"id":43209,"date":"2017-07-02T08:18:45","date_gmt":"2017-07-02T14:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=43209"},"modified":"2017-07-02T08:18:45","modified_gmt":"2017-07-02T14:18:45","slug":"tip-visiting-berner-oberland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/07\/tip-visiting-berner-oberland.html","title":{"rendered":"A tip on visiting the Berner Oberland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Eiger, M\u00f6nch, and Jungfrau, as seen from Beatenberg to the north
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you want a place where the sun shines all day every day, you\u2019ll probably get a desert.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many years ago, an uncle came through Switzerland for a day or two. \u00a0He visited Lucerne\/Luzern.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Afterwards, he told me that he thought the Alps pretty, but not really\u00a0as impressive as he had expected.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I happened to know that it had been raining and foggy the whole time he was in the country. \u00a0And Luzern, while a pleasant little city situated on a stunningly beautiful lake, is only on the edge<\/em> of the big mountains. \u00a0At their beginning.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In other words, he hadn\u2019t really seen<\/em> the Alps.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I realize that it\u2019s not always practicable but, where possible, if seeing the Alps is a high priority for you, you should allow as much time as you can for seeing them. \u00a0The weather in the Alpine regions is wet, often cloudy and misty and rainy, and days can pass without the major peaks making an appearance.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, during the time that my wife and I were in Grindelwald earlier in June, the weather was unseasonably warm and the skies were pretty clear. \u00a0Over the past three days, however, we haven\u2019t seen any of the most important\u00a0mountains at all.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean that the area hasn\u2019t been beautiful. \u00a0It is, for example, breathtakingly green. \u00a0(That\u2019s what buckets of rain, supplemented by fog, can do for a place.) \u00a0And it hasn\u2019t been fully socked in. \u00a0Rather, clouds have come and gone, and mist has risen and settled and risen again \u2014 rather in the manner of one of those traditional Chinese landscape paintings, with the mountains mystically wreathed in cloud. \u00a0The peaks have never fully appeared, but their bases have been massively evident, and there have been tantalizing glimpses. \u00a0And we\u2019ve had a place with a stunning view.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve watched some of the tourists walking up and down the streets of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, peering upward for a fleeting view of the Alpine titans, forlornly taking selfies against banks of fog. \u00a0Most of them, I\u2019m guessing, will have had only one night or a couple of nights in the Berner Oberland \u2014 a very large percentage of the current tourists are Chinese; I don\u2019t imagine that they\u2019ll come to Switzerland very often during their lives \u2014 and I feel sorry for them. \u00a0The glory of the Alps is unforgettable, once it\u2019s been seen. \u00a0What a shame to come and miss it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So the first tip is, if you can, to allow several days in the Berner Oberland. \u00a0If the mountains are cloud-bedecked, the country below them is still gorgeous. \u00a0There is still good hiking. \u00a0You might go to Tr\u00fcmmelbach Falls, actually located inside the mountain. \u00a0Bern is a pleasant city, with a nice cathedral alongside a spectacular river view and various other sights (including some Einstein-related locations). \u00a0For Mormons<\/a>, the temple in Zollikofen is available. \u00a0And there are Fondue and R\u00f6sti and Raclette and Wienerschnitzel and Z\u00fcri Geschnetzeltes and Bratwurst and Apfelschorle and\u00a0Ch\u00e4sech\u00fcechli (!) and scores of varieties of cheese and chocolate to be sampled. \u00a0And maybe a yodeling festival or something of that sort. \u00a0Or try paragliding!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And the second tip is to not give up hope even if things seem to be fogged in. \u00a0Sometimes, even when it\u2019s cloudy in the lowlands, the peaks of the Alps will be bathed in brilliantly clear sunlight. \u00a0You need to ask. \u00a0These things are changeable. \u00a0Often, in fact, train stations and hotels will have television screens connected to cameras high up, so that you can see what things look like there. \u00a0To be atop or near a peak and to look across what the Swiss call Nebelmeer<\/em> (\u201ca sea of fog\u201d) to other peaks soaring above it like islands is a wonderfully memorable sight.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My third tip? \u00a0All seasons in Switzerland are wonderful, because Switzerland<\/em> is wonderful. \u00a0But the weather in the Alps is probably at its clearest from late August into mid-October or so.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 If you want a place where the sun shines all day every day, you\u2019ll probably get a desert. \u00a0 Many years ago, an uncle came through Switzerland for a day or two. \u00a0He visited Lucerne\/Luzern. \u00a0 Afterwards, he told me that he thought the Alps pretty, but not really\u00a0as impressive as he had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA tip on visiting the Berner Oberland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    If you want a place where the sun shines all day every day, you'll probably get a desert.   Many years ago, an uncle came through\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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