On route from Engelberg to Meiringen, the longest route on the trip, it rained most of the way, turning to snow on the Joch pass, at first we thought it was hail but were extremely happy it turned out to be snow, even if it was wet and cold. According to the locals we are experiencing some unseasonal weather as it should be 23ยบ and sunny this time of the year but being strong woman, we take what comes our way and deal with it.
In Meiringen we did the touristy thing and visited the local sights. We visited the church of St. Michael, where while doing renovation work to the church in 1915, seven earlier churches were found under the present church, we were astounded once again at how accessible this place of heritage was. The church grounds were empty and we entered into the evacuation site via some stairs leading down and we saw the original Roman altars and some of the original church walls. It was fascinating walking amongst the well kept grave site, looking at the headstones, we were surprised at the ages reached by the parish members, it must be in the water!
We visited the Sherlock Holmes museum which, unless you are a fan, is not worth the visit. We have become castle spotters and were pleased to see the Restitum castle ruins in Meiringen.
We took a short detour on the walk from Meiringen to Grindelwald to visit the Aareschlucht, an enormous gorge which is really worth the visit, it is a 1.4km gorge along which the emerald green water gushes. Inside the gorge the Swiss army carved out two caves during World War 2, which could house over 200 men. The caves were never used and have been sealed. We also kept our eyes open for the Tatzelwurm, a mystical creature which may be a distant relative of the loch ness monster, but we were not lucky enough to spot it. However we were lucky enough to spot the lesser known South African tourist when we passed some ladies who spoke some Afrikaans to each other. After spending many days trying to have a chat using gestures and very limited German, it was so nice to have a chat, they we were from Pretoria nogal.
The Reichenbach waterfall was our next scenic stop, it is here where fictitious Sherlock Holmes came to his demise, the spot where he fell was marked with a star. The falls can only be described as fabulous, the steep climb to Zwirgi was ahead of us. By midday the clouds and mist covered most of the area again, but we were able to catch glimpses of the Engelhorner. We stopped in Rosenlaui and here we were rewarded with amazing views of the mountains and the waterfalls in the area.
On the way down to Grindewald we passed many sections which still had large patches of ice, we also saw the Obere Grindelwald glacier. Grindelwald was a very touristy area and after the solitude of the mountains, the loudness of the tourist groups was not pleasant and we rushed to find some accommodation to get away from the noise and to get warm.
