Swiss memories

(Conclusion)

The highlight of my family’s recent Swiss vacation was a visit to its peaks — at one point being amongst 24 of them. Imagine this, inverted ice cream cones dusted with confectioner’s sugar, lined up irregularly against the blue sky, as if in a contest to touch the sky first. To me, Switzerland is a landscape painting that is unframed, without boundaries.

 The Swiss think their mountains are the country’s stairway to its tourism boom, and they believe that nature is the bedrock of tourism in their country (hence the tagline of its tourism campaign: Switzerland. get natural.).

From Gstaad, we conquered the first of our peaks via cable car to Glacier 3000, where the Peak Walk by Tissot beckoned. Already, the first glimpse of the summit station designed by architect Mario Botta is awesome: from there, weather permitting, you can behold a stunning panorama of no fewer than 24 snow-capped 4,000-meter giants.

The author on the Thrill Walk at the Schilthorn summit.

The Peak Walk, a suspension bridge connecting two mountain peaks, is the first of its kind in the world. The 107-meter-long and 80-centimeter-wide bridge is your suspended platform to amazing views of the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc (the Alps’ highest point), Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. The bridge has a partial glass floor — after all, the thrill of the walk is partly due to the fact that the bridge is the world’s second highest suspension bridge after the Titlis Cliff Walk, which is 3,000 m. (9,800 ft.) above sea level.

The bridge was quivering in the wind and snow while my son Chino and I were midway through it, but I wasn’t worried: the designers took the extreme conditions into account, and I read that the Peak Walk could withstand winds of about 200 km/h (120 mph).

At the end of the Peak Walk is another summit, the Scex Rouge, where the Swiss flag was flying proudly. After my exhilarating walk through the quivering bridge almost 3,000-m. high, I wanted to plant the Philippine flag on the summit, too.

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After passing through country roads lined by towering waterfalls, we arrived at the foot of Mt. Schilthorn. At 2,970 meters, the Schilthorn has a magnificent 360-degree panoramic view of the “Swiss skyline,” including Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

This peak’s claim to fame is that this was where the 1969 James Bond movie (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) was filmed. Visitors can follow in James Bond’s footsteps by visiting the interactive adventure exhibition “Bond World 007” or on the new “007 Walk of Fame.”

Interlaken. Photos by Joanne Rae M. Ramirez

But James Bond isn’t the thrill of this mountain: the “Thrill Walk” at the intermediate stop Birg is. Starting at the Birg terrace, the Thrill Walk leads down to the vertical walls of the imposing rock massif. The 200-meter-long steel structure clings to the rocks and has a variety of sections: a 20-meter glass-bottomed floor, a nine-meter-long Nepal-style rope bridge and an eight-meter-long crawl-through tunnel especially for kids. The rope bridge was particularly thrilling because it felt like I was walking a tightrope and the rope bridge was my safety net. Since it was relatively a short walk (compared to the Peak Walk), I crossed the bridge twice!

We stayed at the charming Hotel Spitzhorn in Gstaad. The storybook hotel looks like the wooden Swiss farmhouses in souvenir shops, with steep triangular roof and balconies with carved balustrades.

Our room had a view of cows grazing in the distance, feeding on dainty little yellow flowers and their bells tinkling like wind chimes. (Cowbells are still used in Switzerland even if cows can now be tracked via transponders.)

View from Mount Rigi.

After breakfast, we hopped on the Panoramic Express from Gstaad to Zweisimmen, where we took the connecting train to Interlaken. The scenic journey took us through the Simmen Valley (Simmental), past richly decorated, characteristic farmhouses and through the pristine mountain world to Lake Thun and to the well-known resort town of Interlaken in the Bernese Oberland. We had lunch with Filipino-Swiss Celina Finger at Stadthaus, famous for its celebrity chef René Schudel.

That night, we checked into one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever stayed in, the Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel. The Belle Epoch-era hotel, built in the 19th century, boasts modern and luxurious amenities and has a view of a park and more snowcapped mountains. That evening, my husband Ed and I had a romantic three-course dinner at the hotel’s fine-dine restaurant La Terrasse, an elegant glass-walled restaurant.

The next day, we toured breathtakingly beautiful and serene Interlaken, a village between two lakes. According to Richard Gubler, our knowledgeable and accommodating Swiss guide, Interlaken is a microcosm of the entire beauty of Switzerland. Here, a mirror image of the splendor of mountains, blue skies and vivid flowers above stare at you from the pristine lakes. So when you look at the lakes, you see double the beauty of Switzerland.

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There are countless of lakes in Switzerland and on the penultimate day of our Swiss sojourn, we rode a boat that glided on Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee). Chalets and castles lined the banks of the lake to Vitznau, where our scenic short cruise ended. From Vitznau, we took a cogwheel train that took us to another summit, the Rigi Kulm. Rising to 1,797 meters above sea level, Rigi Kulm is the highest peak of Mount Rigi.

Here, there are fields on the summit, not unlike those in the movie The Sound of Music (set in nearby Austria). There are also cliffs where you can behold no fewer than two dozen lakes. You can meander on this peak, sing the “Hills are alive...” and then perch on spot near a cliff and see forever.

A picture-perfect view from Victoria-Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa in Interlaken.

It was the perfect, serene break from the heart-thumping, exhilarating Peak Walk and the Thrill Walk. Here, your eyes as well as your feet wander, not just walk.

Here we had it all: winding hiking trails, and our own space in the sun that had views that took our breath away.

After Mount Rigi, we took the cogwheel train down to the jetty and took another scenic cruise back to Lucerne.

Swiss memories a mountain high still soar in our treasure trove of unforgettable moments, even to this day, when we’re on the ground, but with feet still firmly planted on Cloud 9.

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