Sherlock Holmes

9th Sep 18

Once again to Interlaken Ost station to catch the train to Meiringen just past the end of Lake Brienz. Thirty minutes later we arrived full of anticipation as we had read there was a big Sherlock Holmes connection as well as being the birthplace of the meringue. It wasn’t long before we saw Sherlock - his statue and museum were almost immediately outside the train station. It seems it was at the local Reichenbach falls where Holmes and Professor Moriarty fell whilst fighting. We wandered through the village and noticed that the shops seemed to be closed (on a Sunday) which was a little disappointing as we kept seeing nice things in the windows.

Sherlock Holmes in Meiringen

After a small exploration of some other waterfalls on one side of the valley we discovered that these were not the ones we were looking for and found the signs pointing the way to the correct ones. Quick lunch stop then onto the funicular which took us, along with some teenage girls (at least one of whom needed an introduction to personal hygiene products) to the foot of the falls.

Repeating the recent ploy of allowing everyone else to dash off in search of all the attractions in a hurry, we paused to enjoy the view and take our photos in a Sherlock Holmes template and then slowly made our way up the trail following the falls. On reaching the top of the falls we crossed and walked down part way in the woods to find the point where the fight between Holmes and Moriarty took place, before retracing our steps to the top and a well earned glass of cola at yet another perfectly placed restaurant in the warm sunshine.

When we returned to the village we again wandered around and discovered yet more shops which didn’t open on a Sunday.

To make up for the lack of shopping opportunities we thought we would treat ourselves to some tea (Yes - we have northern roots). As this was our last night in Switzerland, and we hadn’t yet experienced it, there was no doubt it had to be fondue time. We found a nice authentic looking restaurant where the waitresses dressed as Heidi. We talked things through with her, confessed to being fondue virgins, and eventually ordered a simple bowl of melted cheese with lumps of bread to dip in - oh and a glass of local wine to accompany it. We polished off the basket of bread using up barely half the cheese, and fortunately Heidi came back with a fresh basket for us to complete the task. The combination of cheeses (whatever they were) were absolutely gorgeous, the wine was lovely, and it had to be done but it does seem very expensive for bread and cheese, and a paraffin burner.

Back on the train to Interlaken - the Swiss do very good trains and we enjoyed travelling on every single one of them - and a slow stroll back through the town noticing that quite a few of the shops were still open in here even after 9PM.

10th Sep 18

The following morning and sadly it's time to go home. We could easily have spent another three or four days in this beautiful area without getting bored, but our bank manager did suggest it was probably time to go. Catching the 12.05 train from Interlaken West to Basel which takes approximately two hours - plenty of time to update a blog. We even found our bus at Basel Train station first time and entered the airport from the right country for our flight home.

The meet and greet car parking service worked perfectly and the car was waiting for us just outside the arrivals lounge at Gatwick.