Or ‘bye bye’ as we would say. It’s the end of Dutch week, and they’re all off back to Holland.
A föhn is blowing hard, so it’s very mild. The lifts at the top are closed, but we’re not bothered as we’re off to Interlaken.
It was windy down there too, so we didn’t hang around.
We had a big storm last night, with high winds and heavy snow. This morning however, the sun is out. Trains were packed earlier and it wasn’t possible to get to Scheidegg from Wengen.
Outside our house.
The streets have been ploughed, but there’s an awful lot of snow to get rid of.
Wengen has three churches, but this is the one that you always see in photos.
The Figeller bar will do a roaring trade later this afternoon.
We had our usual Wednesday evening up at the Caprice last night. Outside it was absolutely chucking it down.
This morning the snow had a pause, but it returned at lunchtime, accompanied by strong winds which closed the railway between Wengernalp and Scheidegg. All the ski lifts closed too. The kids are happy to ski in the street.
We went to Interlaken and it was even snowing down there. It’s nice to be back at home in the warm.
It started snowing overnight, and everyone is very happy. I cleared the path to our house at lunchtime, now it needs doing again.
It’s windy at the top with lots of lifts closed. The kids are happy to have a nursery slope without any muddy patches.
We got wrapped up and had a wander around the village.
Uptown Lights at the Caprice later.
Tourist offices in the Alps publish figures for the amounts of snow in their resorts. Usually you get 2 figures, one for the lower slopes at village level, and another for the upper slopes near the top of the ski area. To provide the measurements, a marked pole is set into the ground. Here’s ours:
As you can see, we could certainly do with some snow. Thankfully we have a big snowmaking system. This means that we can still ski back to the village, despite there being no natural snow. The artificial runs do look a bit odd though. This is the view from Grindelwald looking up towards Scheidegg.
Val’s not working today, so we had a nice lunch while we were there. As you can see from the picture it’s a gloomy day, but snow is forecast for later this evening. Fingers crossed.
It’s warm and sunny again. Val was off to work nice and early, but unfortunately her customer wasn’t quite so diligent. He turned up an hour late for his lesson. His loss.
I’m off to Mürren. Nice views up the valley from the cable car.
Looking back towards our side of the valley.
Mürren is much smaller than Wengen, there are only about 450 residents and a couple of thousand guest beds. This gives it a very relaxed atmosphere.
Farmers’ market every Monday.
A little funicular takes me up to Allmendhübel above the village. Kids having great fun.
A view to Wengen’s ski area, dominated by the Eiger and Mönch. It should look a lot whiter than it does.
A nice day out.
It’s overcast but really warm, and Wengen is looking distinctly green. Val got this picture on her way home from work at lunchtime.
Our nursery slope won’t last more than another couple of days unless the weather changes.
The ski instructors do their best with the little snow that remains.
It’s not all about the skiing though. The goats love the dry weather.
Michael brought me a couple of flagons of beer from Heidelberg. They’re way too big for the fridge, and it’s not cold enough on the balcony to chill them properly.
Quiz later.
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