Friday 11th September
When I booked the room in Hotel Euler I skipped the option for breakfast on the basis we could probably find a cafe offering a perfectly adequate breakfast for half the cost. We didn't want to go back into the station, so asked AI for a quiet cafe for a continental breakfast - it chose the hotel directly opposite! (Hotel Victoria), which indeed had a cafe serving breakfast; we had a very nice breakfast of croissant, rolls and coffee probably at half the price of the 'room and breakfast' rate at Hotel Euler.
Our train to Lauterbrunnen didn't leave until 11:30 so we had a couple of hours to take the opportunity to look around central Basel. We walked down to the River Rhine through the old part of Basel, and back again! I guess it took about an hour and a half. The old part of Basel is very attractive and we could have spent more time there had we had the opportunity.
Going on holiday has a strange effect on Jo. Normally she is quite normal, but on holiday it seems she gets possessed by some intense desire to buy expensive clothes or shoes. These desires are quite hard to suppress and suddenly appeared as we got to the end of what I must assume is one of the 'expensive' shopping streets in Basel. A pair of totally inappropriate shoes in a shop window caught Jo's eye - think of light coloured trainers on heels and soles about 2 inches thick. I reasoned there was a good chance they wouldn't have them in Jo's size, so sanctioned going in to look. This expedition was cut very short when Jo turned the shoe over to reveal the price: 750 Swiss Francs - about £750! (I subconsciously typed Swizz Francs!!)
We returned to the hotel where we had to check out by 11:00am, then over to the station were we bought lunch and a drink while we waited for the train. As expected it left on the dot. The only awkward part of this journey was that we had to change at Interlaken Ost where the connection time was 6 minutes. The train was quite crowded and most passengers seemed to be making the change so there was a mad scramble as the train arrived at Interlaken to get to the doors first. Although we were again on the upper deck our sharp elbows and massive case got us to the front and we were away like hares down the platform and onto the train to Lauterbrunnen where we managed to get seats, although as the journey was only about 25 minutes it wouldn't have been a disaster if we hadn't. The next stage of the journey was a cable-car and mountain railway. The cable car was packed as was the mountain railway. Again our sharp elbows bagged us a seat, but we were joined by a couple from Texas; in the short journey we discovered that they had been to a wedding of a cousin (of the man) in Florence. They were travelling by car and had already spent a couple of nights in Cortina and were now staying in Lauterbrunnen, I think they said in an Airbnb, and couldn't resist a trip up to Murren. I should think they were about 30ish; he a strong fit chap who must have been well over 6 foot tall, she a petite slim woman. At Murren station there was a choice of a flight of steps or a lift - we headed for the stairs and the strong Texan offered to carry my suitcase (obviously thinking that Jo was up to the job of carrying hers!) I decided that on this occasion I would accept his kind offer.
We checked into the Hotel Eiger and were very, very pleasantly surprised by our room, a corner suite on the second floor. The website doesn't do the room justice, it's very spacious with a sleeping area, a living area, a bathroom with a shower, and behind the bathroom, and almost as part of the division between the bedroom and living areas, another bath area with bath and wash basin. The bath had the most fantastic view of the Eiger, luckily so far away any mountaineers would not be distracted! All in all a very satisfactory choice of room. The room also has a wrap-around balcony with at least 4 chairs, with views towards the mountains and town.
Having settled in and unpacked (I should mention the room has so much storage it's easy to lose something) we explored the 'town'. Murren is car free, but cyclists are allowed and businesses can use low powered 'buggies'. There is a circular walk around the town that takes about 30 minutes if strolling slowly. There aren't that many hotels but the roads were thronging with visitors - Murren is very popular with day visitors from Lauterbrunnen.
Our hotel had arranged a 'Meet & Greet' occasion for hotel residents at 6:30 pm which we decided to go to - social events like this would normally be something we would avoid, but thought we ought to make an effort. It turned out to be a very jolly affair, helped by complimentary fizzy white wine and nibbles. I think the hotel has about 30 rooms and I should think about 20 guests attended. We homed in on people we could hear speaking English - which turned out to be virtually everyone. And, almost without exception, all Americans. One couple, from Washington state, had a house in Switzerland which had been the lady's grandfather's, which they said was typically Swiss - and completely unmodernised. (Perhaps a reason for staying a few nights at The Eiger Hotel). Another couple were from New York and another from Carolina. What I found interesting was they were varied ages, not all retired. The couple from Carolina were mid thirties and the lady obviously expecting a baby.
During the afternoon there had been much excitement, which we missed completely, when a cow had been airlifted by helicopter from the pastures in Murren down to Lauterbrunnen. One guest (another American) had an amazing photo of the cow dangling 100 feet or so below the helicopter; it was especially good because the cow was silhouetted in front of a small white cloud making it very easy to see. Everyone hoped the cow was now recovering from whatever caused it to be airlifted, and from the journey itself.
We had dinner in the hotel; we chose the 3 course option and it was delicious, with an amuse bouche and refresher in addition to the three chosen courses (fillet steak for my main course!)
