St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-10-11
The Tourjee European Excursion.
A PLEASANT JAUNT THROUGH THE OLD
WORLD.
Correspondence of the Caledonian.)

WOhl1D.
Correspondence of the Caledonian.)
No. 3.
The journey from Bern to Interlaken,
the greatest of all the Swiss summer
resorts, is very delightful. A railway
ride of 30 miles brings one to the Curl
GUS old city of Thun, and two miles
further to the little town of Scherzligen,
where you take the boat for the oppo-
site end of the Lake of Thun. You are
now ushered into the presence of the
high Alps of the Oberland, and amid
the most romantic scenery of the Swiss
lakes. High mountains tower up on
either side, while the shores are adorn-
ed with chateaux, old castles and pic
turesque hamlets. The Niesen, noun
tain 1853 feet in altitude, lies very near
the lake, and in clear weather the
Blumlisalp, the Jungfrau, the Monch,
the Eiger, the ShreckhOrn, the Wetter-
horn, and even the peak of the Fins
teraarhorn, which is 1920 feet high.
may all be seen. The lake is only 1O5
miles long, which is much too short for
the enthusiastic traveller. At Darligen
the steamer is exchanged for the queer
cars of the Bodelei Railway, which con-
meets Interlaken and the Lake of Brienz
with the Lake of Thun. The cars are
two storieu, similar to the tramway
carriages in London and Paris, except
that the upper seats as well as the lower
are covered by roof. A ten minutes
ride brought us to Interlaken, and as
many more placed US within the Hotel
Ritschard.
Interlaken is situated midway be-
tween the two lakes with the Harder, a
mountain 5,2l6 feet high at it's back,
and most charming outlook between
other near mountains towards the lofty
and snow covered Jungfrau and Silber-
horn in front. A more charming scene
than is presented Oh a clear morning
when the sun lights up the great white
snow fields on these mountains, can not
be conceived. The Jungfrau has an
altitude of 1882 feet 1883 feet less
than Mont Blanc) and the Silberhorn is
IL 1859 feet high. A neighboring peak,
which can also be seen from some parts
of the village and from the Kleine-
Rugen, a little elevation just without
the village, is the Monch (Monk), IL,
600 feet high. Interlaken is filled with
great hotels, and the hotels, during the
summer season, are filed with German,
English, American, French and Russian
tourists, about in the relative proper
tions indicated by this order of naming
them. There is a Kursaal with gar
den attached where two or more con-
certs are given daily, and for this lux
ury each visitor to any of the hotels is
taxed half franc a day.
An excursion to Lauterbrunnen and
Grindelwald was a happy experience
Notwithstanding rain-storm which
prevailed during part of the day. We
first rode to Lauterbrunnen and viewed
the Fall of the Staubbach, which here
descends in an unbroken leap of 98C
feet, the highest fall in Switzerland
and then rode back as far as Zweiluts-
chinen, and thence up the valley of the
Black Lutschine to Grindelwald, which
is twelve miles from Interlaken, Lau-
terbrunnen being about seven and
a half miles from the latter place. Neal
Grindelwald are two glaciers, one flow
ing down between the Mettenberg and
the Eiger, and the other between the
Mettenberg and the WetterhOrn. Mos
of the party visited the former. Ice is
here gathered for the hotels at Inter.
laken, and grotto has been made fal
into the crystal deposit, not by the ice
gatherers but by an enterprising ac.
cumulator of half francs.
We left Interlaken with regret, bu
were led to fresh scenes of beauty OF
the waters of the little Brienzer See, o
Lake of Brienz, and at the Giessbacl
Falls, which was the termination of th,
: next stage of our journey. At this spo
a magnificent hOtel-One of the best il
g Switzerland-is situated 500 feet abov,
the lake, and directly in front of tn,
: famous Fall of the Giessbach, which
in a series of cascades, here descend
> 1,148 feet. At night the falls are il
s Illuminated by means of Bengal lights
, and the effect is very enchanting.
The next day we proceeded by steam
: er across the head of the lake to Brienz
5 and then by carriage "a miles over th
5 Brunig Pass to Alpnach Gestad, wher
= steamer was taken over the Lake O
Il Lucerne for Lucerne and Vitznau. Th
t ride was delightful. The scenery, es
n pecially on the south side of the Pass
a very beautiful. This is one of the low
l. er of the Alpine Passes, it's altitude be
o ing only 1896 feet. Instead of stopping
at Lucerne, we simply changed boat
and proceeded to Vitznau for an ascen
of the Rhigi. This mountain has an ele
i vation of 5,906 feet, and two railways
precisely similar to the Marsh railwa
at Mount Washington, have been bull
up its sides, one from Vitznau and tn
other from Arth on the Lake of Zus
In addition to these, there is railwa
of the ordinary kind that runs for sew
eral miles along the side of the noun
:, tain at an elevation of nearly 5000 feet
= one end in fact, being 5,407 feet higf
t The railways for the steep ascent wer
: built from three to eight wears ago froI