Day 9: Schilthorn, Switzerland - 007 Walk of Fame & Farm Fridges

Sunday, July 9, 2023

Schilthorn, Switzerland 🇨🇭 

The next morning, we awoke in a new apartment at the edge of the town of Mürren, Switzerland.  The move from the previous chalet was stressful and tiring, but it was totally worth the extra space and the incredible view.  

I started the morning with some journaling and prayer.  We made breakfast and made our way through Mürren to get on the cable car up the mountain to Schilthorn, the mountaintop film location for a 1969 James Bond film called, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”.

The two cable cars took us to Schilthorn, a mountaintop destination (2970m/. 9744ft) which has a panoramic view of the surrounding mountains.  In the 007 film, Piz Gloria is the hideout for an enemy base and now functions as a mountaintop museum of the film’s history. 

We spent some time on the panoramic viewing patio, admiring the view.  

Then we went inside to the Piz Gloria rotating restaurant.  We had reserved a table by the window and were able to watch the 360 degree view as the outer part of the restaurant rotated 360 degrees every 45 minutes. 

We ordered coffees and croissants, watching the outside world turn slowing in front of us.  

After coffee, we stopped by the fancy 007 bathrooms and walked through an interactive James Bond museum. We watched a virtual flying tour of the filming location in the original film helicopter cockpit.  There was a cool huge, interactive touch screen table with interesting trivia about the film and a small theater, showing clips from the 007 film with on-location shots. 

Then we got on the cable car to one stop down to Birg, a lower panorama with a restaurant and patio.  We enjoyed some brautwurst, bread, and beer.

We also got to go on another thrill walk along a cliff.  This including walking a tight rope, glass walkway, and an exposed fence tunnel over dizzying heights. 

Next, we took the cable car down to Mürren and then went directly to the funicular and went up to the Allmendhubel playground.  

Jonas played while Alina and I relaxed in the shade.  

Afterwards, we rode back down to Mürren and went to our old AirBnB chalet.  Outside, our host started a food cart business in front of her home.  They sell tarts, pastries, and coffee.  So, of course we supported her local business.  She even asked us our opinion about pricing and naming a new product she was going to sell.  

From there, we went back to the cable car station and took it down to a tiny little village above the valley.  

Gimmelwald has a population of 100 people.  You could walk through it in less than 10 minutes.  Most buildings are farmhouses or chalets.  

We stopped by a playground and then went to the main attraction, “The Honesty Store”.  This store is unstaffed and relies on the honesty of people to buy their products and leave the money to pay for it. 

While Alina and Jonas chose a few souvenirs, while I wandered next door. In the same building, is the location for the “Schwarz Mönch” brewery.  This is a dark Swiss beer that had won multiple awards.  So, I helped out the local businesses once again.

While walking through the little village, we noticed there were refrigerators outside of farmhouses.  Local farmers sell cheese, sausage, milk, and eggs out of these little farm fridges. This uses the honesty store mentality.  

We returned to Mürren via cable car, stopped by Co-op to get some groceries, and walked back to the apartment.  It was an amazing and full day