Off to Piz Gloria
I had been working in Luxembourg, and my wife was lucky enough to come visit for a week. Her one request – “I want to go to the Swiss Alps and see the mountains.” As a Bond fan herself, she was all for making Piz Gloria our end goal.
It was a long but beautiful scenic drive from Luxembourg City to Interlaken, Switzerland – a town nestled between the lakes of Brienz and Thun, providing a picturesque gateway to the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps.
After we passed through Interlaken, we parked at a popular stepping-off point – Lauterbrunnen. This small village, known as the “Valley of 72 Waterfalls,” is situated in a deep valley surrounded by towering rock faces and cascading waterfalls created by the snow runoff from the peaks above.
From Lauterbrunnen, we took a train up the west side of the valley to the village of Wengen. We spent the evening walking around the quaint village and had a magnificent dinner at our hotel – the Silberhorn Hotel. We watched the sunset and early night from our hotel’s balcony while we listened to the nearby waterfalls.
The next morning, we took the train back down to Lauterbrunnen for our ascent to Piz Gloria. To accomplish this, we took a series of cable cars and trains up to the beautiful village of Mürren, which is right below Schilthorn and Piz Gloria. Finally, it was time for one last cable car journey – the Schilthorn cable car, the steepest in the world!
We arrived at Piz Gloria with 30 minutes to spare before our reservation for brunch at the restaurant. It was the perfect amount of time to walk through the OHMSS James Bond exhibit- “Spy World”. This has been covered in more depth by people such as David Zaritsky (@TheBondExperience), so all I’ll say is it was a fun addition to the experience of being in both a Bond location and a genuinely beautiful and stunning part of the world.
POSTCARDS FROM PIZ GLORIA
We opted to select a few items from the restaurant menu instead of their staple – The James Bond Brunch. However, you better believe one of those items was a glass of Bollinger. The views out of the rotating restaurant, offering panoramic vistas of the Bernese Alps, were the icing on the proverbial cake.
After we finished eating, we explored the outside area where my friend, 1970’s George Lazenby, was hanging out and definitely not a cardboard mannequin. We were lucky enough to get some great views of the surrounding mountains before the clouds came in. It really is stunning up here.
Next up was the Piz Gloria gift shop. They offer an assortment of various Bond and Swiss-related items. And after we spent more than we intended, we were on our way back down the mountain, where we stopped at the station right below Piz Gloria – Birg. It provides even more stunning views via a walk-around platform, allowing visitors to take in the breathtaking Alpine scenery.
We descended back down and made the track back to my temporary home in Luxembourg. On the way back we stopped for a quick visit to the OMEGA museum where I ogled over a bunch of watches I would love to own.
Overall, it ended up being a successful Bond mission. Our trip to Piz Gloria and the stops along the way were amazing, albeit a little short. This little taste of the Swiss Alps left us wanting more. I had to literally drag my wife away from the mountains.
Until next time, Swiss Alps…
-Justin aka @RogueBondLifestyle
