Mountaintop tables
by Eroica Fedder Interlaken is a city in the middle of Switzerland's Bernese Oberland region, lying below the towering Alps and between the rivers Thun and Brienz. It's a popular base for some of Switzerland's extreme Alpine activities such as hang gliding, paragliding, mountain climbing, glacier hiking, and even bungee jumping. But my main interest in coming here was access to the Schilthorn Piz Gloria, a mountaintop restaurant that gained its fame from the 1968 James Bond film On her Majesty's Secret Service. The journey to the restaurant is an all-day event if you want to take your time and enjoy the views. Or you can do it in one and a half hours without detours along the way. I chose the former and headed to Schilthorn by various stages of cable car. The cable cars can hold up to 100 vertigo-free passengers, offering stunning views of the Alp valleys thousands of feet below and the snowy peaks above. The first stage is to Mürren, a small mountainside village that claims to be car-free. The next leg of the ascent to Birg brings you to uninhabited mountainside where you must switch cable cars for the final ascent to Mount Schilthorn and the Piz Gloria Restaurant. The restaurant is literally on the peak of the Schilthorn, but has a warm, inviting feel to it: On my visit, it was 14o F (-10° C) outside, but inside it felt as if I were at home with a roaring fire. The restaurant can feed 400 guests, but it's difficult to concentrate on the classic food: the most amazing aspect of this mountaintop dining area is the ever-changing view. Inside are two revolving platforms, powered by solar energy, so the mountain peaks rise all around and it seems the snowy caps are just a leap away. If you're planning on making the trip, be sure to consider the weather. If rain is forecast your views are likely to be spoiled. Fortunately I was able to enjoy the mountainside during my ascent and dinner before my view of the Alps faded as fog moved in. It was an eerily beautiful sight, watching the mountains slowly disappear behind the incoming storm. Further Reading: 158 Ways To Satisfy Your Appetite Around The World
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