The Final Case For Sherlock Holmes

Sustenpass

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I realize the title of this blog is a little weird but hang on and we’ll explain it. The next morning, Sunday, July 22, was a lot better than the night before but the clouds were still hanging low over the mountains. But we decided to attempt the cable car ride up Mt. Rigi anyway. That is until we learned what it cost for three round trip tickets! Did we really want to spend that much and then see nothing from up there but the inside of clouds? Nah…..not this time. So we packed it up and continued our trip southward.

Now on the map it doesn’t look all that far from Luzern to Lauterbrunnen, our destination for today. But there is one thing we didn’t factor in—the Sustenpass. One of the things I marvel about Switzerland are the roads. They’re always in tip top shape and they go everywhere, often through the mountains, when they can’t find a way around them. Some of the tunnels in this country are several miles long (think of the expense of building those roads!) But in this case they decided to go over the mountains that surround the Sustenpass, and what that means is tight “S” curves over and over and over again and up, up, up. That takes a lot of time and a lot of gasoline, but the up side is the view. Wow!

Reichenbach Falls

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On the way to Lauterbrunnen we stopped in Meiringen to visit a famous waterfall called the Reichenbachfall. Any of you Sherlock Holmes fans who followed the detective’s career know that he died in the final episode. Holmes author, Arthur Conan Doyle, saw fit to finish his tales by having his hero and his arch enemy Professor Moriarty fall to their deaths in a deadly struggle. But where did that occur? Right here at Reichenbachfall. This beautiful waterfall, high above the city of Meiringen, is known popularly as the Sherlock Holmes waterfall. The author loved this beautiful place and thought that this would be the fitting place to end his writing career. Meiringen also happens to be the place where Kathy’s great grandmother was born. We saw the old family house on a previous visit. It’s a beautiful old chalet built in 1642.

Sherlock wannabe

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We finally arrived at our destination in Lauterbrunnen—the Staubbach Hotel. We stayed here two years ago and fell in love with this 100 year old hotel almost under the Staubbach Falls which cascades over the cliffs about 850 feet above the hotel. We’ll write more about this place later but we do want to share one exciting event. While we were in the hallway of the hotel we ran into the guru of European travelers, Rick Steves. He must have been here checking out the place since so many people like ourselves really enjoy this hotel. Kathy told him “We just came from staying in a place you recommended in one of your books, the Romantik Pension in Hohenschwangau.” He was pleased.