Far up! Far out! Far more!

Today I got up at 5:30, caught 2 trains, a bus and four cable cars spending about $100 on transport and it was completely worth it:



(this picture isn't doing it justice but it's the only angle I could get from the cable car)
I was under this impression that Piz Gloria would look just as it does in the movie on the outside but that inside they would have completely revamped it after the movie, or possibly some scenes were filmed on sets rather than in the complex itself. I was wrong!


They've changed a few things but have kept a whole stack of the original furnishings. There were even some Christmas decorations up! Also the layout of the building is practically the same, with the lifts and the stairs. There were heaps of doors marked "privat". This must be where all the bedrooms with cone fireplaces are.



Comte de Bleuville coat of arms



Helicopter pad
(through the window: not a great photo but you get the idea!)



I am excited to be here!
I was pretty enthusiastic about paying extra to eat "Diana Rigg icecream" before my James Bond breakfast buffet (with champagne!) but several courses later, which included such classic breakfast fare as 'cheese platter', realised this was no longer going to happen. Still amped that they had it though!


I got a few pictures of the view but this was about all I managed before my camera battery died. I'd been so focussed on getting all my stuff ready for my 5:30 start I'd completely forgotten to charge it.
I think this occasion calls for an uncharacteristic display of emoticon: :( :( :(

As a result, I've just had to try and commit as much of my day to memory as I can. Somehow I ended up spending 3 and a half hours at Piz Gloria, with non-breakfast activities also including going to a theatre room and watching movie clips, and climbing down onto mountain just below the complex where there was a patch of snow I could play with and wrote my name in (with my boot).

I considered climbing down the cable ropes by hand to save on the cable car fare but decided against it because I need pockets in my pants to keep stuff in. But I scoped out the place and climbing out onto the cable car roof would have been completely possible. Getting away with it, maybe not so.

On my way back down I got off at some of the stops and found the Alps to be pretty much real-life stereotypical Switzerland but in the best kind of way: green mountains with snowy peaks in the background, chalets, goats with big bells on, cheese shops everywhere. In Lauterbrunnen I also found the place where Bond jumped out of Tracey's car to use a phone booth during the Piz Gloria escape. You'll just have to take my word for all of these things because I couldn't take photos, or maybe not (except for the last one), because I'm now planning on going back to the Alps tomorrow because I thought the Bernese Oberland was so great! This time I'm going to Grindelwald where I intend to find an ice rink, or at least, a place that would be an ice rink if it was colder.

New life plan:
1) get rich
2) learn how to ski
3) get really good at skiing
4) go back to Piz Gloria in winter
5) ski down the slope

I've only put up a few of my photos because I still need to sort through or clean up the rest of them. You might have noticed I've taken a fair few photos of fountains. Turns out Bern is pretty much the city of fountains (and bears) and there are fountains all over the city. Once I realised this, I went on a quest to find as many of them as possible. Be prepared for even more photos of MANY FOUNTAINS.