Lake Thun and Oberhofen Castle

Thursday is another moving day. We have to check out of our hotel this morning, and we get the hotel electric cart to ferry our luggage (and me) up to the train station. The station isn't far, but its steeply uphill, and we aren't going to be able to drag our bags up there.

We jump on the train down to Lauterbrunnen for the last time. Then we catch the very brief train to Interlaken Ost.  On arrival in Interlaken, we find the luggage lockers and stash our bags for the day. We wait about 20 minutes and then catch a train to the small town of Thun on the lake of the same name.  Here, we cross the street from train station to boat station and get on a boat headed towards Oberhofen.

This is a particularly nice, and very large boat. Its got three levels, the upper 2 are both for first class ticket holders. We go up to the middle level, so Todd can settle down under cover and order coffee. I head out to the deck in the bow with my camera at the ready. I understand the approach to Schloss Oberhofen by water is quite photogenic. This is the view from the ship while leaving Thun.

And a view of Schloss Schadau which we pass along the way. I'm told this is a gourmet restaurant...if I'd known we might have gone, its so lovely:

Its a fairly short sail to Oberhofen...only about 20 minutes. It's overcast and a little drizzly. But the castle is still very impressive

And a view from the land side:

 Inside the castle has some furnishings and decor, its intended to give an idea of the various different generations that lived there from the 16th to the 19th century.  The keep you see in the center was probably built in the 13th century, then it belonged to the Hapsburgs in the 14th. After that it was a Bernese Bailiwick run by several different bailiffs for several hundred years. Ultimately, it was bought by an American lawyer in the 1940s and opened as a museum in the 50s. Its got some interesting displays inside of furnished rooms, and an armory.  Here's a sample room.

After a couple hours wandering around, we are ready to move on. We hop on the 2PM boat, and take the somewhat longer sail all the way back to Interlaken West across the lake.