All the time in the world

Monday 1st February.

        Yesterday should just be consigned to the dustbin for us at least.The locals were convinced we had brought the Scottish weather with us.At least we didn't bring the Scottish people with us.

          Today was totally different with the gorgeous sunny weather beaming down on this beautiful part of the world.Definitly not Scottish weather.

           We decided to head for the sunny heights of the Piz Gloria perched on top of the Schilthorn mountain and this involved a trip and a half.We kept to our usual mode of transport which involved 2 train journeys supplemented by 3 cable car rides.

Lady Watson looking with trepidation(scared) about going up the mountain

          As most of you know I'm a James Bond fan and since reading the book about 40 years ago and then watching the film have always wanted to come and see the area.The film was actually filmed over much of the area.Bond's arrival at the snowbound railway station was filmed at Lauterbrunnen station with his departure with the bad guys filmed on the station ramp now used by railway lorries.The stock car race on ice was filmed outside the village.The piece de resistance was of course the Piz Gloria on the Schilthorn mountain complete with its 360 degree revolving restaurant.
                           

Still a long way to go

In order to get there we went on our first cable car trip of the day.I find it less scary to travel in these things than to stand and watch them.That cable car trip was followed by another mountain train trip to the village of Murren perched on some mountain cliffs.

This place amazed me as there were vehicles moving about the village when there is no visible road up.We proceeded to walk through the village to embark on the second cable car trip to a place called Birg.This was the last point that skiers could get off that day as the routes from the Schilthorn were closed to the public.This place has the Skyline walk which is basically a clear platform attached to the side of the mountain-not for the fainthearted.I believe they are in the process of building a Thrill walk around the mountain-definitely need a couple of Hobgoblins before I went round that one.
                 

         Then it was onwards and upwards to one of the places that is on my bucket list.Once you arrive into the buildings you are immediately transported into the sets and the world of her majesty's secret service with interactive exhibitions and glimpses into the world of James Bond featuring George Lazenby.I'm going to get on my soapbox and state that Mr Lazenby did a pretty good job in the part especially as some other people had disappeared and thought they were  responsible for the success.Aye right and yes I'm talking about the man who wants independence for his country but doesn't want to live there.James Bond is a government thug and that's why George was good for the part.A man who is not scared to get down and dirty and that is why Daniel Craig is excellent in the part also.Off soapbox now.

                       

  We headed for the restaurant for some sustenance before continuing the tour and it was amazing to eat lunch on the revolving restaurant-albeit very slowly.If you really wanted to get into the mood you could've been served up a James Bond brunch with Prosseco-nuff said!
                           

 After lunch we spent a couple of hours going round the various exhibitions including sitting in a model of Allouette helicopter flying up a cinematic mountain or hurtling down a cgi bobsled run shooting at various cgi badguys.All filmed ready for you to pick up in the shop.

Lady Watson following in Diana Rigg's footsteps

There are other exhibits including where lucky females could have their face superimposed onto Diana Rigg's wedding dress and have herself pictured being snogged by George Lazenby.

                            We then proceeded outside to where the curling rink was layed on top of the Piz Glorias helicopter landing pad.This has cutout characters of Bond which I had seen previously on the webcam.http://schilthorn.ch/en/Info/Schilthorn_Live/Livecams.
                        Another part of the complex is the Walk of Fame which involves walking(very carefully) out to a small looking point out on the end of a rock.The path was icy but after  saying a few hail Marys I made it.The problem is that you can't see the ice so you have to be very careful or you will be skydiving without a parachute.

After a couple of hours we headed back down the cablecars to the village of Murren to visit the Bond world souvenir shop to do my usual and spend too much money on Bond souvenirs -again!I'm sure my kids will have it all itemised when I go to that big beachparty in the sky.

             We traveled back along the mountain railway at dusk,observing some beautiful scenery along the way especially the lights of Wengen twinkling in the distance.
                  The evening was finished of with a visit to a local pizzeria and the consumption of a delicious anchovy and black olive pizza washed down by a weissebeer dunkel(dark beer)which I didn't know existed.That set the seal on a perfect day'
                        Speak to you soon as I'm just planning how to escape Blofeld's last bastion of a scoundrel.