Sherlock in Switzerland: Meiringen and the Reichenbach Falls

[caption id="attachment_2508" align="alignnone" width="900"] The dramatic Reichenbach Falls[/caption]

Sherlock Holmes and Switzerland are not an obvious connection, until you think about Professor James Moriarty and a certain very famous waterfall. That’s why I was so excited to be invited onto a trip to Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland. It meant I would see the Reichenbach Falls, where, in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Final Problem, Moriarty (and apparently Holmes...) fell to their deaths.

PLEASE WATCH MY VIDEO TO SEE THE FALLS IN ACTION!

[kad_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHeP7jMnzsk" width=200 height=100 ]

 

Meiringen is a small town, which is easy to walk around and well served by a rail station which can take you all over the country. It is in a valley, surrounded by beautiful mountains and waterfalls, including of course the Reichenbach.

[caption id="attachment_2509" align="alignnone" width="1200"] A room with a lovely view - at the Parkhotel du Sauvage[/caption]

I was fortunate enough to stay at the Parkhotel du Sauvage, which is just five minutes walk from the station, and where Conan Doyle himself, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, used to reside when he came to Switzerland. It is a four star hotel, built in 1880 in an art deco style, which I really liked. I was happy with my large, clean room, though it was quite sparse. That didn’t bother me, as I was content to admire the view, which included a lit up Reichenbach Falls and silhouette of Sherlock at night. However, I was a bit bothered when the curtains didn’t pull together completely (and that you had to pay extra for Wifi!).

Still, I enjoyed staying there and found the staff friendly and the food enjoyable. I was especially delighted by a delicious plate of desserts on the first night of my stay...

[caption id="attachment_2510" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Delicious desserts at the hotel[/caption]

Meiringen is a fine base for walking, or travelling further afield to the cities of Lucerne or Interlaken, or a trip up the Jungfrau mountain. The village itself is said to be where meringues were first made, but I have my doubts about this. Still, it boasts a lovely bakery which has not quite as lovely prices, and a local supermarket which proved rather more to my wallet’s liking (Switzerland is very expensive).

There is also a local museum (but not with information in English), a small fortress and the wonderful St Michael’s Church which has its own archaeological excavations which go back 1,000 years (just walk down the stairs at the back of the church to see these).

[caption id="attachment_2511" align="alignnone" width="1200"] A statue of Sherlock Holmes with the museum in the background[/caption]

The Parkhotel is literally next door to the Sherlock Holmes museum. There is a lovely garden area to walk through (complete with Sherlock illustrations) and then the museum itself, which was first opened in 1991, on the 100th anniversary of the death of the famous detective. It is small, but beautifully done – especially downstairs.

All visitors are given an audio guide which is genuinely interesting. As you walk down the stairs, don’t miss the pictures on the wall. One has a report card from Conan-Doyle’s school days, and you can see that a certain Master Moriarty was in the same form as the author himself!

The room downstairs has memorabilia to look at but the centrepiece is a lovely re-creation of Holmes’ and Dr Watson’s living room at 221b Baker Street. This has some wonderful touches, from the pipes hanging on the wall to the violin on the sofa. However, it is somewhat weird to see all this in Switzerland.

[caption id="attachment_2513" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Re-creation of Sherlock's study - see the violin in the background![/caption]

I very much enjoyed my visit to the museum, but, if you’re a Sherlock fan, the highlight of your visit to Meiringen has to be taking the funicular to the Reichenbach Falls (actually a series of waterfalls) where you can see the Hasli valley below you.

[caption id="attachment_2514" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Taking the funicular up to the Reichenbach Falls[/caption]

The funicular was built in 1899 and you ride up in an exact replica of the original wooden wagon, which runs every 15 minutes. It doesn’t take long, and drops you off just a minute from the 120m high waterfall, truly a remarkable sight, which shows the power of nature – and lets you hear it too.

[caption id="attachment_2515" align="alignnone" width="1200"] The Reichenbach Falls[/caption]

Whilst there, you should walk up the steps and follow the footpath around the woods – eventually you come out to look at an even more impressive view. You can also keep on walking and cross over the falls at a small bridge, then go on for a coffee at the cafe.

The Falls are stunning, even though I was a bit baffled as to how Holmes and Moriarty fell into the swirling waters. There is a star which marks the point of their fight, and it is not really anywhere near the actual falls.....Mind you, maybe I’m over-thinking all this. It is fiction, after all...

The funicular costs 10 Swiss Francs per adult (return) and 8 per child. It is open from mid may to mid October this year. The Sherlock Holmes Museum (which is open from 29^th April to 31^st October 2016) costs 4 Swiss Francs per adult and 3 per child. One Swiss Franc is worth around 70p.

The hotel costs around 190 Swiss Francs (around £140)  per night, including breakfast, for a double room. More on their rates here.

Disclosure: I was fortunate to be hosted by the hotel for my stay and also to have my visit to the falls and Sherlock Holmes museum given to me on a complimentary basis as part of a wonderful Great Railways Journey to the Jungfrau. However, none of the establishments had any input into this blog post.

Read about my trip to Interlaken in Switzerland

Read more on Sherlock Holmes and our visit to the Sherlock exhibition at the Museum of London.

More on beautiful mountains and lakes - from our holiday to Austria

A Great Day Out at Thorpe Park (By Robert)

[caption id="attachment_2498" align="alignnone" width="1200"] The depth charge ride[/caption]

Robert, aged 11, writes: You might know that I turned 11 a few weeks ago, and to celebrate, my Dad took me and some friends to THORPE PARK. That day I was accompanied by a thrill seeker who wanted to go on everything, a boy who was scared of heights and my mate who was too small to go on a handful of the rides. Each of my friends had a totally different experience but they all had a great time overall. This is what happened in our day at the park...

On arrival, we ran to get to the I’m a Celebrity Get Me out Of Here Maze as we’d heard that there was usually a long queue. But when we got there we found out that the attraction only opened at 10am and this was true for many other rides as well.  Instead we went over to Tidal Wave and as it was so early, we didn’t have to wait at all.

[caption id="attachment_2497" align="alignnone" width="900"] Tidal wave ride[/caption]

Tidal Wave is one of the highest log flumes in the UK and is a whopping 85 ft tall. We sat down in our vehicle before slowly going up on a treadmill sort of thing, at the top we went round a corner before plummeting down into a giant pool of water. The splash was so big you couldn’t see anything for a few seconds and then when we thought it was over we got soaked. As there was still no one waiting we went on Tidal Wave five more times before eventually plodding out, nearly unable to walk as we were so cold. You have to be 1.2 metres tall to go on this ride.

It was nearly 10am, so to our dismay we were forced to run in our soaking state and we managed to be the second group to enter the I’m a Celebrity Get Me out Of Here Maze. This was one of the attractions I enjoyed the most and not only because it was about one of my favourite TV shows.

When we entered we were met by one of our campmates who then elected a new leader (this was me). We then watched a video where Ant and Dec explained to us about what we were about to face. The maze wasn’t actually a maze, it was a set of three challenges or Bushtucker trials. The first was to stick your hand in a hole then pass a star from one person to another. Our group failed miserably as one of my friends didn’t understand what to do and just held on to the star for the entire time. The next trial involved answering a question; If you got it correct nothing happened whilst if you got it wrong you’d be covered in something horrible (not really, it was just rice). The final challenge was a bit disappointing as the Celebrity Cyclone was just climbing up a hill with some dramatic lighting. My favourite part of the “maze” was when we had to sort out some washing to spell a word. When we were finished we won some dingo dollars which we could spend on a treat but it didn’t really go to plan. All throughout this attraction you crawl through tunnels and go down slides but these are all optional.

Next we explored Angry Birds Land. Detonator bombs away is a short ride which you have to be 1.3 metres tall to go on. This meant that all my friends could go on it but two decided against that idea and were much happier playing with the claw machines which they did, amazingly, win something in. Detonator bombs away is a 100 ft drop where you go 50 miles an hour. I thought it was really fun and we went on it a few times as it didn’t take very long. Next in Angry Birds Land we went and saw a 4D movie. The film involved some green pigs stealing some eggs from a group of birds. This made them angry and they turned into...  angry birds. The film was extremely entertaining and I loved how the seats moved to make you feel like you were being catapulted or being chased by bees. You might get a bit of saliva on you though, I did warn you.

Next two of us went on Rush. This was definitely the most thrilling ride to go on if you are less than 1.4 metres (the minimum height to go on all the roller coasters). The ride swings you up and down, the height gradually getting bigger each time until it gets to the maximum, 75ft. Every other go you will end up going backwards which sounds horrendous but personally I found it more pleasant than when going forwards. You can see the whole park right at the top which was amazing. I cannot stress how much I loved this ride and how much you should go on it. It was awesome.

Quantum is a smaller version of Rush. You have to be 1.3 metres to go on. In this ride you swing up and down and sometimes you do a whole loop but you are never upside down. This is a really good attraction for people who like rides but don’t want to go on the really big ones. But it did make one of my friends feel quite sick although that might have been the candyfloss, biscuits and crisps!

My friend who was too small to go on some of the rides got to choose the next attraction we did, so after everyone enjoyed a refreshing slushie we reluctantly went on Flying Fish, one of the only roller coasters you can go if you're under 1.3 metres. However, it was really fun and I’d recommend going on it. At my party we went on it about five times throughout the course of the day.

The four of us went on Rumpa Rapids and to be honest it was not worth the wait. I like fast, scary rides and for this attraction you just sit there. It was a bit like a lazy river just with a name that suggests something thrilling. It was quite nice though just to relax and let our clothes dry. Depth Charge was also a slight disappointment. We waited half an hour to go down a slide which only lasted 10 seconds. If you have time you should go on it but it should definitely not be a priority.

Now onto the big, proper rides at the park. Storm in a teacup is the modern day twist (get it) on the classic teacups ride. This means it is exactly the same as it was 20 years ago. You spin around in a teacup. My opinion of this ride was that it was a bit dull and just made you dizzy but two of my friends loved it. Everyone’s got their own opinion.

I was the only one to go on Zodiac as one of my friends ran away as I got into my seat (scaredy Cat). Zodiac is basically a Ferris wheel that spins really fast. It starts off spinning around on the floor and then slowly turns vertical. By the end you are doing one loop the loop after another. It is really fun when you are on it but I did feel queasy afterwards.

Storm Surge is a fun water ride, but you don’t get that wet during it. You are put into an inflatable dinghy with a maximum of 7 other people before rushing down a course of spirals and small drops resulting in a small splash at the end.

We were nearing the end of our trip so this was our time to get extremely scared; this was our time to go on the big roller coasters. Dun, Dun, Duuun. We decided to start off on Nemesis Inferno, which was apparently the least scary of the main five. Unfortunately it was out of order so we were thrown in on the deep end and went on Colossus. Before that day I had never been on any rollercoaster with a loop the loop, I was really excited. Then when I heard the familiar click of me being locked in, I was petrified. Then all of a sudden the ride started and there was no going back. Colossus was fast, very fast and went as quickly as 45 miles per hour. Throughout the ride you spin around a total of ten times, that includes loops, rolls, corkscrews and the UK’s first and only quadruple barrel roll. I really enjoyed the ride and found out that loop the loops aren’t actually that bad and actually enjoyed them near the end of the ride.

Saw was scary. Not only did the ride include a 100 ft vertical drop even just queuing up was freaky. Based on a horror movie the building is meant to creep you out and it really did. Saw starts off inside where I could barely see anything. After a few unexpected drops we were out in fresh air and already slowly sliding upwards and after fifteen seconds of tension we fell. I managed to hate it and love it at the same time. After the plummet we zoomed around loops and spun our way through the rest of the course which did include some more high drops. It was fantastic and one of my favourite rides in the park. You do shake around like a bobble head after some of the drops. You should look at this on the ground as you can see everyone’s heads shaking in unison, it is quite funny.

[caption id="attachment_2496" align="alignnone" width="900"] The Stealth Ride[/caption]

Never in my life did I think I’d go on a rollercoaster that lasts 13 seconds. Stealth is one of Europe’s fastest roller coasters. When the ride starts you go from 0 to 80 miles per hour in less than two seconds. You then quickly zoom up 205 ft before going down again. This ride isn’t actually that scary as it does not go upside down and the drop is nowhere near horizontal but that didn’t matter as it was one of the most exhilarating things that I’ve done in my life.

Finally after another go on flying fish we (that means one other friend and I) went on The Swarm. This was the one ride that I said I would never go on when I entered the park and by the end it was my favourite thing I’d done. Just the introduction to the ride was amazing. As you walked in ambulances were on their side you could see half an aeroplane sitting on a field very close by. The Swarm is the UK’s first winged rollercoaster meaning you sit on either side of the track and there is nothing over or below you. This ride goes at a speed of 100 kilometres an hour so it was really fast. Throughout the ride you fly through billboards and narrowly dodge them as well. It was really exciting and by far my favourite ride in the park.

Overall I had one of the best days out I’ve had in ages at Thorpe Park. There are a few rides like X, the indoor rollercoaster that you don’t have to be that tall for or Nemesis Inferno that were closed when we went but are still great rides. There are also loads of attractions for younger or smaller kids that we didn’t go on. I loved nearly every second and would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Tickets for Thorpe Park are cheaper online! It costs £32.99 per person for a ticket and fasttrack pass which means you can jump the queue for many of the rides. It costs £27.99 for a day pass. You can find out more about the tickets from the website.

Read Robert's view on The London Dungeons and also on Shrek's Attraction.