Blowing the Alpine Horn, Grindelwald, Switzerland

Blowing the Alpine Horn, Grindelwald, Switzerland

Categories
Special Collections > Keystone Slides
Type
tiff scanned file from original glass slide
Description
The Grindelwald is a beautiful Swiss valley, and a favorite spot with tourists. It is bounded on the south by three high mountains. The lowest is over 10,000 feet high. One of these is the Wetterhorn, noted for its beauty. Between the three lie two large glaciers, the Upper and the Lower Grindelwald. Grindelwald village, with 4,000 population, lies in the valley. It is a summer and winter resort, and the starting point for trips to the many beautiful places about the valley. It is made up of buildings scattered over a wide area of ground. Hotels are plentiful, and most of the natives of the valley depend on the tourist trade for a living. Hotel servants, porters, guides, and shopkeepers all levy toll from the traveler. The man in the view, playing the Alpine horn, is not doing this because of his love of music. A carriage load of tourists are coming up the road, and he is expecting several silver coins to be loosed from their purses. He will stop playing when they come near, and ask them for "tips." The horn looks like a long tobacco pipe with a bowl too small for its length of stem. Tipping or feeing is a regular custom in Europe. If you are served in any way, the servant expects a fee. You tip your porter, your waiter at the table, your barber, your hotel keeper-everybody has his hand in for tips. When you leave your hotel, all the servants stand in a row at the door, awaiting their fees. The view shows beautifully a stretch of the glacier. The ice moves slowly down the valleys between the mountains. Farther down the valley it melts and forms a river of cold, clear water that goes dashing over rocks on its way to the lowlands. Keystone ID: 10703 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.
Rights
Copyright by the Keystone View Company. The original slides are housed in McConnell Library's Special Collections.