LAUTERBRUNNEN
Our Swiss adventure begins...
Hotel Oberland after a light rain. Pulling up and unloading quickly felt like a coordinated attack of teamwork and precision. We had extremely limited time to be parked in front of our quaint chalet.
Above is a glimpse of what it's like driving into Switzerland. Tough, huh?
Our rockstar bus driver, Rochelle, delivered us safely to the Lauterbrunnen Valley through mountains and windy roads!
Part of our travel family spotted across the street!
A Swiss kitty taking a nickerchen.
After dropping our luggage and getting our bearings, we had a little under an hour before a group dinner-just enough time for the youngsters to hike a nearby waterfall!
Our one full day in Switzerland was the only day on the whole trip with no group outings on the itinerary. We looked forward to this day as our "adventure day," and a chance to exercise our European travel skills we'd been honing for the past week. We were fully prepared to go paragliding but unfortunately waited too late and there were no opportunities available, so after our group dinner of fondue, we started to game plan. After 30 minutes of looking at maps and pitching ideas to each other, we had the stunning revelation that Grindelwald & Gimmelwald were not actually the same place. (Lewis & Clark would be so proud.) With that clarity, we charted a course for the next day. See you at the train station!
Our first stop: Grindelwald! Here we rode cable cars up to First, an adventure peak, had a picnic on the mountainside, took in the views, cheered on paragliders, and rode down a mountain on trottibikes. Exhilarating!
Down we go! These trottibikes were essentially razor scooters on steroids. It was about a 30 minute downward trip, zooming past unreal gardens and Sound of Music like scenes. These hills were alive with the sound of screaming, & "DID YOU SEE THAT?!" "BABE, PULL OVER! LOOK AT THOSE FLOWERS!" "MORE COWS!"
Henry was a pro at this point.
I, on the other hand, was doing my best to keep my eyes on the road and not crash with unreal scenes like the one on the left around every corner.
Another train ride and a little nickerchen later, we hopped on a bus that took us to a gondola which we rode straight up to heaven-I mean Gimmelwald. If you hate dreamy flowers or the feeling that you might be living in a fairy tale land, please scroll no further. I'd also advise you to completely skip over our Giverny page altogether. Here we go!
"If heaven isn't all it's cracked up to be, take me back to Gimmelwald."
After catching our breath from both the steady incline & sheer beauty, we noticed we were already part of the way to Murren. We had been advised to first take the gondola up to Murren and walk down to Gimmelwald, but we followed our primal navigation instincts which led to us being the only people on that mountain making our way UP to Murren. Other explorers continued to pass us going in the opposite direction with much more pep in their step than we had after about an hour into our uphill trek. Honestly this was all for the best. Later on we'd be devouring platefuls of hashbrowns and cheese for dinner, but i'm getting ahead of myself.
I remember being so grateful to have made it to Murren. Our calves were having flashbacks to our Dome climbing days in Rome and we were hungry and eager to find a restaurant that we'd heard about during our pre-trip research. After not too much looking, we found it!...along with a sign that said "closed Tuesday." Guess what day it was? Refusing to be discouraged knowing there was something just as great or better to be discovered, we tried a few more places that either were also closed or full for the evening. We took a train and another cable car back down to our tiny valley home base. We had been told that without a reservation it would be difficult to eat at the restaurant in our hotel. Willing to be told no, we investigated and were sat in the perfect spot on the front porch of the hotel.
We ordered raclette, a traditional dish of potatoes and cheese, and sat somewhat silently in awe of the day we had just had. It started to rain as waitresses hurriedly let down a covering so that we could continue to eat outside. We finished our Swiss meal at the same time the rain retreated, and decided on a romantic walk in the valley to make the most of our time in this wondrous place.
So obviously, should you need us, we'll be dreaming about the day we can return to the Lauterbrunnen Valley, waking up to the sound of a farmer and his herd of cows traipsing up a mountain just outside our window, and scheduling our first swiss paragliding adventure a year in advance.
