“The mountains are calling and I must go.” --John Muir
Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland
"Breathtaking. Awe-inspiring. Phenomenal. Unbelievable. Gorgeous. Unreal. Beautiful. Are you serious? Is this real life?"
It's not an exaggeration to say that we uttered those words at least 100 times--and that was just in our approach to Lauterbrunnen while inside the comfy bus. By the time we left Switzerland after exploring for two amazing, action-packed days, we had to have said them at least million more. The Lauterbrunnen Valley is truly indescribable, and is somewhere we feel we are so lucky to have experienced on this tour!
Trummelbach FallsWe arrived in Lauterbrunnen in the early afternoon, winding our way past sparkling blue lakes at the base of the Alps as we made our way into the valley. As the bus hummed to a stop in front of Hotel Oberland we literally had to pinch ourselves and sounded like David from the YouTube video 'David After Dentist,' constantly asking each other "Is this real life?!" The views literally took our breath away.
We dropped our bags, quickly changed into sneakers, and were out the door to join 12 of our new friends on an awe-inspiring walk to Trummelbach Falls--it was just a few miles, distance wise, but took longer than it should have considering it was impossible to walk more than 10 yards without stopping to take another picture! The trail led through farms and across covered bridges over bubbling brooks of glacial water. Even though it wasn't the right country, singing "The Hills are Alive" from The Sound of Music just felt appropriate, thanks to the scenery. Trummelbach Falls is a series of ten different waterfalls that are accessible through an elevator and a series of staircases cut into caves inside the mountains; the falls literally churn out thousands of gallons a second! It was more than impressive to see. That evening was our tour guide, Cristina's, birthday. By this point Cristina felt like a friend as opposed to a hired leader, so celebrating with her was only natural. We all joined together and sampled Port Wine while Cristina, who is from Portugal, shared her vast knowledge of Port and its production. Then, we moved together to dinner in the restaurant of the hotel to continue the celebrations! We both had Rosti, a traditional Swiss dish, which was surprisingly good. We ended the evening with drinks on an outside patio, sharing stories with our tour buddies over the whooshing of the nearby waterfall--a perfect evening in a perfect place! |
Before we could begin our hike we had to get there; first we took the train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen. Then, we took a gondola from Wengen to Mannlichen, where the hike began. It was unreal to watch Lauterbrunnen shrink into nothing but tiny dots as we made our way up, up, up! Check out the waterfall becoming smaller and smaller in the progression of pictures to the right for an example! |
Hiking in the Swiss AlpsOn our full day in Switzerland we took Cristina's advice and followed the hike from Mannlichen to Kleine-Scheidigg as outlined in the Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door guidebook. It was breathtakingly beautiful and the absolute best way to spend our day; even though we didn't get to travel all the way to the top of Jungfrau--the tickets for the day were gone by the time we tried--we both deemed this day one of the best of the entire trip.
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Once at the top, we began the hike to Kleine-Scheidigg. The hike provided amazing views of the North Faces of Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau peaks. I felt like I should wear my ever-present North Face jacket in honor of seeing its namesake, but the weather was just as gorgeous as the views. Despite the warmth, we still had the chance to throw a few snowballs at each other in the middle of July--another opportunity we had to take advantage of because we could! We had brought along provisions for a picnic lunch in the middle of the Alps, complete with Swiss Chocolates for dessert--perfection! We enjoyed a drink at the end of the hike, trying to make the moment last even longer, because the hike was more impressive than we could have ever imagined. Then, we took the train back into the Lauterbrunnen Valley.
Lauterbrunnen literally means "valley of many waterfalls" and it lives up to its name. Because of its beauty, we decided we needed to spend as much time outside as possible--and wanted to shared our adventures with all our new friends, and hear what they had done too--so that night some of our group grabbed food from the Co-op for a picnic in a park not far from the hotel. We shared chocolate, cheese, and wine, and marveled at God's amazing creation!
Favorite Swiss Moment?
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Auf Wiedersehen, Switzerland!
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