Have you ever been somewhere that instantly made you want to cry? I'm talking downright take-your-breath-away beautiful. Well, that's the feeling I had when our train stopped in Grindelwald, Switzerland. Maybe it was the lack of sleep from the night before, but I got chocked up and had to stand on the platform for a minute to compose myself before Jon and I walked into town. It was the ultimate picture I had in my mind when it came to Switzerland: brilliant green hills, cute wooden chalets with flowers in window boxes straddled by cute shutters, colorful trains, and dramatic mountains capped with snow.
The entire train ride was beautiful, and took an even better turn upon rounding the lake towards Interlaken. We hit the Alps in full force, riding along a slate-colored stream.
Once arriving in Grindelwald, Jon and I spent Friday hiking around the hills of the town, first stopping by the tourist office for information (thank GOODNESS we did that) before grabbing a bus. The first of many happy mistakes last weekend, we couldn't understand the bus driver over the intercom and ended up missing our stop at the Oberer Glacier and taking the bus up to Grosse Scheidegg. Oops. BUT the view from that stop was INCREDIBLE. Jon and I had a wonderful picnic lunch at the top of the mountain, complete with sausage, cheese, crackers, and wine that we brought with us from Germany. Oh, and American fruit snacks. Clutch. It was one of the best picnics I've had in my life. The scenery was incredible.
Rather than hike the full 6 km back down to town, Jon and I decided to try and see that glacier we had missed before. Well, Jon and I again couldn't understand the bus driver (same guy, coincidentally) and got off a few stops early so we didn't miss it. Thus, we ended up with a 6+ km hike that day through farmland and houses. I loved hearing the bells attached to the cows' necks and turning a corner to see their beautiful patched hides. Those are definitely some of the happiest (and gorgeous) cows I've ever seen. Who wouldn't be a happy cow in a place like that? Especially when you are being used for milk and not meat.
After trekking back to our hostel (Naturfreundehaus - I highly recommend it), we ate pizza for dinner at Onkel Tom's where we sat next to a table of 3 couples from Colorado. And interestingly, they had the same opinion about that Alps vs. the Rockies that I shared with Jon earlier in the day. One woman said, "If you ask me later, I'll deny it, but... I think that these mountains are more beautiful than the Rockies." Others at the table chimed in and said, "Well, they are definitely more dramatic." And that's what I felt: combined with the green hillside and sudden uplift, the whole scene is just dramatic. Different than the Rockies. Beautiful in an entirely different way. Jon and I introduced ourselves after hearing a few other mentions of Colorado. This ALWAYS happens to me: I met yet another couple whose kid went to my high school. But I didn't know their son.
After dinner, Jon and I hiked back up the hill to our hostel and PASSED OUT around 9:30.
-----
This picture shows where we were on Friday (Grosse Scheidegg in green to Grindelwald in red on the left) and the trail we hiked Saturday (Grindelwald through Kleine Scheidegg to Lauterbrunnen, in red).
On Saturday, we were up early for breakfast at the hostel. The spread of granola and oats, yogurt and fruit was cute and delightful. And delicious. I helped myself to 1 1/2 bowls of granola with apricot yogurt, a 1/2 bowl of homemade applesauce, and an array of meat and cheese along with some bread and raspberry jam. It was a great meal to prepare us for the long 20km hike to Lauterbrunnen.
After strapping on our hiking boots, we grabbed our packs and headed down to town to find signs for the Kleine Scheidegg trail. It was uphill all the way up to the top (Kleine Scheidegg) and upon reaching the top, we found thousands of people. While at the tourist office the day before, we had been told to expect a crowd due to the Jungfrau Marathon. And it indeed was crazy up there. Can you imagine running a marathon UPHILL with an elevation gain of about 3000ft? Well, that's what those people did. Julia, Anthony, and James, take note. I think you should run that. :)
Jon and I grabbed some Swiss-brewed beers and a pecan-pie thing along with some rolls to go with the cheese we purchased from a local cheese stand on the way up. The view from the restaurant was great; we could see where we came from in the morning along with all 3 of the famous peaks Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. After eating, we trekked up to another path to avoid fighting our way through the runners and spectators. We ran into an ex-Pat from Pittsburgh who had just finished. I don't know how he was walking but we took his picture and he took ours. Jon and I then continued on, hiking on a "cow-path" along the hillside.
We stopped about an hour from Wengen and ate the cheese and bread we purchased. The cheese here has thus far been some of the best I've ever had. Gah, how I wish I could bring back mounds and mounds of food. Hiking down to Wengen, the scenery was a bit different as we walked through a forest. I hit a wall when we reached Wengen and my feet did not want to move. It was a struggle to hike the last hour to Lauterbrunnen. Going downhill is definitely not as fun as it sounds. When we reached Lauterbrunnen around 7PM, we checked into our 400-year-old hostel (after a scare that they didn't get our reservation) and had a traditional Swiss dinner of Rosti. It's basically hashbrowns with cheese and whatever else (I had ham and mushrooms). But it tasted so good after the hike.
-----
Sunday morning, we were up early to check out by 9AM. Jon and I stayed a bit longer on the porch and ate croissants and bananas while watching a group dressed in traditional clothing. The church bells rang in a prolonged song for 15 minutes, possibly to signal to the town that service was to start at 9:30. Upon silence of the bells, we headed up to Staubbach Falls to hike behind the waterfall and look over the town. The water lit up brilliantly in the sun against the grey and beige rock wall.
Slowly making our way through town, grabbing two (SMALL but tasty) lattes for 4.40 CHF each (you don't get a whole lot for your money here - btw, it's a about a 1 to 1 conversion from dollars), Jon spontaneously decided to go into a ticket office and we found ourselves riding a gondola to the top of a hill overlooking Lauterbrunnen over to Wengen, with a sight of the 3 peaks. We met a nice Canadian couple who had hiked a similar amount and looked like they too were ready for a day off. Returning to the train station, Jon spent the last of his Swiss Franks (exactly enough) for 2 tickets back to Interlaken. We walked around town until it was time to board, grabbing a few last shots of the picturesque town.
When we arrived in Interlaken, we randomly decided to head to Luzern (Lucerne) to travel as much with our Eurail pass as possible. We hopped on the train and started going uphill when all of the sudden the train stopped. That's never a good sign when you're going up a hill and you stop. We were told that there was a technical problem and that the train was going to try to go back down the hill. It started to move and then came to a grinding halt. That's never a good sign either. The attendant told everyone that we'd be taking a bus to Luzern instead and would be moving back to the station. Jon and I debated trying to go to Bern instead, but decided that we wanted to try the bus. After sitting in the bus and grabbing another local train to Luzern a few stops later, we arrived only 1.5 hours late.
Immediately, Jon and I hit the street while there was still daylight, walking through the covered bridge, heading up to the city wall, and admiring the Lowendenkmal (lion statue commemorating the loss of Swiss soldiers). We ate dinner along the Reuss River at the Rathaus Brewery. I had a Bretzel (pretzel) with ham and some saffron soup. Jon had spare ribs. We shared two types of beer and watched as it began to pour.
Covering our backpacks with the built-in raincover (yeah, REI Backpacks) and strapping on our matching REI Taku jackets, we made it to the station with time to spare for our train to Basel. Many Swiss army men were aboard our train and I admired their charcoal gray suits. When we finally reached Basel, we couldn't spot a train back to Freiburg but then after asking around a few times, found a train an hour later. We reached Freiburg around 12:30AM and took the last local train out of the city. It was a whirlwind weekend that showed us both sides of Switzerland. I see why young people don't visit Switzerland that often (it's expensive), but it was definitely worth the money for the weekend trip.
The weekend was amazing overall. We couldn't have asked for better weather (clear for both days of hiking) and our mistakes all turned out to be great in the end. The views of the Alps were worth the trouble alone and I have a feeling that Jon and I will return.
