One of the rivers in Interlaken
Downtown street
Interlaken is a cute little town situated between 2 lakes, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz with beautiful blue rivers flowing throughout. It is also surrounded by amazing mountains and glaciers in every direction.
Jessica and I stayed here for 3 days in a cute B&B called Sunny Days. It was in Unterseen which is just across one of the little rivers from the town of Interlaken. The first day we decided to explore the area around town and took a long walk to Lake Thun for a delicious lakeside lunch. We walked through fields of cows taking in the beautiful scenery. A funny thing about animals, and specifically cows, in Switzerland is that they all wear bells around there necks - no more cow bell! It started raining after lunch so we took the rest of the day to check out the shops in Interlaken and taste some Swiss chocolate, mainly truffles. This was my first experience trying truffles and I'm sad I spent the first 31 years of my life without them. Needless to say, some will be coming home with me. Swiss chocolate was definitely delicious!
Cowbells
On Saturday we planned a kayak trip on Lake Brienz. We signed up for a kayak tour through Hightide Kayaks which is run by this great British man named Dave. He took us and only 2 other people out on the lake so it made for a nice relaxing trip. The lake is the most beautiful blue I have ever seen with mountains and cliffs surrounding the entire lake. It is amazing. The kayak trip took about 3 hours and was tons of fun. We saw an old castle from the 1100s and just enjoyed being on a peaceful lake the entire morning. We even saw one of their 100 year old Steamships that take people around the lake...think Tom Sawyer. Pretty cool!
Steamship on Lake Brienz
Then off we went to hike the Swiss Alps. We had heard about a couple hikes but no one had any real specific directions, so Saturday afternoon we took a train up to Grindelwald and just kinda winged it. The hike times were pretty clearly marked and since we got a late start we decided a relatively short hike might be a good idea. Plus we had dinner reservations in Interlaken at 8. So we decided to take the gondola up to First and hike to a lake from there. I was ill-prepared for how cold it was going to be in the mountains. There was snow on the ground and an ominous rain cloud overhead, but the views of the mountains were spectacular. We hiked to the lake, which was still partially frozen, and then a route down the mountain that seemed much less traveled. Part of the mountains looked like Lord of the Rings scenery while other parts looked exactly like the hills at the end of The Sound of Music. It was insanely beautiful. After a LONG 2 hour hike downhill and our knees hating us, we made it to the train station just in time to grab a half bottle of rosé for the train ride back down to Interlaken. We made it just in time for our reservation at Hotel Interlaken and had a very romantic dinner together complete with a flaming skewer!
Lake near First
Creek flowing down from the glacier
Flaming skewer!
On Sunday, I decided to do something I never thought I would - paragliding! The weather was gorgeous and apparently perfect paragliding conditions. But I was terrified. We got a quick safety lesson (maybe 2 mins) on our way up to the top of the mountain, then they strapped us in and off we went...not enough time to chicken out. The take off was actually really fun. It was basically just running down a hill. Then up we went. And up. And up. And up some more. My pilot, Peach, was awesome. He showed me the sites, gave me a little history of what mountains we were seeing (Eiger, Jungfrau and Mönch peaks), and then spun me around til I thought I was gonna puke. It was terrifyingly fun. I enjoyed the lower parts when he let me steer the parachute - plus it was a little warmer down lower which was nice! I think it was about 30 mins total in the air and a thrill I will never forget! The best way to see the beauty that is Interlaken!
Me landing
After I landed, Jess and I went up to another town, Lauterbrünnen. We had heard about some cool waterfalls and a hike up to a quiet mountain town without cars. This town was on the other side of the mountains from our hike Saturday and completely different looking. We took off from Lauterbrünnen to see Trummelbäch falls, about a 45 min walk along the river in a gorgeous valley. It is a waterfall from the glacier that is basically inside a mountain. You climb up the mountain through caves to see the different chutes. It is a big tourist destination and there were too many people to really enjoy it. It was nice, but not worth the 11 francs it cost to get in. So from the falls we took off to find Mürren. We walked down the valley to a "town" called Stechelberg which was completely closed, much to our dismay, as we wanted a break at this point. So instead we set off up the mountains. You see, Mürren is a town at the top of a cliff. And the only way to get there is to go up. It was the most strenuous, straight up hike I have ever (or will ever) do. We were so cold and tired and the trail just seemed to keep going up. All my complaining aside, the views were some of the best yet! It was like our own private hike with very few people around, probably because they aren't as dumb as us to attempt it. In the end the views were worth it but the town was kind of a disappointment. Many of the restaurants were closed, it was freezing cold, and it seemed to be a ghost town. So we decided to head back down to Lauterbrünnen for dinner. This time, by train! We took a train to a gondola and rode that all the way down to the town. The entire way we kept thinking, how the heck did we hike this far up?! It was an insane day in every sense of the word.
Valley near Lauterbrünnen
Trummelbäch falls
Trummelbäch falls
Jessica in Mürren
Town of Mürren
Today, Monday, we headed to Beaune, France to check another country off the list. We took the train to the Geneva Airport and entered the French side of the airport where we rented a car and drove to the Burgundy region of France. We meet up with our friend Julie tomorrow and are planning a bike wine tour of the area. Then Wednesday, we are off to Provence!
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