Sunday, October 26, 2014
September 28, 2014--Day 16--Sunday: Leaving Interlaken, & Geneva
For our last full day in Europe, we drove to Geneva, stopping at the Switzerland temple on the way. That's all we have pictures of from that day, and we were so exhausted that there's really not much else to report about that day. We mostly just wandered around Geneva for a while and hung out at the hotel. Then the next morning Mom, Dad, and I went home while Sarah and Ashley went on to Norway. Sarah will have to blog about Norway for you, because they had a great time.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
September 27, 2014--Day 15--Saturday: Brienz and Grindelwald
Today we saw Dad's Number One Favorite Place in the World.
But first, we went to Brienz. We slept in a little bit, got a good hotel breakfast, then drove to the train station. The hotel owner gave us grew passes on all public transportation, so we took one to a town around the other side of the lake. Brienz.
It was just the kind of place we'd hoped to find--a quiet little hillside town with next to no tourists and lots to see. There was just one main street parallel to the waterfront, and it had coats of arms on flags hanging over it every few yards.
The main thing to see in Brienz was the great woodworking museum and shops. Dude, if you ever want cash, just learn how to carve things out of wood. Everything was so expensive. Even the tiniest little unpainted trinkets were like $30. Polished and painted palm-sized music boxes were around $200 each. There was this one eagle statue the size of a real eagle priced at $54,000!
So yeah, we didn't buy anything in Brienz. But we had fun looking at it all. Then we went to nearly the end of the road to a cute little church on a hilltop, and we ate lunch overlooking the lake.
We decided we wanted to take a cruise boat back to Interlaken, and it was scheduled to leave at 12:40, so we started booking it back to the other end of Brienz to catch it. But there were swans, and Ashley is as obsessed with swans as Ludwig was, so she had to stop and take a thousand photos. Then we later passed these cool fountains that you had to pump yourself, and then the pieces moved as the water pooled up, so we wasted a little time there. We had to jog the final stretch to the boat, but we made it there in time to buy tickets and board.
That boat ride back was sooo nice. We were all so tucked out from our weeks of fun that a boat ride in the sun on a crystal blue lake in Switzerland was the perfect way to relax and unwind. It took over an hour to get back, and we just sat there watching little Swiss towns pass by and seagulls fly overhead. So soothing and picturesque and perfect.
That was our rest break for the day, and then we were dropped off back by the train station. We found the car, and then it was straight on to Grindelwald.
I now understand why it's Dad's all-time favorite place. It's such a charming little town surrounded by huge, beautiful grey mountains. Dad says it was four times more touristy than when he was here 20 years ago, but it still was magnificent. Look it up, because I'm seriously feeling so unoriginal with my adjectives, and my descriptions won't do it any justice. But basically if Dad could pick one place to retire, I think that would be it. It has everything he loves except easy access to Jackson.
We stayed there for several hours, shopping mostly. It was our last chance to get Switzerland souvenirs, so we took advantage of the many tourist shops.
Since that was pretty much our last day and the sun was setting perfectly on the valley, Dad insisted on finding the perfect panorama view. It took us up tiny farm paths on steep hills, and at one point some farmers had to move a cow-blocking rope for us to drive past, but eventually we found the perfect place to look out at Grindelwald and eat dinner.
After Dad had his fill of the view, we drove back home to the hotel. We knew we needed to get up early for church the next day, but we stayed up to watch Netflix instead. It was nice to just relax and watch movies.
But first, we went to Brienz. We slept in a little bit, got a good hotel breakfast, then drove to the train station. The hotel owner gave us grew passes on all public transportation, so we took one to a town around the other side of the lake. Brienz.
It was just the kind of place we'd hoped to find--a quiet little hillside town with next to no tourists and lots to see. There was just one main street parallel to the waterfront, and it had coats of arms on flags hanging over it every few yards.
The main thing to see in Brienz was the great woodworking museum and shops. Dude, if you ever want cash, just learn how to carve things out of wood. Everything was so expensive. Even the tiniest little unpainted trinkets were like $30. Polished and painted palm-sized music boxes were around $200 each. There was this one eagle statue the size of a real eagle priced at $54,000!
So yeah, we didn't buy anything in Brienz. But we had fun looking at it all. Then we went to nearly the end of the road to a cute little church on a hilltop, and we ate lunch overlooking the lake.
We decided we wanted to take a cruise boat back to Interlaken, and it was scheduled to leave at 12:40, so we started booking it back to the other end of Brienz to catch it. But there were swans, and Ashley is as obsessed with swans as Ludwig was, so she had to stop and take a thousand photos. Then we later passed these cool fountains that you had to pump yourself, and then the pieces moved as the water pooled up, so we wasted a little time there. We had to jog the final stretch to the boat, but we made it there in time to buy tickets and board.
That boat ride back was sooo nice. We were all so tucked out from our weeks of fun that a boat ride in the sun on a crystal blue lake in Switzerland was the perfect way to relax and unwind. It took over an hour to get back, and we just sat there watching little Swiss towns pass by and seagulls fly overhead. So soothing and picturesque and perfect.
That was our rest break for the day, and then we were dropped off back by the train station. We found the car, and then it was straight on to Grindelwald.
I now understand why it's Dad's all-time favorite place. It's such a charming little town surrounded by huge, beautiful grey mountains. Dad says it was four times more touristy than when he was here 20 years ago, but it still was magnificent. Look it up, because I'm seriously feeling so unoriginal with my adjectives, and my descriptions won't do it any justice. But basically if Dad could pick one place to retire, I think that would be it. It has everything he loves except easy access to Jackson.
We stayed there for several hours, shopping mostly. It was our last chance to get Switzerland souvenirs, so we took advantage of the many tourist shops.
Since that was pretty much our last day and the sun was setting perfectly on the valley, Dad insisted on finding the perfect panorama view. It took us up tiny farm paths on steep hills, and at one point some farmers had to move a cow-blocking rope for us to drive past, but eventually we found the perfect place to look out at Grindelwald and eat dinner.
After Dad had his fill of the view, we drove back home to the hotel. We knew we needed to get up early for church the next day, but we stayed up to watch Netflix instead. It was nice to just relax and watch movies.
September 26, 2014--Day 14--Friday: Murren, Trummelbach Falls, and Interlaken
I swear, Dad planned this trip from pretty to prettiest. Everywhere we went, we were blown away and thought, "THIS is our new favorite!"
Switzerland may seriously have trumped everything we'd done so far.
Friday, Dad took us to one of his favorite places in the world. We got up early and ate a typical delicious European breakfast at our hotel headquarters down the street. Then we left Interlaken and went to a town called Lauterbrunnen. It's in a narrow mountain valley in the shadow of the Jungfrau--the highest mountain in Europe. The cliffs surrounding the valley have 70 waterfalls. It was beautiful.
But that wasn't our final destination. In Lauterbrunnen, we caught a tram to go up the cliffs. We got separated again in transit. The tram wasn't supposed to leave until 9:55AM, so we were in line at 9:45 and Ashley wanted to run back to the car for something. As soon as she was gone, the tram driver opened the gate for boarding. Dad thought we still had 10 minutes before take-off, so eh ran out of line to get Ashley but sent the rest of us on in. No sooner had we boarded than the gate was closed and we headed up the mountain without Dad and Ashley! We freaked out a little, especially when we passed over the parking lot and saw Dad freaking out with Ashley nowhere to be found.
But we enjoyed the train as much as we could. It was a beautiful ride up this sheer cliff, with waterfalls and glacial peaks all around us.
The train dropped us off in a cliff town called Gimmelwald, and there we waited for the next tram to come up with Dad and Ashley. The Swiss guard lady got irrupted with us for not leaving the station, but we refused to budge. Twenty minutes later, the next tram came up and there were Dad and Ashley waving at us from the front window. We were so relieved to see them.
Reunited, we got on another tram to take us farther up the cliff to a town called Murren. It was SO PRETTY. I don't know why or how people built a village so high up a sheer mountain face but I'm so glad they did. It had the most breathtaking view, and it's really become a little resort town. The buildings were big and well-kept, and most of them seemed to be hotels and restaurants. It was still really quaint, though. Lots of goats and cows with very loud bells around their necks.
We just walked along the cliff for a long while, looking down into the valley or across at the magnificent mountains. We had fun watching paragliders taking off from a hill right behind us.
A short hike through the woods took us to an amazing panoramic view of the valley and mountains, and you can guess how many pictures Sarah and Ashley took of us.
We got a bratwurst and sandwich lunch and ate it on the hill outside of town directly under the paragliders' take-off spot. It was so beautiful and serene, we could have happily stayed there all day.
But by then we were pretty tired, so we headed back down on the tram at around 2:00PM. Going down, the tram was way crowded, and Dad just had to tell us a story about a tram line breaking and killing all the passengers. At one point the tram seemed to just be free falling, so my stomach plunged, and it lasted long enough for me to start panicking and praying not to die. Sometimes I hate being afraid of heights.
Once we were on the ground again, we headed just a little way down the canyon to Trummelbach Falls. It's this huge waterfall inside a cave. It has ten different levels--like it cascades into a series of 10 pools. We took a lift up to the 5th level, then hiked like a million stairs up this cave system to the very top of the waterfall. It was cold and misty and there was little light besides some floodlights, but it was incredible. Oh, and loud. Waterfalls are already loud, but put one in a cave, and it roars. It was epic. Ashley and I thought it was something straight out of a movie, so we soon found ourselves "sword fighting" with our water bottles on the spiral stairways, with caves and waterfalls as our backdrop. And we had a blast doing it.
But really by then we were unbelievably tired, so we took a pretty drive back to Interlaken and took power naps in our hotel.
After that we went to the grocery store and grabbed dinner there, then took it to another tram, but this time up the mountain to a restaurant directly above our hotel. It wasn't really a tram--more like a railcar that just went straight up through the trees. We had a front-row seat, so we got to see all of Interlaken open up to our view. Sarah said it was her favorite train ride so far. But she just had to say "This would be a really fun roller coaster ride if we just plunged all the way back down." Thanks. A lot.
But up at the top we had a great view for dinner. And there was one of those glass overlook patios by the restaurant, so we got to see so much of Interlaken from above. It was amazing.
When we got back to the bottom of the mountain, we walked along the turquoise river that connects the two lakes, drove around a bit, then went home to watch a movie and chill.
We were happily exhausted and we'd seen enough mountaintops to be satisfied for the rest of the trip.
Switzerland may seriously have trumped everything we'd done so far.
Friday, Dad took us to one of his favorite places in the world. We got up early and ate a typical delicious European breakfast at our hotel headquarters down the street. Then we left Interlaken and went to a town called Lauterbrunnen. It's in a narrow mountain valley in the shadow of the Jungfrau--the highest mountain in Europe. The cliffs surrounding the valley have 70 waterfalls. It was beautiful.
But that wasn't our final destination. In Lauterbrunnen, we caught a tram to go up the cliffs. We got separated again in transit. The tram wasn't supposed to leave until 9:55AM, so we were in line at 9:45 and Ashley wanted to run back to the car for something. As soon as she was gone, the tram driver opened the gate for boarding. Dad thought we still had 10 minutes before take-off, so eh ran out of line to get Ashley but sent the rest of us on in. No sooner had we boarded than the gate was closed and we headed up the mountain without Dad and Ashley! We freaked out a little, especially when we passed over the parking lot and saw Dad freaking out with Ashley nowhere to be found.
But we enjoyed the train as much as we could. It was a beautiful ride up this sheer cliff, with waterfalls and glacial peaks all around us.
The train dropped us off in a cliff town called Gimmelwald, and there we waited for the next tram to come up with Dad and Ashley. The Swiss guard lady got irrupted with us for not leaving the station, but we refused to budge. Twenty minutes later, the next tram came up and there were Dad and Ashley waving at us from the front window. We were so relieved to see them.
Reunited, we got on another tram to take us farther up the cliff to a town called Murren. It was SO PRETTY. I don't know why or how people built a village so high up a sheer mountain face but I'm so glad they did. It had the most breathtaking view, and it's really become a little resort town. The buildings were big and well-kept, and most of them seemed to be hotels and restaurants. It was still really quaint, though. Lots of goats and cows with very loud bells around their necks.
We just walked along the cliff for a long while, looking down into the valley or across at the magnificent mountains. We had fun watching paragliders taking off from a hill right behind us.
A short hike through the woods took us to an amazing panoramic view of the valley and mountains, and you can guess how many pictures Sarah and Ashley took of us.
We got a bratwurst and sandwich lunch and ate it on the hill outside of town directly under the paragliders' take-off spot. It was so beautiful and serene, we could have happily stayed there all day.
But by then we were pretty tired, so we headed back down on the tram at around 2:00PM. Going down, the tram was way crowded, and Dad just had to tell us a story about a tram line breaking and killing all the passengers. At one point the tram seemed to just be free falling, so my stomach plunged, and it lasted long enough for me to start panicking and praying not to die. Sometimes I hate being afraid of heights.
Once we were on the ground again, we headed just a little way down the canyon to Trummelbach Falls. It's this huge waterfall inside a cave. It has ten different levels--like it cascades into a series of 10 pools. We took a lift up to the 5th level, then hiked like a million stairs up this cave system to the very top of the waterfall. It was cold and misty and there was little light besides some floodlights, but it was incredible. Oh, and loud. Waterfalls are already loud, but put one in a cave, and it roars. It was epic. Ashley and I thought it was something straight out of a movie, so we soon found ourselves "sword fighting" with our water bottles on the spiral stairways, with caves and waterfalls as our backdrop. And we had a blast doing it.
But really by then we were unbelievably tired, so we took a pretty drive back to Interlaken and took power naps in our hotel.
After that we went to the grocery store and grabbed dinner there, then took it to another tram, but this time up the mountain to a restaurant directly above our hotel. It wasn't really a tram--more like a railcar that just went straight up through the trees. We had a front-row seat, so we got to see all of Interlaken open up to our view. Sarah said it was her favorite train ride so far. But she just had to say "This would be a really fun roller coaster ride if we just plunged all the way back down." Thanks. A lot.
But up at the top we had a great view for dinner. And there was one of those glass overlook patios by the restaurant, so we got to see so much of Interlaken from above. It was amazing.
When we got back to the bottom of the mountain, we walked along the turquoise river that connects the two lakes, drove around a bit, then went home to watch a movie and chill.
We were happily exhausted and we'd seen enough mountaintops to be satisfied for the rest of the trip.
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