Sunday morning we had planned to take a train to Europe's highest train station to Aletsch glacier to view Jungfrau and other surrounding mountains. But the weather forecast for the trip was better for Monday so we decided to stick around Interlaken Sunday morning and then try the scenic route we attempted the day before.
Interlaken lies between two lakes, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz.
Since the interstate runs along the south side of these lakes, we drove along the north side of Lake Thun (on the west side of Interlaken) before lunch.
At lunch that day, Luke got some food hung in his throat and was convinced that he'd thrown up. He then told us that it smelled bad in the restaurant and held his nose throughout the entire meal.
Daddy splurged for dessert, chocolate fondue! Note......still holding his nose.
We had been told that Switzerland was expensive. So we expected gas, hotels and such to be. But we were not expecting the food and the souvenirs to be also! This sandwich board stood outside the restaurant where we ate lunch. 1 Swiss Franc = $1.05 USA......On this vacation we learned to order 3 adult meals; the kids split one and had part of mine. At this particular restaurant, we ordered 3 of the items listed on the board (our order consisted of 3 meals, 1 dessert & 1 beer) and I believe our bill was around 80+ Francs........that was pretty much the norm.....
After lunch we drove along the north side of the eastern lake, Lake Brienz until we met up again with the interstate. This waterfall was easily seen from the road so we decided to see just how close we could get to it.
The Alps are not known for their wildlife viewing, which we were disappointed about. So when we did see something different, we got a little excited. Yes, they're guineas.....
We decided to try to drive to the top of the pass again that we tried driving through the day before when the weather was so bad.
Although it was overcast, we did see some peaks in between the clouds.
As we came to the top of the pass, we got above the clouds and this was our view! Simply breathtaking!
And the views just kept getting better!
You can see the road coming down from the pass just under the mountains. Luckily we were in front of them. However they would dissipate right there. We drove down that windy road and up the road you see on the right. Gorgeous scenery all around us!
You can't drive too fast on windy mountain roads. So when we would see some cows in a field, we'd slow down and roll our windows down and listen to the bells around their necks. It was amazing to be looking at the mountains we were surround by and listening to the bells at the same time!
We drove back to Interlaken to pick up dinner at Subway to take back to our hotel. As we pulled into town, we noticed Jungfrau was not in the cloud cover anymore! It was amazing to see just how many mountain peaks there actually were close by when the clouds would clear.
Always a good sign while on vacation - this little guy was so worn out from the day that he couldn't even finish his book!
To save a couple of hundred dollars on train tickets, we took the "Good Morning" Train out of Interlaken to Jungfraujoch. It left the station at 6:30a.m........
We soon discovered we had made the right decision to wait until Monday to take the train up to Jungfrau!
"The Jungfrau Railway, a pioneering masterpiece among mountain railways, went into service in 1912. The cogwheel railway takes passengers from Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch-Top of Europe, which at 3,454 metres is Europe’s highest-altitude railway station in a world of rock, ice and snow."
"Seven of the nine kilometres of railway are in a tunnel hewn in the rock of the Eiger and Mönch. The Jungfrau Railway climbs a height difference of 1400 metres in around 50 minutes."
The Ice Palace! Paths, tunnels and sculptures all carved from ice found inside the mountain. Kate was in "Frozen" heaven!
They even added a little humor!
We were able to walk out on the glacier. The wind was blowing and it was slick but we had great views! The kids were so nervous about the slickness that they stuck close to us!
Again, so glad we got up early! (And yes, I did apologize to Jimmy several times for silently cussing his cheapness for getting us up so early that morning....)
Jungfrau
While walking back inside Kate fell down hard on her bottom twice and Jack's sunglasses fell and went sliding across the ice beyond the rope. A nice man stepped over the rope to retrieve the sunglasses and Kate just needed a little bit of Mama snuggles before everything was right with the world again.
Along with the Ice Palace, inside they had a Lindt chocolate set up. We didn't walk away empty-handed :)
"The Sphinx building and observation terrace stand 117 metres above the Jungfraujoch-Top of Europe and provide stunning 360° views. The facility is reached by a spacious double lift carrying up to 1200 persons per hour."
It was much easier to walk on this platform :) Here the kids are tasting the snowflakes that had started to fall as we walked outside!
Jimmy thought this looked like fun....I thought he was nuts!
One more trip through the Ice Palace before catching the train back down the mountain!
On the way back down the mountain we stopped in Grindelwald for lunch.
And because we weren't pressed for time, we decided to do a little hiking.
Walking amongst the Alps while listening to the cowbells....doesn't get much better than that!
The weather had rolled in by the time we walked out on the observatory. However, down the mountain, the weather was fine and our views were unbelievable!
Jimmy and I thought we heard the sound of a glacier calving, but we didn't see anything. About 10 minutes later we did see some calving!
For some reason our children were in awe of how big the udders on some of the cows were. As you might have guessed, the kids have the camera at this point.....
When we arrived back in Interlaken it was time to head north about an hour to the hotel we were staying in that evening. This picture is of a house with a woman's name on it. We noticed a lot of houses in and around Interlaken with women's names on them. We have no idea why....
American Bison!
When Jimmy was checking us in into our hotel that evening, he asked about places to eat nearby. The clerk sent us up the road about 10 minutes to a pizza place. It was closed. We drove through the town and every eating establishment was closed. The one place that was open didn't take credit cards nor spoke English. We finally bought some sandwich meat, tortillas, grapes, mozzarella balls, tortilla chips and guacamole dip at a convenience store and that's what was for dinner. By the way that was at 7pm!
(Tuesday morning) Most of the houses/barns we drove by had stacks and stacks and stacks of firewood surrounding them.
"The Kapellbrücke (literally, Chapel Bridge) is a covered wooden footbridge spanning diagonally across the Reuss River in the city of Lucerne in central Switzerland. Named after the nearby St. Peter's Chapel, the bridge is unique since it contains a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17th century, although many of them were destroyed along with most of the centuries old bridge in a 1993 fire. Subsequently restored, the Kapellbrücke is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe."
From Lucerne, we drove north to Zurich and then to the Rhine Falls.
"The Rhine Falls is the largest plain waterfall in Europe. They are 150 m (450 ft) wide and 23 m (75 ft) high. In the winter months, the average water flow is 250 m³/s, while in the summer, the average water flow is 700 m³/s."
standing out over it
watching the water coming straight towards you - that was completely frightening and thrilling all at the same time!
Late Tuesday afternoon we started making our way back to Munich.
Jimmy's favorite German sign = NO SPEED LIMIT!
Top speed on the Autobahn - 132mph! And he was being passed!
Wednesday morning we left Munich and flew back to Dublin. After all the kids' first day of school was the next day!
