Paris (in spite of how wonderful it was) was actually the entrée to the part of our Europe trip that I was most looking to-- we next headed to Switzerland to hike in the Alps. I had been to Switzerland close to twenty years ago, so it wasn't a new country for me; however, I got the idea to visit this stunning part of the country from some FB hiking photos posted by Kat, the sister of my high school classmate Lauren. Additionally, after recently watching the enthralling Korean TV drama "Crash Landing on You" (filmed and set in part in nearby gorgeous Isetwald), Kelvin's and my interest in visiting these mountains (truly, mountains = my happiest place) was piqued. (I also am less cheap now than I was in my twenties, when I basically ate apples out of a sack for a week so I wouldn't have to fork over too much money for food in this jaw-droppingly expensive country!).
We left Paris early morning on a 7 a.m. train bound for Karlsruhe, Germany, which left as planned. I did get an odd and vague e-mail message late on the previous evening about "possibly" having train delays on our reservation with instructions to "bring enough water," but when we left France on time, didn't think much of it. However, when we arrived in Germany, we found out that our 10 a.m. train to Interlaken, Switzerland, was cancelled altogether (for unknown reasons. Heat wave related??). Helped by a Deutsche Bahn agent, we learned that there were later trains leaving which we could hop on, although we'd have to sit around for at least two hours (which, as those trains were also delayed, actually stretched to more than three) and weren't guaranteed a seat (and we did not initially get one). The cancellation/delays were quite surprising for me as German (and especially the precise Swiss!) trains almost always run on time with few exceptions (at least which I have recalled from previous trips in Europe).
In any case, I hunkered down with snacks and my Kindle, and Kelvin took advantage of the long layover to walk outside the train station and "claim" he visited a new country (Germany! And his THIRD new country on this trip!).
View of Thunersee as we approached Interlaken-- a beautiful and very welcome sight!
Finally, after many stops at various towns in Germany and Switzerland including Basel (after which we could snag some seats as passengers disembarked and where the Swiss train announcers kept apologizing for the delays!) and Bern, we arrived eleven hours later (four hours later than planned, as well as hot, hungry, thirsty, and tired) at our destination, Lauterbrunnen.
Lauterbrunnen is a lovely little dorf (or town) situated south of Interlaken in a beautiful valley in the Jungfrau region of the Bernese Oberland with stunning views of the snow-capped mountain peaks of Eiger (3970m), Mönch (4099m) and Jungfrau (4158m). It is also called the Tal der 72 Wasserfälle (valley of the 72 Waterfalls). We checked into our hotel (Steinbock, literally across the street from the Bahnhof, or train station), with lovely views like these:
(yes, those are K's feet from our balcony)
After dinner, we took a pleasant stroll through the town and visited Staubbachfälle, Switzerland's highest free-falling waterfall.
I think Swiss cows have to be among the happiest cows!
We missed visiting the UNESCO World Natural Heritage site Trümmelbachfälle on the date of our arrival but were able to hit it the next afternoon. These falls are the runoff of the glaciers Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau, and the icy water thunders (at more than 20,000 liters per second) down caves inside the mountainside, uniquely viewable from ten different illuminated platforms.
Lauterbrunnen and this Jungfrau region is a hiker's paradise, and we sure did a lot of wandern during our three-day visit (stay tuned for photos of alpine hiking and our other adventures -- there are a lot of good ones I have to sort through!).
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