On Thursday morning we took the train to Lauterbrunnen, Tolkien’s original inspiration for Rivendell, remembered from his travels as a young man before the first world war.
When we arrived in Lauterbrunnen it was raining, but by the time we checked in and had lunch it had turned into fog and mist. Here is the view from our hotel balcony:
We went for a stroll for a few miles by the waterfalls in the valley before heading back for dinner (we bought food at the Coop market below the hotel) in the room.
Afterwards we took the train to Wengen and walked slowly all the way down to Lauterbrunnen taking in the rainy but still arresting vistas.
On Friday morning we took the funicular to the Schilthorn’s “James Bond” Piz Gloria.
We actually enjoyed the lower station at Birg much more, as it had a glass overlook that shook when you walked on it and many of the tourists skipped it.
The overlook was very slippery and covered with melting snow and ice, enhancing the feeling of danger.
We ate lunch in Murren, where we’d been instructed to meet our pilots. We went on a short hike to a field above the city.
We had purchased the “James Bond” experience that launches from Birg, but a recent snowfall would have prevented any running. Instead, our pilots caught drafts and soared up to the same height we would have enjoyed on the James Bond flight.
Are you kidding? I grew up spending summers going to Cedar Point, rollercoaster heaven. I could have done flips up there all day.
We landed (me on my feet and Sam on her behind) in a pasture in Stechelberg.
I don’t know if you figured it out from the looks on our faces, but paragliding was one of the most exciting and enjoyable experiences we’ve ever had. We were in the air for nearly an hour soaring like birds. And once you’ve done a 360-degree flip thousands of feet in the air, no rollercoaster can compare. We got up-close views of cliffs and waterfalls and trees and ice that only birds and paragliders can see. And, unlike skydiving which puts all the lift between your legs, we were essentially sitting in flexible deck-chairs the entire time. Will do again 100% when we have the next opportunity.
Our tour gave us a lift to nearby Trümmelbach Falls, where the swiss built tunnels encircling a glacial waterfall that cut deep into the mountain. I immediately regretted not bringing my tripod as most of the great photo opportunities were inside the mountain in low light.
After that we had a short stop for a cold beer, then took a bus back to the train station.
Then we boarded the train to Interlaken and walked across the river to the gondola up to the lookout on top of Harder mountain (harder kulm).
While we were up at the top a high-speed train hit a tour bus right in front of the gondola station at the bottom of the mountain.
The police closed the bridge forcing us into a long walk down the Aare river path to a much farther bridge.
The accident also pushed our train to Lauterbrunnen back to 10:02pm. We found a local pub by the youth hostel and I had a beer while we waited.
Saturday we went canyoneering in the morning. We couldn’t bring our own cameras as they’d be damaged, so these photos are from the photographer that followed along on the sides of the canyon (full album is on my facebook).
We were supposed to have a longer version of it, but the crew decided it was too dangerous (due to the same snow that altered our paragliding plans). We still jumped into, swam through, and got carried away by glacial currents in the saxeten canyon gorge.
We wore heavy thermal wetsuits but it was still very cold and the thickness made it hard to move around. That’s a problem when your guide wants you to jump and pose like superman in flight.
I had trouble sleeping the night before and took a Unisom, which further drained my energy before we even began. My helmet said “Homer” on it and it seemed apt, as I felt I was slowing the whole group down. The only truly enjoyable part for me was when they let us just float downstream for a bit.
The tour operators were originally going to take us bungee jumping from a gondola over an alpine lake after canyoneering, but a recent cold snap left the lake partially frozen.
After a long lunch at the hotel, we headed to Grindelwald to see the famous glacier gorge. Of course, when we got there we were told the gorge was closed because of the cold snap. The tourism folks gave us some other options and we decided to go up to First, which is a gondola station 7,111 feet up the mountain.
The very end is made of glass and shakes when anyone else steps on the platform.
We only saw a few other people up there. Just when we were starting to congratulate ourselves on this find and start a picnic an employee ran out and said the last gondola down the mountain was leaving at 5 (i.e. “now”). If we hadn’t made it to that gondola we’d probably still be on that winding mountain path.
We returned to Lauterbrunnen and went to the paragliding cafe for our free drinks (included in our flight) then walked a bit farther down the street to visit Staubbach Falls again. The path up to the falls was still closed, but a farmer had brought sheep to the adjacent field.
On our last full day in Lauterbrunnen, we went to see Staubbach Falls one last time up close, but this time with the morning sun on it.
The trail up the hill was still frustratingly “closed for winter” as it had been every other visit. Also just like every other visit someone came along to challenge the concept of “strictly prohibited.” This time, we went with him. However, after walking through the tunnel to the beginning of the rock walk behind the falls we turned back. The man who had jumped the fence with us went up the steps and yelped at the cascading glacier water wafting in from the falls. We had jumped into glacier water the morning before and had no desire to do so again without wetsuits.
We headed back to the train station and took the next one to Wengen. At the station we walked down a different trail than a few days prior, looking for good shots of the valley before getting back on at the next stop.
We went to Interlaken for lunch and walked along the Aare before shopping for watches in town.
At four we took the swiss chocolatier class. My nose had started to run like a faucet because of all the pollen blowing through the valley so I looked pretty miserable while Sam was in chocolate heaven.
After class we went back to Lauterbrunnen to turn in early since our train journey to Italy would start at 7am.
