Enchantment of Eastern Europe

Luanne and Dan arrived in Murren yesterday after flying to Zurich from Budapest (they had a long day!). Today Sharon and Dean are going up Mount Pilates (weather be damned).

When I woke up at 6am, the sky was blue – I could hardly believe it! However, by the time we were ready to get on with our day, it was cloudy and rainy in Unterseen and points beyond. We stopped at the friendly rail info office to ask about getting to Lauterbrunnen and appreciated their friendly, quick advice!

As we waited for our train, it was difficult to not feel superior to all those people struggling with their full size, heavy luggage!

We boarded our train, which happened to be the Golden Panorama Express, at Interlaken West at 11:04am on platform 2 for only one stop to Interlaken OST. However, we were in the wrong car and the conductor came through to push us all from first class! As we moved to the next car, the lady in front of me commented that it had been pretty nice!

At Interlaken OST, we had to be sure we were boarding the correct car, because part of the train diverts to Grindelwald. It was marked on the platform and pretty easy to understand.

OMG Switzerland is SO beautiful!

At the Lauterbrunnen train station we could immediately get the perspective of the deep valley we were in. From the train station we walked up a ramp to the main road and could already see the stunning Staubbach Waterfall. This is the second highest waterfall in Switzerland (nearly 900 feet).

Not usually one to say no to an adventure, we decided to climb the steep switchbacks to a path cut into the cliff to get behind the falls. It was pretty difficult, but there was a sturdy handrail which made even clumsy me be okay. I didn’t think of taking any pictures because I was too concerned with not slipping! There was no way to stay dry!

It was just after noon when we found our way back down, and figured a beer and a snack would give us a chance to dry off. My buddy Rick recommended Horner Pub, so we had a local draft and a hot dog. A friendly German couple from the next table struck up a conversation and were happy to share a “Prost” with our beers.

We backtracked to cross the river just beside the church where there was a walking path that ran along the other side of the river. There are 72 waterfalls in the valley. Some of them are just a small stream of water, but the valley is absolutely stunning – even in the clouds and rain!

Our path crossed the river a few times and eventually came back to the main road. At that point we ran out of steam, so headed back to town. There was a post on Facebook about being in the location from the Rick Steves guidebook, so I couldn’t resist!

Gary bought a t-shirt and we caught the train back to Interlaken OST, with connection to Interlaken West and our apartment. Along the way, we were seated opposite a mother and her eight year old son who were speaking German (perhaps), so I shared one of my dollar store Canada zipper pulls with him.

My feet were wet again, so we were in for the evening. Gary was watching the French Open tennis and I was sorting out my pictures and writing my blog. We had pasta and salad and wine for dinner and another quiet evening. My liver is probably happy that there’s no lounge to go to at the moment!

We made plans to meet Luanne and Dan in Murren tomorrow for an onward adventure to Schilthorn and Piz Gloria.

Today’s Fitbit report is 14,087 and 10 kms.