Our drive into Switzerland started with a 40 Swiss Franc
(CHF) road tax, which we thought was high at the time, until we drove through
France on our way home and paid almost double that on tolls. The Swiss money was colorful and a pleasant change
from the normal Euro we had been using; it exchanged almost even with the US
dollar. We stopped at McDonalds on our
way to our destination and ordered a combo meal, one cheeseburger and one order
of fries. The total came to $19!!! We knew then that our trip to Switzerland was
going to be a little expensive.
We drove to a small village named Lauterbrunnen, which was
located at the bottom of a huge gondola that lifted groups of people to the
villages located in the nearby mountains.
We braved the gondola, dangling from a cable which only had supports at
the very bottom and very top. Our stop
was Mürren, a small village on the edge of a
cliff with no roads whose economy was mainly supported by tourism. The paths were well-paved and bustling with
foot traffic. We wheeled our luggage to
our hotel where we found our room to be decorated with cows, lots of cows. You’ll see the reason for this later in our
post.
Gondola coming down the mountain:
Gondola coming down the mountain:
Riding the gondola up:
We spent time touring the town, sampling the food, and
shopping in the small, family-owned stores.
There was a rustic look in all of the buildings, something about the
moist air in the Swiss Alps that made this mountain town picturesque. The surrounding mountains were snow-capped
and had alpine glaciers seeping through the crevasses.
Walking around Mürren:
Walking around Mürren:
From our hotel's patio:
Alpine Glaciers:
The next day we headed out for a hike in the mountains,
despite the pouring rain which seemed to linger most of the morning. Equipped with rain gear, we rode a funicular
up the mountain to our start-point. The
rain was still coming down hard, but we heard rumors that rain clouds pass
quickly at higher altitudes. About 15
minutes into our hike, the rain stopped and we had beautiful weather the rest
of the way. It turns out that when you’re
over a mile above sea level on the side of a mountain, the clouds move around
you, not above you!
Hiking in our rain gear:
Hiking in our rain gear:
Clouds passing around us:
Awesome clouds in the valley:
Remember those cows in the hotel room? Well, turns out they are all over the
mountainsides. Each one had a cowbell
(yes, more cowbell) that we could hear from a great distance away. We also had a close encounter with a few
along the trail. For some reason,
Lindsay wanted to pet one, then it got a little friendly and starting licking
her hand, then proceeded to eat her jacket… crazy Swiss cows! The hungry cow followed another group of hikers while we picked up our pace to gain some
distance. Later, another group of cows blocked
the path and we had to go off-road to avoid them; there’s no way I’m “pushing”
a cow off the path.
Cow tongue:
Cow tongue:
Curious cow:
Cowbells decorating a mountainside lodge:
After several hours
of amazing scenery, we made it back to Mürren, where we had more Swiss food,
including cheese fondue and Toblerones. We also watched a parade from our balcony, where locals marched while ringing giant cowbells.
The descent back to town:
The descent back to town:
Plenty of sunshine now!:
Almost back to town:
Cowbell parade:
The next day we descended back to our car and began the long
drive back home. We toured a little on
our way out of Switzerland, passing by some beautiful scenery, and then crossed
into France. Not a whole lot to say
about French roads; we mainly pushed through to Calais, where we boarded the
train to go through the Chunnel. It was
quite nice being back on English roads again.
A few hours later we arrived back home in jolly old Huntingdon. Our European road trip had concluded. It was an amazing experience and would do it
again in a heartbeat.
~Blake