Both: Hey everyone!
Jen: It’s Jen and Greg with an update on our travels.
Greg: So this update, we’re going to talk about the private driver taking us from our hotel on Lake Zurich across part of Switzerland to get us to, uh, an area called Lauterbrunnen so we could take a train to our final destination of Wengen and the time that we spent in Wengen.
Jen: Yeah, and we got to stop in Lucerne on the way, and we drove through a beautiful spot called Interlaken before we wound up in Lauterbrunnen to catch the train. And the driver was awesome. His name was Nikolai. Fun fact about Nikolai. This was kind of an off day for him. Normally what he does is drive diplomats and their families around because, you know, it’s Switzerland. So having him as our driver felt a little fancy.
Greg: He was really cool, though, because while driving us around, he explained a lot about Switzerland and answered questions and made sure that he did drive the cooler, more scenic route, because that’s what we wanted. And Lucerne was something we wanted to see for maybe a couple of hours at most.
Jen: Yeah, people go there because it’s very near Mount Pilatus. There’s Meggenhorn Castle, and several rowing competitions are actually held there on the lake, in addition to all the other lake activities that you can do there.
Greg: For us, we wanted to see what’s called Kapellbrücke, or Chapel Bridge, and look around Old Town.
Jen: So the Kapellbrücke is actually Europe’s oldest wooden covered bridge, and it was built in the 14th century. And it’s really known for its triangular paintings that are located in the gables of the roof. And there are still actually some of those paintings that you can see, but really only a handful of the, what was it, 160 or something that were there before?
Greg: Yeah, apparently a fire at some point. You could still see scorch marks along the bridge, but, like, a hundred plus of the original paintings were too damaged to maintain. We also walked around the Old Town. There was this really colorfully painted fountain. There’s a cathedral that was really nice inside. We got some pictures of that too.
Jen: Yeah, and it’s really funny because we kept finding ourselves following these walking tours. There were like four different ones, and we learned a lot along the way...for free!
Both: (chuckle)
Greg: Yeah. So we met back up with our driver, continued along in the car. The next thing was passing through Interlaken.
Jen: We knew we wanted to see Interlaken because from everything we had read, we knew it was going to be gorgeous. I mean, you’re basically driving through the Alps. So you’re seeing mountains and there are waterfalls and the valley and these lakes, just the color of the water.
Greg: Yeah. And of course, the driver hears us commenting about how everything looks and told us the whole story that I guess locals have to share repeatedly. The color of all of that water comes from the glaciers grinding the mountains and all of that rock gets turned into a really fine powder called rock flour. And that’s suspended in the water, giving it that sort of dreamy glow and color. I really enjoyed seeing all of that.
Jen: For sure.
Greg: After Interlaken, our driver dropped us off in Lauterbrunnen, which was not our final destination. But you can’t drive up into those mountain villages. Lauterbrunnen operates as sort of the gateway to all of that, to the Jungfrau region. So if you want to go to Wengen or Mürren or all those alpine peaks, you basically launch from Lauterbrunnen.
Jen: Yeah. And it really looks like something out of a fairy tale because there’s, like, little buildings in the village. You’re looking out at the Alps and you see waterfalls. I was so intent on getting to our train that I didn’t really soak it all in. And I know you stopped me and said, “take a minute.”
Greg: Yeah, no, I noticed right away, like, as soon as he parked, my eyes and face just went to WOW, there’s this massive waterfall which I believe is the largest drop waterfall in Switzerland. I think it’s over 300 meters. It’s not always going with full water but it was while we were there so it was really cool.
Jen: Yeah.
Greg: And you also see all this green from the trees and the grass and this valley and I just had to say, like, “Hang on. Look at this. It is like being in a fantasy.”
Jen: Yeah, because it actually was in a fantasy novel. J.R.R. Tolkien hiked through the valley in, like, 1911. He was 19 years old and it inspired Bilbo’s journey from Rivendell in The Hobbit.
Greg: All depicted in illustrations by Tolkien that he ended up literally using in his book.
Jen: It was really cool.
Greg: I thought it was great.
Jen: (laughs) So we eventually caught our train up to Wengen, and it only took about 12 minutes to get there. It’s a quiet little village about halfway up the mountain, and it actually hosts one of the most famous ski races in the world every January, called the Lauberhorn. It draws over 30,000 spectators -- which I’m still not sure how they fit all those people in the town -- and it has run continuously since 1930, including during World War II, where most of the countries in Europe had canceled their ski competitions.
Greg: Yeah. So Lauberhorn is the centerpiece of Wengen’s winter economy, but the little village exists almost entirely on tourism year round. Initially, in, like, the 1800s, it was summer tourism of hikers and climbers.
Jen: Yeah. So the walk from the train station to our hotel was only about a quarter of a mile, but that quarter of a mile was uphill. And while it was a little bit challenging, it was definitely more manageable than our quote-unquote easy walk in the Czech Republic.
Greg: For sure. So another funny bit is when we arrived at the hotel, there’s this massive fluffy dog, easily a hundred pounds, just sprawled out in the sun, completely unbothered by anything. Definitely not a guard dog.
Jen: Yeah, and he was not concerned about letting us in the door or anything like that, so we had to walk around him.
Greg: Yeah. We stayed at the Hotel Falken, which was built in 1895, and it’s still run by the same family of the guy that built it.
Jen: Yeah, and it’s a member of the Swiss Historic Hotels, which makes it one of the most significant heritage buildings in Switzerland. And when you step inside, it just feels like you’re transported back into the early 20th century.
Greg: Yeah, as soon as you walk in, you have this lobby area and the furniture and the decorations all look like they could be a hundred years old.
Jen:Yeah, and it wasn’t just about like the furniture and the decorations. It was about the experience. This hotel was built in a time where you took your meals at the hotel. You ate breakfast there. You ate dinner there. And so every morning you had to select from a very small menu what you were going to have that night or they just picked it for you.
Greg: Yeah. And it was always different for that specific day. And another cool thing you don’t see often is before the dining room opens, people have started coming down from their rooms. And there’s only like 30 rooms total. So everybody kind of mingles naturally and you get to know the other guests at the hotel.
Jen: Yeah. It’s just really an experience that you don’t see much anymore.
Greg: Right.
Jen: So after we checked in and we put our stuff away, we decided we wanted to walk around the town for a bit.
Greg: Yeah, and we figured out very quickly we should have taken pictures right when we got off the train because it was still kind of clear at that point. But once we walked out of the hotel, clouds had started rolling in. We got a couple of pictures before it got too cloudy, but not quite as impressive as when we first showed up.
Jen: Yeah, that was a little bit of a bummer, but it was still cool because we knew we were there and we knew what was behind those clouds. (laughs)
Greg: Yeah, we also laughed like, wow, these are some low clouds. Uhhhh...no, we’re just high up into the clouds.
Jen: (laughs) Yep. So one of the things we saw around town were these very intricate wood carvings. There was one of a goat, there was an eagle, and we kind of wondered what the deal with them was.
Greg: Yeah, we didn’t realize until afterwards, apparently wood carving is a big tradition in the Bernese Oberland. And, uh, even the nearby town of Brienz is considered the carving capital of Switzerland.
Jen: Yeah, and some of those workshops there have been running for several generations.
Greg: Yeah, Wengen has its own little presence of those carved statue things. Kind of as, like, a nod to the regional heritage.
Jen: So the next morning we woke up, we had breakfast. After that, we went upstairs and we got ready for our hike.
Greg: Yeah, so we knew we were going to be hiking and it’s the Alps. And we were still scarred from our “easy walk” when we were outside of Prague. So we got a backpack, and we loaded that thing. I mean, our portable sink, extra clothes, extra water, snacks, first aid kit. We were not going to be unprepared.
Jen: (laughs) So we walked down to the train station to meet our guide because it was a guided hike. And while we’re prepared to spend the night in the Alps if we need to, she shows up with her tiny little dog. And the weather was a little overcast and a little misty. So it wasn’t like a beautiful Swiss day, but it was still going to be a fun experience. Really more of getting to know Wengen. She was from there and she wanted to show us what the town was like and what it was like to live there.
Greg: Yeah, it was interesting to hear about the differences between summer and winter in the village, the role of tourism. But I think one of the coolest things was, along the way, all of the kind of classic Swiss mountain homes, I think they’re called alpine chalets.
Jen: Yeah, these were probably my favorite part of the walking we did that day. It’s those houses that you see that they have very steeply pitched roofs, the wooden balconies with the carved details, And they’re always filled with flower boxes that are just overflowing with these, what we found out was geraniums, but brightly colored flowers. And it’s just what you think of when you’re, like, I want to live in the Swiss Alps.
Greg: Right? And each home actually had its own little small vegetable garden. Not like a hobby vegetable garden, but, like, this is how people here actually subsist.
Jen: Yeah. So we hiked for about an hour and she took us by a local dairy farm where they keep the cows that they make the cheese from.
Greg: Yeah. And it was a really fun story because she told us during the summers in, uh, early June, when the snow melts on the mountaintops, they all walk their cows all up to the pastures high up on the mountain. And the cows eat all of that great grass. They milk them. They make the cheese and they all pretty much live up there during that summer season. Then September, they walk the cows back down. But that’s actually like a festival. And I’m probably going to butcher the word, but it’s the Alpabzug.
Jen: Yeah. And the cows are all decorated with flowers and these large bells. And they just parade through the village where the locals and tourists get to watch. And Wengen actually has its own version every fall.
Greg: But in general, over the course of the whole hike through the woods and everything, she took us to overlooks. The scenery was fantastic, but like we mentioned earlier, it’s kind of misty. It’s overcast. It actually started raining a little later in the hike.
Jen: Yeah, and our little dog friend was not happy about that. So the hike wasn’t, like, objectively hard or anything, but it just gave us a good reminder that we are not hikers.
Greg: Yeah, we’re really not.
Jen: So the next morning, we got packed up. We headed down to the train station because we had places to go!
Greg: Yeah, and really shout out to that guy at the train station. I guess you call him a station master. I don’t know...
Jen: I call him the Ticket Master. (laughing)
Greg: Huh, yeah. So, ah, we knew we were going to have to take several different trains because we needed to go from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen to Spiez to Milan. And the thing is, the system, what tickets you buy and where, it was a little confusing to us. But he made sure everything was great. He taught us exactly how to handle it, what we needed to know, do, not do. We could even get out at certain places and check things out and walk around and still get on a different train. He really hooked us up.
Jen: Yeah. And while we were so concerned about giving the ticket guys on the train the right ones, nobody ever checked our tickets the entire time.
Greg: Yeah, which was really odd because everywhere else that we rode the train in Europe, they were diligent about coming to check your ticket. And we were so concerned about getting it right this time. And that’s when no checking of tickets.
Jen: Right. So we made it to Spiez without incident. And we basically just kind of walked around the area around the train station. And we’re just excited to get on our train to Milan.
Greg: Yeah. Also, the scenery and the landscape from Wengen all the way through into Spiez and then from Spiez all the way into Italy. All fantastic.
Jen: Yeah. I don’t think I read any on that train ride. (laughing)
Greg: Yeah, and then, of course, the central train station in Milan is known for its impressive architecture.
Jen: Yeah, but we’re gonna talk about that next time.
Greg: That’s right. The next update, as you can tell, will be about the beginning of our time in Italy.
Jen: Yay! Milan is the city that we almost didn’t go to.
Greg: That’s true. So, thanks for checking in.
Jen: And we’ll see you at the next stop!
