We are up early and ready to explore! This is the bread that Regan picked out at the market the night before. It actually lasted the entire trip! Traveling on a budget :)
We were out the door at 6:30am. It was so peaceful and quiet, and we loved every step we took. This day was originally supposed to be our "long hike" but you need good weather to get the views Regan was looking forward to and the forecast was calling for heavy rain. So, we opted to do "indoor" activities that the rain would not disrupt.
The clouds were low, but we were in the valley so it didn't really obstruct our views close by.
We didn't get far on our walk before we got our first glimpse of the snow covered mountains...and no rain yet!
We really couldn't go far without taking pictures. That's a lot of firewood! I'm glad we were there in teh summer. The temperature was perfect.
It's hard to see on the small image, but you can see their cow bells hanging from the roof. We could always hear the cows before we saw them.
Another vending machine just randomly placed on the trail. It was full of cheese!
I can't tell you how many times I heard Regan say that she was going to move here one day.
Lauterbrunnan is so thoughtful. They placed some benches every once in a while in case you get tired.
A local person's home...love it
This is the white river. It is the runoff from the glaciers. It is very white and very cold!
The waterfall that we were walking to. Trummelbache Falls
The bus stop
In case I forgot the name...haha!
We wore ponchos to go in because of spray the from waterfall inside.
The largest indoor glacial waterfall. 200,000 liters per SECOND rush through. I took a video because it's pretty amazing to hear and see. The water flows year round.
inside
Proof that we were getting wet. I tried really hard to get a picture, but we were getting too wet.
The water has carved out so many formations in the rocks. It's really beautiful.
That's Regan in the little hole in the center :)
Looking out over the falls at Regan (top of the steps) as we were leaving the inside of the falls
It's 20 flights of stairs back down. It was our first day, and I didn't want to kill my knees on the first day before we got to do any of the hiking. So, I took the elevator down and Regan walked the steps. She took my phone with her in case she saw any cool sites.
walking back to the ABNB for lunch
Water fountain to fill your water bottles or just get a drink. It was some of the best tasting water I have had. I didn't know water could taste so light and smooth.
the church in Lauterbrunnan
After lunch at our place, we took a train into Interlaken and then waited here for the bus to take us to Beatus Caves. These caves are what inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to create Rivendell in Lord of the Rings.
The view from the caves of Lake Thun below. I could look at this lake all day1
They had (a kind of creepy) replica of St. Beatus and his home inside the cave.
This was my favorite part inside the cave. The lower you squat the more you can see in the reflection of the water.
When we got to the end of the cave (at least as far as you are allowed to go) there was a sign saying that we had climbed 90 flights of stairs.
Now it's time to walk back down to the bus stations!
There was a museum after the caves. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't a bunch of stuffed animals.
I wanted a picture of the coins before we spent it all.
Look how blue this river is!!
Awe, a taste of China in Switzerland.
A church in Interlaken
We went inside. It's interesting to me to see how churches in different places look. The back of the church had a little kid area.
There was a little store inside the church where you could buy postcards or other things. There was a little green box in the corner for you to leave the money. The expect honesty in all of Switzerland. It was refreshing. They just assume you will do the right thing.
Even in the rain...so pretty!
Offen Open...I just like saying it :) Offen means open in German.
Making Doggy friends even in Switzerland
Because food is really expensive in Switzerland, we only planned on one meal a day. We had granola bars and other snacks to get us throughout the day. This Swiss dish is called Rosti. It was very delicious! It's basically like a hash brown casserole with bacon and eggs on top.
We also ordered this vegetable soup. YUM! Regan and I split the two dishes.
Oh, the name of the restaurant was Hotel Oberland Restaurant. It was the last thing we did before heading to bed! We walked over 24,000 steps and over 100 flights of stairs were climbed.
