We got up early and headed out to the bus, which took us to
the train, which then arrived at Lauterbrunnen. This great little town us
tucked up in a valley between the high cliffs of the Swiss Alps and is
absolutely picturesque. Complete with waterfalls from the tops of the cliffs of
the valley, above the cliffs and at the top of the ridges, farms with terraced
trees and plants and can be seen, and behind everything stands Jungfrau the
highest point in Europe.
We then went on a walk along the bottom of the valley,
buying some cheese from a self-serve farmer’s refrigerator. The streams here
all seem to have that same semi watered down milk color that we have noticed
elsewhere, and we even saw areas there sluices carried water into eddy areas so
that gravel and sand would collect and then would be dredged out and put into
piles giving businesses easy access to cheap gravel from the glaciers among the
peaks.
As you walk up to Trümmelbachfälle, you first notice that
low roar in the background, you pay your 10 Francs per person you come to the
end of some stairs and the entrance to an elevator. In short the place is a
waterfall, but it is unlike anything we have ever seen. The glaciers from the
three highest peaks in Europe pour into this one common runoff area.
There are ten different waterfalls the majority of which are
inside the rock of the mountain which the elevator, also carved into the
mountain, takes you almost to the top of. The roaring of the water echoing
through the crevasses and caves is almost deafening, evidenced by the small
children who were covering their ears with confused looks on their faces
wondering what could be so loud. The wow factor of how the water over the years
has cut through the mountain and carved some very impressive formations is hard
to explain. This place was not really even mentioned in the guidebooks or sites
we visited as a place of wonder that should be on anyone’s list, and that
really seems like a disservice to an area so full of the power of nature in
full display. The first picture is the very top waterfall that the whole thing starts with followed in order, but not including all stages, to the bottom.
After that we headed back down for a quick lunch and then
out to Lake Thun, or Thunersee, for a little walk and some relaxing/reading by
the lake. Originally we had planned to go swimming but the weather had cooled
off significantly and we were not as enticed was we would have been otherwise.
The lake itself is very large and very beautiful with very little traffic on
most days which really helps to foster a serene setting to relax in.
It was then time to head back and make dinner, which we made
way too much of, and find some travelers who wanted some free Indian food. It
was pretty easy to find hungry people in a place that was so expensive to eat
out in, and being surrounded by people who had some pretty small budgets for their
travelling. We then found out that we had a host for at least some of our stay
in Marburg, YAY!, and we were going to sit down and blog a bit, but alas the
Surface was low on juice and the public areas with tables to work at were
either taken or had no power nearby.
Instead, we introduced a fellow traveler from Australia to
the world of board games with a round of Love Letter, Timeline, and Roll
through the Ages. We ended up staying up pretty late and then made our way to
bed after making sure everything was packed up and ready to go for the morning
so we could catch our train.
We are getting to the end and we will see you
all soon!
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