Ain't No Mountain High Enough

The word Switzerland conjures up some of the most beautiful images in my mind: snow-capped mountain peaks piercing crisp blue skies and fields of flowers with happy cows grazing, the sound of their bells floating softly in the air. And maybe, if you're lucky, a mountain man in lederhosen tooting on his alpine horn…think Ricola commercial. But, honestly, nothing could prepare us for what our eyes were about to see on our 8 day visit in Switzerland. This place is hands down one of the most beautiful countries we've ever been to. It reminded us a bit of Colorado but with more dramatic peaks and towns with hundreds of year more history. Not to mention the foreign language which makes any place feel a bit more glamorous.

Our first introduction to Switzerland was Zurich after a 5 hour train ride from Munich, Germany aboard a 200km/hr ICE train, an experience in itself. If you recall, while living in New Zealand we had a Swiss flatmate for a few months who graduated from language school and moved back to Zurich. I think within the first week of meeting Cecile and hearing stories about her home we had already decided we were visiting Switzerland, one way or another. I don’t think any of us thought we would ever see each other again but there we were group hugging in the Zurich train station in Switzerland! We arrived in the evening and Cecile toured us around old town where we grabbed the most delicious lemongrass, shitake mushroom and chicken Thai soup of my life (Weird, I know. I really need to get to Thailand).

The following morning we ate a traditional Swiss breakfast of bread, croissants and more bread with a side of 3 varieties of Swiss chocolate milk (and they say Americans eat unhealthily). It was May 1st, the Swiss Labor Day holiday. When we hear Labor Day, we think picnics, vacation, spending time with family but here it's a bit different. In Switzerland everything closes down and people take to the streets in protest of, well, we’re not exactly sure what. As our friend warned us to stay out of downtown we envisioned sirens, riots, tear gas and burning cars. Reality was much less exciting with an orderly line of demonstrators carrying flags and shouting things over loudspeakers. The police however were out in full force with their riot gear getup (see picture). We quickly became bored with the protestors and I admit, we had sort of a lazy day in Zurich. We walked the streets aimlessly while Cecile pointed out expensive Swiss watch stores (can you believe someone would pay $50,000 for a watch?!), historic churches, and charismatic streets. We bought fixings to make a spaetzle and wurst dinner and settled in for the evening.

Lucerne, Switzerland

Before leaving Zurich we happily (in many ways) purchased the Swiss Pass which included transport via train, bus and boat throughout the entire country plus entry to museums and some cable car rides. We said goodbye to Zurich and Cecile and hopped on the early train to Lucerne where we planned to stay for a few nights. Lucerne (population 76,000) is truly a magical place due to its location and ticks most of our boxes for a good European city: Beautiful spot on a lake/river with a backdrop of the Swiss Alps, clean with a relative lack of graffiti, interesting old section with millennia of history, and plenty of sightseeing and day hikes within easy reach of the city. Seconds after stepping off the train we were mesmerized with the beauty of Lucerne. Our time here consisted of a combination of cable car rides and cogwheel trains to the tops of mountains (Mt. Rigi and Mt. Pilatus), touring the city (Chapel Bridge, old town, Glacier Garden and walking along the old city wall), and cooking/sipping wine at our hostel. The photos hopefully do a better job elaborating than we’re able to with words.

Cogwheel Train to Mt Rigi

Kappelbrucke, or Chapel Bridge & Frolicking around the Old City Walls

One of the city's most famous landmarks is the Kappelbrucke or Chapel Bridge, a covered wooden foot-bridge. It was first erected in the 14th century and is unique since it contains a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17th century.

Mt Pilatus & The Cable Cars that got us there

*On our third day, we jumped on 3 different cable cars in order to make it to the top of Mt. Pilatus (the snow covered peak in the background).*

Lauterbrunnen Valley

Sadly, we had to depart Lucerne but the best section of Switzerland was soon to be upon us (little did we know)! First off, the Swiss trains are like clockwork...always on time and never leave a second late. We boarded our 2 hour train from Lucerne to Interlaken (which then goes to Lauterbrunnen where we were crashing for 2 nights) and this was hands down the most awe-inspiring train ride EVER! If this train ride existed in the USA people would travel hundreds of miles for a chance to ride this train but here it’s just how the locals and tourists commute, no big deal. It's hard to explain exactly how we felt during our ride through the Alps but let me just say we both had neck aches from craning our heads from one side to the other. There were waterfalls spewing out of sheer cliffs, towering glaciers, and the most magnificent mountains I've ever laid eyes on. We kept moving closer and closer and when we finally arrived to Lauterbrunnen we were smack dab in the middle of a glacier-carved valley with the Jungfraujoch glacier greeting us. This place was heaven on earth. Some quick info, Lauterbrunnen is situated in an impressive trough valley in the Alps with a population of around 2,200. The name itself means 'many fountains' and arriving here you know exactly why. There are 72 waterfalls within the valley, most of them you can see as you walk along the valley roads. There are several small towns located higher up on the valley hill walls, most you can only access via cable car or train (a.k.a. no cars allowed).

*Our stunning train ride put us smack dab in the middle of the Alps and the beautiful Lauterbrunnen valley.*

Literally within seconds of arriving we were sprinting to a cable car that would zip us to the top of one of the car-free towns that offered breathtaking views of the Jungfraujoch glacier. I remember both Chip and I feeling the most at peace that we had in a long time. We simply sat and stared while repeating 'this is so beautiful…this can’t be real’. This was one of those moments in life which practically brings you to tears and I will never forget how thankful I felt at that moment with Chip by my side. The rest of our time in Lauterbrunnen was much like our first day. We actually fell in love with this quaint town in the middle of the mountains. We explored Trummelbach Falls which are a series of ten glacier-waterfalls inside a mountain, walked an hour to Stechelberg town then rode a cable to the town of Gimmelwald high in the mountains which was another favorite. Sometimes before you visit a place you have a mental image about what it should look like. Gimmelwald is one of the few places that perfectly matched or even exceeded the surreal image that previously only existed in our heads.

The Trummelbach Falls are the world's only glacier waterfalls that are accessible underground by lift, tunnels, paths and platforms. The falls carry the meltwater of the glaciers from the Jungfrau down to the valley - up to 20,000 liters of water per second!

*The car-free town of Gimmelwald, positioned high up in the mountains.*

Chateau de Chillon

We said goodbye to Lauterbrunnen and took another train ride through the Alps and spent our last 2 remaining days in the French speaking cities of Montreux and Geneva. Our main reason for visiting Montreux was to visit the Chateau de Chillon a castle that is ideally positioned at the base of the mountains and start of Lake Geneva. Documents prove the castle was around as long ago as the 12th century. It was probably the most impressive castle we've been in, taking us nearly 2 hours to tour through it.

*Our remaining days were spent in the French speaking city of Montreux in southern Switzerland, near the border of France. Here we are on our way to visit the Chateau de Chillon.*

Geneva

Geneva is the southernmost point in Switzerland and on the border of France, looking very much like Miami does to the U.S. To be honest the last few days of travel felt like we were more in France than Switzerland. No one conversed in Swiss, in fact, it wasn’t even their second language. Cecile had remarked that some don’t even consider it a part of Switzerland. Here, buildings didn't have traditional Swiss flair, people acted differently, and the Alps were behind us. Nonetheless, it was a remarkable city and we had the most enjoyable and relaxing days of our whole trip. We took an hour long boat ride that cruised along Lake Geneva while sipping on white wine and munching on strawberries. We found a park nestled along the lake where we ate a picnic lunch. We visited St. Pierre's Cathedral, a massive old church and paid a quick visit to the museum below to check out the centuries of church upon church which preceded the current structure. On our final evening, we only had one mission left while visiting Switzerland. Eat a traditional Swiss cheese fondue, of course! Instead of spending a fortune at a restaurant we snagged some fondue fixings at the grocery store and cooked it in our hostel. Not so healthy but definitely well worth it.

We made a stop at St. Pierre's Cathedral which dates back to the 12th century. The area beneath the Cathedral has recently been excavated extensively, revealing a rich history of the site dating back to the time of the Roman Empire.

Wow, Wow, Wow! & where are we off to next?!

Overall, our experience in Switzerland will never be forgotten. I think years and years from now we will be telling friends and family how impressive this country is. There is something about Switzerland that makes it extraordinary which really must be experienced in real life and is rather difficult to describe.

As we move further on, I want to imagine that some of the best parts of our trip are approaching. The friends that we met only eight months ago in Queenstown, New Zealand will be meeting up with us in Athens. Michael and Taylor are two special people that we instantly formed bonds with while in New Zealand and I cannot wait to share our experiences with them as we travel through Greece and Turkey together. I can definitely say that we will be making some memories, some good and some not so good, dun dun dun!!
More about that on our next blog!

Lots of love!!!
L&C