21 Adventerous Days in Europe on a
Rick Steves Tour
Europe Bound!
There is something really rejuvinating about being in Switzerland. Taking in the fresh mountain air, observing the waterfalls; it's hard to not let it affect you. Luckily we have a whole day to enjoy Switzerland and the grandeur that surrounds me.
The wow moment was taking in the view of the valley below on our hike and gondola ride. It was amazing to witness how life exists in the mountains.
Switzerland
Stechelberg and Lauterbrunnen
May 21, 2013
Tour Day 17
Wow Moment
Food
Travel Tip
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It’s ok to branch away from the group and the schedule to do what you want. Throughout the whole trip I noticed other tour members that would do things they wanted that was separate from the itinerary or group. If there is something that is important for you to do and the group isn’t doing it, it is ok to branch out and make your travel dreams happen.
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When you are traveling to several places in one trip I recommend packing for your next destination the night before. Additionally, we never unpacked our suitcases. We had packing cubes which made it easy to quite literally live out of our suitcases and pack up for the next adventure.
Today we started the day off early to enjoy as much of the alps as possible. We walked through the valley making our way to Trummelbach falls. Trummelbach falls have cut their way back into the mountain. You can’t see the falls from the mountain but you take an elevator into the mountain and wind your way through the rock to see it. The falls were amazing, and equally amazing is how the Swiss carved the mountain so we could see the falls.
This is a little model of the ride we took to see the falls
Next we took a 40 minute walk to Lauterbrunnen Valley. I was grateful to continue to soak in my surroundings. When we arrived we explored Swiss knives and watches and made a couple purchases. We then got some lunch at a relaxed, outdoorsy place.
Many sights to see as we
walked through Lauterbrunnen Valley
Next we took a gondola ride up the mountain to a trail that felt like it was on the edge of the cliff and on top of the earth. We walked for a little over an hour, taking in the views below of towns seemingly hanging on to the edge of the mountain. Towards the end of the hike it started to pour. We got our rain gear on and kept trekking. We took a gondola back down and meandered back to our hotel.
We had a couple of hours back at the hotel where we caught up on some laundry and emails. Then I took another walk interacting with the curious cows and trying to fruitlessly capture the beauty of our surroundings.
Hanging out in the hotel restaurant
We had another group dinner together and shared our adventures of the day. We then headed back to our room and packed up for our next adventure.
Oops! I forgot to take a pic before I ate most of it. It was gooood.
On of the problems with revisiting these food experiences is that I get these cravings that I can't satisfy until I go back- argh!
We had lunch at an outdoorsy kind of place. We had a sandwich with bacon, avocado, and lettuce, and a soup with sweet potato, coconut milk, and other Thai flavors. Both were very good. We also tried some hot chocolate, which is rumored to be the best hot chocolate in the world, but it was a bit too bitter for our taste buds.
For dinner we met again as a group. I had chicken and rosti which is a traditional Swiss potato dish. It tasted like really really good hash browns. We then enjoyed some ice cream with chocolate sauce.
Thoughts & Observations of my Swiss Experience
We were only in Switzerland for two days but, even so, certain things made a real impression on me.
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I was primarily impressed by the Swiss’ incredible ingenuity. Everywhere we went there was evidence of some other innovative project. We saw bomb shelters hidden by grass, gondolas that scaled sheer mountain cliffs, bridges with built-in explosives, avalanche shelters, etc. I was constantly amazed.