We decided that we didn’t want to stay in Munich another night, so we packed up and headed towards Interlaken, Switzerland a day early. A few hours into the trip we crossed the border temporarily into Austria where we actually spent half the time there in a 7km tunnel and then straight over the border again into Switzerland – once again, 3 countries in one day but this time in a matter of 20 minutes. It is interesting how you can now just go over any border anywhere anytime. The old border gates and tolls are there but you are free just to drive through. The only time we have been checked is coming into Switzerland but they usually just wave us on. It is incredible how Europe has just totally opened up now. Having the one currency is a bonus though (except in Switzerland where they still have the Swiss Francs).
For a late lunch, we stopped in the stunning Luzern. What an incredibly beautiful and stunning city, obviously very wealthy too. We walked across the 14th Century wooden bridge that was actually burnt down on 17 August 2003 but has been rebuilt. We didn’t spend much time here but enough to take some photos and admire the views.
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| Old wooden bridge |
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| Lake at Luzern |
If I can recommend anything, I highly recommend the 30 minute drive from Luzern to Interlaken – incredible! You can never imagine that there could be anywhere so stunning, majestic and picturesque. We spent most of the 30 minutes saying ‘OMG, look at that’, ‘OMG, incredible’. You’ve got to go and see it for yourself!
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| A beautiful view ... and background too! |
We arrived into Interlaken and found our B&B run by Katy, hence Katy’s B&B. Quite an interesting woman!
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| View from our room |
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| View the other way from our room |
For dinner we found an even more interesting restaurant where the owner who I think was half American, half Swiss thought he was the 2nd Arnie Swartzanagger.He was amusing and the kids got to try blowing the big Swiss horn (Jack proved to have a great set of lungs) and a Michael Jackson impersonator came out to dance.I think all the showmanship was to cover up the average food.
What a gorgeous spring Swiss day we woke to today (but quite cold still). After having Katy’s B&B brekky, we headed out to see the sights. We drove to Lauterbrunnen about 10 km away from Interlaken. This idealic town is nestled in a valley surrounded by soaring mountains all around it. It also boasts the most amount of waterfalls. We ooohh’ed and aaaah’ed as we wound our way along the winding river through the valley to it. We found a carpark and walked up a little incline to view the most incredible waterfall I have ever seen. The icey water literally just came off the top of the cliff and dropped down the side of the mountain, it was as if the water was literally being thrown off the clifftop. At the bottom, there was a large pinnacle of ice that was obviously there because the water hit it and froze again … amazing, it came from the frozen ice on the mountaintops, travelled a great distance as water and then ended up as ice again in the valley.
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| Ice at the bottom of the waterfall |
We then wandered down through town and found a cute coffee shop to eat lunch and admire the scenic view, it couldn’t get better than this. Even though I have now been to Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen three times, I am still wowed by its incredible beauty. Mother Nature certainly was in a great mood the day she created this little pocket.
We then drove back into Interlaken and sat by a huge field and watched the Paraponters arrive at their destination in front of us. It was nice just to sit and enjoy what was going on around us, relax in the sun and let the kids play in the grass.
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| Driving around the lake |
I do love this part of the world however I am once again excited about heading off to our new adventure tomorrow – the Champagne Region of France. Oh la la. x
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