On May 4, 2023, we awoke at our AirBnB in Ringgenberg, near Interlaken. Linette found a pretty nice spot to "gazeeb" (read scriptures in the morning, as one might do in a gazebo). There were windows surrounding the sitting room, with views of the mountains all around.
That day we headed back up the same valley that goes to Lauterbrunnen, but hung a left to go up to Grindelwald. Our plan was to take a gondola from there up to "First" (on the very left of this map), and then return and take a train up to "Eigergletscher" (the topmost underlined spot on the map).
There was some construction along the way, so the train passed us at one point.
I just learned that a "gondola" has cabins clamped to a continuously circulating cable, and usually has dozens of cars, while an aerial "tram" has one or two fixed cables for support, and grabs onto another circulating cable to get pulled up and down. So the tram rolls along the support cables instead of being carried by them. Huh.
So...we took a gondola from the green valley town of Grindelwald up to a snowy area called "First" or "Grindelwald-First".
The views on the way up were not too shabby.
We saw a farm with llamas (recently sheered, it would appear).
Soon we rose above the green valley and over the snowy mountainside.
When we got off the gondola, we found ourselves walking through slushy snow. (A snowball appears to be in play.)
Sienna was apparently grumpy that she missed her traditional "11:11" picture of the morning.
We went over to the "First Cliff Walk", which is a metal walkway attached to the side of an impressive cliff, with amazing views of the mountains across the valleys below.
We had to duck to get by certain spots.
There is a section of bridge that spans one gap.
The views were breathtaking from up there.
1, 2, 3...
It's fun to walk along something like this and get the heebie-jeebies.
People lined up to have a turn for a picture at the tip of a little observation platform. (We decided the view was just fine everywhere else).
There were a lot of paragliders in the area. I mean, you couldn't ask for a nicer view.
We saw some paragliders taking off from the snowy hill, and then soar into the sky from the updrafts.
There was apparently a really pretty lake nearby that we had planned to hike to. With the slippery snow, that didn't seem like such a great idea.
But the kids really wanted to go, so up we went.
It was blindingly bright and the kids didn't have sunglasses, so sometimes they took turns closing their eyes while being led along.
This bench is probably the right height at other times of the year.
According to a picture at the lodge, the lake we were hiking to was supposed to look like this:
But as we hiked and slipped along, the kids slowly going blind, I talked to a guy who was on his way back from the lake. He said it was covered in snow, which meant it looked more like this:
So we decided we didn't need to hike the rest of the way, and turned around to head back. We let the kids use our sunglasses for part of the hike, especially when Sienna said that the shadows were starting to look green and purple(!).
Jared decided to make a snow angel.
Then he was very wet.
Sienna stopped to make a little snowman.
There was only snow around, so we used granola bars as arms.
Then Linette was hungry, so she ate one.
"You're a monster!" (Quote from Shrek when they pulled a gumdrop button off the gingerbread man)
(I talked to some Koreans who were walking by and verified that "snowman" is 눈사람="Nun-saram", literally just "snow-man").
This bench had room for people's legs, and provided a great view.
We found that it was sometimes easier to get down the hill if we ran and slid on our feet than if we just tried to walk.
This video shows people slipping and sliding their way down the hill (mostly Jared and Katelyn), and then shows the kids sliding down a snow slide on their bums, which was pretty hilarious.
Someone had a white dog and threw a stick up onto the hill. It hade so much fun running into the snow to get it!
It almost got lost in there!
Jared's hair got a bit "foofy" as the day progressed.
It kind of reminded me of when he was little.
As time went on, there were even more paragliders.
In this picture, there are at least 9.
And in this picture, there are over 40!
Zooming in on the mountain on the right in the above picture, you can see below a big cluster of paragliders. I count 33 in this picture (plus one bird that happened to fly by right then).
Here's a 15-second video of the paragliders floating all around.
Back at the lodge, I noticed that this guy appeared to be the winner of the "longest selfie stick" competition.
The other free ride in town that was included with our Jungfrau Travel Pass was a train up to the Eiger Glacier (Eigergletscher. Sometimes it's fun to see how many consonants you find in a row in German).
The tourist lady told us that the tram up to it was closed, so we parked near the train station and ran in to Coop to get sandwiches for lunch again. But then we noticed that the tram station was right by the grocery store, and the tram was running! So we hopped in and had a whole tram cabin to ourselves. That made it so we could have a picnic on the way up without worrying what anyone else thought.
The views up the tram were amazing.
On the way up, Jared said that it felt like "Soarin' over California" from Disneyland. So they waved their feet as though dangling them on that ride.
In this 1-minute video, you can see how the tram launches kind of quickly as it grabs on to the moving cable. Then the kids simulate "Soarin' over Switzerland". Finally, there is a time lapse video of the trip up, to the tune of "Summer" by Vivaldi.
The ride up was spectacular.
Up at the top, there was a little heart frame that marked the spot of a scene that was apparently filmed for "Crash Landing on You," the Korean drama that Linette and I had just started watching before the trip.
In fact, I kept running into Koreans during our entire time at Interlaken, and I believe that it was because of that TV show that so many Koreans are visiting that area. They were always very surprised when I spoke a little Korean to them.
Outside, we were surrounded by massive snowy mountains.
Jared had to try really hard to keep his eyes open for this picture, because of how bright the sun and snow were.
When they tried again, he just couldn't do it.
Across the massive chasm between Eigergletscher and the mountain on the other side was a little village nestled onto a ledge above a huge cliff. It probably didn't seem precarious if you are there, but from here it looked like it could just fall right in.
Speaking of which, I heard a low, loud rumble and looked over to see an avalanche (or "snowfall?") in progress. Here's a video of it, that goes for a little over a minute (you'll get the idea in the first few seconds).
This place is where you can catch a special cogwheel train that climbs through the mountain up to Jungfraujoch ("yoong-frow-yolk"), which boasts the highest railway station in Europe. However, it would have cost an extra $60, even with our pass, to go up there, and it was sold out that day anyway.
There wasn't a lot else to do up there this time of year, so after checking it out for almost an hour, we headed back down.
The combination of steep cliffs, snowy peaks, and glowing green valleys makes Switzerland one of the prettiest places in the world.
The trams and gondolas make the mountains very "accessible", and people take great advantage of them to get up into the mountains instead of just looking at them from below.
I don't understand how they have enough spray paint to keep the fields this colorful.
Apparently people really do live there, too. Hard to imagine.
Back at the bottom of the tram, Linette snapped a picture with this beauty.
Riding the tram up was so fun, that we decided to go again! It was free with our pass, and was not crowded at all that day. So we grabbed ice creams for everyone and jumped back on.
This 38-second video shows the launch and a look around at the view.
I got ice creams for everyone, and took whatever one was left over, which turned out to be this beauty.
We again had the whole tram to ourselves, so we made the most of it.
The views were really something. We were glad we had gotten the pass so we didn't feel bad at all about riding this again.
Then we walked around on top again, even though we had seen everything. It was still so nice!
I made a nice, smooth time lapse video of the ride back down from Eigergletscher to Grindelwald. It plays to the tune of "Dance of the Furies" by Gluck, which sounds suspiciously like "Summer" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons (in the time lapse above). I think someone got some inspiration from someone else here.
And if you wonder why I'm using such dramatic music for these sequence, it's because that's pretty much what's going on in my head all the time. :)
Finally we headed out of Grindelwald. We didn't spend almost any time in the town itself, but the rides to the mountains on either side were awesome.
Linette realized that day that she had probably left her sandals at the restaurant in Wengen the night before (the little town up above Lauterbrunnen). Lauterbrunnen wasn't too far out of the way, so we drove up there, dropped her off at the train station, and she took the cogwheel train up to Wengen (for free with her pass).
Meanwhile, the rest of us drove down the valley towards the town of Stechelberg, since we hadn't gone that far the day before. It was a beautiful evening, and Katelyn took pictures out the sunroof.
We drove down to a big parking lot by a waterfall. We walked over a bridge to cross the Weisse Lütschine River.
Then we approached the Mürrenbach waterfall (Mürrenbachfall). This waterfall is the tallest in Switzerland, at 417m (1,368 feet) tall!
The tallest cliffs in the Lauterbrunnen valley are 1000m (3,300 feet) tall, making it an exciting place to paraglide.
Looking back up the valley to our right, we could also see the Ägertenbach falls.
And there was a cute creek that flowed along from the water from Mürrenbach falls.
Here's a 48-second video showing two paragliders coming in for a landing; Sienna doing a little impromptu Irish dancing; the little creek; and Mürrenbach falls.
Apparently the glaring sun and reflective snow at Grindelwald-First took its toll on Jared that day. You can see where his camera strap protected him from sunburn.
And there's a pretty distinct line where his long sleeved prevented sunburn as well.
As we drove back up the valley to meet Linette, we kept seeing more pretty views everywhere, so people kept taking pictures out the window or out the sunroof. There kept being waterfalls on both sides of the valley.
Jared captured a picture of this lady with an old-fashioned stick broom.
Jared was able to zoom in on a bit of the outskirts of Wengen, where Linette had gone during this time.
So yeah, we didn't mind at all having an excuse to come back up to Lauterbrunnen to explore more of the valley.
Here's a little 20-second video looking around the above scene, where you can hear the cowbells jingle and see several waterfalls.
We picked Linette up, and she had indeed found her sandals at the restaurant (first one, and finally the other!), so that made her happy. Then we headed back down to Interlaken as the sun lowered in the sky.
We still had one more thing to do that evening, so we headed into Interlaken, found a place to park, and enjoyed seeing a cool church as we went along.
Another thing included with our Jungfrau Travel Pass was the funicular that went up a ridiculously steep hill to Harder Kuln. (A funicular is a train car that goes up a really steep hill via a cable).
On the way to the station, we crossed the river that connects the two lakes on either side of Interlaken.
Soon we were on the funicular and on our way up the mountain.
It was kind of scary how steep it went.
From the top, we had great views of Interlaken and its surrounding lakes, with the Alps in the distance.
Harder Kulm is a lookout point that also has a hotel and restaurant.
On our left was lake Brienz (Brienzersee).
And on our right was Lake Thun (Thunersee).
The tourist lady in Lauterbrunnen had told us that you couldn't see good sunsets in the valleys, because the mountains blocked both sides. She recommended Harder Kuln as the best place in the area for that.
An observation deck gave nice views of both lakes, and we enjoyed watching the colors change as the sun set.
We finally got a turn at the very tip of the observation area.
Plus there was a cow up there.
It was a peaceful way to end a very long day.
The moon rose above the mountain opposite the sunset.
Finally it was time to wend our way back to the station so we wouldn't miss the last funicular back down. (I kept thinking "funicular, funicula..."). We kept taking pictures along the way, and Jared and Katelyn stayed behind to get a few more shots as the sun set and the moon rose.
Meanwhile, we saved them a place in line. It turns out that lots of people want to head down on the last car. They said the last one was at 8:45 or something, but they also said they would keep running as long as there were still people waiting for it.
Behind us the line continued for some time.
Jared and Katelyn got a couple more pictures, and then joined us in line.
I got this picture out the station window with "night mode". You can see Interlaken starting to light up at night.
The funicular was kind of eerie and cool at night.
There was also a section where the track splits in two so that two cars can pass each other.
Here's a 25-second video of part of the ride down, including the cars passing each other. It is fun to hear the lively chatter in German, as everyone in the car was excited from the views they just had.
On the way back to the car, the river reflected the light nicely.
Fortunately, the coop market happened to still be open, so we grabbed some spicy ramen noodles for dinner. Sienna was able to get her 11:11pm shot this time as we ate.
It was a long but awesome day. (Here's a picture of the moonlight from our balcony).
In the next episode, we take a boat ride on the lake, and some crazy people (*cough* Jared and Katelyn *cough*) go paragliding.
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