Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen and Grindwald

Another day with no plans! Last night our host Kristin let us use her washing machine and told us to leave it on the line inside with the dehumidifier going overnight. I was so impressed by how everything was completely dry in the morning and I really wish we had one of these during the winter in Auckland! No more wet washing and wet smelly ice hockey gear inside, something we will be investing in in our return. We caught up with Lews parents and all the gossip from home- next years travel plans, who’s trying out for what job, gfs/bfs etc. It was midday before we left the house and we were feeling a bit lost as to what to do since all we really wanted to do was get up into the mountains and hike. We couldn’t even decide which cable car/train/funicular we wanted to go up since there were so many and normally you go up them to access hikes. We decided to get head to Interlaken to check it out we drove 30 minutes into the center of town. Whilst the village itself wasn’t covered in snow you could see the snow line nearby and it was certainly cold. We arrived into Interlaken at the completely wrong time since all the shops seem to shut up for lunch between 12.30-1.30pm. We looked through the windows of a few shops and found another one selling Mons Royale which was pretty cool. I picked up what I thought was a wholemeal bun in the shape of a croissant but it turned out to be an actual croissant for 1.30 CHF ($1.90 NZD) have you ever come across one of those?! I was so hungry thinking this was my only lunch so despite knowing there would be a lot of butter in it I demolished it anyways. We wandered around the ghost town some more admiring the views up into the mountains and of the cute wooden houses. Lew has already decided he was having McDonalds for lunch since we had checked out the menus of some of the cafes/restaurants and the prices were like 15-25 CHF ($22- $36 NZD) for lunch. We also came across Subway and thinking we still had a lot of the day to go and I didn’t want to get hangry Shannen escaping so I got a 6 inch tuna sub for 7.90 CHF ($11.50 NZD). McDonald was across the road and to fill the hole in his stomach Lew went for a Big Mac and a cheese burger for 9 CHF ($13 NZD). We sat outside and ate lunch kinda horrified at what we were being made to eat. There was no way we would ever eat this stuff at home and we feel as though we are being forced too since everything else is so unaffordable. Back home we have way more options for easy cheap (healthy?) lunch such as sushi, mexican, wraps, and of course the famous mince pies, we are spoilt for choice. Every other time we have travelled though Lew and I buy a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter to make sandwiches for lunch. We haven't bothered trying anymore supermarket bread since we know it’s never going to live up to any NZ standards.

Anyway right behind us was the tourist information center so we waited 20 minutes until it opened to ask them what on earth we can do here at this time of year. When they finally opened they suggested two different options for us to do which was the Schilthorn and Jungfraujoch (Top of Europe) which were both currently in the sun at the top. It was when we asked how much they cost we automatically crossed that off the list since the cloud cover will be blocking the view into the valley which is the main reason you go up there! She did suggest another option which was to drive to Lauterbrunnen and then take the train up to Wengen and cute small town. Then we were close to Grindelwald and we could go there on the way home. The other plan also was to go up to Niederhorn and then walk part of it down before catching the train again for the rest of the way down. But when we got back to the car we knew that the Snow level was a lot lower than where that place was and looking at a few live webcams it was foggy and looked yuck. Ditching that plan too we decided on the first option to drive to Lauterbrunnen. This was on my list of things to do anyway as it’s the usual place on your Instagram place beckoning you to visit it. It was another 30 minutes drive to Lauterbrunnen and it sure didn’t disappoint. It was nestled in a green valley leaving up to trees covered in snow. It has a massive waterfall coming off the cliff above the town which really caught us by surprise as we came into view of the town. With the cable car on one side and the train tracks on the other both going up the mountain the options are endless. We parked up in a parking lot a little disappointed that in such a small town there wasn’t any free parking (either that or we are too scared to try leave the car somewhere just in case). Paying for two hours we walked 5 minutes into town checking out an interesting looking ski/mountain bike/ hiking shop. Every time we enter these places the shop keepers always come and ask us straight away if they can help us. Almost as though they don’t expect people to ever come into their shop and they appear confused.

Continuing into the train station we were able to get tickets for a train leaving in 10 minutes to Wengen that cost us 27.10 CHF ($39 NZD). The train was pretty interesting and had rack and pinon which allows them to travel up steep hills. It wasn’t very full which meant we had seats to ourselves and could move from one side of the train to the other taking pictures as we took off. The view down on Lauterbrunnen was stunning with its large waterfall coming off the cliff and the mountains surrounding it. We have both decided that this place is a lot more beautiful than Queenstown and I can tell you we don’t say this lightly as we are a tad bias and think our country is pretty damn awesome. But the Dolomites and also Switzerland knock it out of the park. It was a short up to the town and we were disappointed in how small it was and also half closed. Most other people were continuing up and we hadn’t even made it up to the snow-line. But the lady in the tourist info shop recommended this place so we set off to check it out. At first we enjoyed all the outerwear shops but we got sick of them pretty quick especially as their were some really nice gear that we couldn’t afford. I tried on multiple headbands thinking this could be another option instead of always wearing a beanie as it’s so cold your ears hurt. But i had fringe issues as it mattered up underneath the fabrics and it looked a bit strange so I ditched the idea. The small town was pretty cute with a couple of magic carpets set up in the middle of town for the local children as well as mini golf and bike jumps. There wasn’t much else to see other than a large gondola travelling up into the snow and cloud layer which was closed. We missed a train back down by a minute as we were walking back to the train station and had to sit in the small terminal for half an hour waiting for the next one. We were keen to walk down to the car or at least the next station but there didn’t seem to be a way, especially since there isn’t a road you can drive up here. We did noticed the big sign that showed you all the ski runs in the area and lew thought it would be so cool if you had a house up here and got to take the train up! I told him that the excitement would probably wear off pretty fast but it could be a lot more interesting than driving into your property.

The next train was rather busy since an entire tour bus had booked or multiple carriages and the rest of us squeezed into just two. It was starting to get a bit darker on the way down since it was 4pm but we still wanted to get to Grindelwald since it is close by. We walked back through the village pleased to find our car still in the landing lot and not towed since we were 20 minutes over our allocated time. Do they even check?! We could have just been paying for parking for no reason. Grindelwald was 30 minutes away through a winding canyon and we were surprised to see that the cows get sheds to sleep in here and there were multiple wood barns dotting the paddock. Quite funny really seeing them all snuggled into the barn for the night! Grindelwald you could tell is a pretty awesome place to come in the summer as it is surrounded by hikes and beautiful valleys. It would also be spectacular in the heart of winter, covered with snow and a stone's throw away from the ski fields. We didn’t quite get there at either of those times and it was dark as well but we made the effort to get out of the underground to check it out. This was also parking for the supermarket and we were a little horrified that people going grocery shopping also have to pay for their parking. Perhaps they have some sort of coupon to allow people to park for free when they shop but man I would be angry if this happened in nz! I like to wander the aisles for hours somedays haha. The only shops open in Grindelwald were the typical outerwear shops and also the tourist shops. We peeked into a few of them since I am keen to get some winter boots but didn’t find anything that I wouldn’t have to sell one of my kidneys to buy. There was a big sports complex with a pool and also a large ice rink in the center of town which would be pretty cool. How could you not become amazing at ice hockey when you live in a small town and there isn’t much else to do? Feeling as though we had seen it all we headed back to the car having only been walking around for 30 minutes and got charged 1.50 CHF ($2.20 NZD), we have certainly had worse. It was an hours drive back to the accomodation and we decided to stop by the supermarket close to the house on the way home. We pulled into the underground parking and walked up the stairs to what we thought was a large supermarket but ended up just being an express Co-op attached onto the petrol station. We were literally in the parking structure for 6 minutes and they still charged us 1 CHF ($1.50 NZD) not even a grace period! We re-routed ourselves to another supermarket 5 minutes away and parked on the road behind a few other cars to avoid more stupid parking costs. The cost of the groceries wasn’t actually as bad a we thought it was going to be and they had a lot of cheap Mexican. we stoked up on a few things as I had a couple for vegetarian meals in mind to cook such as thai pumpkins soup and mushroom pasta. Not to mention one night whilst we are here ill make a spiced apple pudding for dinner since we don’t want to over do the chocolate self saucing pudding.

We got back to the house by 7pm and made beef tacos for dinner and I also made another lemon loaf - there hasn’t been much variety in terms of baking but both lemon drizzle loaf and banana loaf only take pretty basic ingredients and usually the Airbnb we are staying in don’t have many cooking pans to make much else. As it was we have carted this loaf tin all around Europe with us! It ended up being a late night since we decided to book the rest of our accommodation for Manchester where I have my two day nursing course and Northampton where I’m sitting the exam. So we also had to book train tickets from Oxford to Manchester and Manchester to Northampton. They weren’t check either and I guess we left it a little late only being two weeks away. But I was pleased with the accommodation as they are both within walking distance of the venues. On the countdown now till we drop our wee car back on the 15th in Lyon!