Hey y’all it’s Alex again! Since I had never been to Switzerland we decided that I’ll handle the Swiss post. In short, Switzerland is as beautiful as the pictures, but more expensive than we had thought! Although, it was definitely worth it and there are always ways to save to money. Also, the Swiss Franc is just about a 1:1 exchange with the US dollar so that made it easy when looking at the price of everything.
Our first stop in Switzerland was Interlaken. To start the journey we parted ways with Daniel and Mich on the Munich S-Bahn (comparable to the Chicago “L”) because they were taking a bus to Zurich and then renting a car while Rach and I were using our rail passes to train all the way to Interlaken. Thus far on our trip we had been lucky enough to not have to switch trains very often on our travel days, we were able to find direct trains for our international journeys. But that streak ended on this leg of the trip as it took four different trains to get to Interlaken (along with a couple of missed trains). I had always thought that German trains were very precise and on-time but I was proven wrong! We learned first-hand (and from ze Germans themselves) that their trains are notorious for running late! Swiss punctuality however, is on a different level, but more on that later. So after four trains we arrived in rainy Interlaken around 4PM and took a bus to our Airbnb, a Swiss “chalet” (an alpine house). The house was nice and cozy in a residential area. After Daniel and Mich arrived, about an hour after us, we made a home cooked meal and had a relaxing night after a long day of travel.
Interlaken is in a valley under the Alps and is situated between two lakes (ah light bulb moment, in-between the lakes - “Interlaken”, makes sense). There were so many different hikes that we actually found ourselves with too many options! The most touristy thing to do in Interlaken is to take a train up to a point called Jungfrau or the “Top of Europe” but that costs around 90 Francs for a one-way ticket (yeah almost 200 buck to get a nice view) so we decided that wasn’t in our price range. Rach’s brother Matt had recommended some hike in a town called Grindelwald (any Harry Potter geeks out there like me??) and after some deliberation and googling we decided to head there. Lucky for Rach and I, Daniel and Mich had their rental car so we drove instead of having to take a train. Something that I’ve opened my mind to on this trip is making a stop at the local tourist/info center. In our world of internet, smartphones, Google Maps, and endless information at your fingertips I tend to research the hell out of something until I can say “yeah I know where to go and what to see” but that actually proved difficult for these hikes in Interlaken. So a quick stop at the Grindelwald tourist center got us some hiking maps and someone to tell us where to go so we could see something beautiful.
We decided to take a cable car from Grindelwald to a viewpoint called First (30 Francs one-way per person) and from there we could hike to a lake and then make our way back down to Grindelwald to save some money. We were blessed with great weather and the start of the cable car ride gave us some amazing views of the ridiculously green valley under the Alps that stay snowy year round. But this view was cut short as about 10 minutes into the ride we were engulfed into a dense fog. And it stayed foggy. All the way to the top. And all the way to the lake. It was very frustrating because along the hike we knew we were surrounded by something beautiful but we just couldn’t see it (and we also dropped 120 Francs between the four of us to get up there). As we arrived at the lake we walked right by the beginning of the water because we couldn’t see it! We found a bench and ate our lunch and decided to chill for a while. As we got ready to start heading out it got pretty windy and pretty cold. But this wind turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it cleared out some of the fog and the sun came out! We were lucky enough to get a glimpse at the snowy peaks of the Alps and when the wind calmed down the peaks reflected like a mirror in the water. It was amazing! We all decided our money spent was worth it at that moment. We’ll also give credit to Daniel here because the whole hike he kept saying “Guys, guys, it’ll clear up. I mean just give a while and it’ll clear up”. I thinking he was half joking, but hey it worked! So thanks Danger Dan.
Unfortunately, the fog blew back in as we made our way back down from the lake. But starting about half-way down the mountain we were out of the fog and had an amazing view of the Alps for the rest of the way down. I found myself constantly wanting to stop and take a picture every 10 minutes but the pictures you get from an iPhone don’t do it justice. We also underestimated the length of the hike down the mountain and it seemed to drag on forever. By the end of it all of our knees were not happy and we wanted nothing more than to be in a jacuzzi (something that we did not get…). After the long day outdoors, Daniel and Mich cooked some delicious spaghetti with meat sauce and we shared a bottle of wine.
The next day we were not as lucky with the weather and decided to go to the St. Beatus Caves (they were sort of like grotto caves) which were nearby our Airbnb. The caves were kind of cool and kind of lame at the same time if that makes sense at all. There wasn’t anything spectacular to see. The best part was the view of Lake Thun we got at the entrance (we also got coffees after to enjoy the view). We were pretty sore from the previous day’s hike so we toured around Interlaken some more but turned in early to prepare for the drive to Zermatt the next day. As were we packing up the next morning someone rang the doorbell of our Airbnb around 9:50AM (standard Airbnb check-out is 10AM) and it turned out to be the cleaning lady! Daniel and I were pretty stunned when we opened the door and she said “you have left yet?”. Luckily Mich speaks Swiss and we found out who she was, she came in and began cleaning upstairs while her two daughters played with a smartphone on the couch. She had told Mich that in the past when she showed up early most people had already left. But no harm done, we were packed up and in the car no later then 10:10AM. A day later Mich got the review from our host on Airbnb and she said something to the effect of “Very nice guests, but they left a few minutes late”. We literally were a few minutes late! We could only laugh it off but that was pretty harsh from the host. Swiss punctuality is no joke! Mich has lived too long in the US so we’ve tainted her a bit (Mich is a Swiss native if you didn’t know).
The drive to Zermatt was pretty smooth and easy except for us accidentally taking a route where you have to get on a car train. Yes, it’s exactly how it sounds. You drive your car onto the train and then the train takes you somewhere else. The funny thing about it was that the GPS in the rental car would say things like “motor train on this route” and “motor train approaching” but we didn’t know what it meant. Zermatt cannot be reached by public cars so we thought it just meant that we had to take the shuttle train to Zermatt (something we had expected thanks to Mich). But little did we know, motor train meant that we had to get our car onto a train. A costly (27 Francs, Switzerland ain’t cheap dog) but fun experience!
It was raining in Zermatt when we arrived so we quickly rushed to our Airbnb and found that it was really big! Especially for the Airbnbs we’d been used to. As the clouds cleared later that afternoon we got a view of the Matterhorn from our living room! Zermatt is a cool little mountain town that sits in the valley below the Matterhorn and the surrounding alps and glaciers. We only had one full day there and we were lucky again and got great, sunny weather. We made the most of it by taking a tram (47 Francs one-way) to a high point called Gronergrat and then hiking the rest of the way down from there (this has become our M.O. if you noticed, although it’s not great on the knees). Again, this hike amazed us with great views of the Matterhorn and the surrounding alps. The panoramas here really show why the Matterhorn is so famous, it’s a wild peak compared to everything surrounding it. We enjoy hiking down the mountain for a couple reasons: it saves money and it gets you away from the crowds. Rach and I (and Daniel and Mich) enjoy the solitude you get when you’re in nature and away from a lot of people. After another long day of hiking, Rach cooked us a feast and we shared a(nother) bottle of wine. We did eat out one night in Zermatt and while it was a cool experience it was also very expensive. So we found the best way to save money was to cook our meals. Also, Rach and I fell in love with the Swiss grocery stores. Compared to what we’ve been used to in other countries, the Swiss grocery stores had the most selection of foods we’re used to buying in the US. We also may or may not have left Switzerland with five different Swiss chocolate bars. Oops!
From Zermatt we headed to Zurich (a long four hour drive through the mountains, good job driving Mich!) where we spent one night. We stayed at the Sheraton in Zurich District 5 but we used Priceline to book this which doesn’t necessarily guarantee 2 separate beds (risky). The deal we got was cheap but we had to sneak in Rach and Mich since our reservation was only for 2 people, but it all worked out!
From here we said bye to our friends as they went to visit Mich’s grandparents and we headed back to Germany to meet up with Rach’s friend Lena (Rach has friends all over the world!). Rach was part of an international peer program at Cal Poly where she acted as a mentor and planned events for the international students studying at CP. She met Lena through this program five years ago and they became good friends.
Lena picked us up from a train station in Oberzell (which is a neighborhood of the larger city Ravensburg, RAH-VENS-BURG) and took us to her parents home. From the start, they welcomed Rach and I with open arms and even bought gluten-free (glutenfrei in German) bread for me! So nice! Our first night we had a meal called Raclette (a type of Swiss cheese) where you melt the cheese over meat and veggies on a sort of hot plate and eat it with boiled potatoes. If you didn’t know, Rach isn’t the biggest fan of melted cheese but I was ecstatic because this would force her outside her comfort zone (yeah Mom, can you believe it? I’m not the picky one). Rach did try it but it didn’t quite turn her over just yet. I thought the meal was delicious. The next day Lena took us around some of the nearby cities that are along Lake Constance (Konstanz in German). We walked through the medieval town of Meersburg and had coffees in Friedrichshafen. Later, we explored the bigger part of her hometown Ravensburg. We enjoyed touring these cities because I don’t think they’re places we would’ve gotten to travel to had Rach and Lena never became friends! We really enjoyed the German style buildings of all the towns, they were really cool and a bit different from places we’ve been. We can’t thank Lena and her parents, Dieter and Ulrike, enough for their hospitality. They cooked us every meal, spoiled me with gluten-free food, and the taste of home we got goes a long way for Rach and I as we’re on our extended travel. We really enjoyed sharing our Mammoth experiences (they love Mammoth too!), playing card games, spreading the delicious German honey on bread for breakfast, and just sharing our different cultures. Thanks again! We’ll see you in California so we can return the favor!
On to Italy. Ciao!