We left our house at 7 am to grab the train. We took a total of 4 trains that took us to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. On the train to Lauterbrunned two Asian girls in their mid-twenties were so cute with Fiona. They kept clicking at her and smiling, and then one asked if she could hold her (this wasn't the first time someone asked to hold her :) She held her for a few minutes and Fiona just looked at her. The girls giggled and laughed and bounced her! She handed her back and then I noticed a group of Asian's on the other bench taking pictures of Fiona during this whole exchange. So odd but so funny! She also smiled at a couple on the train and they later made a point to come pat her hand at the end of the line and tell her "Tschus!":) From there we took an aerial tram to Grutschalp, hopped over to the cable car for a 20 minute ride to Murren. The aerial tram was packed to the rafters! It was so tight and hot! Lots of people helped us hold bags and make room. Fiona laughed, smiled and patted people as we rode up. Then we had to shuffle as a big group to the cable car which was also packed to the rafters. An Asian lady motioned for me to seat near her with Fiona. As I sat down I had two backpacks and Fiona in the Bjorn so a lady across from me asked if she could hold a backpack on her lap and another lady held the other one. Fiona chatted to the Asian lady and her group and they LOVED it! When she was taking a break from that she would pat a man next to me on the arm or grab at his grey arm hairs. He would just laugh and pat Fiona's hand and rub her cheeks! We arrived in Murren and found the Regina Hotel. It was beautiful! They upgraded our room that had an extra bed as well as a crib for free and we had an awesome view of the mountains. It was all so beautiful we couldn't wait to get out and explore. We walked around and saw cows with bells and farmers milking cows in their barns, hang gliders floating down through the magestic mountains, beautiful alpine wildflowers, and the incredible view of the three mountains; Eiger, Monch, Jungfrau. We kept saying it seemed too beautiful to be real! The weather was perfect, we didn't really need a coat until later on at night.
We had dinner our first night at the hotel. It was a four course meal and was so delicious! Because of the language barrier we didn't realize it was a four course meal or that it was so expensive. So we dedicated the meal to Chris for Father's Day! (for the next 3 years :)
The next day was raining and very foggy so we decided to go to Trümmelbach Falls because they were mostly inside and out of the weather. Fiona couldn't go in because she was too young and the falls were too loud so we took turns. She fell asleep with Chris when I was in the falls :) The glacier falls were so incredible! 10 cascades of bright blue water inside a mountain!
We decided to walk back to Lauterbrünnen instead of taking the bus and we were so glad we did! On the way we saw hang gliders and base jumpers flying out over us from the ridge in the picture below. It was nuts! The base jumpers look liked black squirrels zipping across the sky! Then they landed in the field right next to us.
The next part of our walk we saw a sign for fresh cheese and butter, "Alpinkäse and Alpinbutter". I had heard about this, that farmers will advertise on popular roads for passerby's to buy their farm fresh products. So we went up to the house and a nice older lady sold us some delicious cheese! She didn't speak any English but we figured it out :) She also gave Naomi and Fiona some chocolates that we've never had before but were delicious.
We hiked to the Staubbach Falls and the trail goes behind the waterfalls! It was really neat! They had hiking poles to use just on the trail and then return them at the end.
We walked through the cemetery and came upon this really awesome park!
We ate burgers for dinner and Naomi got fresh yogurt! All very good and pricey! Switzerland is beautiful and delicious but expensive :) We met some American's from Georgia at breakfast in our hotel this morning and on the way home we saw them on the cable car. We talked about what we each had done that day and with their recommendation we decided to tour the Schloss Oberhofen in Interlaken.
