Sunday, July 21, 2024

On Sunday, we landed at Geneva International Airport (GVA) at about 7:00 am.  After being processed through Customs, we walked to the attached Geneva Airport Railway Station.  That’s when the fun began.

I bought two Swiss Half Fare Cards online (myswitzerland.com) for $282.06.  I bought two 4-day Berner Oberland Pass’s online for $442.24 (with the Swiss Half Fare Card).  The receipt has separate QR Codes for each of us.  So, whenever we wanted to use it, I would have to pull out my phone and open the PDF file that had the QR Codes in it.

After a little trouble buying train tickets online ($119.58 trip to nowhere, which I submitted for refund, but we’ll see.), we went to the SBB office (I spoke with a real person, in English.) and I bought train tickets directly from Geneva to Lauterbrunnen.  The tickets cost $95.67 for two adults, and the trip took us 3 hours and 24 minutes (8:32 am to 11:56am), changing trains at Bern and Interlaken Ost.

Here we are on the train (after an all-night flight), venturing into the unknown.

And this was our first view of the mountains above Lauterbrunnen when we arrived.  The peak at left is Lauberhorn (8,110 ft).

When we arrived, we took our luggage to our lodging at Studio Inferno Lauterbrunnen, and checked in with the owner (We had the first-floor suite facing the parking lot.).  It was prior to the advertised check-in time, so we just left our luggage and went out to explore.

This was our first view of Lauterbrunnen, with the infamous Staubbach Falls in the distance.

To celebrate our arrival, we stopped at Restaurant Schutzen for a drink and a snack.

Since John and Karen were still a few hours from arriving, we decided to go out and explore.  The map below shows where we went.  The red straight lines are either gondolas or train rides.  The contoured lines are either hiking or buses.

Starting from the top, we took the Murrenbahn gondola west from Lauterbrunnen (2,640 ft) to Grutschalp (4,860 ft).  From there, we immediately loaded the train heading south along the ridge to Murren (5,400 ft).  As we were heading toward Murren, light rain started to fall.  We walked through the town of Murren in the rain, stopping a few places along the way (see below), before hiking down to Gimmelwald, and finally taking the Schilthornbahn gondola back down to the valley floor, where we caught a bus back to Lauterbrunnen.

Patty took this shot of the western slope across the valley from the train to Murren.

To wait out the rain, we stopped at Hotel Alpina for a snack, a strudel, a white wine, and a Bailey’s.

As we ventured on, we had some spectacular views of the valley below.

This was our view of the village of Stechelberg, on the valley floor at the south end.

The photo below is looking farther down the valley.  Stechelberg is below the ridge, just out of sight.

In the photo below, the peak on the left is Schwarzmonch (8,678 ft), which is named after a local beer (Or is it the other way around?).  Regardless, the mountain had multiple spectacular waterfalls streaming down on its western slope.

The near stream is Mattenbachfaile.  The next one farther away is Staldenbachfaile.

Here is more of a closeup.

Here again, the peak on the left is Schwarzmonch (8,678 ft).

Below, this was the view looking back east.  Schwarzmonch on the right, and Lauberhorn in the distance on the left.

Heading down to Gimmelwald, we were walking along the path shown on the right.

Below, the gondola car on the right is part of the lowest of the 3 legs of the Shilthornbahn, which runs between Gimmelwald and Murren.  Then it continues on to Shilthorn (9,754 ft), which was featured in the 1969 James Bond movie, Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Here is just another cool view of the waterfalls on Schwarzmonch.

And here are our heroes, and the background … is real!

Patty took this photo on our approach to Gimmelwald.

Rock climbing, anyone (with Wydeweidbachfaile dripping down Schwarzmonch’s western slope)?

This was the path down into Gimmelwald.

Although I would have liked it to have been as tall as the mountain bearing its name, this Schwarz Monch was my reward when we reached Pension Gimmelwald (a small hotel/bar).

From Gimmelwald, we took the Shilthornbahn gondola down to the valley floor.  And from there, we took the Number 141 Bus back to Lauterbrunnen.

In Lauterbrunnen, we finally ran into John and Karen when they were walking back to their hotel from picking up groceries at the local Coop.  We needed to do the same thing, so we agreed to meet them shortly at their hotel.

When we got to John and Karen’s hotel, Hotel Staubbach, this was the incredible view from the balcony in their hotel room.

And this …

And finally, here is the foursome, Rich, Patty, Karen, and John.

Later, after our impromptu happy hour, we enjoyed dinner and drinks at Hotel Horner, seen in the distance between Patty and Karen.

But for us this had been a very long day.  So soon afterwards, we called it a night, so we would be ready for a busy week of exploring Alpine Switzerland and France!