Falling in Love with Switzerland

I’m not sure how we decided on this holiday, but I think we will all agree that it has been our favorite by far.

Thursday –

We flew into Zurich the first thing in the morning then spent most of the rest of the day on trains that continually took us further into the Alps until we reached the small village of Wengen.

Once we got settled into our rental, we hiked back into the village for some groceries.

We were immediately falling in love with this part of the world.

We passed this waterfall a number of times a day, on our way to and from the village and I couldn’t get enough of it!

The view from our rental was breath-taking and we would have been happy to just sit on the porch all day looking at the scenery!

Day-time View

Sunset View

Friday –

Train rides became common place for us so we could reach a trail head or a different part of the mountain.  One day we rode down into the valley so we could explore the valley of Lauterbrunnen.

The Valley

Lauterbrunnen

The hike here was easy, giving us a great first experience.  We had a couple whiners and a couple over-achievers – it took us a couple days to find a good medium for our troop.

Trail-side Water Trough

Hiking Guide Post

Lauterbrunnen Waterfall

Saturday –

Another day, we rode up the mountain to Kleine Scheidegg.

The Lookout

Here we picnicked on a ridge overlooking an amazing and surreal view.

Picnic Spot

Then we hiked back down to our rental.

On Our Way Down from the Clouds

The kids really enjoyed this hike as they could see where we were going and how much longer it was going to take to get there.

Hiking to Our Rental

The View on the Way Down

We definitely had less whiners that day, even though Cami fell a number of times and scraped up her arm.

Checking out the Damage

Sunday –

The closest church building was 1 1/2 hours by train so we made sure to get an early start.  It was a little awkward hiking down to the village to catch the train in our church clothes and shoes.  I’m sure we stuck out a bit.

Interlaken Branch

The branch was very small with half of us being visitors.  All the other visitors left after Sacrament meeting so we were able to see who the branch really consisted of.  They had absolutely no youth program so Emma went to Primary with the other kids.  When I went to pick them up, they were 4 of the 8 kids in there!  They said they had a fun time singing the Primary songs in English while the others sang them in German.  It was a great experience.

That night, we decided to go for a little walk for Family Home Evening.

Family Home Evening Walk

We stumbled upon a beautiful spot with many benches overlooking the valley.

We ended up having a really nice testimony meeting there and played ‘operator/telephone’.

“The Cow Eats the Green Grass – Pass it on!”

I think that time will be one of my favorite memories of our trip to Switzerland.

Monday –

We had some errands to run in Bern Monday so we weren’t able to do much else, than spend most of the day on the train again.  But, when we got back, the kids were anxious for another hike so we finally hiked up past the waterfall we passed every time we went to and from the village.

It was a ‘rustic’ hike, which the kids seemed to really enjoy.  It was more of what they envisioned hiking should be – no paved paths or signs!

Our “Rustic” Hike

Tuesday –

Knowing this was our last day in Wengen, we wanted to do something really special with the kids.  So, we took a cablecar – actually, a number of different cablecars and a train – up the mountain.

Inside the Cablecar with Temperatures Dropping

A Cablecar Stop Half-way up the Summit

Passing Cablecar

Final Cablecar Destination

We finally got to the top of the summit Schilthorn.  They have a rotating restaurant at the top so we had a bite to eat there.

Schilthorn

Chris was happy to see this was a film location for one of the old James Bond movies.

The view was amazing and they still had snow!

Our time in Switzerland came to an end all too quickly.  All of the kids wanted to stay longer and go on more hikes . . . and we were afraid we were going to wear them out on this trip!

Truly a place worthy of falling in love with!