Interlaken: I Shall Have to Learn German as I am NEVER Leaving

Interlaken. A beautiful city situated between two lakes (hence the original name) and nestled up at the base of the one of the most incredible mountain ranges in the world. We immediately fell in the love with the city. For starters, the sun was shining brilliantly and Jungfrau stood so proudly and the city was so clean and paragliders landed right next to cows in the city park. The sun was oh so welcome after the cold dreary days in Lucerne. Melissa and I basked in the sun and the strumming of Melissa's ukulele was accompanied by the jingling of cow bells as a small herd grazed nearby. Our welcome to Interlaken may have altered my skeptical opinion of love at first site.

Our first day in Interlaken found us in the mountains, eager to explore the glorious Alps and enjoy the sun above the clouds. We traveled by train to Lauterbrunnen and then took a cable car up a cliff, above the clouds to a fantastic hiking trail offering phenomenal views. I had just discovered that my camera has a panorama function which is impressive, not just the feature, but the fact that I've had the camera for three years. Not exactly Capernicus but you can imagine just how enthusiastically I embraced this new discovery in the Alps. We had great views of Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau as well as Schilthorn, the site of the opening scene of the James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". We hiked along a fabulous trail to Mürren, hands down my favorite town in Switzerland, and probably Europe. I'm fairly confident that they are in need of nurses while Melissa is happy to start a career as a milk maid in Mürren. We wandered down to Gimmelwald (fantastically described in a Rick Steeves book but clearly he went there when it was sunny and not shrouded in cloud). We wanted to eat our lunch in the sun but weren't too excited about the prospect of hiking up the hill we had just climbed down. So we cheated and shelled out some Swiss Francs to take the cable car up to Mürren where we hiked out of the city and feasted on a delicious lunch of a whole wheat baguette, cheese, apples and a Toblerone bar. A herd of cows grazed nearby and a mountain stream trickled down the hill. Now one would think that the constant sound of cow bells would be annoying but as every good Saturday Night Live fan knows, you always need more cow bell. Really the sound is not annoying enough to be a clank but not dainty enough to be a tinkling. It is more of a clinkling if you will. Our perfect afternoon was drawing to a close and while we could have stayed on that mountain side all day, we realized that we should probably be responsible and not get caught in the mountains after dark in a country that we are not familiar with and don't know the language. We took the cable car back to the Lauterbrunnen valley and then walked to the Trummelbach Falls where you can see 10 waterfalls within a mountain. It was awesome to witness the power of rushing water originating from the Jungfrau glacier high above. The water was crystal clear. When the cascading falls met the calm pools in a turbulent union, the water became a greenish blue, reflecting the minerals of the mountain. It is a color I have never seen and it is absolutely beautiful. On our way back to Lauterbrunnen to catch the train, we saw a dairy farmer moving his cows home on a bicycle. There was a slight traffic jam (two cars backed up) when he reached his barn. The farmer was moving cows individually into their stanchions. One impatient driver was trying to help move the cows off the road. I helped too. The cows were quite gentle and responded to the tail twist quite well. I loved walking along, dodging the cow splatter and breathing in the pure mountain air accented by manure and listening to waterfalls cascade off the mountain.

The next day we woke up and our bodies only had a few complaints of our 6 hour hike. We were hoping to go paragliding but the clouds were too low and would not allow. Melissa wanted to check out Grindelwald so we boarded the train for the mountains. Unfortunately, it too was in fog. So we boarded a ski lift to First in search of the sun. We found it. We arrived in time to watch the Swiss Air Force flaunt their finest as we ate our lunch. They were performing an air show on the other side of the mountain (complete with live ammunition aimed into the mountain). We stared into the sky, waiting to see the fighter jets soar through the Alps, the Swiss flag gleaming in the sun as the planes maneuvered and danced in the sky. Each time we saw them it was terribly exciting. In Grindelwald, we saw signs warning skydivers and paragliders that the Air Force would be performing maneuvers. It was as if the pilots tacked up the signs and then turned the Alps into their playground. You knew that they we having a fabulous time. The power, screaming through the sky, the sunlight glistening on the glaciers and snow below on the rugged mountains and soaring through the brilliantly blue sky must have been incredible. We walked along the mountain tundra to a small lake and then headed down the mountain. The fog kept creeping up and soon we were in the clouds. It was eerie, so still that you could hear the fog settling in. The trail was marked by red and white painted rocks. We would get to one rock, reassured that we were still on the trail and peer through the dense fog, searching for the next marker. I had to pee and Melissa suggested I go by a small hill when suddenly a man appeared on that hill. I decided to wait until we got to the trees. When we finally got below the clouds we saw a sign with travel times and realized that we could make the next train, it would be cutting it close, but it was possible. We hurried down the steep grade, running at times, our gluts, calves, and knees screaming their protests. We made it though, with eight minutes to spare. Success! Our ginger extraction from the train is another matter.

Today, we woke up quite sore. Our muscles were rather vocal in their opinion of the previous two days. "What were you thinking of running down a mountain for 2 1/2 hours?!?" We spent much of the morning watching the sky, hoping that the clouds would lift to permit paragliding. We were blessed and able to go flying. The pilots set up the shute and harnesses. We awkwardly ran down a hill and then the air lifted us up and we were flying. It was a glorious feeling. The upcurrents swept us up and we turned gracefully over the trees. It was peaceful, sitting high above the ground and being carried by the currents. The clouds lifted and parted and Jungfrau was revealed, full of majesty and glory. All too soon, the flight was over. A few twists and turns brought us to the ground and it was actually quite smooth. I am hooked. I would definitely like to get into paragliding, get my pilots license and explore the world from a bird's eye view. Sounds pretty great to me.

The Alps
I have written about our hikes without describing these incredible mountains. The Alps are beautiful. Amazing. Majestic. Phenomenal. Powerful. Jagged. Rugged. Awe-inspiring. Powerful. Humbling. They jut triumphantly from the sea of clouds and reach for the heavens. The clouds swirl at their base and lap up against them in waves creating a layer, a barrier from the world below. There is a sense of Otherness, of Holiness. The majesty and power of the Creator is tangible and evident in the Alps. I felt humbled and so small and so insignificant and yet so incredibly loved.

To see some fabulous Swiss panorams of where we have been, follow the link. We did not go to the top of Junfraujoch or Schilthorn as it is rediculously expensive and we wanted to go hiking :)
http://www.swisspanorama.com/

Things I Did Not Expect When I Woke Up
Interlaken Edition
Move cows
Witness an air show
Take off into the sky
Realize just how desperately we need the sun (Melissa dubs it "sunshine junkie")
Watch the Swiss Militia have a parade
Watch a paraglider land behind the marching militiamen (FYI they have a hiking march, as though they are climbing a mountain)
Meet Austrailian filmmakers