Cows, Views, and Mike Tyson Biceps

We kicked off the day in Mürren with breakfast at Hotel Jungfrau—fresh-baked bread, croissants, more cheese and dried meats than anyone needed at 8 a.m., but we didn’t let that stop us.

After some quality stretching at the train station (yes, that’s a thing now), we caught the train to Grütschalp to start our hike: the Mountain View Trail, a 4.7 mile wanderweg with roughly 1,600 feet of elevation gain. Think meadows, wildflowers, and panoramic views of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau—so stunning they should charge admission (but thankfully they didn’t).

Early in the hike, we casually looked down on a helicopter flying through the valley. You know you’re up high when air traffic is beneath your feet.

About halfway through the hike, we had a picnic lunch at the highest point of the trail—bread, cheese, and cured meats with a side of alpine majesty. Très Swiss.

Along the way, we encountered full-on cow gridlock. Trail? Blocked. By cows. We dubbed it Rush Hour Traffic, Alpine Edition. We also pet the cows because we’re not monsters.

A highlight moment: a fellow hiker passed us, chuckling at our assortment of scavenged walking sticks. He looked at Dave’s hefty branch and said, “Now that’s a MAN’S walking stick.” Then saw Becky’s two large sticks and said, “You’re gonna get Mike Tyson biceps with those things!” Swiss trail comedy: underrated.

After four hours of hiking, we descended into Mürren, then made our way down to Lauterbrunnen—ice cream in hand. The group split up here: Dave and Carrie decided the best recovery from one big hike was another one, so they climbed back up to Wengen. Mike and Becky opted for the more civilized approach: cogwheel train to Wengen. The hotel is lovely - great spa / hot tub and our corner suite deck has a straight shot view across the valley to Mürren and Grütschalp.

After a walk through Wengen, we hit up Da Sina, an Italian restaurant that served us a pizza so good we considered ordering eight more. We didn’t—but we did follow it up with lasagna, gnocchi, a burger, ice cream sundaes, apple fritters, and strudel. Basically, we undid the entire hike in one meal. Worth it.

Tomorrow - more hiking and views!

Mike and Becky:
Step count: 20,959
Distance: 7.72 miles

Carrie and Dave:
Step count: 25,725
Distance: 9.7 miles Czytaj więcej