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Lauterbrunnen
  • Char Seawell
  • Char Seawell

Lauterbrunnen

Land of Waterfalls Read more
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  • Trip start
    July 15, 2019
    Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    Preparations

    July 4, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    Passports are ready and international drivers’ licenses are obtained. Counting the days until this bucket list trip!

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    Dragonflies and teamwork!

    July 15, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    My mom was an adventurer, and since her departure from planet earth, all of us think she visits us as a dragonfly, so I am taking this one with me which I bought in Leavenworth last week. Since our suitcases at first pack only weighed 16.8 lbs each, we decided to add a few more items. Mine is now 23 and Tim's is 19. Not bad for a two week trip to Europe. .. the motivating factor is that these are backpack "suitcases" so we literally are carrying what we pack!Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    Save those miles....

    July 16, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

    We saved our Alaska miles for years and used them to upgrade to business class "for free". That gives you access to those cushy lounges at the airport with free food, drinks and candy machines.... and peace and quiet. And artwork! Next stop Frankfurt!Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler
    View leaving town
    View from our lodgingEntry to our lodgingBreakfast gathering gardenA neighbor's stone catA vineyard chapelCan you guess?View from our private balcony

    All this for only $5.14 euros

    July 17, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    After a rather cramped 10 hours, we unwound ourselves, got lost several times, finally found the car rental counter and jumped on the autobahn. Did you know the roadside stops don’t have restrooms? Wish I had known that before drinking that pop. No worries! Yankee ingenuity made great use of a spare gallon bag from packing. I will spare you the details. We made it to our beautiful hotel in the vineyard filled hills of the Black Forest only to discover their restaurant was no longer open. No worries. We just decided to go get lost again. In Oberkirch, we gave up and entered what looked like it might be the German equivalent of a mini Walmart. We found a machine that spit out fresh cold pizza, a mystery sandwich, a pasta salad and a few drinks. And, get this, it was only a little over five euros. If we haven’t died of food poisoning by tomorrow, we will be heading to our home base!Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    Go faster, Honey!

    July 18, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F

    Imagine a wife saying that. But on the Autobahn on our way to Switzerland, there IS no speed limit! Driving 85, we were passed by folks driving more than 100 mph. But we have crossed now into beautiful Switzerland where speeding is an actual crime, so no more crazy wife comments. The very air is different and even the green on the hillsides is a richer color. We are about an hour from our destination, so we will kill some time in Interlaken. Pictures to come. Just fueling up on traditional Swiss cuisine at McDonalds.Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler
    View from our bedroom
    This is the valley we are paragliding into. We have been sitting here watching them.What the scenery looks likeThe glacier we see from our window.View from living roomTim watching paraglider up the valley

    Home sweet home in the Alps

    July 18, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    Just sitting here in our home away from home for two weeks staring up the valley we will paraglide into. Outside the chickens are crowing and the owner of this vrbo is working hard on the yard. We have completely unpacked and plan to have this truly be a home away from home. Enjoy the pics. We are walking to the waterfall inside the mountain which is a ten minute walk from here, so maybe more pics tonight.Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    A walk by the river in the Alps.

    July 18, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    We can cross the street and walk for miles on a path by the Aare River. We watched paragliders land near the cable cars and talked with a mom with three kids from Oakland who were glowing from the experience. The landscape literally gurgles all around us... waterfalls gushing from the rocks around us and the river flowing nearby. The cows walking across the path had just been milked... later the farmer rode his bike carrying fresh pails of milk to the home across the street from us. You can buy it in the mornings fresh!Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    What's up with the lights?

    July 19, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 54 °F

    I don't know how you experience the full moon, but I have always experienced it as sound. When it came up over the ocean in Oahu once, when its first ray of light hit the water, I heard a violin note. Normally though, I feel like it yells at me. "Wake up! I'm here!" The point of this story is that it is 4 am in Switzerland. I have been awake since midnight obsessed with trying to see constellations. But I could not figure out how there could be such light pollution this far removed from civilization. Then I looked out the window again just now and found the culprit. A full moon. In a few hours the chickens will be up, just as I have been the last three hours. But as a courtesy to Tim, I moved into the second bedroom to listen to the sound of waterfalls, the errant owl hoot, and the moon tauting me. I could close the curtains, but that would drown out the sound of the tallest waterfall in Switzerland that shines across this valley. To sleep perchance to dream.Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler
    1

    The very mountains shook...

    July 19, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    Today, after I walked to the campground store across the street for coffee, we traveled 1/4 mile to the entrance to Trammelbach Falls. This is a World UNESCO site and the only waterfall in the world that falls INSIDE a mountain. After a short hike, you enter a cable car type elevator and go up six stories. From there, you hike straight up for four more stories inside the mountain, which is filled with mist and the deafening sound of the rushing water that has carved fantastic formations into the rock. Then you hike ten stories down passing through wet stairs in the center of the cliff and sunny places where the rock has worn through. The very mountain rumbled with the force of the pounding rivers that meet there. Our ten day travel pass was purchased today, so tomorrow we begin adventuring in the Alps. This gets us on almost all buses, trains, cable cars, funiculars and boats for “free”. Next stop “Top of the World”.Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    A day complete...

    July 19, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    Since I am having trouble sleeping, I took myself on another river walk while Tim napped. Then a homemade dinner in a kitchen with a view and a meal outside with a view. Yes, there is one in every room. We bought our Bernese-Oberland travel passes which cost an arm, but not the leg, as we then get free travel on all buses, trains, boats, cable cars, etc. Tomorrow we take several cable cars that go right up the face of the cliffs. We plan to spend each day in a new section of the Alps where it is cooler, especially since the new weather report is for high 80's. Please pray the moon is quiet tonight. I really need more than four hours sleep.Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    A little lightheaded....

    July 20, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 50 °F

    At 10,000 feet the air is rarified, so what else could we do but have brunch at the rotating Schiltorn restaurant made famous in that Bond movie. Here's a start to pictures.

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler
    2

    Can you take too many pictures?

    July 20, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 50 °F

    We are listening to a "band" at 10,000 feet!

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    Back on the ground...

    July 20, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    After riding a cable car or two back down to Murren, we rode our first train down to Lauterbrunnen and then caught our first bus back to our home in the hinterlands. Tom said the brunch at the rotating restaurant was still the highlight of the day. My highlight was when I was in a shop in Murren buying socks for hiking. I pointed to the pathway outside the door and asked where I would end up if I kept walking. She looked at me with a straight face and said, "New York?"

    By the by, I have perfected my favorite German phrase. "Sprechen sie English? Meine Deutsch ist sehr schlecht." Do you speak English? My German is very bad. "

    We also watched paragliders on Murren taking off, which we will do Monday. And who could resist these directions?    Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    I hope someone knows CPR

    July 20, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 55 °F

    At last sighting in Birg, Tim was headed to the Skywalk, which is attached to the side of a cliff. I made it about 100 yards and abject terror took over. I took a pic of Tim before he turned the corner. Next stop Murren! Love having so many cable cars but I am ready to start walking downhill. You wouldn't believe how many people they cram in!Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    When the rides are free...

    July 20, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    Following another home cooked meal, we made use of our regional pass and unlimited cable car rides to ascend again into the Alps. This time we got off in Mürren and then walked down to Gimmelwald. The air was filled with the sounds of running water, and cows and sheep grazing on the steep hillsides with bells, each species with its own timbre. Since our knees are giving out, we are setting on a bench awaiting the ride down and free bus back to our abode. Goodnight from Switzerland, even though you are eating lunch and it’s yesterday where you are.Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler
    1

    Top of Europe

    July 21, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 45 °F

    At over 11,000 feet this is the highest point in Europe unless you do ice climbing. To get here, you travel by cogswheel train and in the last leg, switch to a train that travels into a mountain, a true marvel of engineering. Inside, among other things, there is an ice palace with beautiful sculptures and man is it cold!Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    Headed back home for the day.

    July 21, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F

    After our glacier viewing we are headed down the mountain. Today was a spontaneous adventure. We just jump a bus to the train station in Lauterbrunnen, and then we just look around and decide in the moment where to go. There is such freedom in this regional pass.
    Tomorrow at 2:15, we walk off a meadow perched on a cliff and paraglide through the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Think light thoughts. There is a weight limit😎    Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    Oops...accidental nap...

    July 21, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    Where did the last two hours go? Must have been all the stairs and the excitement of our trip to the top of the world. We caught a bus after our train ride down and then stopped at the restaurant at Trummelbach Falls. The sandwiches on fresh bread are to die for. We slid them into my pack and walked home on the trail. Along the way we noted that the tourism folks have thought of everything needed for comfort. I thought the pictures on the porta potty said it all.Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    Mental preparation begins.

    July 22, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 57 °F

    It is 6 am here, and you are still living in yesterday as I write this, which is mind boggling. Due to the naps, we sat outside and waited for stars to come out last night. The moon is at 79% brightness, so we gave up at 11 p.m. Now I am sitting outside with a cup of coffee listening to birds and waterfalls on a hewn log bench. The sounds of cow bells echo in the hills as they work their way down the slopes to graze. In seven hours we will meet the folks who will guide us down from the Alps in paragliders. From the valley, we will take a cable car back to Murren and hike up about 3/4 of a mile. Then they spread out the chutes one behind another and we strap in. From that point, we simply take turns walking down the steep meadow. The wind and physics take over after that. I am terrified of heights, but this particular event, like swimming with sharks, just captivates my spirit. Here are a few pics from my morning thoughts in the garden of our "home away from home."Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler
    1

    No cash, no problem

    July 22, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    When I didn't have cash for my goods at the campground store across the street, the clerk asked where I was staying. When I said, "Heidi's " she replied, Oh jah, Heidi. Just pay when you have cash." She sent me on my way with the groceries. To kill time before our paraglide, we bussed to Lauterbrunnen and hiked up the iconic Falls there. Had to stop part way up and sing in the tunnel! T minus two hours to flight!Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    The blooper video

    July 22, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    Just walked back on the trail after our paraglide landing down the road from our home. Boy, ice cream never tasted so good. No pictures yet, but here’s the scoop. Leaving the cable car in Mürren, we hiked up a steep hillside to the launch area. Tim and his instructor had a flawless take off. I assured Buzz, my instructor, that I would follow all instructions and obviously had misunderstood one, so instead of launching we veered, got tangled up with each other and all the lines, and rolled down the meadow we had just. Climbed. But then we had a great take off for the 2nd attempt.

    The winds were good and we floated, rising up and down, turning in tight swirls and slow circles. You fly over the tops of huge trees and along granite cliffs, past waterfalls and in sight of glaciers. It is like being a human drone. Buzz let me fly it for awhile...so beautiful.

    I rate this experience even higher than swimming with Sharks. Unbelievable! Photos and video when we return!
    Char    Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    Up to Grimmelwald

    July 23, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    First trip on a real train. The others were cogswheel trains which literally run on cogs. The Swiss are masters at this transportation thing. Everything is timed as well as a Swiss watch. Next stop... the mountains!Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler
    1

    Top of the World again!

    July 23, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F

    One train, three long chair lifts later! A different view of the endless glaciers. We voted against a second cliff walk, but I think we will give the scooter three wheelers a shot down to the next chair lift. What could possibly go wrong? It's all downhill. We walked down a ways from the top and are now having hamburgers... we need energy for the coast ride down. This is truly a restaurant with a view.Read more

  • Char SeawellLauterbrunnenTraveler

    The ten pound box and Grindelwald 2.0

    July 23, 2019 in Switzerland ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    About that go cart/bike trip. It was low to the ground and required getting out and pushing at flat spots. Not good for a guy with a bad hip, so Tim put himself on injured reserve and declined. Then I noted that the brakes were on the handles and I have a bad trigger finger on one hand, so I wisely, I think, joined him on that list. But we thought you might enjoy a few more pics, and what’s not to love about cows⛰. Oh, the box... I packed winter clothes for the mountain peaks as well as long sleeved shirts. They are currently in a level 3 heat wave. So I packed about ten pounds of not needed clothes and am shipping home.Read more

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