On Saturday afternoon, we drove about 1 hour from Luzern to Interlaken, right into the heart of the Berner Oberland region. It was probably one of the most beautiful car trips we have ever taken and Kevin and I were snapping pictures non-stop for about 20 minutes in the car while Matt was driving. When Matt could finally catch a glimpse, his comment was, "Ok, the Swiss are never allowed to complain about anything again," referring to the beauty that surrounds them. See for yourself- Although the pictures do not even come close to the actual view...
You can't really tell from the pictures, but this water was the most beautiful shade of blue-green...
We stayed at hostel #2 in Interlaken, a place called "Balmer's" which is apparently a young, transient backpacker's paradise. To us, it felt a bit like summer camp, but we took it all in and chalked it up to an interesting life experience!
Balmer's
From Interlaken, we took the Schilthorn cable-car to the little ski resort town of Murren (you cannot reach this town by car). Schilthorn is a 10,000 foot peak across the Lauterbrunnen Valley and Murren is about 5,381 feet up.
On the way to the cable-car station...
This is a waterfall near the cable-car station. It looked frozen but we could here the water flowing underneath the ice...
Cable-car
Views on the way up...
When we reached Murren, nearly every shop, hotel, and restaurant seemed to be closed. It was a Saturday afternoon, which means these things should have been open, but we figured that perhaps people take a vacation for themselves before ski season begins and they are tied to the mountain for several months at a time.
So, we walked the small, quiet streets of Murren, marveling at homes adorned with cowbells, antlers, and gnomes (click on the next picture). We probably saw less than 20 different people in the area during the whole time were there. It was really amazing to see how people live tucked on the side of a mountain.
We are looking forward to returning to Switzerland again soon, hopefully for some skiing!
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