Sunday, July 20, 2008

Interlaken, Trummelbach Falls, and Murren--Day 9






I love Switzerland. I could have stayed in Switzerland for the rest of my life--if I were rich, but that's a digression. Switzerland is beautiful, clean, and just about the most wonderful place on earth.


We left Murten early in the morning and headed to Interlaken where we spent about an hour walking around and shopping. Interlaken is the largest town in the Berner Oberland and is at the entrance point to the Lauterbrunen Valley. It's a pretty little town, but even before the season started it was overrun with tourist and touristy little shops. There was a pretty river here that David and I went and sat by while we waited on everyone else to get back to the bus.


Then we drove to Trumelbach Falls. Last year on the Best of Europe tour we went to Trummelback Falls and I absolutely loved it. It's so pretty and amazing. It was even more so this year. Trummelbach Falls is a waterfall that is inside a mountain. You begin the experience with a funicular ride up into the mountain and then walk up inside to the top where you can look through the hole at the top of the cave and see the sky while hearing the water pounding down inside this mountain. It's amazing. We were there earlier than last year and they had a lot more snow in Switzerland this year so the water pounding through the mountain was deafening and very very cold.


After Trummelbach Falls we hiked as a group to Stechelburg where we got on a gondola and rode up to our homebase for the next two days: Murren. I can't even begin to describe how quaint and wonderful Murren is. It's a tiny little Swiss town with all the wonderful food and people that go with it and unbelievable views of the Jung Frau, Eiger and Monc mountains. Though our room was really small, we felt like we were on top of the world with views of the amazing scenery on two sides. We went into town for a very late lunch and were so happy that we were able to find a restaurant open to serve us (lunch very rarely is served after 2pm).


We went back up to our room to rest--I read, David napped. That night we had a group dinner and enjoyed alphorn music and a group of yodelers.

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