Walking in a postcard in Lauterbrunnen

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Lauterbrunnen

It was like driving into a postcard... Mountains on everyside with waterfalls gently decsending into mist in the breeze, trees and meadows greener than I thought green could get, and the stunningly clear glacial streams running by the side of the road. Lauterbrunnen was far surpassing my expectations and I hadn't even arrived yet!

We didn't get there til about 6 and decided to put off the 'family' cook up until the following night as we all knew how hard Switzerland was on the wallet. Our camping accomodation began well as they started by handing out swiss chocolate, always an excellent way to a backpackers heart. I found my room and was a little surprised to see 3 single beds all together! It was bigger than a king size mattress! I was definately hoping I was alone, or if I had to share then I hoped my roomie was a male model for Calvin Klein...anyone up for a game of spoons? Card game of course! ;-) Turned out I had the whole room and 3 beds all to myself! Not to mention a view of the mountains out one window and a waterfall directly outside the window of the other! Amazing.

My busmates and I got together for dinner at the restaraunt for some traditional swiss dishes as we wrapped ourselves in blankets to sit outside. We chose the Potato rosti (grated potato, cheese, ham, tomato, and capsicum) and cheese fondu between 4 of us. I enjoyed the rosti but was really not a fan of the cheese fondu. It tasted like old white wine with a light cheese flavoring. My most expensive meal in Switzerland and unfortunately my worst in Europe so far. At least the scenery made up for the food.

The next morning I headed off for hike up the road to Tremmelbach falls and then the town of Stechelburg. I was a little over excited at the views of mountains, waterfalls, wild flowers, sky divers, helicopters, cows, cute mountain challets....that I missed the bridge that took me to the waterfalls. Haha So I did things a little backwards and started out at the town of Stechelburg instead. I stopped under a tree to read my book and finish off a journal entry. My picnic chair had a view of the valley, the landing skydivers and also the surrounding waterfalls (there are 72 in the Lauterbrunnen Valley according to our guide!). It was all very romantic and pictursque until I was attacked by the worlds largest bubble bee who obviously thought I was a pretty flower. It was bigger than a 50 cent piece......Between the eyes! (Artistic license in use.) So I proceeded to jump up and dance like a leprechaun doing an Irosh jig, waving my computer tablet about like a ping pong bat. After some time, some strange looks, and perhaps some little sqeals of girliness....the bee realised I was not a flower. Which might have someting to do with the tablet slightly bumping it on the head (don't worry the bee flew away mostly uninjured). How's the serenity hey?

After a quick photo shoot admist the wildflowers and another incident with a bee....I was off to Tremmelbach falls. Many years ago while still living on the farm, my grandma ttaught me the art of making daisy chains, which I thought was really special but never I never had a chance or opportunity to use this skill as daisies don't tend to grow wild around Wam. Luckily Lauterbrunnen is FULL of wild flowers, in particular, daisies. So thank you to my clever grandma I was able to make a successful daisy chain to attach to my hat. My stomache was rumbling by this time, so I stopped at the falls cafe for a bagette with buffalo cheese, pesto and rocket, which was delicious. I also spoilt myself with a cupcake with pink icing and raspberries (the rasberries were eaten before I took the photo...whoops, sorry!).

A quick walk up the hill and then paid the entrance fee before riding in a mine-like carriage to the top of the falls. I was a little worried having to pay an entrance fee just to see a waterfall but I definately wasn't dissapointed! There are 9 viewing platforms to see the waterfall which is entirely INSIDE the mountain. Aparently it is the only accessable waterfall inside a mountain in Europe. I was also extremely glad I brought a jumper and raincoat....it was colder and colder the further you walked up and inside the caves that you could view the waterfall from. The noise was incredibly loud, people were having to shout to hear themselves speak over the noise of the rushing water. The spray was cold as it came off the edge too. The power and force was mesmerising, as was the different shapes and ways the water moved as it moved over rocl crevices and spun in corkscrew shapes down to the lower levels creating tiny rainbows that disappeared if you looked to closely.

In the afternoon I walked into the town of Lauterbrunnen to check my email at the pub with free wifi as the camping ground wanted $5 for an hour. I checked out the shops (both of them...it was a tiny but cute town) and stopped at the bakery cafe near the end for a vanilla shortbread, chill out and delve into my book (it was getting adictive near the end). I came back to the camp ground in time to be a part of the family cookup with my busabout gang. Vegetarian spagetti which was really yum, much better than the fondu, and a small bottle of swiss white wine. I was in a fabulous mood by the time we finished dinner and we all decided to frock up and head to the 'bomb shelter' which was the camp grounds bar for contiki and busabout members.

We had Ben and Kat, Danielle and Laura who were passengers from the northern loop, Nathan the bus driver from Grunau, Pete our new bus driver, Haley our guide, and Murry an Ibeza guide who was on the way through and the two busabout video bloggers Kimmie Smiles and her friend (who was lovely but I have forgotten her name). It was a crazy night of dancing, red bull lid spitting games (there was a target set up) and a few more drinks - I had finished my wine and didn't drink at the pub, a good idea in the end as it got a bit messy. Laura had way too much and decided she was in love with Nathan and proceeded to follow him everywhere giving him hugs and accidently pouring her drink all down the back of his shirt. A few songs, a couple of collaborative dances and a short course in samba dancing later and I heard the call of my lovely large bed and headed off to sleep. Unfortnately I was woken by the cleaners cursing Australia while cleaning our shared bathroom the following morning as a few people had been ill from that nasty bug in the ice in the drinks.

The following morning I met up with Pete to go for a trek up into the mountains. We decided to walk to the next town on the hill, Wangen and then decide from there whether we wanted to go higher. The path was extremely steep and took a about 45mins to get to the foothills of the village where we stopped to have nibbles and chill out. It was only another 15mins to town from there so we got sandwiches from the bakery and sat in front of the train station where the view was most amazing. I convinced Pete to try the sachertorte as I was still addicted. Not enough air to make good decicions I also got an icecream for the walk back down into the valley. Haha Pete had to work in the afternoon so I went to air cafe for some yummy fruit, nut and chocolate chip cake and fruit tea while I used their free wifi and then headed up to check out the waterfall which I could see from my window. There was a steep climb into a long tunnel, up more steep stairs to a long balcony against the rock to a viewing platform for the waterfall. But there was minimal view which was strange so I jumped the barricade on the entrance below to get a better view of the falls from the paddock.

Nathan almost ran me over on my way back to the hostel on his bicycle but then offered for me to join the staff cook up dinner which was pesto pasta. I walked in late and Pete had walked into the kitchen only to realise that Hayley had cooked the pesto...so it was interesting. Especially as Pete had told me all afternoon how he loved good cooking and was a major foodie connoisseur. In true Aussie style Hayley was paid out something cronic and the cooked pesto story is now being told around the bus loops as Hayley's "special" dish. Early bus the next morning and my alarm didn't go off so I madly packed in a hurry - no easy feat for a 25kg+ bag and jumped on the bus for our fly through tour of the next four countries!

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