June 30, 2022

The biggest cultural difference we’ve noticed between Switzerland and the other countries we’ve visited is that people actually wake up early here. Everyone in our room was up before 7 and we went down to breakfast to find it very crowded before breakfast had even started. We filled up on breakfast and then made sandwiches to bring with us for a snack/lunch later. 

The next part of our journey was a long series of transportation. First, we took a bus from the hostel to the train station. Then, a train from Interlaken to Grindewald where we took a gondola up to Eigergletscher where we boarded another train up to Jungfrau. The entire journey had insane views of the mountains, but our favorite had to be the gondola which is described as the “most modern cable car experience” and takes 15 minutes to climb to the top of the mountain. We even saw cows on the mountain side below us! It was also crazy to feel the temperature dropping as we climbed higher and higher on each leg of the journey. 

At the top, the first thing we went to see was the overlook to try to get a panoramic view. Unfortunately, there was a storm coming in this evening so the clouds were already starting to form. The view that we did get was amazing, but it wasn’t panoramic (we were still happy because the view disappeared less than an hour later). After the viewpoint, we went back inside to warm up and headed toward the ice palace. 

Along the way, we went through a cool tunnel covered with stars that led us past a giant snow globe and some fun facts about the construction and history of Jungfrau. At the other end of the hallway, we entered the ice palace. We slid along the ice floors past ice sculptures of penguins and dogs and an ice bar and the squirrel from ice age frozen with his acorn. It was a lot of fun and we loved seeing all of their creations. We were starting to get cold so (because we are so smart) we decided to go out into the snow to see the very top of the mountain. At this point, the clouds had come in even more so there wasn’t a lot of visibility but it was really cool to see the flag on the top of the mountain and see the snow and ice and a few glimpses of nearby mountains. 

From there, we headed inside to see the shops and restaurants. The coolest one was the Lindt store which had you walk through chocolate making explanation before you got into the shop. It also ended up being the only place we bought anything and we were very happy about it. 

After walking through the rest of the building, we headed back to the train station and took the other route down. Instead of the train to Eigergletscher, we took it a little farther to Kleine Scheidegg where we got off and explored for a bit (and ate our sandwiches) before hopping on the next train which took us to Lauterbrunnen. We were hoping to get off at the stop before and hike in but it started raining and we didn’t want to get soaked so we stayed on the train till Lauterbrunnen. 

Luckily the rain hadn’t quite made it to Lauterbrunnen yet, so we had time to explore. We made it down to the waterfall before turning back. On our way back to the station, we couldn’t resist getting Bratwurst from the stand on the street (which had a line of eager customers both times we walked by). As soon as we tried it, we knew exactly why there was a line and were very glad we opted to get our own instead of share one. 

After a relaxing ride back to Interlaken, we headed back to the hostel for a short break. We were lucky we did because soon after, it started hailing pieces of ice, some of which were as big as dimes. We waited until we were sure it had stopped before heading back out to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner. We brought them back to the hostel and cooked chicken, broccoli, and potatoes to have with watermelon for dinner. It was amazing and we enjoyed it all before heading up to get ready for bed. 

We arrived in Interlaken to gorgeous mountains in every direction. We were out of clothes so we quickly did laundry before dropping our bags. 

We were hungry but didn’t want to waste any more time so we went to a grocery store for lunch and got some cheese, salami, crackers, and watermelon which we ate at a bench outside the store (and outside the train station). Soon after we started eating, an older man sat down on the bench next to us and was trying to tell (or maybe ask) us something with hand gestures but we couldn’t figure it out. A little later he left and then showed up again with his own piece of watermelon. 

When we finished lunch, we headed over the funicular and went up to Harder Kulm, the highest point in Interlaken. It has an insane panoramic view of the entire area and we loved getting to see Interlaken from above. We hiked up a little higher to get to another viewpoint and a butterfly landed on Isabel’s leg and then climbed onto her finger. We also spent some time sitting by the restaurant enjoying the view before heading back down to check into the hostel. After moving our bags to the room and checking out more of the hostel, we went to explore Interlaken. By then, most of the stores had closed but we wandered into a few and got to see a lot of the city before heading to dinner. The crazy thing was that the man from lunch was waking the opposite way, saw us, and waved at us. 

At the suggestion of one of the hostel receptionists, we went to an authentic Swiss restaurant that wasn’t too far away and shared a cheese fondue and a plate of rösti with chicken and peppers. Both dishes were amazing and very filling. We were so full that we had to add a short walk in before going back to shower and get some sleep because we knew that we had a very early morning!