Roadtrip to Interlaken Switzerland

This is beautiful Interlaken Switzerland on a sunny Sunday morning!  I had heard from some people I work with that this would be a great weekend getaway and it did not dissapoint.  The drive from Ramstein took 5 hours, which on a Friday afternoon was extremely frustrating.  Driving on the Autobahn is either one of two extremes: fantastically fast, and uncrowded or completely bumper to bumper for no particular reason.  This drive to Interlaken included both aspects but as you can see by these pictures, the drive was completely worth it!

The town of Interlaken is sandwiched between these two lakes, the one just above is to the east and the other is directly to the west of town.  The water flows from east to west through the central town and is the most beautiful color of blue.  I imagine it doesnt get much more pure than fresh alpine snow melt!

This is one of a handful of damn like gates to control the flow of water between the lakes.

This is my hotel.  It looks much nicer from this view than it was on the inside.  There are a number of lavish hotels in town which I'm sure would have been fantastic to stay in.  This hotel wasnt cheap nor is anything in Switerland, I paid $200 a night for this 3 star hotel, but the location was worth it, easy access to the delightful town and just a short trip to the nearby mountains.

One my Saturday morning I drove up into the mountains and took a steep train ride up to the small village of Wengen.  This whole area is called Jungfrau - or "the top of Europe" as it boasts access to the highest mountain peak in the alps which you can see in the background.  There are numerous train tracks and cable cars that take people up to various points of interest.  Of course I wanted to make the trip to the highest summit but it would have cost over $300, so instead I settled for Wengen and another summit slightly lower in elevation and cost.

This is the view from Wengen, which has no cars, Im assuming because it would be impossible to build and maintain a road up this steep mountain!  The view is of the town to which I drove and began the train ride literally right up the side of the mountain.  The weather was always changing so I lucked out that I was able to explore without a thunderstorm.

This ravine and town are like out of a movie...I had to pinch myself to make sure it was real.

This is a view from my tram ride from Grindle-something up 4500 feet to the summit of First.  The tram ride took about 30 mintues each way and was beautiful but at times nerve racking as Im not the best with heights, espeically when they are measured in the thousands!  Luckily it wasnt crowded so I had my own tram car and could hypervenilate in privacy.

Im trying to keep it together here so I could take a nice picture, notice Im facing uphill so as not to see how far up I have already gone!

One of the 3 stops up to the summit, I stayed on course and wanted to get to the top as fast as possible for fear of chickening out!

See the bottom of the valley?  Thats where I started on the tram!!

Finally at the summit, total altitude of 7400 feet.  The Jungfrau is over 11,000 feet high and you can see glimpes of it in the mountain range, usually covered by the clouds.

After my exciting Saturday mountain adventure I headed back to town just before the sky opened up and thunder and lightening stormed for the rest of the night.  Which was fine with me as all this exploring includes tons of walking and stairs all over the place!  This is probably why you dont see many gyms in Switerland!

I awoke early Sunday morning knowing my chance of sunshine would be best and also out of excitement.  The next adventure on my list was Harder Kulm which is yet another tram from the town of Interlaken up 4,000 feet to an outlook of both lakes.  While waiting for the 8:10am tram, I walked around town and stumbled upon this amazing church. 

At the top of the tram there is a somewhat short trail to the summit, this is one of my favorite shots of the mountain range.  This is facing south towards the mountains I had explored on Saturday.  It was so nice to see them in the morning sunshine.

And here it the summit of Harder Kulm!  I love the Swiss flags at each summit, you really do feel accomplished as you reach the top!  This is also a restaurant and many of my fellow tram riders had sunday brunch there, I had more exploring to do so I was back on the road in no time!

As I left Interlaken, I chose to take a smaller road to get upclose with the eastern lake and this is what I found!  It was a magical morning, the sunlight was warm, very little traffic or tourists, and again, the water is the most amazing color of blue.  Sort of like Lake Tahoe, but it seemed cleaner and clearer here.

Looking west as I said goodbye to a magical place...back to a frustrating 5 hour drive to Ramstein!  Well worth all the trouble.  The scenary is so dramatic, you sort of lose yourself in it...its so overwhelmingly beautiful I couldnt believe I was really experiencing this natural beauty.  I know most of my blogs have been light hearted about my travels and the truth is I need them to be because so much of the work week is emotionally intense and draining.  I am able to keep my sanity by knowing I will have a complete escape each weekend where I can forget my struggles and appreciate what our world has to offer.  This world has some truly beautiful places and I feel so lucky that I have been able to experience as many as I can!