Switzerland 2014 – Day 8 / Schynige Platte & Lauterbrunnen

CHEESE COUNT: fondue 4 / raclette 1

Today we went for hike up in Schynige Platte and we got WAY more than we bargained for in 2 ways.

First: The Views. They promised Panoramic Views up there, but there was rain in the forecast so we kept our expectations low. We took a chance and were rewarded with spectacular panoramas over Interlaken and the Alps... Well worth it! (It did rain eventually, but only for about 5 minutes)

  

   

Second: The Trail. Holy shit it was scary!!!!

We were not expecting an intermediate trail, we didn’t have trouble walking it, but because it was more demanding than we anticipated we got sweatier than we wanted to be and weren’t dressed in the best way…  but that was not the issue; it was the drops on the side of the trail when we got up to the ridge that make our knees shake!!  (and then got nervous about falling due to having shaking knees! ha!)

These were sharp, sheer drops. Fatal drops – I kid you not!!! One slip and its see-you-later-good-bye!!!! I am not sure if our pictures really give the full effect, we were too scared to lean over any further!!! On the other side, instead of free falling to your death, if you slipped you’d just go careening down the slope and bouncing off the rocks. No big deal.  GULP!

The rest of the trail was only a little rough in parts, but overall manageable and fun.

As usual, we rewarded ourselves with lunch – how nice is it to have a meal with this kind of view?

After we headed out to the Lauterbrunnen Valley again for an EASY walk…

  

Relaxed and had a drink in the town…

   

Then back to Interlaken for a final fondue supper.  This place wins the prize for cleverest way to serve fondue bread! What a brilliant idea!

That’s it for Interlaken, we are all packed and ready to move on to our next destination at the crack of dawn tomorrow: almost 5 hours by train to the Italian Canton of Ticino.

Good night!