Huge rocky mountains covered in a carpet of green, snow capped peaks, cows and sheep grazing on the hillsides, bright blue lake water, wooden chalets, and fresh flowers at every turn. Switzerland is just as you picture it to be.
I started off my time here in the city of Zurich, while I waited for my next travel buddy (Mom) to meet me. I did a walking tour here and marveled at all the expensive shops. I learned that Zurich has some of the highest cost of property in Europe and also the most expensive Starbucks in the world! (Luckily I didn't go there). The hostel was one of the nicest I stayed in the whole trip, but also the most expensive. Known as a banking capital, I felt a little out of place downtown with all the fancily dressed businessmen.
Once Mom arrived we headed straight to the town of Bern, where we would stay two days. What a cute city! We went to the Albert Einstein Museum (he had lived in Bern when he came up with the theory of relativity), walked the cute Main Street with a fancy clock, shops, and vendors, saw the capital building, and checked out the super clean Aare River which runs right through town. We also visited the Paul Klee museum, a famous Swiss artist - who, I must admit, I knew nothing about prior to coming to this museum. But it was a great visit and I really like his artwork! Consider me a new fan.
For our next week in Switzerland we used the town of Leukerbad, located south of Bern, as a home base. And boy did we hit the RCI jackpot. Our place had a spectacular view out the deck of the breathtaking mountains. Also, coming from hostel living I couldn't be more thrilled to have a place with a good bed, kitchen, and a closet! Pure luxury.
We had a great time exploring this area of Switzerland. Some of our high points included:
- Leukerbad - a town of about 1400, this town was so fun to explore! Located at about 4,600 feet it took us about 30 minutes each day to get into the village on a very windy, narrow, lots-of-hairpin-turns road. We happened to be there for the Shepard Festival - a one time a year celebration with food, wine, alphorn and accordion players, a church service (which we accidentally attended - and it was all in German) and watching 800 sheep run down the mountain. Quite an entertaining event with great people watching. We also happened to be there for Swiss National Day, which is August 1st. They celebrate with a big fireworks show and festivals throughout the day. There were huge gardens located throughout town which we later learned were used for some of the local restaurants - we had a great salad at one of them!
- Hiking in Leukerbad - we did a few different hikes in and around this area. Being nestled in a valley, there were really three areas of mountains we could explore. We first rode the cable car up to the Gemmi Pass, which is where the Shepard Festival was. After the festival was over we continued hiking to a remote hotel and then looped back around the lake (which was the highest lake in Europe) and caught the cable car back down. The Gemmi Pass area is mainly used for snow sports in the winter - cross country skiing, sledding, etc. Across from that was the Torrent Gondola, which went up to the Torrent downhill ski area. In this area we hiked amongst cows (with large bells on their necks), beautiful purple wildflowers and lots of mountain bikers. There were so many trails to explore here and we only had time to scratch the surface.
- Zermatt - we ventured on the train south to the town of Zermatt to see the Matterhorn (along with every other tourist in Switzerland). My only experience with the Matterhorn was the ride at Disneyland - and I vividly remember being scared to bits by the Yeti with red eyes. Anyways, in order to see this awesome mountain we luckily picked a route that Rick recommended so beat some of the major crowds. We decided to go up to Rothorn, to get a view of the peak and then go down a little further to then hike back to town. Getting up there was quite the task as we took trains, funiculars, gondolas and cable cars. But the view at the top was spectacular. We had a nearly bluebird day, with just a few clouds in the sky. Unfortunately one cloud mass was stuck right at very the top of the Matterhorn. We waited for a bit at the top to see if it would clear, but it never did. We were able to see all the other mountains clearly in the area as well as a lot of the glaciers. We felt quite lucky to see what we did! On the way down we hiked with a view of these peaks the whole way. And the weather really stayed in our favor the whole time. It was a great day of hiking. Our legs were tired but it was well worth it.
- Lausanne - we hit the Olympic Museum (very nice!), checked out the waterfront and of course did Rick's walking tour around the Old Town area. After Lausanne we headed for the Chateau de Chillon (apparently Chateau is the fancy French word for castle), that was built possibly as early as 1005. It has been used as a summer home, prison, a weapons depot, and now today a museum. This castle was beautiful and very nicely restored. We did an audio tour here which gave us a good understanding of the different areas and it was fun to see their decor and furniture.
We had a great stay here in Leukerbad and then continued on to the town of Meiringen to explore more of Switzerland!
Highlights:
- Leukerbad - a cute town with a lot of great hiking and views.
- Matterhorn - what a beautiful mountain! It was also so cool to see the other mountains around it as well as the glaciers.
- Sheep Festival - we really got the local experience at this festival! Very few people spoke English and we were able to enjoy a local custom.
- Bern - This was one of my favorite towns in Switzerland - a lot of charm, a beautiful river, and fun things to do!
- Hiking - all the trails were well marked, easy to find, and had just beautiful views!
Lessons Learned:
- Things here are quite pricey.
- The Swiss are very efficient. The trains and buses are very nice, clean, and organized.
- There are so many different languages here! People speak French, German, or Italian depending on the area of Switzerland you are in. How confusing is that?! Also all the signs are translated into all those languages - seems like a lot of work.
- In Zurich I went into the cleanest, most orderly grocery store I have ever seen! Everything was perfectly in its place and stocked exactly right. It was like I was in the movie Stepford Wives or something.
- The water here in all the lakes is a bright blue, aqua color - just amazing.
Our view in Leukerbad.
Mom and I in front of an (almost) clear Matterhorn.
One of our new friends.