Plans tried and failed

After a nice breakfast, we headed back toward the train station.  Opposite the station there is a cable car up and out of the valley, and from there we took a little train to the town of Mürren.  Mürren is a car-free little town that was actually popularized by the famed traveler Rick Steves.  We were originally going to hike from Mürren over to a children's adventure trail, but we failed spectacularly!  First off, there was no signage and any maps were equally useless, so we tried to just wing it (the way we sorta have been?) but after 30 minutes ended up on like a 45-degree logging road.  Everybody was miserable and complaining and after a few other attempts of making sense of the maps, We. Gave. Up.

The old train we rode into Mürren

Looking back toward the Jungfrau, Monch, and Eiger (right to left)

Paragliders were just launching

Piz Gloria

Joey was fascinated with the Eiger's north face ("death face", the steep slope on the left, in shadow)

After much deliberation and some more complaining, we decided to change plans entirely and take a different cable car up to the summit of Schilthorn, the nearby peak with a place called Piz Gloria at the apex.  Piz Gloria was being constructed when discovered by James Bond Filmmakers, and appeared in the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service as the headquarters of Blofeld, the villain/nemesis/I don't know, I haven't watched it.  It was interesting and we attempted in having lunch in the revolving restaurant.  I say attempt because we finally got a table and with no servers taking our order for at least another 20 minutes We. Gave. Up. Again.

On our way up/down there's a stopover in a place called Birg. While descending we decided to get out and explore a little bit, and it turns out there's a little cliff walk that brave souls can try out.  It's a little hard to describe, but basically there's a catwalk around the peak of this little place, with wire-walks and glass-bottomed paths... it wasn't that terrifying to us but I can imagine some people would be a little freaked out.  From Birg, Malorie and Siraj wanted to hike still, and even though I wanted to as well, our family took the cable car back down to Mürren and walked around a bit, looked for souvenirs, played around at the soccer field... just sort of relaxed. 

a chain-link tunnel with nothing below - the kids loved it.

Hiking around after the cliff walk

Once we met back up with Malorie and Siraj, we took the train and then cable car back to Lauterbrunnen. They had some dinner at a cafe that served their healthy stuff, where as we all went to the butcher/deli where we had sausages, chicken sandwich, and Melissa even had fondue! She was really the only one to enjoy the strong-flavor of the cheeses, but at least we all got to try some. And it was authentic. And we didn't give up on it, even if some of us might have wanted to.

Looking back toward the Schilthorn

Fondue!

Lucerne to Lauterbrunnen Valley

We didn't have much time to explore the city of Lucerne yesterday, so before we caught our next train, we spent the morning wandering the labyrinth of alleys and streets of town. We decided not to really plan our exploration and just let our feet lead the way, and it turned out to be a good decision - we discovered lots of interesting buildings, monuments, and sculpture.  We used the Spreuerbrücke to cross the river; this is the first bridge that was built in Lucerne, and as it was the furthest downstream, was the only place where one was able to dump chaff (spreu in German, hence the name) into the river.

Random Benedictine church across the street from our hotel

Found the Triforce in this crest

A needle dam: hand placed wooden "needles" control the flow of the river and the level of Lake Lucerne

Spreuerbrücke - first bridge built in Lucerne (not the original though

Old street with fresco-style painted facades

Our little geologists admiring a large geode and other stone jewelry

Outside a candy store

We eventually came to a little grotto off the beaten path, where we found the "Lion of Lucerne".  Dedicated to Swiss mercenaries who fought in the French Revolution.  

One last look at Lake Lucerne

   

Taking a second (very old) covered bridge across the river, we returned to complete our final pack, and caught the train through Interlaken to the Lauterbrunnen Valley.  I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that JRR Tolkien used Lauterbrunnen as inspiration when writing about Rivendell, the last homely house and dwelling place of the elves.  We checked into the Chalet Rosa B&B where we would be spending the next few days, and since there wasn't too much daylight left we played at the playground, and Joey and I hiked up to a little outlook behind Staubbach waterfall.  A lamb was actually born at the exact moment he and I were walking past - one more new arrival in the deep valley, in the shadow of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau.

Zipping thru Interlaken, the adventure capital of Switzerland - we saw lots of paragliders from the train, even this late in the season! In the peak of summer it's supposed to be teeming with adventurists

Our first look at Lauterbrunnen - the snowy Eiger is visible

Newest addition to Lauterbrunnen!

Some cool rock ball sculptures we saw along the main street

Boats and Trains and Mountains - Lake Lucerne and Mount Rigi

It was a minor miracle that nobody threw up during the night and we all woke up feeling well. We all slept in a little and during the morning talked about our upcoming plans for the weekend, as we were planning to head south into the more mountainous regions of Switzerland on our way to Italy. We planned to head to Lucerne first, and while it would be possible to visit Lucerne in a day trip as it's only about an hour away by train, we decided it made more sense to spend the night and continue onward on our trip. So it was a bit unexpected that the previous night was our last night at Malorie's house, and we hastened to pack up EVERYTHING into our five backpacks and walk to the train station in Pfaffikon for the last time. We booked a last minute hotel in Lucerne and were off!

Trying to find our hotel in Lucerne, haha!

Checked into our hotel! Mary had been really wanting to try these white Twix, and today the perfect opportunity presented itself. On the train platform there was a vending machine where she found a loose one dangling, so we put in coins trying to get two-for-one, but it ended up that THREE came out so the kids were super excited. In the end though, they decided they weren't the best tasting and regular chocolate Twix were better.

After dropping off our heavy backpacks at the hotel (even though we packed pretty light on this trip, the backpacks are still quite heavy and we are already planning on bringing even LESS on our next trip!), we walked through Lucerne to the boat dock and took a boat ride on Lake Lucerne. The weather was totally perfect - we've really been lucky when it comes to weather on this vacation! Here's a bunch of photos from the boat:

We got off the boat in Vitznau and got on the cogwheel train to take us up to Mount Rigi. Apparently this is the oldest mountain railway in Europe. The views on the ride up were amazing! Here's a little video segment from the train ride.

Heading up! Earlier in the trip I mistakenly thought there was some kind of blue crop being grown on the hillsides, but here you can clearly see it is actually blue netting to protect fruit crops from the birds.

Looking out the train window as we head up the mountain.

Getting higher...

...and higher...

...and higher... 

...and even higher...

...almost there...

At the top!

Looking down on the train station at the top of Mount Rigi with snow capped mountains in the distance.

So pretty! 

Lots more pictures from the top. It was so clear you could see for miles and miles.

This is a marker used for triangulation in the area - others can spot this reflective pyramid at the top of Mount Rigi from far away and use it to determine their location.

This is a rock from Emei Shan, a mountain in China with a similar silhouette to Mount Rigi. They are "sister mountains" - and there were lots of Chinese tourists on the mountain today as well!

Instructions in the mountaintop bathroom for those not familiar with Western style toilets. We saw lots of signs similar to this one in bathrooms on our trip.

It was finally time to head down the mountain and we boarded the cogwheel train once again. Sitting across from me was a young couple, and the woman was admiring a diamond ring on her finger, and the man with her said, "Oh, are you going to always be fiddling with it now?" It was cute, and I asked her if the ring was new. "Oh yes! We just got engaged on the top of the mountain!" We chatted for a bit and learned they were from the UK. It was nice to talk with fellow English speakers. I asked if they had taken any photos from the top, and when they said no I offered to quickly take one. The train was scheduled to depart in just a few minutes, but we ran up the mountain a little ways so I could take a photo of the two of them with the incredible view in the background. Joey had found a one-cent Euro coin on the top of the mountain, and he and Lily decided to give it them as an engagement present. They loved it and said it was the perfect gift, as the year the coin was minted was the same as the year they had met. We never got their names, but it was nice that our paths crossed for a short time anyways.

Heading down the mountain, sun setting over the mountains and Lake Lucerne.

Back in Vitznau we boarded the boat to head back to Lucerne. It was a beautiful ride in the setting sun. Birds were following along with the boat which Katie absolutely loved.

Boat dock station in Vitznau

Playing a memory game with photos of Switzerland on board the boat

Lily and I played this chutes-and-ladders style game on board the boat

When we got back to Lucerne we found a nice Italian restaurant to have dinner at before heading to bed. Another day of adventures is planned for tomorrow!