Day 2 in Interlaken - Alps (cont.)
Lauterbrunnen
I
have to say the cable ride down all the way to Lauterbrunnen was
another surprise to me. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of ride. Viewing
the valley from the cable car made me realize the height we were at at the moment. A must-try in my opinion.
The
name of the town "Lauter Brunnen" means "many fountains". It lies in
the Lauterbrunnen valley and is famous for waterfalls. Both Alex and I
felt that the scene there looks kinda similar to the Yosemite National
Park (the color of the rocks and waterfalls).
One
of the most famous waterfalls in Lauterbrunnen is the Staubbach Falls.
This is also the only place that we went to that didn't accept Swiss
Pass. The entrance ticket is 12 SF per person. By staying in the local
B&B, we received 1 SF off per ticket. The Staubbach Falls is
composed of a series of 10 waterfalls. What made these waterfalls unique
is that the water plunging almost 300 meters from an overhanging rock
face, which made the fall swirling and roaring down inside the
mountain. Another thing I felt quite impressive was the tunnel elevator
which takes the edge off an otherwise steep climb. The lift leads up to a
platform from where people can visit the upper most waterfalls.
Since
we were inside the mountains and were so close to the waterfalls, most
of the time we were walking in a tunnel or climbing slippery stairs. To
view the waterfalls, we needed to step out to the small look outs - The
waterfalls hit the walls of the canyon, fall along the chutes, fall into
foaming pools, and then disappear in darkness. What a spectacular view!
Fortunately, we both wore water-proof jackets or otherwise, we will be
wet from head to toes. Unfortunately, it's really dark inside the
mountain, and it was really difficult for us to take nice pictures.
Overall, magnificent! No wonder it's listed as a natural UNESCO world
heritage site.
After
visiting the Staubbach Falls, we caught the bus to return to the
Lauterbrunnen train station. From here, we plan to try the other route
to go to Wengen, which is on the way to Jungfraud.
Taking
the small train to climb all the way up to Wengen was another
first-time experience for us. I am always amazed by the train system in
Switzerland, and this is no exception. The train was literally climbing
up the mountains. Well, I am also amazed by how high Swiss people are
willing to live. Places like Murren and Wengen are so high in the
mountains that I would never want to live there (short stay should be
fun, though).
It
was a Sunday afternoon and all the stores were closed. Like Murren, we
barely saw any local people in Wengen that day. I think it's partially
because the peak season hasn't begin yet or maybe because it's a Sunday.
We
only chose to ride to Wengen 'cos our Swiss Pass only covered our
tickets to here. If we'd like to go further to Jungfraud we would be
asked to pay about 135 SF per person even with the Swiss Pass ( think
you get 25% off for this part of the route if I don't remember it
wrong). Well, :) let's save some money and do something else.
Grindelwald
With
some extra time and two Swiss Passes in hand, we decided to take the
train to visit another town which is a bit far away from Lauterbrunnen.
Hey,
did I tell you that we kept bumping into people who we met earlier on
the train? Apparently, tourists all visit the same places! In
Ginderlwald, we met a group of people who were in the same morning train
with us. It looks like they just came all the way back from Jundfraud.
Oh, I also didn't say that Gindelwald is on the way back from or to
Jungfraud, did I?
People who want to go visit Jundfraud
usually have two routes to go there. Most people choose the Interlaken
(or Interlaken West) - Lauterbrunnen - (Wengen on the way) - Kleine
Scheldegg - Jungfraujoch and then come back from Jungfraujoch - Kleine
Scheidegg - Grindelwald - Interlaken (or Interlaken West). So, what we
really missed were the Kleine Scheidegg and Jungfraujoch part. :) I know
you might be confused. I was VERY confused before I went there, but you
will know what I am talking about by watching the map if you are interested in knowing more the locations/relationships of these stops.
Grindelwald
is a bit bigger than the other towns we visited but everything's still
within walking distance. Very typical Swiss town and typical Swiss view
as you can see from the pictures below.
Finally,
route recommendation time! I would highly recommend our visiting route:
from Lauterbrunnen to Murren (by cable car + high
mountain train); from Murren (Gimmelwad cable car station) to
Schilthorn (by cable car); and then from Schilthorn to Gimmelwad and
then to Lauterbruunen (by cable car). Of course, this is for people
who'd like to visit Schilthorn. If you are interested in visiting
Judfraud, then see the route I listed earlier.
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