Day 25 – Venice to Switzerland
(How did this go by so quickly???). Venice to Switzerland.
We woke up this AM on our ship in Venice, which was beautiful in the early morning light. We packed up and headed out for a long drive through Italy to our rental near Interlaken in Switzerland.
We stopped in Lake Como for a final Italian lunch… the view was spectacular. I feel like each place I went was the most beautiful place I’ve seen and then I got to the next and was even more amazed!
But you all, Switzerland? Remember when I said I wanted to move to Austria? I changed my mind a little. Today I’d like to move to Switzerland!
This is seriously just the most beautiful everything… mountains, streams, the lakes are a color blue I can’t even describe and there were so many gorgeous mountain waterfalls we couldn’t even count!
We drove through the Susten Pass… just breathtaking. The pictures do it no justice. We literally stopped so often the kids were making fun of me. (How many mountain and waterfall pictures do you need? But seriously there were so many views and so many waterfalls!!)
We stopped on our way in at a tiny village ( seriously maybe 30 people) and got some snacks for the ride. The owner spoke no English so I tried to look up “where are the bathrooms?”…. I said it to no avail and then showed her the words which she read and repeated over and over at me – she still didn’t understand – our first and only experience with the language barrier.
We then checked into our BNB.
This was an apartment too – this one with a living room and full kitchen, a full bath, and 3 bedrooms. The views again were what drew us. The host was incredibly helpful and accommodating. Trying to decide our plans… we had thought Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, and Grindelwald but our host said they were all overrun tourist traps. The real Alps were right where we were. Relaxing and enjoying some downtime with these views might be perfect!
The unfortunate side is again we drove on a Saturday arriving after 6. There were no (zero, nada, none) stores open to buy essentials that we had used up on the cruise (shampoo, toothpaste, etc.) or groceries! We checked into our rental and found a restaurant nearby for dinner, the cheapest thing on the menu was a 20$ salad!!!!! AND no stores open on Sundays!! Think I’d still love to live there but there would be a learning curve on the lack of 24/7 groceries and conveniences and would need multiple jobs to afford food -lol
Day 26- Switzerland
We picked this locale for its proximity to the touristy towns- lol. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that two of the things I wanted to see were in fact right in our town. And more surprised that we could see one right from our window!!!
Reichenbach Falls was directly across the valley from our house! It was lit up at night but I didn’t realize until the morning. So cool- we could even hear it if we paid attention!
The other was the Aare River Gorge– which was similar to the hike we took in Austria.
The most interesting colored blue river has carved through the rock leaving the gorge. The walkway is built into the side of the gorge. At certain spots, the gorge is so narrow, we could touch both sides…
We also took a walk through the town, played in the park with the longest craziest slide I’ve ever seen at a playground (the kids used their sweatshirts to sit on to make it “slidier” ), ate dinner (same cost as last night but much better and much more food), and finished up with ice cream and a giant game of chess in the town square.
The temperature was 57 in Hasliberg Switzerland. with windows wide open, we snuggled in cuddling. I could have stayed there forever… I noticed it last time we were in Europe (18 years ago) and again this time- every single place we’ve stayed have individual comforters on the beds. (Iceland to Italy)- no sheets, just one comforter (per person- so our king beds have 2) They are literally like heaven… snugly and comfortable and warm as I could ever want. The kids all slept wonderfully on the trip and loved the comforters also.
Day 27 – First fully rainy day of the trip
We snuggled and cuddled in our warm beds as it was rainy and cloudy. It was good to have a bit of downtime.
The rain couldn’t keep us down all day though. Trummelbach Falls was a perfect rainy day activity as it is a waterfall in a cave!
We would be inside but have to wear ponchos anyway due to the waterfall mist.
You wouldn’t believe the power! It may have actually helped that it was raining because those falls were crazy strong! Super loud and wet but amazing to see!
The oldest bought himself a watch (cause that’s what you do in Switzerland) and we all bought chocolate (cause that is what I do in Switzerland)
We stopped for ice cream in Interlaken (the oldest was window shopping and found a better watch –$74,000!!!). And later, we bought some groceries for dinner at home.
We played some games, relaxed, took a quick walk between the rain showers and snuggled in.
Next, we headed to Paris!!!!!
