A Day in the Alps! 🇨🇭

 

Our vacation is drawing near its close, but today was an ambitious one as we explored the area that surrounds us in this Alpine playground.  We started our day by boarding a cable car in Wengen (altitude 4180 ft.) and riding it up to a station called Mannlichen at an altitude of 7687 ft.  There was a mandatory (so Debbie told me) climb that we had to undertake on foot to attain the summit once we alit from the cable car.  We had spectacular views of Jungfrau, Eiger, Monch and who knows how many other prominent Alps as we surveyed from our lofty perch.  We could see Wengen below us, Lauterbrunnen below that, and the base of the Lauterbrunnen Valley.  There were tour helicopters in the air several thousand feet below us. Debbie had tears in her eyes at the splendour of it all.

   Once we’d soaked in enough of the views from Mannlichen, we took a gondola across the valley to the town of Grindewald.  Switzerland’s transportation system is beyond belief.  In Grindewald, we boarded another gondola which took us skyward toward a destination called Grindewald First, which is pronounced like “fierce” with a “T” at the end of it.  There are many options for activities at Grindewald First, like paragliding into the wild blue as a panic-stricken passenger.  We opted not to do this.    There was a cliff walk that led you to a point hanging out over the alpine abyss for a photo opportunity.  The instagrammers turned this into a painful wait as they hogged the spotlight, but we eventually got to walk the plank for our pictures.

   Next up for us was a hike to Bachalpsee Lake, which some YouTuber had led us to believe was a leisurely stroll away.  The leisurely stroll was about a mile and a half to get to the lake, and the gentle grade that was described was not always gentle.  Nonetheless, we persevered and reached our goal, stopping there to enjoy a picnic lunch in a setting unlike any we’ve picnicked in before.  It was pretty magical. We were glad to find the return trip was quite a bit easier to deal with.

   From Grindewald, we made our way back to our hotel via three trains, a much easier process than it sounds like it would be.  We had dinner on the hotel’s patio and were startled to find a fox under our table.  He didn’t abscond with any of our dinner, so we coexisted just fine.

   Tomorrow is a sad day because we have to leave this glorious place.  We’ll be making our way to Zurich for a night in an airport hotel before flying out the following morning.   I assume this will be our last post, so we hope you’ve enjoyed following along on our European adventure of 2025.

Cheers.

Chris & Debbie

Morning coffee of the terrace,

Pretty nice view!!!

Mannlichen

Then up the mountain by gondola to Mannlichen

Hiking the royal walk up to views of the Lauterbrunnen valley

Almost there!

The view back to Wengen where we stayed

Amazing views!

Avalanche control barriers

Now it is time to move on to Grindelwald by gondola.

We could hear cow bells all the way down into the valley!

Grindelwald First Mountain 

Grindelwald First cliff walk

Paragliders everywhere!

Eiger Mt.

And then we climbed more than an hour to Bachalpsee. 

“After the first 15 minutes it is level” they said. They lied!!!!

The beautiful wildflower photos represent our excuse to 

stop and rest frequently 😉

Bachalpsee lake (our destination) was beautiful so we 

stopped for a picnic.

The return trip was happily mostly downhill but even so, it was HOT on the mountain so we rewarded ourselves!⬇️

Then back through Grindelwald to the train station and 

home to Wengen.

We are so blessed to be here❤️

An unexpected dinner guest

Sunset on Wengen, Jungfrau, and our vacation!