Hello readers! Sorry I have not posted in awhile I was finishing up my second semester of Graduate School and we finally got to go on another trip! Chris and I decided to celebrate our birthdays by going to Europe and spending four days in Switzerland and four in Paris! This post I'm going to tell you how we saw an entire country in just four days! This itinerary is not for a relaxing vacation but more as an adventure trip, we walked an average of 10 miles a day!
First a little bit about the country! Switzerland is absolutely gorgeous and the pictures do not begin to give it justice. The Swiss currency is called the Franc and is worth more than the US dollar. Switzerland is also very expensive. For example a big Mac at McDonalds cost 15 Francs which equals about 17 US dollars. We overcame this by splitting every meal which I recommend because you walk so much you don't want to feel too full anyways! The public transportation is executed extremely well. You can purchase a Swiss Pass which allows unlimited access to trains, buses, and boats and also allows free museum entries. We purchased a four day pass for $250, and we got our moneys well worth. Also if you are under the age of 26 you receive discounts (poor Chris was a week over!) Most Swiss people are trilingual and speak French, German, and English so you will be able to get by without feeling too much of a language barrier.
We flew into Geneva, this airport was cheaper than Zurich. From there we hopped a train, which was connected in the airport, to the capital city Bern. Our hotel was located on the outskirts of Bern in a town called Belp, which was only a 10 minute train ride from the main train station in Bern. We got a great deal on a hotel called the Hine Adon Hotel. It was across the street from the train station and had a very modern feel.
Day 1
The next day we got an early start! We hit up Bern and got to see the adorable farmers markets that encompass all of town square, and we ate some delicious home grown blackberries. We strolled around the city which has a very European vibe with cobblestones and clock towers. After wandering for a bit and seeing the Parliament building, we hopped on a train headed for Interlakken. This little town is on a beautiful lake and you can see paragliders in the skies. This was a cute town where we then rode a boat to see St. Beatus Caves. This is a cavern carved from a Swiss Alp that has an impressive waterfall off the cliff. The hike from the boat is a bit rough, but the motto of this leg of the trip was "the best views are those you worked for" The cavern was found by Saint Beatus and legend has it he fought a dragon out of it. There is a restaurant in the cavern but the price point for the food was not very good and I am pretty confident our burger was made of horse instead of beef. We got to go .5 of a mile inside a Swiss Alp! There were waterfalls inside of the caves and reflection ponds of stalagmites.
The next stop on our busy day was Lautterbrunen, the village of waterfalls. We hopped a train to the town that Rivendale from Lord of the Rings was shot. It was so majestic and quaint. The first thing we saw was the most peaceful waterfall I have ever seen. We then hiked up a hill to go under the water cascading down. There were several other small waterfalls from different cliff points. This town's prices were also lower so we regret not eating dinner here. Chris also got to get an authentic Swiss army knife with his name engraved for only $17 or for one Big Mac.
The last city of the day was Grindelwald. We hopped a train and this
city was a little higher up in the Alps. Our original plans was to zipline here but sadly the line was closed for the day. We could see snow on the tops of the Alps in the distance and it was magic! There also was a cyclist race going on so this quaint little ski town was full of activity. Note that restaurants here close early so don't lollygag. We finally decided on a little café and had the Cordon Bleu and Raclette cheese on potatoes. Raclette is one of the few "Swiss foods" it is a VERY sharp cheese neither one of us really liked it.
Day 2
The next day we had a Chocolate and Cheese Train tour booked! We boarded the train in the town of Montreux and we rode to the village of Gruyere. On the train ride, we got a chocolate croissant and a cup of hot chocolate. On the internet, this tour looked amazing however it was a little underwhelming, we still had fun it just didn't have the magic Polar Express feel I was hoping for. The first stop was the cheese factory that produces Gruyere cheese. This cheese uses real unprocessed milk, and boy does it smell like rotten milk. The factory was very strong and we got to try 6 month, 8 month, and 10 month old cheese. The program description made it seem like we would get to try different types of cheese but all they made was strong Gruyere cheese ( was not a fan).
The next stop was 2 hours to explore the village of Gruyere. This village was absolutely adorable! They had a castle we got to tour for free with our Swiss Pass! The castle sat amongst the Swiss Alps and was just beautiful. We also got to go into another museum for free called the HR GIger museum. HR Giger was a Swiss artist who created the design of Alien in the Alien movie franchise. The lower level of the museum is cool with sketches of Alien, but the deeper you get the more disturbing it was. I personally could not handle some of the grotesque images, this is definitely not for children. We did however eat at his restaurant bar because the prices were very reasonable however we did see the bartender cook our hot dogs in a microwave type contraption.
After the village, we visited the Callier chocolate factory. The intial walk through gives you the history of chocolate and the company! It was well decorated and reminded me of something at Disney! We then got to watch a factory machine produce chocolate and we got to taste over 8 types of their chocolate! Their chocolate is made with real unfiltered milk and the milk taste is strong in their chocolates.
After the tour we took a bus to see the castle that inspired the castle in Disney's The Little Mermaid. We sadly did not get to go inside because even though the sign said it closes at 7, they stop allowing guests at 6. The outside views of the castle were gorgeous. We also had a special treat of hearing an actual alpine horn being played.
Day 3
Today we got to see Europe's widest waterfall! We took a train to the town of Rheinfall. The crowd at this attraction was the largest we encountered the entire trip. The falls were just incredible. There are tons of viewpoints along the path and you can hear the roaring water. After seeing it close up we took the train to the other side of the lake to look at it from afar. We even got to try water from the falls! After a half day here we headed to Zurich. We only spent about an hour here just kind of wandering. I personally liked Bern better! I did have some delicious hot chocolate at the Sprugli chocolate store in the train station.
After Zurich we on a whim decided to squeeze in Lucerne as well, and boy am I glad! This little town ties for my favorite with Lautterbrunnen. They have this beautiful chapel bridge on the lake that is lined with fresh flowers. We also walked about 2 miles to see the Lion Monument of Lucerne. It is a carved out of the side of a cliff. I have never been so moved by a statue of any piece of art so much. The detail is incredible and you can feel the pain the lion is feeling. This is a monument dedicated to lost Swiss mercenaries during the French Revolution at The Battle of Tuillers, the same battle that King Louis and Marie Antoinette were seized. The lion sits above a pond and we spent a good 20 minutes just gawking at the beauty.
Unfortunately this was our last day in Switzerland. The people of Switzerland were very friendly, and we had a wonderful time. There are dogs everywhere which I LOVED. The next day we boarded a train to Paris! The international trains are on the same lines as the Inner country. Stay tuned for my next post to read about how we did all of Paris in 4 days!
