Day 56: Lauterbrunen, Switzerland

We went to the tram and were pretty surprised by the cost. 75$ per adult and kids were 15$. Thought it would be one tram up but it was 4 trams that took you through some mountain villages. The views were incredible. Once at the top I was glad for my wife’s forethought to bring jackets. It was pretty cold at 9000 something feet above sea level.

At the top we explored a bit. An old James Bond movie was filmed there and everything was dedicated to 007. Even the bathrooms had sound effects when you flush the toilets and when you turned on the sinks.

After exploring the top we went down to the tram 3 stop. Here they’ve built what they call a “thrill walk”. The walkway is built off the side of the cliff and is made from a metal grate that you can see through all the way down to the slope of the cliff then all the way down to the valley. Some parts of the walkway are made from glass and other sections with metal grating. Another section had a metal cable stretched out to walk over. You could easily imagine you were tight rope walking between two cliffs. Another part was a tunnel made from very strong fencing that you crawled through. Again you could see all the way down. Most of the kids and Brittany had a blast! Only 1 out of 4 kids freaked out.

From there we started to hike down to the next tram stop. The first part was very rocky and barren in high altitude. There were patches of snow pack and some good sized streams coming off the snow melt. As we went down in elevation everything started to get greener and it started to rain slightly. We ran into some grazing sheep in the green section with bells on their necks. The kids all tried to pet them. They just ran away though. The grade was really steep and at times it was scary to watch Bennett barreling down it. But he always managed to do ok. He has turned out to be a great hiker. As we continued down the skies got darker and darker. The village was close thankfully when the lightning and the rain started. We ran the rest of the way through the village and to the tram station. As we entered the tram station the hail started and then it poured. We made it just in time to avoid the worst of it.

For dinner we met up with the Moss Family. We found a good Chinese/Thai place. It was great to catch up with them and see what they’ve been up to.