Day 21 ~ Welcome Wengen

Oh friends. We’ve had a good time on this trip. Today is actually officially 3 weeks. We are just a day shy of halfway through our trip. We have seen amazing things, and have been so, so happy.

Nothing has prepared us for this.

We almost didn’t come to Switzerland. We really, really wanted to, but our original iteration only allowed for basically an overnight at most, and we didn’t feel confident that was the best use of our time. Even more, the volatility in the weather meant very uncertain reward. When we revised the trip in late July, Switzerland was immediately and enthusiastically on the itinerary. We’ve been some beautiful places, and it’s kind of like deciding on a favorite kid. The Oregon coast, or Glacier National Park? The Jedediah Smith Redwoods, or the Taj Mahal? The canals of Amsterdam, or the towers of NYC? It’s official, and we won’t debate it further: This is the most beautiful place we have ever been.

But it starts with a boring story. We had a pretty leisurely morning getting to the train. Really there’s nothing to report; everything went smoothly. Well, maybe one thing…Switzerland is the most expensive country in the world. We’d known that going in. We were kind of backed into a corner that caused us to get Subway sandwiches for the train (don’t judge). They were…$50 footlongs. Yes, we paid $50 for two sandwiches. That’s about $5 an inch. Good thing we are so glad to be here.

The Swiss trains sure ran on time. The scenery got richer and richer. There were rolling hills of farmland, and copses of trees that used to be forest as far as the eye can see.

The hills got more dramatic. By the time we got to Bern, we were kind of tugging on each other’s arms in excitement. It’s just perched on the hillside, riddled with trees. I hope we get to go.

Only a little bit later, we emerged from a tunnel over Lake Thun, and we also rolled along many rivers. If you’ve ever seen glacial runoff, you know that the water is the most luminous blue-green, and I’d never seen so much of it in my life. The mountains rose so steeply up from it, you just can’t believe the landscape. And it kept going!

We rolled into Interlaken, where we’d change trains to Lauterbrunnen, then to Wengen, where our AirBnB is. We spoke to an actual person behind a ticket counter at the train station, which has been rare on this trip, and was very helpful. Then, up we went. At some point, the train stopped, rumbled, and herped, and we were on a cogwheel track. As we watched the landscape get more obscenely gorgeous, we burst into the Lauterbrunnen Valley.

We’d read that this place was Tolkien’s inspiration for Rivendell in the Lord of the Rings books, and I don’t think he had to dress it up much. The mountains tower on all sides, and literally dozens of waterfalls spill from insane heights into the valley below, where a glacial runoff river sends it down the mountain. Even the Columbia River Gorge could learn some things. We will be so excited to spend time there.

But off we went, to Wengen! We got to town. It’s perched on a cliff looking back over the valley we’d just come from. This view greeted us at the train station:

We headed straight for our AirBnB, in a location so off the grid we had narrative directions instead of Google maps (we were advised twice to “keep the level,” and we still don’t know what that means, but it might have something to do with not losing your mind about how beautiful the walk is?), and a photo of the house on the street, which actually helped quite a bit.

We are very pleased with our apartment, which is comfortably proportioned and well-appointed for our time here.

Awesome little kitchen, plenty of space, and even has a dishwasher. We’ve already cooked a meal in it (no more $50 footlongs), and it’s just perfect.

And a return to a rather fabulous shower. The picture doesn’t capture it, but it’s spacious and includes a very inviting tub.

Here is the view from our patio, which is off the back of the house. Unfortunately the neighbor below has some tall shrubbery, but we’re definitely going to cut that down.

We made a quick run to the local grocery to buy food for the above-mentioned dinner, so excited to have a nice kitchen for nearly a week. We had a really fun video chat with Daniel’s parents, then set out to answer the question: What was filling the whole valley with a sound like miles of windchimes bouncing off stone cliffs?

GUYS. It’s cowbells. Hundreds maybe thousands of gently plonking cowbells from a distance. When a school district releases a deadline day addendum and I need to go to a happy place, it will be this place, with that sound.

We checked out the town, which was unsurprisingly gorgeous. You can buy a Swatch watch there. Annaliese, should I get you one?

We found a vantage point all the way down to Lauterbrunnen at the English church, which had put up a hedge on one side to keep the view from distracting the faithful from the holy Word.

Honestly we couldn’t take any more beauty, and it was almost dark, so headed back home.

Tomorrow, an early morning, and we head to the Top of Europe: The Jungfraujoch. Fingers crossed for even a few minutes of clear views on what’s forecasted to be a foggy, snowy day.