Every morning you greet me

 

Falling water

 

 

We awoke to a beautiful day. The clouds were there but got a bit lazy and drifted away to leave a sunny, crisp morning.

 

Itinerary

• Walk to Trummelbach falls
• Return and then Cable car to Grutchalp (the "u" as in hoot, the "ch" is as in chalk). Now above the snowline so snowing gently.
• Train Murren for lunch
• Walk the 4km back to Grutchalp (by then it was snowing)
• Back to warm up and hit the laundromat of Lauterbrunnen. No more of this except to say that it was spotless, the machines all in working order and with clear instructions.

 

 

Walking to the falls

The walk to Trummelbach falls is through the Lauterbrunnen valley for about 3kms. As you leave the town the sounds of cowbells and bright green fields of Adelweis greet you. Soft and (greyish) white, clean and bright.

The downside to all this freshness is that the cowbells signify cows and cows poo a lot. Unfortunately, althou Switzerland remains neurtal, the cow poo does not. So it's also a tad vershtoonkena (pongy). The cold temp takes the edge of the smell but summer must be a similar olfactory experience to camping outside the public toilets at the Indian buffet on specials night.

 

 

It's just down the street (applies to everything in Lauterbrunnen)

 

 

 

 

 

Ahhhh cow dung

 

 

 

Running through the fields

 

 

 

Soon after the cow bit we met a lady walking her dog and pushing a pram. Lena is Portugese and is married to a Scottish guy. She has lived in Perth for a while and had a cracker of an accent as she speaks Potugese, French, English, German and Spanish. We chatted as we strolled and the kids played with Ted the dog - a 2yr Labrador who, as with most animals, loved Drew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over a bridge, and after checking out the stream, we are at the falls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the distance, we could hear and then see the rescue helicopters practising (never remember when to use and "s" or a 'c' or single vs double quotation marks).

 

 

2 choppers practising

 

 

 

 

Trummelbach Falls

 

 

 

 

Trummelbach falls are a wonder of nature. The water and rocky detritus pushed by (the interestingly named) "Galcier Defiles", has tunneled through rock to create a series of 10 falls that between them output 20,000 liters of water per second.

 

 

 

 

Normally I would walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, but in this case, the elevator is straight out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It goes up on an angle. Stairs shmairs, I wanna go on the anglevator. Because its Switzerland, they prepare you with a sign or in this case, a sign and a model.

 

 

Angled elevator

 

 

 

Starting the walk in

 

 

 

Inside the mountain

 

 

Turn the volume up for the next one...it was REALLY loud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like the Cuban shower head in one of the Seinfeld episodes

 

 

 

Blowing water vapor - cold and 99% humid = perfect conditions

 

 

 

Time to leave

 

 

 

Photo clearly produced by Ree

 

 

 

But first a little more running

 

 

 

Next stop the cable car to Grutchalp.

Took the bus back to the trainstation at other end of the valley. The funicular leaves from here to go from Lauterbrunnen (800m) to Grutchalp (1600m). Another way to think of the height difference is that Lauterbrunnen was a bit cloudy, Grutchalp was a bit snowy. We were going to walk to Murren but decided to take the train there and walk back after a bite to eat.

 

Snow time

 

 

 

Giving high fives (and missing)

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, it was a Sunday so some things were closed in Murren so my head and sacrum remain in their pre therapy state.

 

 

 

Lunch was one of those surprise treats. At the end of the little road that is Mürren was a cheap looking Chinese "restaurant". Really it looked more like a deli with plastic tablecloths but, a bit sick of food with cheese, in we went.

We were the only people there (and seemingly the only people in Mürren). Turns out the owner was a Singaporean guy who had been in Mürren for 9 years. Before that he had worked as a chef in a 5 star Zurich hotel for 19 years.

The food was amazing. Both kids ordered duck as they are firmly convinced that they are royalty and that we their servant parents have pockets full of gold. We ate like kings and pigs.

Full and happy we began our walk back to Grutchalp.

 

 

Icicle fighter - Zoe

 

 

 

Icicle unicorn - Zoe

 

 

 

Icicle yummy - Zoe

 

 

 

Innocent snowman falls prey to passing (had enough of icicle) Zoe . May need a bit of cranio sacral therapy

 

 

 

Aussies in borrowed jackets

 

 

 

Would have gone in but Winteregg was shut and it seems a silly name.

 

 

 

 

 

Do you think the water is cold?

 

 

 

Little video of our time walking in the snow;

Watch this one if you are scared easily. (i.e. kid safe)

 

 

 

 

 

Watch this if you aren't scared easily or like silly endings.

 

 

 

 

 

The kids loved the snow. Snowballs flew, gloves got soaked, little bodies has goosebumps but they would have walked another walk or two to three is they could have stayed out longer.

 

 

Enough.