Lauterbrunnen

11th & 12th July 2010

We arrived into the tiny town of Lauterbrunnen around 1.30 and after about a twenty minute walk we found the caravan park (It wasn't hard - there is only 1 street in Lauterbrunnen!). We had to sit around until 3pm until we could check into our little bungalow, which would be our home for the next two nights. With an hour and a half to kill I sent Dan out to see what they had for us to do at the caravan park. He returned 10 minutes reporting that there was nothing to fill in the time. I had seen a sign for mini-golf and tennis courts so I went to find them. About 45 minutes later, and after eventually finding the mini golf, and then getting lost and ended up back in town, I made my way back to the caravan park. Dan had found someone while he was waiting who was able to check us into our bungalow, so he had dropped off both lots of bags.

After we'd dumped the packs we headed back up the main street to see what was on offer in town. The town of Lauterbrunnen is in the most spectacular spot - completely surrounded by Swiss alps, most of which were snow capped - and directly in front of our caravan was a massive, but beautiful waterfall over the cliff face. With so many choices of day activities for us to chose from for our full day tomorrow, we thought we'd visit tourist information to see what we'd like to do most. The two main options were: 2hr scenic train ride up to Europe's highest train station at just under 4000m, Jungfrau, or a series of cable cars, up the worlds longest cable car run, to the scenic mountain lookout spot of Schilthorn (2990m). The price was the ultimate deciding factor. Jungfrau was a cool 161Francs each, while Schilthorn was only 91 each, and we had a 40% off coupon for that one. The decision was made with our wallets. There was no need to book, but the info office gave us the details as to how to catch the bus there and what not. We also got some information about the Trummelbach Falls - inside the glacier - which are just outside Lauterbrunnen. The plan was to visit them on our way back into town from the cable car.

We looked in the dozen shops lining the main street, but headed back towards the campside. Dan decided he wanted to hike up the little walking path to a lookout at the waterfall, I couldn't be bothered, so I just spent the 10 minutes at the bottom. It turns out I didn't miss much, you couldn't see much from the viewing platform.

On our entrance back to the campground we made a visit to the camp supermarket, which was remarkably well stocked and well priced. We picked up some beers for the World Cup final, which was definitely on TONIGHT. There was a bit of a crowd gathering by the time we'd finished shopping, so I sent Dan in to get a seat in the small common room, while I ordered a take away pizza from the camp restaurant. By the time we'd finished eating the game was about to start. We'd plonked ourselves down next to an Aussie couple in their 30's just driving their way across Europe. They were good value, except they were going for Spain. Dan and I were both going for Holland - them and the Belgian's are the nicest people we've met travelling - but it was a fairly 50-50 mix of supporters in our room. The game was dull, hence why I got drunk. One goal in overtime, means I drank more than I should've. I made a few friends too when I ventured outside to look at the waterfall with its lights on. I met a nice older Australian guy who, with his wife, who have taken 7months out of their lives to see Europe on Busabout. By the time the game was FINALLY over, the crowd dispersed quite quickly and it was straight to bed for me. Lights out!

Had a bit of a sleep in the next morning - my head was a bit foggy - but we eventually got out of bed, and on the bus to catch our cable car. It went up in about 5 stages, having to change cars at each stop, but the longest one up to the summit was massive. The whole journey took about 45 minutes and I was freaking out the whole time, with our little car swinging about in the wind, meters above the ground. The view from the top of Schilthorn was unbelievable. It was surrounded completely by snow capped mountains, we were sort of set down in amongst them all. There was a small building up there with a rotating restaurant in it, but the building is more famously known for being the scene of the 1960's James Bond; Her Majesty's Service setting. We watched a documentary on it while we were up there! Not so amazingly, the deperature had dropped from the 32 degrees down on the ground, to about 12 degrees up the top of the mountain. Dan and I weren't the smartest thinkers that morning and were in shorts and t-shirts. It was a little chilly. We walked out along the ridge of the mountain for a bit so Dan could play in the snow. We both threw the snowballs as far as we could off the side of the mountain - just for fun.

On our way back down the mountain, we made a stop at the village of Mürren. It is the most perfect Swiss Alpine town, with its wooden chateau's, and car free streets, all perched high up on the side of a mountain. We ate some crisps for lunch before taking the final stage of the cable car back down to earth.

We had originally planned to stop off on the way back to Lauterbrunnen with a visit to the Tremmelbach Falls. They are internal waterfalls within one of the glaciers, but unfortunately we took much longer than planned up at Schilthorn and we would've only had less than an hour to explore them before it closed. It was also pretty lucky that we chose not to go because just as we got back to camp the thunderous grey clouds rolled in, and we were treated to another bloody good storm. This mean we chose to eat dinner at the campsites restaurant - we still got soaked, even on the 20m walk there, but the food was simple, but delicious. I had another Rosti, while Dan tried Swiss pasta with macaroni, ham, potatoes and cheese served with a side dish of apple sauce! After dinner, with the rain still bucketing down we relaxed in our cabin and watched some TV on the laptop!

In the morning we packed our bags and set off after breakfast for the train station; waving goodbye to probably one of the most beautiful places on earth!