We enjoyed three nights in Lauterbrunnen. Our temporary home in Lauterbrunnen was surrounded by gorgeous mountain views, and waterfalls. The mountains were incredibly picturesque, just as the Swiss Alps are always depicted. It was very green, with mountain meadows, rocky peaks and waterfalls. The rock faces higher up were steep with lots of horizontal geographical lines. Our “hobbit like” Airbnb was cozy, particularly the day it rained, and the kids spent the afternoon doing school work. We abandoned the kids in the town we were staying on the first night to go for groceries in the nearby town, a 25-minute train ride away. We laughed at how old and independent our kids are becoming, reflecting how good travelling is for building self-reliance. During our time in Switzerland virtual school started in earnest, Sophie recognized that doing quarter semesters meant she was already a bit behind and began to feel the pressure mount.
On the first day, we travelled 2,900 meter upwards, taking four different transport methods used to ascent mountains, aerial trams and a train. In the small town of Murren, we did a Thrill Walk along the mountain cliff. It included 4-foot-wide platform hugging the cliff wall, over 100 m drop. On the “Thrill Trail” there was a glass floor, a tight rope with net and cage tube suspended to feed adrenaline. Aiden loved the experience and tried everything. Sophie pushed herself through her fears, good exposure work, managing her fear and felling proud of herself when it was done. Walking through the tiny town of Murren the kids enjoyed a game of chess in a beautiful setting.
We then travelled up to Schillthorn, the set of the 1968 James Bond movie, “Her Majesty Secret Service”. Here we found more incredible mountain views and a museum that showed us lots about the film. It was interesting to learn about the stunt men and women and what was involved in recording a movie in such an isolated place in 1968 (later that evening we watched the movie). The Piz Gloria a revolving mountain restaurant that explodes at the end of the movie, and it was neat to see it still running strong on the top of mountain cliff.
On the second day we explored the Trummelbachfalle Cavern waterfalls, ten waterfalls accessible to view inside a mountain. These falls drain two glaciers and reportedly can run at a rate of 20,000 Litres/second. The rapidly flowing water formed cavernous caves. Aiden was terrified when he stood close to the cavernous falls, thinking “how close death would be” if the safety bars failed. There was a cool Funicular inside the cave to take us to the top of the ten cavernous waterfalls.
