Interlaken

We woke up early, all ready to continue our mountain hike from Murren to Gimmelwald, a mountain village made famous by Rick’s travel guide. Alas, we were disappointed as the rain was heavy and the mountains were almost completely shrouded with thick cloud. This translates to bad news - visibility would be poor. Not prepared to gamble on our limited time, we gave it a miss.

We visited Interlaken instead. We deposited our luggage at the coin-operated locker at Interlaken East train station to be picked up on our next leg from Interlaken East to Lucerne. The choice we made was to make our way from Interlaken Ost (East) to Interlaken West on foot. Along the way took in the town. We window-shopped as we strolled down Interlaken’s main street. We took a sneak peek at the Japanese Garden, which is Switzerland’s first Japanese garden. As we have seen the beautiful gardens in Japan, the Japanese Garden in Interlaken is, well, to put in nicely - unremarkable.

We headed to Unterseen, which is Interlaken's oldest segment of the city. This picturesque village is well worth a visit.

We spent the rest of our morning just relaxing and enjoying the lovely cool weather and the view of the distant Jangfrau Mountains as we sat at a spacious park, Hohematte, drinking our beer and watching the Para gliders streaming down from the highlands behind the town to land in the middle of the town-park in front of us.

We loved the sights and sounds of this pretty, quiet and relaxing town like this view of the dog walking the horse

and we even watched a civil defence drill of how to save someone trapped in a car that has been crushed and the door cannot be opened.

Interlaken is a indeed a pretty town. Nevertheless, we were glad we made the choice to stay at Lauterbrunnen rather that Interlaken. Lauterbrunnen is situated in one of the most impressive trough valleys in the Alps, between gigantic rock faces and mountain peaks. With its 72 thundering waterfalls, secluded valleys, colourful alpine meadows and lonely mountain inns, the Lauterbrunnen Valley is one of the biggest nature conservation areas in Switzerland. And our Staubbach hotel has the view of the mighty Staubbach falls. I wouldn’t have minded staying at Murren too – perhaps the next trip?