Unforgettable Alps

Location: Swiss Alps

Introduction:

There are some places in the world that leave a lasting impression. One that you’ll never forget. For us, the Swiss Alps is one of those places. The views of lush mountains, glaciers, picturesque valleys, lakes and waterfalls are truly majestic. Of course, it helps to have good weather, which fortunately we did in early June. This is also the land of tunnels, which leads one to marvel at the Swiss engineering that created them all. Swiss-German is the primary language and we fumbled with the very limited German phrases we’d learned. Luckily, enough of the people we interacted with spoke English to make communications easier. Switzerland is one of the European countries that has not adopted the Euro. Swiss Francs are the norm.

Sights Visited:

There’s one place above all else, literally and figuratively: Jungfrau – Top of Europe that is just unforgettable. It had been over ten years since our first visit before our daughter was born and we couldn’t wait to share it with her. The views are stunning. The ice caves are a man-made wonder and the snow park provides a unique experience in a warm-weather month.

Ballenberg is a massive open-air museum with signs in 4 languages: German, French, Italian and English. It’s filled with historical buildings tools, toys, artisan demonstrations and more. We thought we’d only spend a couple of hours there but stayed much longer.

Bergbahnen Meiringen-Hasliberg is an outdoor winter and summer sports resort that was pretty incredible. We took a couple of cable cars up the mountain (they continue up even higher). There we found a unique playground (see below) and then began a 5 km “Marble Run” hike. There were twelve different marble runs along the way that were totally engaging for children. The alpine views along the trail were also pleasing to the eye. We’ve never seen anything like it before. We purchased a pink wooden marble with our tickets and our daughter was off and running. There were numerous other trails to explore including some dwarf adventure trails.

Play:

Our first stop to break up the drive down from France was Kapitän Zinsli Playground in Seestern. It was impressive situated on a beautiful lake with obstacle courses, water-wheels, a sand pit and more.

Aare Gorge had a nice playground in front of the entrance. It included a zipline.

Bergbahnen Meiringen-Hasliberg had a nice playground beneath a roaring waterfall below the entrance with a zipline but that was only an appetizer to the main course, the dwarf playground, located up the mountain when we got off of the cable cars. It included several tree houses and rope bridges.

Accommodation:

We used VRBO to book the first floor of a Swiss chalet in a small ski resort on the side of a mountain in Axalp (www.skiclubaxalp.ch), which is near Brinz and Interlaken. It had a decent kitchen but no microwave, a washer/drier combo machine and blazing-fast internet. Even though it was June and the daytime temperatures got up into the 70’s, the wood-burning stove came in handy at night when the temperatures dropped swiftly. The 10-kilometer drive into and out of Axalp was literally a one-lane road full of switchbacks and hair-pin-turns with an occasional turn-out to let opposing traffic pass. The views were stunning making it a challenge to stay focused on the road ahead.

Food And Drink:

Our place had a proper espresso machine. So, we made Café Americanos each morning. We tend to prefer bottled drinking water when traveling just to play it safe. However, we found the tap water to be excellent and took advantage of it. We brought some wine with us from France and found the local beers to be quite satisfying. Given our somewhat remote location we prepared our own dinners with the exception of some decent Thai take out from Interlaken. We also ate lunch out a few times including some schnitzel.

Transportation:

Our leased Citroën C5-X Hybrid continued to serve as our primary mode of transportation. The cost of gasoline at the time was approximately $7.50 per gallon. It was a three-and-a-half-hour drive from our prior location in Alsace. When we visited Jungfrau, we took the high-speed cable car from Grindewald to the cog railway for the final leg through the mountains.

Shout Out:

The Google Translate App has been so helpful. The camera feature that allows us to take a picture of something like a sign or menu and then quickly translate it is invaluable. We use it frequently.

For Your Amusement:

Afternoon thundershowers brought more than just rain. Adelaide had her hands full with slugs and snails. It took forever to get the slime off her.

Being a kid can be so tough sometimes.

We never expected to see this: An ad for Europa Park in Jungfrau’s ice caves.

Highlight:

While it’s obvious how we feel about Jungfrau, it’s the Swiss Alps in all their splendor that win the prize. Just soaking it all in can be breathtaking.