Lauterbrunnen, our 10th wedding anniversary
As I write this it is 89 degrees and gorgeously sunny here in Zürich. We are about to head down to the badi on Lake Zürich for fish and chips with friends. Summer in Zürich is amazing. The lake life and culture is just as summer should be, full of swimming, eating and children running around. The weather this summer has been beyond incredible from what I’ve heard. Supposedly it rained all summer last year.
We just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in the mountains this weekend. André surprised us with a three-day weekend to Lauterbrunnen. Lauterbrunnen is known for its beautiful waterfalls and the river that runs in the deep valley, full of the cleanest, freshest water coming down off the mountains.
We drove from Zurich to Interlaken on Friday at noon and stopped for a stretch and a stroll through the beautiful town. Once we ate ice cream, we hopped back in the car set for Lauterbrunnen. Lauterbrunnen is a sweet one road town with gorgeous old Swiss style chalets and restaurants. We stayed at the Chalet Rosa Bed and Breakfast right on the main drag in the center of town. We dropped off our bags and headed for the cutest coffee shop, Airtime, which was a great, friendly, local expat hangout. For dinner the first night we ate at the Hotel Oberland and the second night at the Weidstubli which was very friendly with a fabulous kids menu for 4 franc per item. The girls loved their food and the tiny play area as we enjoyed our food and drinks.
For our day trip on Saturday we took a gondola, train, gondola, and gondola up to the top of the Shilthorn, a nearly 3000 meter summit in the Bernese Alps. We ate at the beautiful revolving restaurant Piz Gloria, the site of the 1969 James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The food was good with fabulous views and the children were happy to play in the little children’s nook while we ate our lunch. After lunch we did the James Bond walk of fame outside on a quite steep cliff where paragliders were taking flight. Then we went to a glass floor lookout to test our bravery with the Monch, Eiger and Jungfrau as the beautiful backdrop. Then we stopped by the James Bond museum under the restaurant to sit in the helicopter used for the movie, a bobsled, and read some neat facts about the filming of this movie so long ago.
Behind our B&B was a meadow of sheep with a gorgeous view of the waterfall we enjoyed walking to after breakfast each morning.
Airtime coffee shop after our Saturday adventure
Right outside our B&B in the morning.
At the Piz Gloria look out on the Shilthorn summit.
The Allmendhubel cogwheel train up to the Flower Park playground.
Our B&B front door to our little place.
At Airtime coffee shop, in the little town of Lauterbrunnen.
On top of the glass look out at Piz Gloria on the Shilthorn peak
After lunch we took the girls to Mürren for the Flower Park and Children’s Adventure Playground. The playground was otherworldly. I had never been to such a beautiful playground. The scenery was spectacular. We sat at the restaurant in the shade and enjoyed some apfel kuchen and cappuccinos while the girls enjoyed themselves. (Read from the Schilthorn entry on Moms Tots blog entry) Then we headed down the cogwheel and gondolas back to Lauterbrunnen for dinner and a good night’s rest.
Dancing to the live jazz band at the top of Mannlichen.
The hike back down after the Royal trail walk.
The look out over the Jungfrau, Monch and Eiger mountains from the playground at Mannlichen.
Sunday we took a day trip to Mannlichen. We drove from Lauterbrunnen (as we checked out of our B&B after breakfast) to Grimmelwald and parked in the large lot. We took the long and scenic gondola up from Grimmelwald to Mannlichen. We were so lucky there was a fabulous jazz band and brunch going on all day at the top of Mannlichen. I thought the playground on Saturday was amazing. But the playground in Mannlichen is one for the record books. The Jungfrau, Monch, and Eiger mountains in the backdrop, the cows ringing their bells, the jazz band and the large restaurant were not to be missed. There was a large bouncy trampoline, bowling, swings, slides, but the most amazing thing is the view. It is absolutely unbelievable. After lunch we did the Royal walk past the cows and up a very short and steep incline to a beautiful look out point. Then we walked back down past the cows to ride the very long gondola ride back to Grimmelwald. We drove home from Grimmelwald Googling highest peaks in the world, highest peaks in Switzerland, USA, etc. It was such a fun weekend. A hot, sunny, gorgeous weekend.
