DAY 1
Hiking, and “trotti” biking, and paragliding, oh my! This will likely come as no surprise to people, but Switzerland has got to be the most spectacular country. Giant craggy, snow capped mountains tower over bright green, rolling pastures, dotted with quaint farmhouses and small towns. Cowbells ring in surround-sound adding to the charm. Throw in some high adventure and you’ve got a pretty remarkable trip.
Because of impending bad weather arriving tomorrow (and in true Plan B fashion), we revamped our itinerary last minute to maximize the two days of dry weather before the rain. What did this look like? Landing in Zurich, quickly getting our rental car, hightailing it to make the 2:10pm Funitel (the steepest in the world) to the car free village of Stoos. From there, hiking to a ski lift to the summit where we finally started a two and a half hour hike along the ridge of a mountain chain.
To say this hike was spectacular is an understatement. Huge, snow capped mountains rose to the left of us, while steep, bright green hills rose to our right, all while we walked on a narrow path straddling the two. It was lucky that the hike was so epic, as my legs were still screaming from the 1000 stairs climbed in Florence the day before! The pictures don’t quite capture the grandness of it all, but you’ll get the idea.
Post hike, plan B continued. We scrapped going to a mountain inn for the night and instead, drove two hours to Grindelwald, in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland, putting us in the area two days earlier than expected to catch the good weather.
DAY 2
Today could not have been more memorable We woke early, caught the first gondola up Grindelwald First and got to enjoy the mountain virtually to ourselves. The highlights? Doing the “cliff walk” that ended in a suspended bridge over the valley, hiking to a mountain lake that reflected the three major mountains in the area, and finally, trotti biking (aka scootering) to the bottom of the mountain through green pastures, farms, and lots of cows.
The icing on the cake? Paragliding. You’d think my fear of heights would have been a non-starter, but you know me…I’m up for anything! Luckily, aside from some initial fear, I was actually ok… and it was magical soaring above the town and seeing everything from above. Add in some loopty loops at the end (see video…..it took immense control on my part not to scream… apparently if you do, the neighbors below complain 
) and it was a perfect end to a very adventurous day. I never know how a Plan B will work out, but today, I hit it out of the park. Though the joke now is that the boys will need to carry me on our hike tomorrow 
… we are all exhausted!
Tomorrow, we head to the neighboring valley of Lauterbrunnen for more hiking and adventure.
DAY 3
We have now ridden on the steepest funicular, the steepest cable car, and what has to be the tiniest gondola, that fits either 8 people or one cow. Yes, that is actually a thing in the tiny hillside town of Isenfluh, where an old man runs an even older gondola to get people (or a cow) up to the even tinier village of Suwald.
As you know, I try my hardest to get off the beaten path when traveling. When planning this trip, the question was how to do that in an area that’s popular with tourists? The answer? Get up early and be on the first cable car or train each day. The result? We’ve been virtually the only ones on the mountain the past two days. Not a soul was on the royal ride, a rooftop open air balcony on top of the cable car, nor on the walk above Mannlichen for the 360° views. We sighted only one other couple as we continued on a 3 mile hike around the side of a mountain, past a towering range of snow capped mountains to the town of Kleine Scheidegg. Then down to the car free village of Wengen perched on a cliff above the valley of Lauterbrunnen.
My kids often say that there are “mom’s trips” and then there are “vacations”. With my reputation to maintain, we topped off our already busy day, riding e-bikes to the end of the valley, passing green pastures, small farm houses, and lots of cows, their giant cow bells ringing loudly as we biked by.
DAY 4
It was another early departure to catch the steepest tram to the top of Schilthorn for yet another 360° view of the three major peaks in the Bernese Alps: Jungfrau, Eiger, and Mönch. Though, our enjoyment of the outdoor vista was short lived… nothing like 20°F with wind chill to move us back indoors to the revolving restaurant for a cup of hot cocoa. We descended from the mountain top to two more car-free villages, Murren and Gimmewald, before heading to Isenfluh (home of the one-cow gondola) where we rented fat-tire “troddi bikes” and coasted our way down the winding switchback road to conclude our adventures for the day.
It’s been two very full days and we are tired. I’d say that it’s the 21 year-olds that we are traveling with who need a sleep-in day, but truth be told, so do I. With the weather getting worse, we are off to visit a gorge and lakeside town tomorrow and revamping Thursday’s plans to a stay in Lucerne for an evening before heading back to the airport and flying home.
DAY 5
There’s nothing like bad weather to derail plans and slow us down, but such is life in Switzerland right now. So we talked to some locals, found out what activities would be good in the rain, and off we went.
First up? Aare Gorge. Meandering cantilevered wooden walkways hugged the side of 600 foot tall vertical, curving walls that sometimes narrowed to just 3 feet apart—just wide enough to let the rushing water below through and us to squeeze by. At close to a mile long, with trees and shrubs growing out from the walls, mist in the air, and sunlight cascading in from somewhere far above, there was a very Jurassic Park feel to it all. On our way back to Grindelwald, the weather cleared up enough for us to enjoy lunch at the quaint lakeside town of Brienz, known for its intricately carved wood adorned homes and aqua colored water.
DAY 6
Even rainier today, we spent our morning at Trümmelbach Falls, where ten connected waterfalls cascade through the inside of vertical, water-sculpted caverns cut deep into the inside of the mountain. Millennia of runoff from glaciers on the three main peaks in the area (Jungfrau, Mönch, and Eiger) have carved out the tunnels and gorges in such a way that the undulated walls look like works of art. Truly a unique experience.
As we left the Bernese Oberland region this morning to a sea of swirling leaves falling from the trees, I realized that we came at a perfect time. All week, the mountains were covered in the oranges and reds of fall that made for such a colorful contrast to the stark, snow covered mountains. With the high winds today, the leaves were being blown off en masse leaving the bare trees of winter behind. So any tourist arriving now will miss the fall foliage that we got to enjoy.
We spent this afternoon in Lucerne, where we’ll stay for our last night. The pouring rain ultimately cleared enough for us to walk across the famous covered bridge, visit the Old Town, and sample a few of the many Swiss chocolate shops.
We are headed home tomorrow feeling like we really got to experience a lot of what Switzerland has to offer, even though we really only focused on one region of the country.