Switzerland! You’re so efficient and family-friendly! (But your coffee is terrible….) You’re almost perfect.
We started our first major international trip with the kids with an eleven hour nonstop flight to Zurich. Alas, everyone only slept a couple of hours and we arrived in the city around noon. We had no particular agenda for our time in Zurich other than trying to adjust to the new time zone. Despite some bedtime issues (62 piece orchestra directly out of our window the first night, 16 piece drumming band the second), we managed to sleep long and well. (Tycho even commented on how good his sleep was in Zurich after we got home to SF!) We did some playgrounds, took a practice adventure to Uetliberg for the planet walk (a repeat hit from our 2017 trip), and had some ice cream before saying goodbye and heading to Interlaken on the panorama train, picking up Luna on the way in Lucerne.
We had a fun mountain-transport-filled week in Interlaken with Carly, Josh and Luna. Having our base in Interlaken meant that it was easy for us to go to the various destinations in the Jungfrau region! We started by exploring Lauterbrunnen, cable car-ing up to Allmendhubel, and then ambling down to Gimmelwald for some Schwarz Monch dark lager and apple juice. Sadly, it was slightly wet at our first alpine playground and Tycho felt utterly despondent about his wet shoes, and the fact that we couldn’t buy him replacement brown boots with yellow and green polka dots. (Because this is 6, apparently.)
For our first big hike, we took the historic cog-wheel train up to Schynige Platte and then did a nice loop around through all the wildflowers with the alps vanishing and reappearing from behind the clouds. (Tycho’s favorite hike!) The next day we went up to Männlichen via the gondola from Grindelwald Terminal and wow– what a difference a century makes when it comes to comfort in mountain transport! We did the short Royal Walk for 360 degree views before spending the afternoon at the “cow playground” while the Kears went to the top of Jungfraujoch.
Our third big adventure was just the four of us, up to Grindelwald First and a 4.5 mile hike to Bachalpsee Lake. (Thankfully, Tycho *didn’t* throw up on the old school gondola up from town…) Nova walked a little of this one, but like the other days mostly just enjoyed hanging with Mama in the carrier. It was super pretty, though a bit busy, and the kids liked their “picnic eggs” during our lakeside lunch. On the way down we stopped at Bort for the alpine playground. The kids kept discovering cool new things, but – of course – Nova pooped herself while climbing so our visit was cut short.
We had two days with rain forecasted, so we didn’t head up to the mountains for those. The first one was mid-week and we went to Harder Kulm, “Interlaken’s mountain” – easy funicular there, good lunch, cute playground. The second rainy day was our last day in Interlaken, so we took the old steamboat across Lake Brienz, which was beautiful. Tycho and Nova loved hanging in the “coffee room” with Uncle Josh. Thankfully it didn’t really start to rain until we got on the bus on the other end and headed to Trauffer, an old Swiss toy maker specializing in wooden cows and other animals. We explored the “Kuhniverse” and then Tycho, Nova and Luna all painted their own animal. Masterpieces, all!
Generally the food was good (enough). Lots of Swiss food, obviously, which unfortunately often meant oily cheese and potatoes, but also fish. Somehow fondue our last night was the best cheese and potatoes! Sushi in Zurich (to the all-consuming beat of our drummers), Indian and Thai in Interlaken helped change things up. Tycho didn’t really care for the cereal or yogurt, though he did compliment Kristan on her eggs one morning, which is unheard of. Our lunch at the Trauffer toy factory was actually one of the best! They charged the kids their age for the kinder meal, ha.
We had one more adventure – the trip to France! Our train to Bern had a playground car, which the kids went wild for, and then our train to Geneva had TWO playground cars, though we only visited one. Yay!
Mountain transport count: funiculars (2 – Uetliberg and Harder Kulm), gondolas (2 – Männlichen and Grindelwald First), cogwheel train (1 – Schynige Platte), cable car (2 – Allmendhubel and Gimmelwald), “mountain railway” (1 – Mürren), plus the bus to and the SBB train from Wilderswil
Playground count: 14. 4 in Zurich, Interlaken, Allmendhubel, Gimmelwald, Schynige Platte, Männlichen, Harder Kulm, Bort, Trauffer, 2 on the train
Introducing: Tycho’s Pics
Zurich | Schynige Platte | Männlichen | Bachalpsee at First | Brienz & Trauffer
Thank you for wonderful photos from your exciting vacation in the Alps. You certainlay experienced a lot, and I believe that the photos are a good support, when you try to recall all the moments.
The coffee is awful, you say. Not having insigt in Swiss coffee flavors, I think it is also a question of taste. We Europeans think that American coffe is weak.
In my opinion there are three different flavors of coffee: the flavor you drink at home, the one at work, and all the others as the third group. They count for 40%, 40%, and 20%. The flavor you buy for home consumption is your own choice. The flavor at work you got used to:-), and the remaining 20% are just are various incidents. You seldom taste each of these 20% more than once:-)
Your backgrounds are stunning. So are the colors. In my younger days Kodak film had a red tone, whereas Fuji film had more pastel and real color tones. I have an idea that you shoot many of your photos using ‘depth of field’ actively, which really improves the result. I had never before heard of playground train waggons.
You mention that France was a great experience. However, no photos….
A vacation like this is difficult to describe, because it has so many components, and because the 3D angle cannot be described. Your photos is a nice attempt!
Thank you for sharing.
Klaus