Berlin in Frankfurt

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” – John Muir.

“Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.”  -Greg Child

“Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was.”  -Dag Hammerskjold

“Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more that what we could learn from books.” – John Lubbock

A little sprinkling of mountain quotes to set the tone for this post. For our fourth anniversary a couple of weeks ago, we spent one week wandering around the mountains and valleys of Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland and Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France. 

We spent four nights in each place – Lauterbrunnen was approximately five hours from Frankfurt and Chamonix was three hours from there so it was a doable road trip with wonderful views. Driving also meant that we could bring a nice selection of food and booze (Switzerland=$$$) as well as necessities like our slippers, blanket, and Tempurpedic pillows. (I know, I know roughing it). 

Here are some highlights of each stop: 

Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland 

There was a lot of rain the first few days (valleys, am I right?) so we explored the town of Lauterbrunnen and Trummelbach Falls – a short drive or easy walk from our Air B&B. Trummelbach consists of ten glacial waterfalls inside a mountain, made accessible by tunnel elevator or hike up to the top. It was pretty wild being that close to raging waterfalls albeit a little terrifying and wet. 

Another day we hiked from our house to the Stechelberg cable car and rode up to the picturesque town of Mürren (with a stop in Gimmelwald) then hiked to the Grütschalp cable car and took it back down Lauterbrunnen. We saw a beautiful rainbow on our hike back and made some cow friends. They were generally unimpressed by our presence. I loved their jingling bells and next year I’d like to be around for the cows’ “alpine descent” – magical!

Cheering for runners in the Jungfrau Marathon. Literally the second half of the marathon is up a mountain and the weather was pretty miserable that day. They have my deepest respect. Jeff and I wandered outside to cheer and immediately felt guilty about the yogurts we were eating as the runners trudged by.

Exploring the cute town of Grindelwald twice. The first time, we happened upon a large group of British folks driving retro cars taking a break from their roadtrip. 

Hike from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen – not a long hike but steep and rainy! Beautiful views.

Cable car from Wengen up to Männlichen – we attempted to do the Royal Walk hike which is supposed to have breathtaking views. Unfortunately, the visibility was terrible and it was cold and snowy at the top so naturally we decided to hike down the mountain back to Wengen. Once we came through the snow line, the views were amazing and ended up being one of our favorite hikes.

Venturing up to the Schilthorn where a James Bond movie was filmed in the 1960s. We bought a package that included the lift ticket and bottomless brunch. It was an amazing experience and the brunch package is actually pretty cost-effective as opposed to doing it a la carte.

Chamonix, France 

On the way to Chamonix, we stopped in the picturesque town of Gruyere for some beautiful views and cheese of course. It reminded me of Belle’s town in Beauty and the Beast.

One of the highlights of this part of the trip was our Air B&B in Chamonix. The interior was nice but the views from the balcony were unmatched. We enjoyed lots of cocktails in the evening and coffee in the morning out there and Jeff enjoyed doing some photography from there as well.

The Aiguille du Midi – 3,777 meters up with views of the French, Swiss and Italian Alps. When we got on the first cable car, there was perfect visibility at the top but by the time we got up there, we could barely see anything but the cable cars were absolutely amazing – an engineering marvel and also terrifying at the same time. From there, we went on a short hike the Blue Lake for lunch.

Mer de Glace – we took a historic train up to the Mer de Glace glacier and then hiked down to the ice cave. Honestly, it was really sad to see how much the glacier has melted just in the last 20 years. It has literally vanished. This article explains to massive changes in the glacier.

Paragliding: We did a tandem paraglide ride on our actual anniversary. The whole experience was much less scary and smoother than I thought. The only thing that made me a little sick was the acrobatics at the end and then landing. The views were unreal, I felt like a bird, and hands down would do it again.

Sweaty lake hike: Our last full day, we took two cable cars (quite the theme!) up to Le Brévent and did a hike down to a small mountain lake. It was stunning but the hike back up was absolutely exhausting! We celebrated at the top with Powerade, beer, and water.

The trip was equal parts exhausting and refreshing. We hiked and explored all day and usually returned to our Air B&Bs by 5, showered and had cocktails while making dinner. While it wasn’t as relaxing as a beach vacation, I loved feeling like I had physically accomplished something each day and sliding into cool sheets each night feeling sore, happy, and refreshed by nature. We can’t wait to return and explore more!