Switzerland Day Five - Trummelbach and Interlaken

What a day! Christian slept the whole night through and we got a decent amount of sleep so we were ready for a little adventure. Although, if a child comes into your room at 1am and says "I want to show you something. Hold out your hand." DON'T do it! James did put his hand out and Jon put a tooth into it! 

Anyway, after a quick breakfast James and I decided to take a short trip down the road to visit the Trummelbach falls. Trummelbach is a series of waterfalls, some of them underground, that drain the glaciers from the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. 

Trummelbach Falls

Will overlooking Lauterbrunnen

James and the boys on the stairs of Trummelbach

When we arrived at the falls we rode a funicular lift which took us halfway up. From there we began climbing to see the top five waterfalls. Trummelbach is quite amazing. Some of the waterfalls are underground and to see them we climbed wet tunnel stairs which would open up into small caves where we could see the water thundering down. 

The funicular

Trummelbach tunnels

Will and Jon on the stairs to the falls

The water flow was very fast and powerful and the shape of the rocks and caves made each waterfall unique. Some of them were more traditional and others slid around the smooth cave walls like waterslides. Because of safety concerns, children under four were not allowed into Trummelbach and we kept a tight grip on Christian. Most of the waterfalls were in deep ravines or canyons and could only be seen by going right to the railing which was an extra reason to hold on tight!

Trummelbach falls.

Trummelbach falls

Will in the caves

The walk along the gorge

The sound of the falls was incredible and is how the falls got their name since Trommel means drum in German. Poor Jon didn't like the sound and stayed pressed against the cave walls. He wanted to leave but we convinced him to come with us to the top. Once we got there and had a quick look I took all of the kids down so James could get a few pictures. 

Trummelbach falls

James and a nervous Jon

Christian slides down a rock

I took the boys back to the funicular where we waited for James and enjoyed an excellent view of Lauterbrunnen. The top five waterfalls are all inside caves but the bottom five are in more open canyons and the walk down to the valley (we didn't take the funicular down) was mostly in the open. The lower waterfalls were still incredible though and definitely worth the trip. Though I felt bad for Jon, I personally loved walking in the caves and tunnels. It was a fun little adventure! On the way out of the falls we stopped at the little gift shop where Christian spent more of his traveling money on a small dog that he named Skittles. 

View of Lauterbrunnen

Skittles

Flowers at Trummelbach

After the falls we picked up Camille and headed out of the valley and into Interlaken for lunch. We wanted to eat at the Harder Kulm restaurant which is on a mountain overlooking the town. Getting there was a bit of a pain though because there are no roads up and no parking near the funicular. The funicular is not handicapped accessible although there weren't too many stairs for Camille. 

Christian tries to call our local sheep over

On the funicular to Harder Kulm

The funicular ride was the longest I've ever been on, over a ten minute journey, and the only one I have seen to go through a tunnel and around corners. Apparently that isn't much of a feat for Switzerland but it was still pretty cool to see. At the top we had to take a short walk up to the restaurant where we were rewarded with a spectacular view of Interlaken. We had fun pointing out the places we had visited the day before. 

Harder Kulm and Interlaken

Interlaken

Skittles and Peanut Butter

Boys with their dogs

 The view was amazing but the food wasn't great. James and Camille enjoyed their meals though. We also tried fondue but James was the only person who actually enjoyed it. The kids did like dipping various parts of their meal into the melted cheese and Christian proclaimed that steak with fondue is excellent. To his disappointment he was only allowed two pieces of steak and his spaghetti fondue experiment did not turn out very well.

Lunch at Harder Kulm

Christian and Will examine the menu

Christian enjoys his hot chocolate

Vultures steal James' steak

Will enjoys steak fondue

Jon tried but didn't like the french fry fondue. Cheesy fries are better!

After lunch we wandered a bit and enjoyed the view before taking the funicular back to town for some shopping. We found a small gift for Isaac and Jon finally picked out a knife which he is very excited about. Although he will have to wait until his 10th birthday until he gets to use it. Because we parked the car so far away I ended up walking back to it twice before I finally moved it to a better location. By the time we started for home my legs were killing me.

Grandma's boys

Will and Jon in Interlaken

After we returned home the kids were still eager to play and asked to go to the playground. It was still light so I gave them the house key and a 20 minute timer and sent all of them out. We've done this a couple of times with Will and Jon and once with Christian and it has always gone really well. They are always so punctual about coming back and always stick together.

Christian throws a punch (Jon's picture)

Jon and Will

Tonight however did not go so well. The kids came home through our field right on time but when they got in the door they were quite upset. It took a while to understand the whole story but apparently three teenagers had been practicing with their air soft gun and decided to shoot my children. Christian and Jon had been shot in the stomach and Will tried to hide in a tunnel but was still shot in the leg and on his ear. (I cannot describe how much my blood is boiling just writing about this.) Eventually the teenagers went away and the boys continued to play at the playground until the timer went off. I asked them why they didn't come home right away and they said "We still had more time. We didn't want to lose our chance to play alone." 

The boys are fine now. They calmed down fairly quickly but I am still very angry. I'm not going to put any of that down on the blog, I can't find the right words anyway. I wish I didn't have to end on such a bad note but I am off to discuss this more with James and then try to get some sleep.

Goodnight!