Throwback Post: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

I like to think he was saying, “Welcome to paradise!”

July 2016

From Paris, we headed to Switzerland. I’m embarrassed to admit that most of the group (myself included) hadn’t done much research on this amazing country–but the upside of that was being completely and utterly blown away by what we saw in our short time there.

#Sorrynotsorry for all the pictures in this post. Flipping through my photos again reminded me of the stunning landscape of Lauterbrunnen: a quaint town cradled between mountains and surrounded by the greenest grass, with hikes that led us to beautiful waterfalls, and a helicopter ride that showcased the mountains’ snowy peaks.

Perhaps the pictures can speak for themselves better than I can describe my experiences. But I’ll try to narrate the best I can. 🙂

First impressions matter. The night we arrived, this eerily gorgeous post-storm view, spotted while on a walk through town (for necessary supplies like wine and cider) did not disappoint.

Is this a photoshopped postcard, or real life?

After a night of socializing in the bar at our hostel/campsite (each little one-room house had 2 bunk beds, a type of accommodation we’d find often throughout our TopDeck trip around Europe), the next morning, some brave souls (*not me*) went skydiving out of a helicopter. I took the opportunity to arrange a ride-along for my first helicopter ride!

I’m terrified of heights–and I try not to let it interfere with awesome opportunities–but I was deathly scared of falling out of the helicopter each time a skydiver jumped out. (I’m surprised this next photo turned out, with my shaky hands.)

The helicopter ride had this breathtaking view.

Calming down from the high of being up in the clouds (literally), I regrouped in our room and headed out for a massive hike with my Australian friend, Fi. By the end, we’d logged about 17 km! Every sore muscle was worth it, considering what we got to see.

I could have taken photos every minute of our walk. And we hadn’t even started climbing at this point. Before taking a gondola ride to our starting point, we climbed up next to a waterfall and actually passed behind it on the trail! Fearing another water-damage incident with my phone, I kept it stored away, so you’ll have to trust me on how cool this was.

On the gondola ride, our eyes were delighted to see even more beauty.

You can take the girl out of Wisconsin, but you can’t take the Wisconsin out of the girl. Dairy state reminders can be found all over the world. (But for anyone wondering: no, I didn’t grow up on a farm. :))

Pay no mind to the unaesthetically pleasing bag lunch tied to my purse.

Fi and I trekked on and on, taking a bajillion photos, filming Fi twirling around like in the Sound of Music, and pretty much feeling like we were strolling on the top of the world through sights that looked like movie backdrops.

Seriously, Switzerland. (We ran out of creative ways to say, “Wow, it’s so beautiful!” by this point.)

Grinning through the pain, 17km later. 😎

The pictures clearly win when it comes to describing Lauterbrunnen. As a final plug, I will say, don’t skip over Switzerland if you plan a Europe trip! At the end of our group trip, over a dozen countries later, the consensus on everyone’s favorite country was, by far… Switzerland. (Spoiler alert: I was able to visit again briefly in November, this time on a layover in Zurich, which I’ll cover in a future post.)

Follow my blog to read next week’s Weekly TBT Post on Nice, France!

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