Switzerland Alpenventure: Lausanne

My Swiss Alpenventure is starting to come to a close with my journey to Lausanne.  Two days and then onto Geneva, where I depart from.  The journey from Zermatt to Lausanne is more than just a 3 hour train ride.  It is a shift from German speaking Switzerland to French speaking Switzerland.  Good news is I know just as much French as German!  Which is about nothing!  The trip was unfortunately a bit of a dud, due to rain.  Good news is the rain quit shortly before reaching Lausanne.  My train car had a kids playground space on it which was kind of cool though.  Also, traveling by train in the morning on a Wednesday is apparently not a huge travel day.  The train was close to empty, which was nice.

This is inside a train!

The first thing I had to do when getting to Lausanne was figure out where to ditch my bags for a few hours until I could check in.  Since I was staying at another AirBnB, storage wasn't an option.  But there were some other places willing to store bags for a few hours.  And in order to get there I had to climb the hill.  Lausanne is not flat.  It is very not flat. I was impressed watching a woman in 2-3" heels walking down cobblestone streets.  I would have DIED!

Steep!

So after dropping off my bag I kind of started to wander.  I started heading for the cathedral because that seemed like a good place to start.  As I was standing outside, I recalled a scavenger hunt that I had found online and pulled it out.  Good news was I was right up by the starting point.  

Lausanne Cathedrale, also known as Notre-Dame de Lausanne, was built in the 13th century.  Began as a Catholic cathedral, it was Protestant Reformed, and if you've read my other posts, you'll probably understand what that means: a certain lack of ornamentation.  But it still has a grand bell tower which offers one of the best views of the city as the church sits up on a hill.

View from the bell tower at Lausanne Cathedral.

I had never been in a bell tower like this cathedral before.  I've been in many historical churches on my travels, but never a true bell tower.  The tower still has 7 bells of various sizes that chime the hour (I literally just missed being up there by about 10 minutes and I stuck around to see if it would chime the quarter and half hour, but it didn't).  The bells are hung on wooden scaffolding, and when I say wood, I mean probably 1ft by 1ft logs.  It was amazing.  In seeing how the bells were hung up there, I also began to better understand a statement made by a firefighter who responded to the fire at Notre Dame de Paris in 2019.  They had made a statement about how they knew they had to keep the flames from the bell tower because if the wood holding the bells burned and the bells fell, the whole towers and with it, likely the whole church, would fall.  Anyways, this church had bells strung up on two different floors.  And on the first floor of the bell tower, between the two bells was a little room.  You could almost imagine Quasimodo living in there.  Likely, however, it is used by the lookouts.  To this day, the church still maintains lookouts who call out the hour during the night, and keeps an eye on the city for fire.

The Quasimodo room inside the bell tower.

After my journey to the bell tower and a trip around the inside of the church and then the outside, I set out for the next location on the scavenger hunt.  Up next was Place de la Palud.  I have no idea what that means, but it was a square in the heart of the old city.  And up on a building right there in the square was a clock that gives a couple minute performance on the hour, and it turns out I was in luck.  It was about 5 till the hour.

The animated clock of Place de Palud.

The scavenger hunt then took me to a newer section of the city known as the Flon district.  It seems like a area with shopping and restaurants in one of the lower lying areas of the city.  Nearby was also the Bel-Aire hotel, the tallest building in the city.

I then wandered to a mural depicting some well known comic characters and an interestingly dressed wolf statue. 

Sexy Wolf

The last stop was the Palace of Justice.  The most important thing I learned in front of the Palace of Justice is that William Tell is a Swiss folk hero.  I am obviously familiar with the name, but pretty much only due to the William Tell Overture (look it up, you are all familiar with that song).  I was not familiar with the origin of the story, which is that Tell's assasination of an Austrain nobleman led to open rebellion, which led to the creation of Switzerland.

Deciding my feet were done at this point, I went and collected my bags and then headed for my AirBnB, where I spent the rest of the evening just relaxing because I was reaching the point where I was just tired.  For like 2 weeks, I had been averaging about 10 miles of walking a day and I think my body was just reaching exhaustion point.

The next morning I got up and set out to experience the one reason I chose to stop in Lausanne.  The Olympic Museum.  Lausanne is the home of the International Olympic Committee, and also most major sporting federations.  Here you'll find the International Baseball Federation, International Canoe Federation, International Federation for Equestrian, International Fencing Federation, International Golf Federation, International Gymnastics Federation, International Hockey Federation, International Rowing Federation, International Skating Union, International Table Tennis Federation, International Triathlon Union, International Volleyball Federation, World Archery Federation, World Boxing, World Taekwondo, and even the International Chess Federation.  

The International Gymnastics Federation Building

I had 3 stops I wanted to make on my final day in Lausanne: 1) stop at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), 2) visit the Olympic Museum, 3) Find Olympic Headquarters.  If you know me at all, you known I LOVE the Olympics.  I've was sucked into it as a child and I look forward to spending 2 weeks in front of my tv watching every sport I can every 2 years.  So this trip to Lausanne was almost a pilgrimage.

I started out heading to find FIG.  Really other than the name on the exterior of a building and a FIG flag on a flagpole outside, you wouldn't know there was anything special there.  There was a private drive to the building so I didn't attempt to go in to offer up advice for the next Code of Points, or try to convince them to bring compulsories back.

I can almost reach it!

After stopping by the FIG building I headed to the Olympic Museum.  The first thing I came across outside were high jump standards set at world record height.  It is absolutely insane how high jumpers can jump.  They had a similar setup with pole vaulting standards set to Armand Duplatis' current world record.  There were also a men's and women's shotput out there.  Those are so much heavier than I imagined they be!

Yes, it's me, the Olympic champion!

Once inside, I bought my ticket and headed into the museum.  The first floor I entered into was split into Summer and Winter Olympic halves and then a center section.  On each side belonging to the specific Olympics were areas split up by era.  Each had items of note: a ski sweater worn by an early Olympian, an early bobsled, skating outfit, helmets, etc on the winter side.  On the summer side you had shoes worn by Jesse Owens, one of Usain Bolt's shirts, a pair of Michael Phelps' swim trunks, Kohei Uchimura's leo from 2016, Simone Biles' leo from 2016, and Rebeca Andrade's leo from 2024.  Also in each area were screens with stories about competitors.  Like did you know at the first Olympics, an American nearly missed the Olympics after sailing to Italy, getting mugged there and had his train ticket stolen, but pursued the man and caught him retrieving his ticket, before finally making it to Athens, only to find out that due to calendar differences (Greece was still using the old calendar), his first Olympic event was that day?  And then he went on to win it, becoming the very first Olympic champion in anything in the modern Olympics (James B. Connolly).  Also, did you know that Tug of War was an Olympic sport for the first few Olympics?

Jesse Owen's shoe.  Adidas before it got its third stripe.

King Kohei's leo from 2016!

2024 Leo of Rebeca Andrade (yellow) and 2016 leo of Simone Biles (red).

In the middle of all of this was a section with Olympic medals.  They had one medal of every color for each Olympics there.  For the most part, Summer Olympic medals all have a very similar design, as dictated by rules as to what can be on them.  The Winter Olympics don't seem to follow those same guidelines and do whatever they want!  The medals have gotten so much bigger over the years.  The first medals were probably somewhere in size between a half dollar and a quarter.  Now you're looking at something probably about 4" across.

From there then I went to the area talking about the history of the Olympics, like ancient Greece Olympics.  It then transitioned to talking about Pierre de Coubertin, the man who brought us the modern Olympic Games.  They had a section with torches from each Olympic Games.  The torch relay has occurred every Olympics since the Nazi Olympics of 1936.  It was the one cool idea Adolf Hitler had, though of course it had racist reasoning.  

I think one of my favorite sections was the area where they talked about creating the Olympics.  Like what it takes to broadcast the Games.  Picking color palettes and a market scheme that fits the city.  They had all the mascots there.  They also talked about how since 2015 they have changed their philosophy on host cities.  They said it used to be about how a city can change for the Games, and now they are trying to figure out how to change the Games for the city.  I think that's great.  They also talked about trying to reduce white elephants and making sure that what is made for the Olympics will benefit the city, such as new housing.  

Costumes from the 2026 Olympic Games.

Costume and drum from the Beijing Opening Ceremonies in 2008.

There was also an area with some costumes from Opening and Closing Ceremonies.  

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the museum and was glad I went.  After leaving, I set out for Olympics HQ.  It was just a mere 2 miles there from the Museum.  I regretted my decision to walk about halfway there, my feet being on their last leg, but I continued anyway because you have to suffer a bit if you want to make it to the Olympics!  Part way there I came across the Olympic Clock which counts down to the Opening Ceremonies of the next Olympic Games, which I'll be attending!  The Games, not the Opening Ceremonies.

I finally made it there, and boy do they have a lot of security around that place!  But I got some more Olympic Ring pictures!  On my way back to my room, I was through some old Roman ruins, like right next to the Olympics HQ.  I ended up stopping by Aldi to grab something to eat and then heading back to my room to crash.

Just me stalking the Olympics!

The next morning I got up and headed to the train station for one last train ride.  This one heading to Geneva.  I took my bags to my hotel near the airport first and then headed into the city.  Really my one main goal was to buy some chocolate to take home and share with friends.  After accomplishing this, I returned to the hotel and repacked things.  And I realized that because of all the chocolate I bought, I was going to have to pull out an additional bag for the way home.

My flights home were all on schedule and for the first time in a long time, all of my travel went according to plan going both directions.

Switzerland was amazing!  Expensive, but amazing!  I'm definitely glad I went and I will be going back for round two at some point.  Probably in winter.

Did I do Switzerland right?

Switzerland Alpenventure: Zermatt

The river connecting the two lakes that Interlaken is between.

After leaving the Lauterbrunnen Valley, I spent about 4 hours traveling to Zermatt, home of the Matterhorn (and a bunch of other mountains!).  Knowing I wasn't going to be climbing any mountains on travel day, I opted for the "scenic route."  Honestly, I'm not sure it was any more scenic than the other route because Switzerland is just pretty scenic in general, but according to what I saw while researching beforehand, it was supposedly so. 

The trip to Zermatt went as follows, cog to Lauterbrunnen, train to Interlaken Ost, train to Spiez, train to Brig, train to Visp, train to Zermatt.  Lots of transfers today and unlike in the past, I actually had to pay attention because my transfers occurred in the middle of routes, for the most part, not at the end of the line.  Because I had myself all packed up, I left town a bit earlier than I had originally planned.  The good news about Swiss rail, is as long as you are on the route you paid for, you can basically take any train.  You can get off and get back on.  All of that.  So I got on the train about 2 hrs before scheduled in Wengen.  Then I transferred immediately at Lauterbrunnen.  But then I deviated from my current schedule.  I stopped in Spiez and didn't take the next train.

Spiez

I had hoped to be able to stuff my bag in a storage locker for an hour and a half and go down to the edge of Thundersee (I have learned that in German, lake is apparently see, if that isn't confusing).  However, that didn't happen because the 20 or so lockers they had at the station were full.  Bummer.  I really didn't want to haul everything down 120m (vertical descent) for an hour and then have to hike back up it (it was a warm day).  So instead I went to a park that wasn't all that far and sat and read for an hour with a beautiful blue lake and mountains before me.  Not a bad decision at all.  Part of the reason I was delaying myself was I couldn't check into my place in Zermatt until 4.  The long route and this delay got me to Zermatt right at 4.

Oh hello, Matterhorn!

If you think Swiss ski village, Zermatt is probably what you'd imagine; chalets in a very "Swiss" style of architecture stacked up in the valley floor and the lower reached of the hillsides.  This was one of the places I opted for a fancy place over cheap.  I got a studio AirBnB with a balcony.  I wanted a place with a kitchen because I knew I would be at the point in my trip where I would be tired of eating out and would want just something basic for a night or two.  I also knew I was in a resort town which meant meals would cost more, so why not spend 30 CHF on groceries for a few days than 45 CHF for a single meal.  I did end up finding a spectacular bakery that had the most amazing chocolate croissants.  Like a whole, large piece of chocolate inside, not one little tiny piece of a Hershey bar.  I visited that shop every morning I was there.

I spent the evening wandering the village.  I got my first Matterhorn sighting as I was walking to my room, so after dropping my stuff off, I wandered back out to the bridge that I initially crossed.  Unfortunately Zermatt is in the middle of a building boom, so there were multiple cranes in the way of the perfect Matterhorn picture.  While I was wandering I also had a load of laundry in my backpack.  I had intended to do a load of laundry, but after stopping by the closest laundromat and seeing it was full (with people waiting) and that a load of wash was 14 CHF (like $15!!!!), I said nope!  I can wash these things in the sink and shower!

I spent some time debating with myself over what my hiking plans were for the next morning, before finally settling on doing the 5 Lakes Trail from Blauherd to Sunnegga.  I took a cog plus a gondola up, and set out.  The one problem with this is everyone started out at the same time because we all were on the same cog and then all (or most) got onto the gondolas, one after the other.  However, by the time we finished lake 1, the crowd started to spread out.

First up was picture time.  But there was a darn cloud covering part of the Matterhorn!  This would be a problem for like 80% of the hike.  

The first lake on the 5 Lakes Trail, or 5 Seeweg, was Stellisee.  This lake was up above the tree line and you could get some beautiful reflection photos off of it.

I then moved on through the next 4 lakes...see pretty pictures below...

Finally almost 4 hours into my hike, it happens!  The clouds clear from the Matterhorn and I get a gorgeous shot!  Mind you, I've been able to see the mountain for like 70% of the trail up to this point.  If you want a trail with continuous views of the Matterhorn, this is it (assuming the whole mountain isn't shrouded in fog or clouds).  Were these views the closest you could get?  No.  The 5 Lakes Trail is actually one of the further from the Matterhorn hikes, but it has something else worth seeing if the mountain is not visible.

As I was getting closer to the end, I wandered through I'm not sure what.  It was a "street" with houses/buildings on either side that looked like they could potentially be occupied at certain times of the year.  I'm not sure who or when they are occupied, but they look OLD.  Sturdy old, like they were built centuries ago of good sturdy wood that doesn't exist anymore.

Those houses in the middle of somewhere?

I made it up to the last lake, Leisee and there was a little play area and beach there.  I took off my shoes and let my feet chill in the cold stream.  I had blisters forming on my toes and by this point was pretty sure this would be my last hike of the trip.  I made my way back to Sunnegga, where I got on the cog rail for the trip back down to Zermatt, then went home, showered, and cooked some supper.

Then I went for a walk around the village, because why not?  Also, I was looking for some postcards.  And I found a restaurant owned by Samwise Gamgee

Riding the gondola up to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise.

On my last full day in Zermatt, I opted for the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise journey.  This wasn't part of the plan, but my feet had said no more hiking and this at least was something (and honestly, if you're planning a trip to Zermatt, this really isn't worth the cost).  I rode multiple gondolas and cable cars over the course of the day to get to the top.  Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is located on a mountain to the side of the Matterhorn, so theoretically you should have a great view of the mountain.  If there weren't clouds in the way.  You could look out one direction and see Breithorn nice and clear.  You could even count the number of people climbing it (like real climbing sort, not hiking)...I counted 21.  But if you turned in the opposite direction towards the Matterhorn, nothing! Bummer!  But at least I did finally get to use that coat I packed!  Because it was right about freezing and the wind was blowing faster than Kansas.

Mt Breithorn

The Matterhorn

MGP had a cinema area with multiple short films about the Matterhorn and surrounding areas that in total were about 30-40 mins worth of time.  Then I headed down to their Ice Palace under the mountain.  That was kinda neat.  I hung around for a while hoping it would clear out, to no avail.

And then I decided to make a run for Italy.  Well, actually, I made the decision in the morning when I bought my tickets.  The Matterhorn actually is an international border.  It sits right on the border between Italy and Switzerland.  In winter you can actually ride all the way down to the ski village on the Italian side, but that wasn't an option this time of year.  What the website also failed to mention was that most everything was closed at Testa Griga, so really you're just paying to ride the cable car over the glacier to the station on the border and ride back.  Still kinda cool, so while I was a bit disappointed I wasn't completely disappointed.  Also, glaciers in September are ugly.  The snow from last year has all melted so all you have is that sort of dirty snow look.  Though as I learned in New Zealand, that is important.  You want some dirty snow on top because it reflects the sun back and slows melting, though you don't want too much or it heats up the snow too much.  They had a bunch of machinery up there, making sure there were no crevasses or anything under what will be ski slopes, once winter comes.  

I'm standing in two countries at once!

One overall thought I had looking at everywhere I've hiked in Switzerland is that I understand why the Swiss are such good skiers at the Olympics.  Where they're skiing is kind of insane.  I can 100% tell you that there were maybe about 3 slopes I saw that I would have felt maybe comfortable on.  At least looking at them without snow.  

In the evening I took another walk around Zermatt, and wandered down some streets I hadn't been on yet.  I found some buildings with plaques on them saying these buildings dated back to the 16th and 17th centuries!  They were quite cute looking and I could imagine Heidi's grandfather having a cozy sort of house like that up high in the mountains.

I also wandered through the town cemetery.  I found there are basically 3 families that run the town and have been there for generations.  And that there are a number of graves of people who died climbing in the area.  Most of them have death dates that say "Matterhorn" or "Breithorn" or one of the other mountains.  There was one grave that was the resting place for two friends who died on the Matterhorn, and an unknown climber who was also found up there.  

In the morning it was dreary and rainy, so no final view of the Matterhorn.  And no Yeti sighting.  Disneyland was wrong.

Last "view" of the Matterhorn.

Switzerland Alpenventure: Wengen

Last morning views from Gimmelwald.  My scene as I was putting on my hiking boot.

After three nights in Gimmelwald it was time to move on.  Up next was Wengen, further up the Lauterbrunnen Valley, closer to the entrance, but also not accessible by car.  My friend Ben recommended the place, and I trust his taste in travel enough to give it a shot.  It also was nicely located on the other side of the valley so I'd have different views and have access to other travel locations.  I had done most of my packing the night before and finished up the last of it in the morning.  Up next was making the decision about travel and in the end I decided I would rather go all the way to Wengen (pronounced Vengen, you know, the German W=V scenario) and drop my stuff off and then head back down to the floor of the valley to spend my day as planned.  

Cable Car to Stechelberg

To get to Wengen from Gimmelwald, I first took a cable car to Stechelberg, followed by a bus to Lauterbrunnen, and then the cog railway to Wengen.  After dropping my bags off at my hotel (it was too early to check in), I took the cog back down to Lauterbrunnen and started walking a path through the valley.  The path itself was rather weird because was it a wide walking and bike path, or narrow road.  Turns out technically a narrow road, but there were only a few houses off of it so I assume cars only drive down it a few times a day.  

Lauterbrunnen Valley

The best way to describe the Lauterbrunnen Valley is Yosemite Valley if Yosemite had been homesteaded before the government preserved it.  The valley has tall walls of rock a couple of thousand feet tall, and waterfalls that flow off of them.  It being September, there are only a few waterfalls flowing at this time of year, but they say when the spring runoff is melting, there are 72 waterfalls.  It is said that this valley in particular inspired JRR Tolkein to create Rivendell.

Staubbach Falls

The trail runs up the valley, past Staubbach Falls first.  It still was flowing, but was definitely a more mild waterfall than pictures show it in May and June.  Further up the valley you could see tell-tale signs of waterfalls, but they appeared dry or didn't have enough water flowing down to do more than make the rocks glisten.  The one issue with the trail is the lack of shade.  It was sunny, not a cloud in the sky and that made it rather warm.  Where are the clouds when you want them? 

Trummelbach Falls

I decided the farthest up the trail I would go was to Trummelbach Falls.  Trummelbach Falls is a series of 10 waterfalls from the melting waters of the Jungfrau, Monch, and Eiger glaciers.  The cool thing about the Falls is a lot of it is inside.  Somehow someone back in the 1800s realized that this waterfall was actually falling inside the rock walls of the valley before finally dropping the last bit of it on the valley walls.  And then they thought, how can I make an attraction out of this.  This resulted in them basically building an elevator inside the rock walls and tunnels so you can see the internal falls.  The falls are lit up and definitely worth a visit in my opinion.  It was definitely a neat place.

Trummelbach Falls

On my walk back to Lauterbrunnen, I decided it was necessary to buy cheese from a cheese vending machine along the path, because why not?  When in Switzerland...

Cheese vending machine

Upon getting back to Wengen, I got checked in and then quickly made my way down to the grocery store to buy a sandwich for supper because I really wasn't in the mood for a sit-down dinner.  I wandered the length of the town and sat down on some benches up by a church that had a great view of the valley.  I sat up there finishing an audiobook while the sun set.  

Sunset from Wengen

Then I headed down to the community center where they were having a Folkloric show.  This is something they seem to do once a month during the summer months.  It started out with people carrying in these GIANT cowbells.  So big.  Apparently these bells are used to ring in the New Year and are brought out for events like this.  Then we had Ost and his Alphorn.  He played some songs on it, one being Amazing Grace. In a way it is played like a bugle, by which I mean, there is no fingerings or slides used to adjust pitch.  We had some women do some traditional dances.  The host noted that the club seemed to be missing men, so women were playing all the roles.  There was also the band that played some polkas.  I think that hit everything.  It was just happenstance that I came into town the day they were having this event.

See?  Aren't those bells gigantic?

The following morning was birthday morning!  It's fun to be able to celebrate your birthday on a trip somewhere.  I've also previously celebrated birthdays in Peru and Spain, plus some domestic trips.  The plan for the day was Grindelwald.  I was hesitant about Grindelwald because I had seen a lot of people say that it is overcrowded and not worth the hype.  Honestly, after visiting, I feel that is an apt description and I'm glad I chose not to stay there, but instead to stay in Wengen.

The fierce, fluffy guard dog at my hotel.  So much fluff!

To get to Grindelwald from Wengen, I took the cable car from Wengen to Mannlichen, up on the mountain ridge above Wengen, and then rode in a 10 person gondola on the way down, though there were only 3 of in it.  On the Wengen side, the mountain is steep, but on the Grindelwald side, the slope is much more gradual and it is dotted with ski-lifts.  

Wengen side of the mountain, with avalache protection fences. Much steeper!

The Grindelwald side of the mountain.

Before going down the gondola to Grindelwald, I hiked up to the peak of Mannlichen where there was a great view of the Lauterbrunnen Valley and the Grindelwald Valley.  You could also see one of the lakes on either side of Interlaken.  On the hike up, there were a number of signs talking about the three peaks in front of us (Jungfrau, Monch, and Eiger).  The signs talked about everything from composition, to how they inspired painters and poets, to those who have climbed the Eiger North Face, and their names.  Each one also had a fun little game.

Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau from Mannlichen

After making my way back down, I got into the gondola and headed down into Grindelwald.  Upon getting to the station in Grindelwald, I was hot and sweaty, thanks to being inside a glass box on a very sunny and warm day.  Good news was there was a Lindt chocolate shop inside the station, and I got myself a delicious birthday ice cream.  I also decided it was my birthday and I wanted to be lazy, so instead of walking the mile or so to the city center area, I hopped the train.  Yes, I spent a whole 2.20 CHF because I wanted to be lazy on my birthday (with that said, I still walked over 10 miles over the course of the day).

First ice cream of the day!  Because I'm the birthday girl!

Step one upon arrival in the city center, was to find a pharmacy to buy some more ibuprofen, because I have developed shin splints, and I don't exactly have time to rest them, and my stash I brought with me was already almost gone, thanks to headaches my first two days (jetlag), and pain in my body after my hike down from Schilthorn.  From there I wandered the town, making my way towards the Grindelwald-First cable car, which will take you up to the First peak, which sits above Grindelwald.  Up there they had a bunch of hiking trails and some things like a zip line and bikes to ride down the mountain. 

View from First looking out over Grindelwald and the Grindelwald (?) Glacier.  Idk if that's its actual name.

The views were great and you could see the glacier up on the mountain above Grindelwald really well.  Unfortunately it was hot and I was hot because I had packed for cooler weather, expecting I'd think 60-75 would feel cool after all the 100+ degree days I'd been living in.  This meant I packed no shorts.  At least I did pack a few short sleeve shirts, but I was still hot and a bit miserable.  I ended up ending a planned hike only about 1/2 mile in (1 mile round trip) because I just wasn't into it.  I made my way down the mountain in a gondola with 3 Chinese men, who had matching Discovery Travel shirts so I assume they were on some guided trip and had the day in Grindelwald to do what they wanted.  

Once back in the town, I set out to find more ice cream because I was hot.  And I managed to find what has to be the cheapest ice cream spot in the country.  I got three scoops (it's my birthday!) and it was only 6 CHF.  I'd paid more for a single scoop in Zurich.  And then after finishing my ice cream, I headed down to the train station to ride the train back to Lauterbrunnen and then the cog back up to Wengen.  After a shower, I went out for supper.

My last day in Wengen, I spent hiking above the town.  I took the cable car back up to Mannlichen and then set out on the Panorama trail.  The day was cool and perfect for hiking.  I had specifically made this decision, when I saw it was going to be cooler.  Grindelwald on the hot day, hiking Mannlichen to Kleine Shieddegg to Eigergletscher on the cooler day.  The Panorama hike was a pretty easy hike for being on the side of a mountain.  The one unknown for the hike was how the Jungfrau Marathon was going to impact me.

A very different sort of weather morning from up on Mannlichen.

Yes, I happened to pick the day of the Jungfrau Marathon to hike.  The marathon started in Interlaken and climbed almost 2000m up to the Eiger Glacier.  The first half of the trail is pretty flat, before it then takes a turn for the steep as they run from Lauterbrunnen (812m) to Wengen (1283m) to Eigergletscher (2320m).  I got passed by the winners about 5 minutes before he crossed the finish line.  It took me an extra 12 or so minutes to make it up to the finish line area (obviously they weren't going to let me cross the line).  The female winner would have finished 10th overall, which I consider to be pretty impressive.  I would just like to say that at the time I reached the "finish", I had been hiking for roughly 2 hours, and had gone 4.66 miles.  

After watching some of the racers make their way up, and then eating some chocolate (insert Professor Lupin saying "eat it"), I started back down to Kleine Shieddegg, while I figured out what my plan was.  I came into the day having multiple plans.  I could take the trail across and up to Eigergletscher and back down to Keline Shieddegg and hop the cog down to Wengen, or I could hike back across to where I came back up on a different trail.  After seeing how crowded the trains were, and the fact I was feeling pretty good still, I decided to hike back.  I finished my day hiking a total of 10 miles (almost exactly) in 6 hours.  Though my Garmin tells me only 3hr 56 m of that was moving time.  I spent some time snacking, taking photos, and watching racers so that checks out.  And then I spent some time dying on my last uphill trek of the Romantic Trail (misnomer, there was nothing romantic about it!).  

The cog coming down from Eigergletscher.

On the cable car ride back into Wengen, there were some marathoners on it, which means they made it to the top and then chose to hike another like 2-3 miles back to this cable car after!  Insane!  Of course they run marathons, so we already knew they were insane.

I suspect fall colors are starting to creep into some of the alpine brush.

Up next is Zermatt, home of the Matterhorn.  And as Disneyland has taught me, the Yeti.