Last September my family and I were fortunate enough to visit the beautiful country of Switzerland. My wife and kids are all dual US/Swiss citizens (my wife's mom was born there) and she really wanted the kids to see from where they came.
It was quite a journey traveling from our then home of Costa Rica. We started by taking a bus from San Jose, Costa Rica to Panama City, Panama....That is an adventure in and of itself. Its an 18 hour bus ride! We spent a few days in Panama to recover and then hopped about the long flight to Paris aboard a KLM 747. Once in Paris we went through EU customs and then boarded an hour long flight to Zurich. Out the plane window I could see the green rolling hills and gingerbread chalets. I knew we were over Switzerland.
We stayed our first night in a youth hostel in Zurich. It was a decent room that had enough room for the 5 of us. The nice thing was that the hostel was close to the airport and close to the train station. We didn't have to share with anyone else in the family suite. The hostel had pool tables and a bar/restaurant and was nice. In the morning I walked around the immediate area around Zurich. I found it to be very clean and tidy. But we were not going to stay in Zurich, but were headed to the Alps to a Villiage called Wengen.
By train, getting to Wengen from Zurich is not the easiest thing in the world. There were about 5 train changes along the way and when traveling with a lot of bags and a lot of kids, the busy train stations can be pretty hectic. Luckily the Swiss trains are always on time. Actually, it would have been easier for us if a train was late a minute or Two, which would have allwed us to move all our stuff without the rust. We did miss two trains.
Wengen (pronounced Vengen) in located in the Center of Switzerland in the Bernese Oberland, high in the Alps. As you approach by train through the town of interlokken, you enter into a valley of granite cliffs and waterfalls that resembles Yosemite. The last train stop before the near vertical train-ride to Wengen is Louterbrunnen. Lauterbrunnen means loud water, which makes sense because there is a spectacular waterfall that is quite noisy!
Wengen is located up on a ledge up a cliff that you can only get to by train or Hike. The legendary Swiss engineers managed to get a track up to Wenger, which is over 4,000 vertical feet up.
The kids wiped out from all the traveling.
On the train to Wengen, which is about a 15 minute ride, sit on the right hand side of the train. You will be rewarded with some of the most spectacular views in all the Alps. You will see down below the town of Louterbrunnen and its waterfall, you will see Jungfrau, the highest mountain in Europe looming a mile higher than Wengen. It is breathtaking.
The view back into the valley from the train
The Villiage of Wengen.
In the next post I will talk more about what to do in Wengen and some of the other spectacular spots we visited in Switzerland. Stay tuned!