On Monday we boarded the Golden Pass panorama train in Lucerne and took the 90-minute trip south to Interlaken.

We reserved first-class seats for this train and boy was it worth it! The windows are huge and we had beautiful views for the whole trip. There was plenty of extra space in our car so we could jump back and forth to catch the views on either side. Taking pictures from a moving train is pretty challenging!

Click on any picture to see a full-size view.

We arrived in Interlaken in time for lunch, which was purchased at a grocery store. One of my favorite things about Europe is that delicious sandwiches are available in stores. So you can buy one of those and a container of fruit juice and have a nice lunch at a low price.

We walked into town and checked out a few shops. I was tempted to buy a cowbell but I didn’t. I may get one in Lauterbrunnen. We have heard many cowbells (attached to actual cows) and the sound is quite enjoyable.

We boarded another train for the short trip up to Lauterbrunnen. This was an older train that sort of creaked up the mountain. But we arrived without incident.

On the way we passed by Lake Brienz, which was a real treat. The water was a bright blue color that none of us had ever seen before in a lake.

Lauterbrunnen is a small resort town with only 1 main street. All along the street are hotels, restaurants, and shops of various kinds.  The reason there’s only 1 street is that the town is in the steepest valley I’ve ever seen. High cliffs are on both sides, and waterfalls coming down. It’s amazingly beautiful.

We checked into our hotel, which is down at the south end of the town. It’s called the Staubbach Hotel and it’s quite old. Lauterbrunnen became a famous resort back in the 1890’s and many of its hotels date from that era.

All of our rooms have balcony views. Karen and I have view of the street; the others have views to the valley and the waterfalls. The rooms are not fancy at all but we like them; they are large and comfortable.

After a short break and a conference we decided to wait for tomorrow to go up to Schilthorn. Instead (with the encouragement of our hotel host) we decided to walk up to Trummelbach Falls.

The walk turned out to be much longer and more strenuous than we had expected, but the falls were pretty amazing. None of us had ever seen a waterfall inside of a mountain before. I have movies which I will try to put together and post.

We were very thankful when a bus arrived to take us back into town, and we immediately sought relief in a restaurant. Several of us had rösti (a traditional Swiss dish, which is basically fried potatoes with cheese) served with meat – either a wurst (sausage) or a mixture of ham, onions, and mushrooms. I had the latter and it was quite delicious, although it tasted like breakfast.