A view from our hotel room balcony into the town of Lauterbrunnen.

After a truly horrible, no good, very bad day with the Italian railroad system on Saturday, we finally made it to our destination in Switzerland at about dinner time, three hours later than scheduled. I am so thankful that we are all in good health and we didn’t lose any luggage. 

We met my sister Sue and her husband Ken in Lauterbrunnen, where we’re staying for a week in the Staubbach hotel. So now we are 10 people, instead of 8. 

We have longed to return here ever since our first visit in 2015. As the train chugged up the valley from Interlaken and I saw the Staubbach Falls again, I felt like I was coming home. This is such a beautiful place, and our hotel is so comfortable, it feels like home.

It was dark, cold, windy, and snowing when we walked to dinner Saturday at a restaurant over near the campground, to the south of town. But the restaurant was warm and the food was delicious!

Our whole party had rooms on the third floor (second floor for Europeans) of our hotel. Many of us had balconies but it was too cold to use them.

Swiss restaurant in the camping village – do you like the red cows?

Ken and Sue shared a dessert called “Death by Chocolate.”

We were all exhausted from our train ordeal, so we spent a pretty relaxing day on Sunday. We woke up to a beautiful snowstorm. It snowed all day but it was pretty warm, so the snow melted.

The only outing we had on Sunday, besides dinner, was to Trummelbach Falls, and that was just four of us.

Karen had tiramisu ice cream!

These are the Staubbach Falls, as seen from our balcony. We got a corner room and the balcony wraps around the hotel. There are actually a lot of mountains farther on down; you just can’t see them yet. Maybe later this week.

One of our favorite memories of the Staubbach hotel (and a significant factor in our decision to return there) is their breakfast. It’s a great combination of fantastic views, good food, and a fun social time. We used the breakfast time to plan the day’s activities.

This is our hotel, the Staubbach, named after the largest waterfall in the city. Waterfalls line the cliffs all the way down the valley.

This is an old hotel but they’ve fixed it up well and the service is the best ever. We love it here.

The hotel puts out a great breakfast, with bacon and eggs, several kinds of bread and cereal, coffee and juices, assorted meats and cheeses, jam and honey – really anything you might want.

Every breakfast table has its own picture window with a view of the Staubbach waterfall and the valley to the south. It is a great place to linger, talk, drink coffee, and enjoy the view.

The hotel staff adds a lot of value to the breakfast time. The staff people speak English well, and they seem to like to talk with tourists. In addition to providing all of the breakfast meal, they make a point of visiting each table group, asking about their plans for the day, and offering advice and ideas. They have a lot of patience for all sorts of questions, and if they don’t know the answer immediately they will go find it!