Bern and Interlaken Areas

After leaving our mountain getaway in Grindelwald we headed down the mountain to stay a couple nights in Interlaken. Since we had spent the last few days hiking and climbing in the mountains we thought it would be nice to go see a city, so we decided to check out Bern. It might have been because we had just come from some of the most amazing scenery or maybe we just didn't go to the right places but we were a little disappointed in Bern. We didn't feel like the city had that charming appeal to it like other European cities.

There are some nice sights to see like this view over the river.

Inside the city there is a big city park next to the River Aare. I had heard that floating down the river was a must-do in Bern. So while Natali rested in the park, I hiked up the river and took a plunge into the clear blue water. I had seen many of the little rivers that run off the mountains from the snow-pack that is still melting so I knew it would be chilly. The river was about six to seven feet deep all the way across and was running faster than I expected.

I enjoyed it so much that when I came back and saw that Natali was asleep, I decided to go up river even further and do it again. If you are ever in Bern in the summer, this is one thing that you definitely must do. The water may seem chilly at first but it is a great experience (Natali was taking a nap when I was in the river so all we have is a picture of other people floating in the river).

We saw a few other things in Bern like the Bear Park, the Munster Cathedral, and the Federal Palace. Here is a photo of the cathedral:

We also had a yummy typical swiss lunch with rosti (similar to hash brown potatoes) covered in cheese and meat and other seasonings. In this case we had pork and it was also covered in apples. We didn't love the apples but everything else was great!

We also really wanted to see the Bern Temple so we headed over there. We should have planned our day better so we could have done a session there but we didn't even know if we would make it out to Bern until that day so we were sad that we couldn't go inside. The temple was very small and there was no fence around it. The neighborhood kids would just walk right through the temple ground to go to their friend's house.

 We headed to Interlaken to see check it out before we went to our hotel in Wilderswil. We found a casino that had some great grounds so we took some pictures.

We walked around for a while and then decided to head to the hotel and grab dinner somewhere in Wilderswil. We were excited to see an orchestra setting up right beside our hotel, so we grabbed a table (it was really lucky that we got one) so that we could have dinner and a show. It was awesome. They played all kinds of music and the food was great too. Natali had to hold herself down so that she didn't jump up and start dancing. It was a great end to the day.

The next day we wanted to go back to the natural beauty of Switzerland. We headed to the Aareschlucht Gorge about 30 minutes outside of Interlaken. On our way there we saw an old, British car (driver on the wrong side) in front of us and a couple behind us. We thought it was pretty cool. Then we arrived and realized we were right in the middle of about 25 of these cars that were all heading to the gorge... Our little Fiesta stuck out like a sore thumb.

Through the gorge they had built walkways that were hanging from the side of the cliffs. As we walked from one side of the gorge to the other Natali was pretty scared and asked more than once, "If this pathway fell right now, do you think we would die?" It was pretty amazing to see that much water running through a tight canyon like that.

From the gorge, it was just a train back to where we started and then a mile or so to the base of the Reichenbach Falls. A train took us up to the base of the main water fall. These are the famous falls from the Sherlock Holmes' books where he and Dr. Moriarty have their final duel. The falls were pretty amazing and Natali got some great pictures.

Then we hiked up the trail and saw even more waterfalls further up. It is pretty amazing.

 Lauterbrunnen is known as the valley of the waterfalls but we actually saw more waterfalls around Interlaken (maybe it depends what time of year you go). So we headed to another waterfall that is by Brienz Lake. We had a little bit of trouble getting there so if you are ever in that area and want to see the Giessbach Falls, make sure you park at the Giessbach Hotel. It is much easier. Anyways, this is a beautiful waterfall to see and it even has a pathway that goes behind it that is really neat.

It then started raining on us so we headed back to the hotel to wait it out. It was pouring and didn't really stop. Fortunately we had gotten an early start that day and got to do (almost) everything we wanted to do that day. Dinner that night was great. Natali ordered garlic soup. It was very interesting alone, but we started dipping our french fries in it and it was delicious. It was funny because Natali was embarrassed that we were dipping our fries in the soup so she was super paranoid about the waiters seeing us. I made her take this picture just to prove that she did it.

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