We woke up to a pretty heavy rain so we slowly got up and around and once it started to let up we decided this was a good day to explore the Lauterbrunnen valley and headed down the lift. We got to town and found a cafe and had a nice leisurely breakfast and then headed to the bike rental shop to rent a couple of e-bikes for a ride up the valley.

Neither of us rides our bikes out and about much so it was a bit of an adventure getting used to stopping and starting and doing the crowds but we eventually got the hang of it. The e-bike boost was definitely nice to make it a pretty easy ride.

We bought some local Alpe Kase (Alp cheese) from a vending machine for a snack later and rode up the valley famous for it high cliffs on both sides and 72 waterfalls. We stopped and looked at the tallest of the falls, Staubbach falls, and looked up and up and up as the water fell.

Riding a little further we saw signs for another interesting falls the Trümmelbach falls so we detoured and backtracked along the car road for a bit. Chuck almost fell once and Becky was a little nervous with the traffic but we made it safely and tentatively parked our bikes. We just had to hope for the best of people as we had no locks but it all worked out in the end. We paid the entry fee and headed up to a diagonal elevator into the mountain for this waterfall that is almost entirely inside the mountain. It bores its way through creating huge gashes and pools as it makes its way down from the Jüngfrau glacier melt to the valley. This was an amazing (if a bit wet) experience and we are definitely glad we made the detour.

Back on the bikes we mostly backtracked to the path and then back into town. The crowds had definitely picked up after we left town and we eventually had to walk our bikes due to the large and clueless crowd. We had a stretch along the main street that Becky was worried about so I reminded her she could turn up the boost on the e-bike and she zoomed away happily back to our rental shop.

We found out our good friend Cathy and her son Sam were arriving in a bit over an hour so we went and grabbed lunch at a cafe and killed time until we could go meet them as they arrived. They were staying up in Gimmewald as well at another B&B near us so we met up and showed them the ropes on getting up there as it involves a bus and a cable car. We let them drop off their luggage and then headed up to the slightly larger town of Mürren and walked a bit and found them late lunch while we had some ice cream. We were going to do a short loop hike above Mürren but the funicular was closed for the evening so we walked the beautifully scenic paved trail back to Gimmewald.

After letting them rest for a bit we headed to the only other eating spot in Gimmewald, The Mountain Hostel, which serves stone fired pizza. It was a fun and solid meal where you choose your own toppings for the pizzas. The atmosphere on their terrace and the views couldn’t have been a better end to a nice day.

Today’s Highlights

• Lazy rainy morning in the mountains
• Chasing waterfalls instead of the rivers and the lakes that we’re used to
• Friends!
• An easy downhill stroll
• Pizza

Tomorrow’s Proposed Adventure

• Breakfast at a rotating restaurant on top of Schilthorn mountain
• Maybe some hiking
• Fondue