Switzerland Adventure . Day 7 . Wengen to Griesalp

Wengen to Lauterbrunnen to Murren via train and cableway
Murren to Sefinenfurgge to Griesalp via Via Alpina route 

​The big days begin. From the moment Mike planned this trip, he has been dreading today and the next day.  These were the big ones. Wengen to Lauterbrunnen to Murren to the pass and down to Griesalp was our adventure for the day. We ate breakfast, probably the most meager one of the trip, and then headed out early to catch the train down to the valley. There were no clouds in the sky.  It was a perfect day for what is commonly known as the most beautiful segment of the Via Alpina. It did not disappoint. The views of the valley from the train were spectacular. Having already done Lauterbrunnen the day before, we headed directly to the gondola, bought our tickets, and headed up the mountain. What a blessing it was to go up to Murren by gondola and train. We met a man on the train who had been hiking in Switzerland but didn’t invest in good socks. Good socks are where it’s at when you’re hiking, but especially in the Swiss Alps. From Murren we headed out into the forest and began our steep ascent up to the pass, the Sefinenfurgge. The views were absolutely amazing. The Eiger, the Monch, and Jungfrau loomed large the whole trip and were soon joined by other mountains, more glaciers, and more peaks. It was staggering in the bright sun with alpine flowers blossoming everywhere. Truly, this was a heavenly place! As we climbed, we ran into a family from America that was not prepared for this hike and clearly had no idea what they were getting into. You could tell the dad didn’t think it through very well before he planned this hike. It was as brutal as it was breathtaking, and they had a long way to go to get to the hotels in the Kiental valley. Half way up, we stopped at a little farm (after busting our way through the herd) and ate some lunch on the bench in the shade. We saw a cowgirl walking with a big stick to go beat the crap out of a cow, or maybe the Americans, but either way, she was a little intimidating. So, we ate lunch, and headed back out on the trail that was now fully exposed in the sun as we crested the peak to the pass. The views from the pass were second to none and we celebrated our summit with selfies and chocolate. From there, we started the long and grueling descent to Griesalp (actually our mountain hotel was past Griesalp, so bonus hiking for us). In all, it was a beautiful hike, but a brutal descent. In stark contrast to the American family, was an old Swiss lady we saw hiking up the mountain at a perfectly steady pace. She caught us on the descent as we were filling up water at one of the randomly placed water spickets that dot Switzerland’s mountains. She told us which way to go, and we descended into the woods toward our hotel. We did finally see some goats, one of which was desperately in need of a good milking. After a long descent, we arrived at the hotel Waldrand, a historic hotel where we got to share a bathroom with two other couples. Dinner was wonderful and we sat outside looking at the mountains and giant waterfalls in the cool summer evening. It was a wonderful meal, and the people were super nice. The menu was all in German and we asked the hostess what one of the dishes was, and she thought for a moment and said, “little moo”. Perfect, we’ll have the little moo and the pork cordon bleu. It was a great meal and a wonderful end to a long and tiring day. With memories of beautiful mountain peaks, we fell asleep listening to the Germans next to us laugh and make commentary that we could not understand at all as we snuggled under our fluffy Swiss comforters. It was bliss.