Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

After leaving France, we drove another 2 hours south until we reached the Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland.  We rented two apartments in a chalet via airbnb.com.  This was my first time renting an apartment; we had only stayed in hotel rooms up until now.  A friend had recommend this place, and it really lived up to its description!  The views were just breathtaking.   

Our chalet for the weekend

View out the back

View out the side window: a train!

Lauterbrunnen was really cute--a true skier's town.  The only coffee shop on the street was full of people unwinding after a day on the slopes.  We followed the skiers on foot to the train station, where we took a train and then a cable car up to Mürren, a pedestrian only town.  

Train ride from Lauterbrunnen to Mürren

Cable car to Mürren

We found the tourist office and enjoyed a couple hours there just looking out at the ice rink and sipping cappucinos while Drew played in the snow.  We hadn't had any snow in Germany at that point yet, and he was so excited to play in it.

Then we took another cable car up even higher to Sonnenberg.

It was a fitting name (Sonnenberg = sunny mountain)!  In fact, we had to buy sunglasses at the tourist office for Drew and me (we had forgotten ours at home).

Sporting new shades and a huge smile

We sat at an outdoor biergarden and enjoyed some beer, apfelschorle, pommes, and macaroni while Drew climbed around in the snow and made a snowman with some other little kids.

View of biergarden from up above

Awesome playground!

We took a few family photos before riding the cable car back down to Mürren.  The three mountains behind us are the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau.  

"[A] legend from the highest Swiss Alps holds that Moench ("Monk") peak is protecting the Jungfrau ["Virgin"] from the nearby Eiger ("Ogre").

'It is a good name, Jungfrau -- Virgin. Nothing could be whiter; nothing could be purer; nothing could be saintlier of aspect,' wrote Mark Twain on an 1891 visit.

It's likely, however, that the original names arose for less romantic reasons.

Jungfrau most likely got its name because a convent once owned pastures at the foot of the mountain. Eiger -- famous for its killer north face -- could derive from the Latin acer, meaning sharp, or the Old Germanger, meaning spear or javelin.

And Moench? Chances are its lower pastures were owned by monks."

(Excerpt from Sam Cage's article in the LA Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2006/apr/02/news/adfg-mntns2)

Many tourists go up to the top of the Jungfrau, which is known as the highest point in all of Europe.  For this trip, we were content to just see the peak from down below.

Typical

Jill and Jeremy

Check out Jill's post for more pics, and very similar commentary (we are sisters, after all :)).

Click HERE.