Day 14 - Trummelbach Falls

Even vacations require some maintenance. So after breakfast this morning we headed to the laundromat to wash some clothes. Up until now we've been sink washing. So putting our clothes in the washing machines felt like a luxury. Did I say that?

After our chores we headed up the trail to Trummelbach Falls. Hiking paths in Switzerland are very well maintained and marked. It was an easy 45 minute hike along the river. Trummelbach is a series of ten glacier-waterfalls inside the mountain and it is only accessible by tunnel-lift (or stairs) and the internal falls are illuminated. The Falls is an UNESCO site and is the only accessible glacier-waterfalls in Europe inside the mountain.

We took the lift up and hiked the stairs to Falls 6 thru 10. Now, I'm not afraid of heights, but when we reached the first falls, the temperature dropped, the wind gust out of the tunnel and the roar of the waterfall was deafening. And while I looked over the edge at the Falls I felt panic. Looking down into the pool of water made me dizzy. It was almost hypnotic and I needed to get away from the edge. Tony, Mr. Aerophobic didn't seem to have any problems.

We continued up the steps to view the rest of the falls. Once we were deeper into the tunnel system my panic subsided and we were both in awe of the power and size of these falls. The water comes from the snow melt of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains.

After the falls we continued our hike up the valley. In Stechelberg we hopped on a gondola for a 5 minute ride to Gimmelwald. No panic from Tony here either. Of course he couldn't see how high we were. He kept his eyes closed for the entire 5 minute ride. Gimmelwald is not as developed like many of the other valley towns. Years ago the city declared itself as an avalanche zone. It was very interesting watching the farmers harvest a crop on the hillside. Their tractors and wagons were working at a pretty steep angle.

After our short visit we headed back down. This time Tony did keep his eyes open. I have to say, I was proud of him for even going up. I think the most difficult part was the anticipation, although he may disagree.

After a quick bus ride back to Lauterbrunnen we stopped by the coop to pick up a couple of things for dinner. We also found some great local cheese and cold cuts at the meat market. For our last night in Lauterbrunnen we dined on our balcony with one of the best views in Europe.

Time to pack up for Munich. We'll miss this place.