Männlichen, Wengen, and Lauterbrunnen

We had a new set of adventures in the Swiss Alps today! After breakfast, we met Aunt Rennie and Uncle Hang Hang at the Interlaken West station where we boarded a bus to the Wilderswill station and then hopped on the train to Grindelwald. Simon tried his luck at researching and planning the route using the SBB app. The results were mixed - while we got everywhere on time, we actually boarded our train a stop further up the line so we were more cramped than usual.

We hopped off the train at the Grindelwald Terminal (rather than central station) and quickly boarded a cable car to experience one of the longest and most scenic cable car lines in the world—from Grindelwald to Männlichen. The ride was smooth and astoundingly scenic. We coasted up the mountainside, over rivers, forests, and innumerable cows with noisy bells, and in the shadow of Mount Eiger, Mount Mönch, and Mount Jungfrau—the tallest mountain in Europe.

Once we got to Männlichen, we were immediately greeted by its incredible playground - filled with a massive cow, trampolines, roundabout swings, a teeter-totter, obstacle courses for kids, a giant hammock, a climbing wall, bowling, a climbing spinner, and lots of play animals to scale and ride. The boys were adventurous and resilient. They took some risks, learned to work on their balance, and eventually became more independent. And they both had loads of fun.

While the boys played, Simon also snuck off to take more photos of the surroundings.

Late in the morning, we all hiked up from the playground to the Männlichen peak to take in spectacular and panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, down into the Lauterbrunnen valley, and to Interlaken. Bennett, in particular, climbed a bunch of the way himself.

We then had a tasty and quick lunch back near the playground, with more great views, and then the boys played further.

In the mid-afternoon, we took a different cable car down from Männlichen to Wengen, and then walked around a bit there before finding some caffeinated refreshments for the adults and iced chocolate for the boys.

Next, we took another short train to Lauterbrunnen further down the mountainside. On the way there, Erika and Simon reminisced about their amazing Contiki trip and their last visit to Lauterbrunnen 13 years ago.

Once in Lauterbrunnen, we trekked to Staubbach Falls. Nico fell asleep on Simon’s back on the walk through Lauterbrunnen. No one ever did that on Contiki.

There, we hiked up to get as close to the falls as possible, which meant climbing in the cliffside until we were underneath the falls themselves. Poor Nico woke up as we were getting splashed by the falls, but handled it like a champ and loved the unique experience.

Finally, we descended from the falls, peaked at our old Contiki camp haunts, trudged back through town, and took a final set of trains to Interlaken Ost and West.