The Most Beautiful Place in the World

       My excuse for not having written in three weeks is that we had company. Never mind that the company was only here for one of those weeks, that I had plenty of time for pleasure reading during that time, or that I wasted at least as many minutes on Facebook as it would have taken me to write a blog. I don't have another good excuse, so I'll play the company card.
       I enjoy having company. First of all, having guests makes me feel like I belong here. After all, I usually have a better handle on local attractions, restaurants, transportation, etc. than visitors from other countries. Sometimes I even speak more French than they do. Guests also provide an excuse to pull out the traditional Swiss recipes: tartiflette, raclette, fondue. And having people to entertain means that we get to do entertaining things, such as climb the steps at Saint-Pierre Cathedral, tour the chocolate factory in Gruyères, and eat ice cream at least once a day. Another of our favorite things to do with guests is to use the Carte Journalière train passes, which allow the holder to go anywhere on Swiss public transportation during a 24-hour period. This time, we took the train to Lauterbrunnen, a town in the Bernese Oberland famous for (probably) having inspired J.R.R. Tolkien's drawings of Rivendell. It's true, anyway, that Tolkien hiked there and that he drew pictures of the mountains and waterfalls surrounding the Lauterbrunnen Valley that look uncannily like the pictures he later drew when creating Middle Earth.
       The Lauterbrunnen Valley is the most beautiful place I have ever visited. They say that it has 72 waterfalls, and I can vouch personally for at least half that many.

The Valley

       Lauterbrunnen is beyond Interlaken, a 3 - 4 hour train trip from Geneva, depending on the route. On the way there, we took the more scenic (longer) route, which chugged through Alps for most of the way. We arrived at the Lauterbrunnen train station in time for an early lunch. I was glad I had packed picnic stuff, because the grocery store was closed for one of those holidays that were originally part of the church calendar, but are now just excuses for everyone to take the day off.

The view from the bench where we ate lunch. 

     We bought drinks (and pastries, of course) at a bakery, which was open despite the holiday. The Dutch woman behind the counter advised us that the best thing to do with the few hours that we had in the area was to walk to Stechelberg, a town about 4 miles down the valley. She didn't mention that the famous Trummelbach Falls were on the way, but about 40 minutes out of town, the yellow "Wanderweg" sign directed us to a detour leading to those falls. I had read that the falls were inside a mountain and reached by a lift of some sort. I couldn't quite picture what that meant, but we decided to check it out. A short ride on what was basically a slanty elevator took us about halfway up the falls; then we were on our own with steps. The falls are, literally, inside the mountain. They are a sight that is unique, powerful, and a bit scary. I was glad the kids were old enough to be smart about staying away from the edge. 

Inside the mountain with Trummelbach Falls

The power of the water was amazing.

And the noise

Looking down on a waterfall

Looking up to the daylight

       I wondered at first how people had discovered the falls, seeing as they are, indeed, trapped inside the mountain itself. When we exited, however, it became obvious. The noise of the falls, thunderous up close, was clearly audible from the outside as well. 

       After the detour, we continued our walk toward Stechelberg. The sun was shining -- as it had not been in Geneva for close to a week -- and we paused to take some photos with the locals.

Johanna poses with her new friend.

The cow was not interested in looking at the camera.

       Although Stechelberg is not a big place (pop. 255, says Wikipedia), we had a bit of trouble finding the local ice-cream store. Some friendly Brits led us to the right spot, and we bought large sundaes to celebrate the walk, the sun, the cows, the falls, and the day. Then, time becoming short (and some legs becoming sore), we boarded a yellow Post bus back to Lauterbrunnen and the train. Eric wondered if the people who live in the valley appreciate the splendor with which they are surrounded. He thinks that, to them, it might become simply background noise.

They might be looking at Staubbach  Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in Europe, here.

The wildflower-filled fields added to the beauty.

Cows graze at the bottom of another fall.

I don't believe it for a second.