In August we took a weekend trip to Interlaken, Switzerland for a hiking adventure with Ryder! What we knew about Switzerland prior to our trip: it's the most naturally picturesque place on the planet and also the most expensive. SO- we packed a cooler full of food, Ryders leash and the good camera! We booked a cozy AirBnb for a great rate in Darlingen, just 8 short minutes from Interlaken. On Friday night we checked into our AirBnb which included hand made treats for Ryder! Once we got settled we asked where we could walk to eat and were pointed in the direction of the one and only restaurant in this tiny town. It ended up being closed so we quickly googled a restaurant Michael had researched for later in the weekend and while it was open until midnight, it stopped serving food in just 15 minutes- we raced back to the car, jetted over to Interlaken, found parking and ran to the restaurant huffing and puffing as we entered the door, plopping down in the only open table and orders 2 beers and fish and chips as soon as someone came over to our table. We made it!

The next morning after a home made breakfast with a view, we were off on our day-long hiking adventure. Michael did the research for this trip, so I followed his lead and we headed to the Lauterbrunnen train station to take a train up to Wengen to take the gondola up to Manlichen. This is what the blogs "told us to do" which was fine, until the gondola cost 96 Swiss Francs, which was just over $100 USD. For a 10 minute ride up the side of a mountain. This would all be fine and well if we couldn't possibly get there any other way. We ended up above the clouds and the view was incredible. But after only 2 hours of hiking we ended up in Kleine Scheidegg where we could have taken the train straight from Lauterbrunnen. Meaning we could have hiked FROM Kleine Scheidegg TO Manlichen, seen the view, and hiked back, saving us $100. But you live and learn! The views were spectacular, and we ate lunch in this green meadow looking right at a huge snow capped mountain. Ryder had a ball to say the least! That evening we had some vino and apps at our AirBnb before taking the train to Interlaken for dinner at a fantastic hole in the wall Italian place where the "house wine" we ordered came at a reasonable $40 (?%#$*). There was not a ton of walking around to be done- Interlaken can best be described as a slightly cheesy resort town that revolves around hiking and skiing. It is not the most quaint European town we have visited, but we were mostly there for the hiking anyways- so it was perfect!

Sunday we checked out of our AirBnb and headed to Interlaken again to hike to Harder Kulm. The hike said it would take 2 hours and 20 minutes (they rarely put distances on signs, only average times, which we found interesting) and was completely uphill... like seriously steep. There was an older man with his dog hiking slow and steady in front of us that we quickly passed in our sprightly and naive pace. This pace quickly slowed and we were passed by older man with dog and hiking stick. Once we caught out breath we picked up passing him again. What seemed only moments later we were resting for water and he was passing us, slow and steady, probably chuckling at us two young "hares" who don't understand that at this steep incline, SLOW and steady is truly better. We just weren't used to hiking at such a shuffled and slow pace. By now we were feeling whipped and had very little idea how far along we really were, so I told Michael to keep him in our sights, and not get any closer, using him to keep pace. Then all of a sudden- we were there! We literally did the hike in just under an hour! Guess all those moments of being terribly out of breath and in a lot of pain were for a good reason- we must have been booking it! Or the signs are terribly pessimistic. We would like to think we are svelte and strong. But who knows?

After taking in another spectacular view, we opted to take the train back down into town- both for the experience and because hiking back DOWN such a steep incline seemed like a knee surgery waiting to happen. Once we got to the bottom we had just a little cash left and were already over budget, so we found the cheapest lunch available: gyros! We used the last of our cash, enjoying a cheap hot meal and cold brews in the sunshine. It was the perfect way to end our weekend getaway to Switzerland! But before we could begin our journey home, we had to pay for parking at the parking deck- which was a journey in and of itself. First of all the machine did not take card. We had no cash left. Took 20 minutes to find an ATM (in the banking capital of the world). Minimum withdrawal: 50 Francs. (?!?!?!?!) Parking cost: 5 Francs. Change distributed in COINS. I now have 45 Swiss Francs in COINS to take home to Germany. Sweet.

Overall it was a lovely weekend and I am sure we will be back to Switzerland soon! And when we do- we will do proper research this time into the hiking trails and how to access them (cheaply!)