I hiked the Swiss Alps.

Coucou!

I really wanted to capture the essence of how I felt during this trip to Switzerland, so I proactively made sure to journal the details of exactly what this trip meant to me. In one word: refreshing. As I have my travel notebook next to me, I’m laughing out loud at some funny mishaps and unknowingly rare moments from this trip that I probably wouldn’t be able to recall in 6 months from now. I am getting better at taking notes as trips happen and feelings fade. I definitely think that a goal of mine for 2020 is to try to write down moments as much as possible. I think sometimes that days are too trivial and that nothing significant really happened or that “there’s no way I would forget this” but I’m starting to realize that rereading even just the simplest of entries in my notebooks bring me just as much joy as the adventurous life changing moments. We will see at the end of the year if I carry it out. For now I am just taking it day by day.

First of all, if you ever have a chance to go to Switzerland, GO. 2 weekends ago my friends and I (Monica and Mira) explored the countryside of Switzerland and hiked around the Swiss Alps. Here are the details.

I arrive in Geneva, Switzerland (I flew Air France for $99 from Paris wahoo!) and I’m already lost. The Geneva Airport was weirdly planned and I wasn’t exactly sure how to get out. I facetime Monica (her and Mira arrived a few days before me) and they picked me up in the rental car. They weren't sure where to pick me up so they parked int he middle of an area where people clearly were not stopping and had to pull over. I ran towards the car frantically and definitely got some stares, but I made it! The sky was cloudy and misty, it was difficult to see the mountains but I saw a faint one or two mountain tops in the distance. I honestly just couldn’t stop thinking about how good it felt to be in a car and to drive and listen to music with the best travel companions (Monica, Mira and I traveled to Vancouver/Seattle in January of last year). Monica was playing Neil Young and Ben Howard, my heart was so happy to be traveling again with these two.

Even though much of the mountains were hidden beneath the fog, I was in awe of the landscape here. We drove towards our Airbnb in Boltigen, Switzerland in a quaint basement level apartment of a Swiss family. Boltigen is the kind of village where people ask why did you come to Boltigen haha but honestly we LOVED it.

Boltigen view (Airbnb)

We had to drive up the side of a mountain and in between valleys to get there. In the middle of nowhere Switzerland, it was exactly what we hoped for :) We were near a river and at the base of the mountains, and the drive took about 2 hours. We stopped to get groceries for lunch, dinner and breakfast for the next few days.

Switzerland is really neat because they have 3 official languages: French, German and Italian. There are different types of German too, one that is more “proper” and then an oral swiss german that is spoken by the German part of Switzerland. Luckily, most people spoke English (and French).

My first meal in Switzerland were some delectable croissant sandwiches which we ate for the next few days as well. We never went out to eat because we are all ballin’ on that budget life and Switzerland is probably the most expensive country I have ever visited. The first night I was coming down with a sore throat but I drank a ridiculous amount of tea (literally was chugging a cup ever 30 min), and we played Catan at our Airbnb (I won 5 games IN A ROW!! That has never happened in my life). We cooked a very ~original~ pasta and pesto rouge (aka the best sauce to ever grace this planet and it doesn't exist in the USA) zucchini and mushroom meal. It was the perfect first night after a long afternoon of trains and planes.

The next day, we decided to drive to Grindelwald and I could see why Monica kept telling me the day before “...just wait until tomorrow when the fog clears up…” because DAMN. I was talking to a friend earlier that week about how I was in some need for nature and within the first 5 minutes of the drive to Grindelwald that need was fulfilled. We packed sandwiches and fruit for a day of exploring and hiking and to be honest... I was more so just along for the ride. I kinda had no idea where we were going but I trusted Monica and Mira to pick somewhere cool. They had planned this trip a while back and they asked me 2 weeks before if I wanted to join in. Funny side note: Before heading up the Gondola, Monica and I were in the bathroom and I noticed a water fountain outside of the bathroom so I dumped out my full water bottle to get some “crisp Swiss Alps water” from the water fountain and it didn’t even work when I went to refill my water bottle. We couldn’t stop laughing hahaha

I didn’t really know what I was expecting for the day. Mira did research the night before and we took a gondola up Eiger Mountain. The ride up was absolutely breathtaking. The tree tops were sugar coated in snow, and it was peaceful as we ascended to near the top.

We did a “cliff walk” which was a metal path attached to the side of a mountain with a direct view of Eiger mountain. The sun shone and the fresh air felt piercing but in the best way awakened my skin. I felt like an ant next to this massive creation of a mountain and while we hiked through the snow for the next 3 hours, I really just could not believe the Swiss Alps were a place that one could actually just go to.

I know this may sound stupid but I couldn’t believe that us three all care enough about nature and beautiful things to take hours of planes, trains and cars to experience it. Pictures only do it so much justice.

BUT it isn’t all perfect. Traveling is not “perfect”. That’s the best part about it. We hiked for 3 hours in the direction of a supposedly big, beautiful blue lake but… none of us thought to realize that we were a) in the mountains b) it’s January and c) very few others were headed the same way. We hiked and chatted and showed up to the “lake” but it was frozen over and covered in snow. It was a big white abyss. So what did we do? We laughed, ate a banana and turned around to hiked the hour and a half back. Luckily the hike back was more downhill than uphill and we played music and had the view of Eiger Mountain in front of us the entire hike back.

Eiger Mountain!!

As we headed back to our car after a full day of hiking, hot chocolate and giggling, I snapped a picture of Monica and Mira just before the Swiss town of Grindelwald was in total darkness.

Grindelwald just before sunset

The next day, we woke up, packed our lunches and hopped in the car to check out Interlaken. Interlaken was about an hour from Boltigen and we drove to a lake (that wasn’t frozen this time) with a view of the mountains in the background and we skipped rocks near a short trail. We spent 30 ish minutes there and watched this cute black labrador hop into the ice cold lake.

Lake Brienz near Interlaken (Monica and Mira)

We made our way to the city of Interlaken and stopped at a coffee shop and talked about the meaning of life (haha sort of kidding but not really) and each enjoyed our ridiculously well crafted coffee drinks and walked around the small city. This city was rather touristy but not overwhelmingly busy by any means. There were canals and mountains encompassing the Swiss architecture and around every corner was a hill or mountain to awe at.

We decided to drive back to Boltigen since it was getting late and we made ourselves (SURPRISE! :P) some classic pesto rosso pasta with zucchini and ate these local waffle cookies with ice cream. Oh and also played more catan. I lost multiple times this night :/

The next morning, we packed up our bags and enjoyed one last drive through the countryside of Switzerland. Monica played The Beatles and Paul Simon on the way to the airport and I hopped out of the car and headed to Terminal 1 in Geneva airport.

I’m not even sure if I can describe how much I love traveling with these two and how lucky I am to have found some kick-ass travel partners for life. Switzerland was a ~literal~ breath of fresh air and it’s really something special when you mix mountains, trees and good company all in one weekend. :-)

À plus!

Kristin