Murren: Day trip to the mountains

Third time is a charm.  We finally made it to the mountains for a day!  We made hotel reservations twice to go down south to the Alps--Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen/Murren area--and we had to cancel both times because of the weather.

A couple weekends ago, we woke up and decided at 8:15am to head 2 hours south to the mountains.  To all of our surprise, we were out the door by 9am with our backpacks, cooler, and the kiddos.

We drove into the valley through Lauterbrunnen to the cable car station.  We took the cable car up to Murren and hiked the children's adventure trail.  You can pay more to go to the Schilthorn which is famous for being in a 007 movie.  We just hiked around Murren.  It was gorgeous.  Lauterbrunnen reminded me a lot of Yosemite Valley.

Murren is basically a city on the side of a big mountain.

We were STUNNED.  Literally, stunned.  The beauty of this place was incredible.

The leaves were just starting to change.  Also, can you imagine living in an apartment with this balcony?!

In Murren, you are surrounded by the Alps including the Eiger.

It is a car-free town.  It's tiny, quaint, and so beautiful.

Fresh mountain spring water

The kids did great.  Maddie probably would've walked most of the way but we tried to keep her in the backpack for the most part.  We now have two kid carriers which make the hiking doable.

The Children's adventure trail has different stops with fun activities for kids like a play ground, climbing tower, a zip line, a balance beam made of logs, and more that we didn't get to because we turned to go onto another trail.

The zip line was pretty fun.  For all of us.

We weren't sure if he'd be too little to go in the backpack, but he did great!  I think it was probably good exercise for his neck muscles too ;-)

That's Murren down there.  We were hiking the panorama trail which had a great view of the city and surrounding mountains.

It was so picturesque almost out of a fairytale book. There were cows grazing all over the place with bells hanging from their neck so you constantly heard the sound of bells in the distance.  During the hike, we went through multiple gates and fences that kept the cows in certain areas.  There were beautiful little houses with shutters and fresh flowers all over the place.

Cow!

We were impressed with the balance and steadiness of these huge cows grazing on the side of a mountain.

There was an awesome play ground near the start of the trail.  It seems like the Swiss are pretty fond of the outdoors.  They make hiking so easily accessible.  The trails are well kept and it's easy to take gondolas and chairlifts up pretty high so you can get good views without a super strenuous hike.  It's nice with young kids who can't endure longer hikes (and for parents who can't endure carrying them for such hikes).  It's really common to take a picnic lunch of sausage with bread and cook it on the trail.  Most places have grills, tables, and wood neatly cut up ready to use.  Also, they always serve sausage like a bratwurst with a side of bread (never on a bun).  Always with mustard, of course.  You can see there was a nice picnic area by the play ground.

The gondola goes up much higher than Murren.

Taking the cable car back down to the valley floor

We stopped in Lauterbrunnen for a hot dinner at Hotel Jungfrau.  Highly recommend if you are ever in the area.  It was beautiful sitting out the patio.  Really friendly staff, delicious food, and family friendly (which in my opinion just means that if your kids are being normal kids, other people don't make you feel bad about it...it's not like our kids are super loud, but I wouldn't feel comfortable bringing them to certain restaurants, as you can imagine).

We were back home by 9pm.  It was one of the best days we've had since living here.  Bryce had been wanting to take us there since the first time he visited Switzerland.  It was a memorable day.

We wanted to stop at these waterfalls but it was closed already.  I can't get enough beautifully colored leaves.

The logistics were pretty easy--a cooler with lunch for the road and snacks.  Obviously diapers and wipes, a blanket for each kid, and our kid carriers.  One mistake we made--not enough layers for the kids.  We were warm from hiking but when we stopped to try out the zip line on the trail, Maddie's jaw was chattering and Carter's hands were cold.  Next time, we'll definitely bring more layers.  And the iPad.  Can't forget the iPad for the car ride.  She usually plays with the ipad for about 45 minutes or watches a show or two.  The rest of the trip, we talk and sing.  Lots of singing "Baa baa black sheep" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

Seriously, it looked so fake even when we were there.  If you ever come to Switzerland and it's nice weather, go to Murren.  It is unreal.