A Vacation in Switzerland (June 2024)

It had been 23 years since I'd been in Europe. What would it be like to go back to visit a country that had escaped my presence all this time? 

What’s Did I Like About Switzerland in General?

Outside of the cities, and in the Berner Oberland close to the Alps in particular, Switzerland is an absolutely beautiful country. Full of rolling green pastures, luscious deep valleys, and steep, jagged, majestic mountains, the scenery can’t be beat. We were there in June during an unusual year weather-wise (so we were told by locals) yet despite the rain and clouds and humidity, we found the countryside not lacking natural charm. I can only imagine the beauty of it all during a snowy winter, but being adverse to the cold, I will leave that to my imagination. Personally, I also loved all the cows that traverse the countryside and while there’s the matter of the smell, I reminded myself that’s the price of amazingly rich soil that makes the vegetation vividly green. It made all the challenging hiking that’s available so much better. 

There’s also the matter of Swiss engineering; gondolas for one are an absolutely amazing feat. How they built such massive structures and long lines staggers simpler minds. Ditto on their cogwheel trains and train network in general, their mountain tunnels, suspension bridges, and of course, watches that are renowned for their precision. (The implementation of that engineering, on the other hand, sometimes leaves something to be desired. Swiss transportation ticketing, for example, though the SBB app – if you can master it – is super helpful.) I also loved the centuries-old buildings in the Old Town sections of the cities; where you could feel the history without knowing any of it. The Swiss don’t do McMansions, either, which was refreshing but also a double-edged sword. It made me feel too privileged upon returning home. After a month of being in Swiss apartments, I felt like our house was gigantic when we walked back in the door.

Penultimately, the Swiss appear to be more eco-conscious than many of their European neighbors, though the use of much plastic when it comes to food packaging left something to be desired. 

Anything else? Yes. The chocolate. They know how to do chocolate. Especially the company, Laderach.

What Didn’t I Like About Switzerland in General?

I was surprised upon arriving in Zurich at how much graffiti there was. I was under the impression that Switzerland was a very clean country and for the most part that’s true outside of the cities. Even Bern, often touted as Switzerland’s most beautiful city was nothing of the sort, marred by unimaginative and unskilled street art even in its historic Old Town. Construction was a similar problem, particularly in Murren/Muerren and Zermett, marred their skylines.

Was Switzerland as expensive as they say? Yes, sometimes. But we live in Bend, OR, a place in the U.S. not known for being cheap so I wasn’t staggered by Swiss prices for the most part. Gondola rides are expensive, I guess, but they’ve got to make their money back on their fantastic engineering so I gave that a pass.

Unbeknownst to us, mobs of Swiss kids and teenagers swarm the trains on the weekends as they take chaperoned trips to other parts of the country. And they are pretty obnoxious, almost as obnoxious as American teenagers. I’d heard more than once from tourism Youtubers about proper etiquette on Swiss trains and let me tell you, virtually no one I observed adhered to that etiquette. Add to this that Swiss trains are generally overcrowded due to over-tourism and tourists with their ridiculously large luggage, and I could see renting a car if I ever returned simply to avoid the madness of being on the trains. While Swiss trains may not get as packed as, say, Japanese trains, the situation is pretty bad nonetheless.

So, yes, Switzerland is definitely getting overcrowded with tourists. (I know, I know; I was a tourist there myself.) Large groups of pushy Chinese tourists, numerous loud Indian families, and unchaperoned gangs of ungrateful, selfie-obsessed American teens (in Lucerne) did not for a good time make. Funny that no Youtuber shows you this in their videos about the country.

Also surprising is that the food wasn’t very good, though I guess one should have expected this given the lack of Swiss restaurants worldwide. While the cheese, beer, and bread/pastries were all perfectly fine, nothing except their chocolate stood out. After all the hype, I was very disappointed by the fondue. I was also much surprised to learn that the Swiss haven’t figured out how well chocolate and coffee go together, as we found only a single café that served a proper American-styled mocha. (That would be Eiger Coffee Roasters in Grindelwald for those of you wanting to know.)

The smoking. OMG. I was not prepared for all the smokers in Switzerland, though according to other travelers, the situation wasn’t as bad as in most other European countries. I guess I won’t be going back to Europe then. But even that wasn’t the worst thing.

The worst thing was that the Swiss, whether by car or bicycle, will run you down if you don’t get out of their way. And I kind of get that. It’s their country and they’ve got places to be. Pedestrians are certainly a low priority in Switzerland. Unfortunately, mountain bikers from around the world think exactly the same way proving once again that they are the biggest pricks among sports enthusiast no matter where you go in the world. A bell on a bike would seem like the obvious answer, but that seems to be too much trouble for the simple-minded. While on the ‘car-free’ town of Zermatt, I became so paranoid of bicyclists and the E-taxis that congest their narrow streets, it took away from what would otherwise have been a good time.

Was Anything Else Interesting?

While it may seem I have more negative things to say about Switzerland than positive things, the positive things were so positive that the score pretty much evened out. There’s also the matter of a few observations I made that simply were what they were.

First, no matter where we went, stores and restaurants piped in American music (80’s pop or nu-country), or on occasion, Euro-pop. The Swiss are not particular known for their modern music, though strangely enough, one of my currently favorite metal bands – the all-female rockers Burning Witches – hail from Switzerland. Music clubs, regardless of genre, just really aren’t a thing in Switzerland, not like it is in other countries.

One thing that was accurately mentioned by tourism Youtubers is that the Swiss people are direct and curt with people they don’t know. Once they’ve completed their business with you, you’re ancient history. And that’s fine. That’s just the way they are and it’s nothing personal. I found this kind of refreshing, as the Swiss are also religious but not outwardly so, so practically no one ever mentions religion even if churches do ring their bells constantly and usually occupy the best real estate in town.

What I did find super interesting about the Swiss is that many of their children’s toys and activities are geared towards skills they can use later in life, like working in construction or engineering. At the Museum of Transportation in Lucerne, there’s a playground that is literally full of construction material and the kids were loving it! They were moving rocks, shoveling, driving; I couldn’t believe it. I’m so used to Americans trying to earn a living being completely unskilled at anything.

Also unlike Americans, the Swiss can speak many languages. At any given time you’ll hear German, Swiss German, French-Swiss German, French, Italian-French, Italian-French-Swiss German, Italian-Swiss German, Romansch, and the Chinese, Hindi, and Arabic of tourists. While I’d gone to Switzerland armed with a basic knowledge of Swiss German, I encountered the same problem I had in Japan a few years ago: I was convincing enough to sound Swiss so that the Swiss would start talking to me like a local. I would have to either ask them if they knew English or slow down so often that I started to begin with English most of the time and hope they spoke it, too, which most Swiss folk do. I was glad not to immediately come off as a tourist in the beginning, but it quickly became a liability. At least I tried, I guess.

If there’s anything else I’ll say about the Swiss, it’s that they are tough, strong people. They walk up steep mountains like its nothing, even their senior citizens, while I’m over here thinking I’m in decent shape until those Swiss slopes start hitting 40-45 degrees. Even Swiss cats are tough. They don’t like to be petted, at least none that I encountered. You want to love on them but they dngaf. I thought it was weird at first, until I reminded myself of Europe’s history with felines.

Where Did We Stay?

We rented AirBnB’s in Luzern/Lucern, Grindelwald, Murren/Muerren, and Zermatt.

Luzern/Lucerne: A lovely place that borders on not being big enough to really be a city but larger than a village whose Old Town makes up a sizable portion of its real estate. Old Town, much of it running along a large canal, exudes a centuries old charm. While Bern’s Old Town claims this feature, too, much of Bern is too cosmopolitan and features humdrum cityscape scarred by graffiti. Luzern has some graffiti, but it’s not nearly as bad. I liked that Luzern gives you access to the nearby mountains which are stunning in and of themselves; Pilatus, Rigi, Stoos. Taking a boat on or walking along the banks of Lake Luzern was quite nice, save the humidity that greeted us when we first arrived. On the down side were scores of tourists, previously mentioned.

Grindelwald: This is one of those places you think of when you think of Switzerland. A large village nestled in a valley, there are many steep hills to walk, testing your cardiovascular system. Gondolas take you in all directions to the mountain tops, my favorite being Mannlichen where an amazing view of the Lautebrunnen valley can be had. Cows dot the slopes here, the smells of them enriching the soil never far away.

Murren/Muerren: Wow! A beautiful, small village on a cliff overlooking Lautebrunnen valley puts the mountains – Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau – right in your face. Paragliders take off from here, over the heads of many cows and goats. It’s harder to get to than other places, and harder to base daytrips from, but this is perhaps its greatest strength; much spectacular hiking is right out the door. Murren was more peaceful that any other place we stayed despite much construction taking place and I miss it.

Zermatt: A tourist town if ever there were one, Zermatt is dominated by the Matterhorn and hotels. The edges of town where the locals live was nicer than ‘downtown’ though you have to go downtown to access all the gondolas that take you to amazing hiking. Here, you’re in the Alps for sure, and on a sunny day the views are even more spectacular than in Murren. Take away all the construction, bikers, and E-taxis in this town, and you might have something special on your hands.

Zurich: We only stayed two nights. It’s a city. Dirty. Graffiti. That’s about all you need to know.

A Day by Day Breakdown of Our Trip

Day One: (12.3 miles of Walking and/or Hiking) Our first full day in Luzern saw us visit the local farmer’s market, which seemed a tad on the expensive side even if I live somewhere expensive myself. (Again, this is Switzerland, after all.) We walked the promenade along Lake Luzern for quite a distance, the humidity in early June not making it as much fun. On the way back we perused Old Town’s shopping area and found Brachman’s Chocolates, which has a neat chocolate fountain inside. We walked up to some historic towers – again, damn these hills – and had a brief conversation with some Jesus people on the return walk. After that, we walked into Migros to find something for dinner. We walked out of there to find it had poured while we were in the store; how lucky. A visit to Rathaus Brewery for the start of too much drinking on this vacation, more walking, then ‘home’ for the evening. While walking around, I did notice the Swiss are generally fit, even if they do smoke, and there are many languages spoken here, and not just because of the tourists. Meanwhile, I was still reeling a little bit from having bitten my tongue when Karen’s dog, Arthur, hit me in the jaw with his head. Lovable dog, but a little too excitable.

Day Two: (8.8 miles) We went for an early morning walk to take pictures – and passed Ass Bar which was closed – walked north to the Lion Monument, then still further north to the swimming and rowing lake. Afterwards, we went to the Transportation Museum, which I found more interesting than my wife. Their children’s play area was quite humorous as we would come to see children’s’ entertainment across Switzerland geared towards them becoming productive members of society. Tired of walking, we took a boat back to Pier 1, had pizza at Ernesto’s (finding out about grabbing a table in Europe from other Americans on a Rick Steve’s tour), stopped in and got slabs of chocolate at the amazing Laderach, then went inside the church near our AirBnB. Nice and cool in there, but why are the Swiss ringing their church bells all.the.time?

Day Three: (8.2 miles) I woke up a little depressed about the weather and its future forecast. We walked over to Ass Bar which was open but wiped out. Then we went to Pilatus despite the cloudy weather. What incredible engineering, their cogwheel trains! But when we got there – omg so many people wtf – it was clouded in, too, so we wound up waiting for 4 hours, through two rounds of beer and crisps and watching the crows – but when the clouds cleared, WOW, this is what we’d been waiting to see! Most of the trails were closed, though. I would have liked to hike down to the little church from the Dragon Caves, but not being able to see very far because of the cloud coverage made it look too sketchy. It was a madhouse at the top and on the gondolas (going down the ‘backside’) on the way down but we survived. From the last gondola we walked clear across town back through neighborhoods to Luzern where I wondered, “Is anyone keeping an eye and these gangs of American teenagers?” It must be nice to have so much money you can send your kid off to Europe to get rid of them for a while. Our dinner was fresh pasta from the Farmer’s Market and it was quite good.

Day Four: (8.5 miles) We did some laundry at the very nice Luzern Laundry and had breakfast while we waited. The waitress, Astrid, at Suter’s Café was patient and kind for being Swiss, which made breakfast more enjoyable. After laundry we rushed out by boat to Rigi. Since it was clouded in when we got there, we decided to do the spa first. It was the best spa ever, even if it was my first. Those dry and wet saunas were quite the experiences, and the indoor pool’s jets were nice and vigorous. After the spa it was still cloudy but hiked to Rigi Kulm anyway, with neither All Trails or Google maps being that helpful, most likely because of slow cell service. The teens at the cell tower at the top who had taken the train up were extra annoying because there were no views to be had. On the walk down, we stopped for a beer at a restaurant that wasn’t serving food and didn’t know why was even open since no one was there. But we were tired so it was a nice pit stop. We took the cable car back down to the boat, but not before observing that Weggis seems like a charming village removed from Luzern’s hustle and bustle. Back home, more ravioli that was quite yummy. So far, eating at ‘home’ is beating anything we’ve eaten out.

Day Five: (9 miles) Woke up tired and depressed, at 1am after Melissa was restless, and never got back to sleep. Jet lag and being off my routine seems to be messing me up pretty bad. Before leaving the AirBnB, Karen invited us to see the inside of her home and I have to say the one-piece stairwell that anchors the home is very impressive. We went to Interlaken to await our transfer to Grindelwald. SO many people and everyone seems rude at the train station, I guess because people are trying to make their connections. Thankfully, we had a good café experience at the Aarburg Hotel before walking up to the viewpoint halfway up the backside of Harder Kulm, which seemed extra steep in the high humidity. Lovely view from halfway up, but I couldn’t see going to the top today, or maybe ever. Finally on the train to Grindelwald, the approach to the valley was inspiring. I liked our next AirBnB more, too; more spacious even if it was right by the road. We went to Coop to shop, along with mobs of rude people, particularly the Indian families. There seems to be lots of flies in Grindelwald, too.

Day Six: (13.8 miles) The first day in Grindelwald and we immediately run into a gondola problem trying to go to Mannlichen; Hans didn’t show up for work it seems. So Melissa opts for Plan B, to go to Grindelwarl First instead, a wise call. The cliff walk was neat if a bit crowded. We decided to do the hike to Lake Balalpsee even though the trail wasn’t officially open. It was a good hike, had us wondering if we should keep going while wary of the snow that might possible avalanche on us. Balalpsee itself wasn’t much, but we had a picnic there. We walked back down to First then from there back to Grindelwald while watching the zipliners and dodging trot-bikes, asshole mountain bikers, and cows. The humidity once again got to us and we took a short cable car ride back to Grindelwald. We stopped in at Grindelwald Terminal and lo and behold the gondola is running so we take off to Mannlichen. WOW. The views are great, especially the look at Lautebrunnen Valley from above. We did the Royal Walk and took photos (for other people and they did for us) of the wooden cow and had beers at the restaurant there. A long but glorious day and we even had the big gondolas back and forth to Mannlichen to ourselves.

Day Seven: (7.6 miles) I keep waking up with my head messed up. What is going on? Is being off schedule messing me up that bad? Is it beer and coffee every day? Maybe it’s the combination; it sucks either way. Due to the anticipation of precipitation, we went to Bern. Very disappointing. It’s just another city aside from it’s Old Town area, which itself is graffiti-laced with trolly wires obscuring the street views. It was raining when we got there so we went to a hipster coffee place. The crowd was very young and tourists like us stood out like a sore thumb (Though, people still spoke to me in Swiss-German to start. I guess I don’t overly look like a tourist?). One gets the sense here at this coffee shop that you’re closing in on the French side of Switzerland, with more French being heard than ever before. The coffee was ‘meh’ and it was still raining so we went to a different coffee shop where my coffee ‘shake’ was great. The rain let up and we got to walk around, and of course the bears in the bear pit were not out. There was also basically nothing to see at Einstein’s house. On the way ‘home’ we stopped in Thun, which again, was just ‘meh.’ They did have an interesting shop full of cat paraphernalia and some covered bridges that were mid next to Luzern’s. I hurt my right leg badly jumping off a high curb after taking a picture in the butterfly chair. (An injury that would haunt me for the next ten days.) 

Day Eight: (10.7 miles) We took to the steep, wildflower-strewn hills once again to go to Alpiglen (and I can’t for the life of me remember where we started). On the way up, we encountered some rather vocal cows bottlenecking at a fence-line and didn’t know if it was safe to pass. Finally making it around them, we stopped for lunch once at Alpiglen at had a goat burger and some really good fries. Like chocolate, the Swiss always seem to get fries done right. From Alpiglen we tried to do part of the Eiger Trail but were stopped about 2 miles in due to snow. Melissa thought we could get around it – maybe so – but it would have been very dangerous in my opinion. I don’t get her sometimes, the risks she’ll take vs. the ones she won’t. I just didn’t want to be those tourists who needed to be rescued, not today. It was a long day of walking but all the cows, waterfalls, and the view of Eiger made it worth it.

Day Nine: (10 miles) A sunny morning! Across town to Eiger Coffee is well worth the trip as we sip on strong Americanos and mochas that have actual chocolate in them. This powered us towards Pfinnsteg which started over by Gridelwald Canyon. Shocker, the hills are steep. I did like that the first half of the trail was well-shaded, giving some relief from the humidity. The original plan was to go to Berghutte which allegedly has a nice restaurant, but Melissa was scared by the narrow path approaching the destination. (But she’ll climb down into a ravine and risk getting avalanched, no problem.) So we head back over to Pfinnsteg – some great and unique waterfalls on this trail, btw – and it’s busy there, tons of screaming brats around. We snag a cliffside table at the restaurant for fantastic views, though. We did the short but sweet Rodelbahn, hiked back, and I had a double scoop of chocolate ice cream in a cone in Grindelwald. Today was the first day it occurred to me how weird it was to be at the places we’ve only seen in travel videos until now.

Day Ten: (7.9 miles) Moving to Murren Day. We go straight to Lautebrunnen to do laundry; it’s not as nice a place as Luzern’s. Walking down the valley, I’m not impressed at all by Lautebrunnen. There are too many people, too many cars, and there doesn’t seem to be much going on outside of the main street. Does it have big waterfalls? Yeah, but we’ve seen so many great waterfalls by now it’s not that impressive. Granted, we didn’t walk too far into the valley and maybe it gets better, but yet again, the humidity curbs our enthusiasm to go very far. We eat a decent lunch on the main street where I enjoy watching the construction worker yelling at people to walk through the designated zones. When we get to Murren, despite all the construction, I’m blown away! It’s so beautiful and the mountains are right in your face. I love the AirBnB, too, even if there is a gondola tower right outside the window. We’re right near the edge of the cliff, so the views from our rental are insane. I love it here!

Day Eleven: (10.4 hard miles) No coffee today. Instead we head straight out to Tanzbodeli Peak across the valley. We go down through Gimmelwald, to the valley floor, then up the other side. Brutal! Then we get all the way to the other side, most of the way up the peak, then it gets too sketchy for Melissa. I don’t blame her. I was able to scramble to the plain at the top – AMAZING – but coming back down is sketch, for sure, without poles. Funnily enough, old Swiss hikers passing us up like they did this all the time. (Maybe they do.) There were also the trail workers who didn’t seem to mind their hard work. They route back down was not fun, either, and many people – like the marathoner guy – were having a hard time going up. Why would you start so late? When we get to the river at the bottom, we soak our feet in the cold water for recovery, because we still have to go back up towards Gimmelwald! We get to Gimmelwald, miss the gondola, so wind up poking around the village a bit, saw the Honesty Shop (cool), and had a big beer at the restaurant/hotel/town hall. I regretted that quickly enough as we missed the gondola again and walked back up to Grindelwald. Once ‘home’ I quickly fell asleep for 3 hours. My feet hate me.

Day Twelve: (10.2 miles) Melissa wakes me up to announce she wants to go to Oeschenesee, so we’d better get moving. It was very warm and muggy there and after not hydrating properly the night before, I wasn’t feeling well after walking from the train to the gondolas (then the gondolas to the lake, which no one ever mentions). I honestly thought I might black out several times. Thank God we didn’t attempt the loop trail above the lake; I think I would have died. (At least we got to eat at the breakfast place in Interlaken West again before going.) The lake was good but I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as I would have since I didn’t feel well. Reluctantly getting into the lake did help a little bit and it was glacially cold, so there’s that. We met up with my former student Casey and his girlfriend Morgan in Interlaken on the way back to Murren for a drink, where they graciously paid since we had to run and catch the train. So funny to see someone you know half-way around the world. Though we didn’t seem to do much overall, it was still a twelve-hour long day.

Day Thirteen: (9.8 miles) Cows outside our window for the morning commute! We find coffee at InSport, who make an incredible mountain design on top of their cappuccino. (And we keep going back there because the service is easy and friendly.) After hitting Coop for our sandwiches, we walk up those goddamn steep hills – slowly – to Almendhubel where there’s a playground for the kids. The unimpressive Flower Trail is here, too, but doesn’t look like anyone is maintaining it. From Almendhubel we walk west on the Mountain View Trail which is totally beautiful! Even in the occasional drizzle. Hey, where is that coo-coo clock sound coming from? That was weird. I almost lose my pack’s rainfly as we near Grutschlap, but fortunately found it a few feet from myself, LOL. We walk from Grutschlap to Murren, hemming and hawing if we should grab a beer at the empty restaurant halfway because the gravel road to Murren is so boring after the Mountain View trail. Then we met up with Casey and Morgan again, at Alpina Restaurant and have fondue for the first time. It’s good, but I don’t see what the big deal is. A few photos with the gang and we send them off having paid for their dinner. In a way, I felt like we were parents making sure their kids were taken care of.

Day Fourteen: (5.4 miles) A rest day. We went to both Liv Café and InSport for coffee; the young Checz girl at InSport was very chatty. We went home and chilled. I massaged Melissa for a while. In the afternoon, we walked south along the North Face Trail which wasn’t populated. Its always nice to see the cows. We got rained on coming back from Coop afterwards. Even though we didn’t walk much today, my right leg is killing me.

Day Fifteen: (9.7 miles) We have coffee at the souvenir shop because it was open earlier than anyone else. Then we took the funicular to Almendhubel, and then walked uphill from there until we hit snow. And it was difficult to know exactly where we were because neither Google Maps or AllTrails seemed to be working properly. So we retrace our steps and head back to Murren through the valley south of it, which was a little further south than where we were yesterday. Lots and lots of cows. Back in town we go to Eldeweiss Restaurant so Melissa can have Apple Strudel, which was good for only the first bite. Of course, a wind and rain storm suddenly comes in sending people scattering. When we get back to base, we find about the flooding in Zermatt, causing us sudden panic. Are we going to get there tomorrow?! Meanwhile, my leg is worse than ever after a cow made me jump when I was trying to feed it flowers.

Day Sixteen: (5.4 miles) Will we get to Zermatt? We take Murren’s little train to the gondola down to Lautebrunnen, the train to Interlaken, train to Visp, wait in line for the shuttle bus, to the shuttle train from Tasch, and finally an unnecessary E-taxi. But we made it! (I did enjoy the hour-long bus to Tasch, strangely enough, seeing how I’m a little claustrophobic and we were packed in like sardines.) I like Zermatt upon first impression despite all the construction, and until I realized how many hotels are there and imagined the village at peak capacity. I really like our AirBnB, too, despite being up a hill and on the top floor – what a bizarre elevator ride up – and the rental’s low ceilings. But if the cloud’s part, I can tell we’ll have an amazing view of the Matterhorn. We do eat out at the Indian restaurant which I thought was fantastic. What will the morning bring?

Day Seventeen: (11 miles) Clear skies in the morning; look at the Matterhorn! We rush up – along with everyone else – to the 5 Lakes Hike; thankfully this gondola is operating whereas others are not it seems. We are fortunate to be among the first ones there – utterly beautiful! Of course, there are still too many people taking too long to take their pictures, but, we knew this was going to happen. Still, the reflection of the Matterhorn on Stelisee Lake is stunning. From the lake we hike higher to Fruhalp hut for some morning coffee and eats; the espresso is super small and expensive! It’s a fantastic place for a rest-stop, none the less. Then we hike even higher up into the valley above that, then scramble up to the ridgeline which is “super sketch, babe!” I DID NOT like coming down off that, especially not with my leg weakened. So what if I missed doing the Via Ferrata in Murren? This was scary as shit! Eventually we make it back to Sunnega where tons of brats are going ballistic at the playground. We take the gravel road out of there back towards Zermatt which winds up being longer than expected. At least we went in the right direction. Melissa appears beat by this point so we try to take it easy back at base. Ah, look at that, we can see the black-nose sheep from our place; they’re above the train station. (Turns out to be black-faced goats, though, which is not as exciting to Melissa.)

Day Eighteen: (9.7 miles) Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge Day. It was not as challenging to get to as I anticipated, but it takes some work to walk up the hills through town just to get to the trailhead. We’re expecting rain in the afternoon and the thought of coming down of a steep mountain with my bum leg gets under my skin while at the same time something seems to be triggering my allergies. Of course, the humidity isn’t helping either. I’m very surprised by the time we reach the bridge that Melissa made in in only one and a half hours; impressive! The bridge itself is not as scary as advertised; I’m more concerned about getting hit in the head by a rock as I listen to rocks slide from above into the valley below. I’m surprised by how long the bridge is, too, another amazing feat of Swiss engineering. Though, why the heck is this bridge even here? There doesn’t seem to be a good reason for it. Back at base we are wiped out and Melissa is jonesing for protein, so we make burgers. Oof, we needed that protein badly!

Day Nineteen: (8 miles) Melissa is on a mission to find the black-nosed sheep, which we find in a pen near the canal before ever leaving town. We hike in the hills beyond their actual pen, underneath the gondola going towards Glacier Paradise, winding our way through some cute little villages. We were supposed to take it easy today but we still manage over 1200 feet of elevation change. When we back into town, we stop at the Brown Cow for some Guinness and fries. Strangely, every batch of fries we’ve had here are perfect. We attempt to souvenir shop afterwards, but wind up not buying anything. Back home, we relax on the patio and gaze at the Matterhorn.

Day Twenty: (9.4 miles) Gornergrat – this is what I’ve been waiting for! The train to Gornergrat is finally running. Yeah, I’m a little annoyed with people and their drones but getting away from that you can’t help but feel the majesty of the Alps. It’s so humbling. It makes you feel so small. We hike from the top down to Rifflealp, navigating a few dangerous patches of snow. At Rifflealp, we have beer and more magnificent fries. We keep heading down from there, and the whole time the views are absolutely amazing. I don’t know how many times I said, “Wow.” I don’t know how many pictures I took of the Matterhorn either. Our plan is to hike all the way back to Zermatt which is a challenge in the warmth and humidity. We catch a train at some point in a charming little town I can’t remember because we’re just too worn out. Considering the clear skies giving us the views, it was still the best day of hiking in my opinion. Thank you, glorious Alps.

Day Twenty-One: (? miles) We have to leave Zermatt and go to Zurich, which I’m not looking forward to since yesterday was so incredible. Much to our surprise, getting out of Zermatt goes relatively smoothly, and we make it to Zurich without much trouble. We go to the B2 hotel, whose rooms are surprisingly sparse given the price-point. But we’re here for the spa, which is disappointing compared to what we experienced in Rigi. Don’t get me wrong, it was intriguing for a converted beer factory and I especially liked the green pool in the basement. But I think it was too humid to enjoy the rooftop pool, at least for me. (In hindsight, I wonder if the steam sauna is where we caught COVID.) Eating in the library-restaurant was certainly atmospheric. The photos there turned out well, and as well they should have, again, considering what we paid. The next morning we get to the rooftop pool ASAP, then have breakfast in the library-restaurant again before checking out. It’s a really great space, I’ll give it that.

Day Twenty-Two: (? miles) In Zurich proper, we stash our bags at the train station for a little while, walk outside and find the humidity absolutely oppressive. We wind our way around, Melissa almost getting run over by a bicyclist as we head into Old Town which is mostly high end shops. The old buildings are still nice enough, but we try going into the Rachlette Factory to try and escape the sun. The rachlette is indeed good, and the gentleman serving us is very enthusiastic. From there we walk around a bit more until we duck into a church where a choir is putting on a show. They’re really good. (And it was thankfully cool inside.) Back outside we’re privy to the cultural festival going on, which is basically like cosplay, Swiss-style. We also see lots of people wearing AC/DC shirts. What the heck? Ah, they’re playing in Zurich tonight. Too bad we’re leaving, though, I think we’re too old for an arena rock festival. It could kill us. We check into The Hyatt at the airport and it’s nothing special but relatively close to the airport, which wouldn’t matter considering what was about to happen. Before going to sleep, I just happen to look at Melissa’s phone after unplugging it from the charger to notice our morning flight has been cancelled. Oh. Fuck.

We scramble to no avail as no one will help us, not KLM, not Delta. I was so mad I couldn’t think straight. Three flights instead of two and we’re getting home seven hours late? And we get low priority boarding and shitty seats? Mother fuckers. PLUS Melissa was getting sick – we don’t know it’s COVID at this point – and on top of it all we have to drive home from PDX while Melissa is exhausted. The experience seriously made me never want to fly again. Fuck the airlines! Mother fuckers! (In hindsight, I suppose it could have been worse, but I would not like to imagine how.)

Finally, about using cash in Switzerland; we managed to spend not more than $200 cash. That’s great but I wasn’t keeping track of it and don’t know where it all went. Lockers? Coffee and pastries? Laundry? A few groceries when I didn’t want to deal with the cashier? A little bit of it all, I guess. Still, I glad we came home with most of our cash.