After spending an extra day in Lucerne, we departed for Interlaken with overcast skies and a slight drizzle of rain. We decided to use Interlaken as our hub for our new “hub and spoke” traveling technique with day trips to Lauterbrunnen, Meiringen and Thun instead of moving the van to each different location. The weather forecast for our planned time in this area initially looked “iffy”; however we were pleasantly surprised by the decent weather we got with the exception of one partial day where it rained heavily. We were blown away by the beauty and availability of outdoor activities of this area and we will definitely be back in the future. This is an outdoor lover’s paradise.

Interlaken, Switzerland: We drove the 78 km from Lucerne to Interlaken but it took us almost 2.25 hours. Initially the roads were mainly tunnels which kept us going at the same elevation, but eventually those ended and we were on mountain roads and going over mountain passes. One of the last tunnels we went through was about 1/3 mile long, went downhill and on a consistent 10° turn and it felt like an endless airport parking exit. Once on the mountain roads, they narrowed to one lane in each direction but thankfully the lanes remained wide. Chickpea is too big to go maximum speed on these roads, so we continually had a line of cars backing up behind us. We pulled over a few times to let the cars pass. One observation we made is that it is evident that the cars want to pass our slower moving vehicle on these roads, but the drivers in France and Switzerland are respectful and don’t tailgate, flash lights, honk their horn at you or give you impolite hand gestures, they just wait a normal distance behind you until there is a passing lane. We have not seen any road rage type behavior at all in France or Switzerland which is a welcome change from driving in the US where road rage seems to be normalized.

The selection of places to camp was limited as many facilities have already closed for the season but Tony secured us a spot in a larger campground and with our pitch being lakefront with amazing view of Lake Thun. In addition to the amazing views of the lake we also had a view of the snow-capped mountains in the distance. This pitch easily had one of the prettiest views of any pitches we have gotten on this trip. Tony loves to come up with ways to relate places we are visiting with places we have previously visited so he described Interlaken as if Jasper National Park and Telluride had a baby it would be Interlaken. Interlaken means between 2 lakes and the city sits between Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, near the Aare River and surrounded by mountains and glaciers. It is an exceptionally beautiful area.

The weather warmed into the mid 60’s as the sun broke through the overcast skies so we took a boat to Interlaken. Our campground provided free bus and boat passes during our stay; however we were limited to a smaller travel area than the Ticino Pass we were provided in Lugano. When we boarded the ferry, the steward whispered to me that our free pass is only for 2^nd class passage and we needed to stay on the lowest deck. The boat was crowded with full paying 1^st class passengers, but our ride was only 20 minutes long so we just found an outdoor bench and enjoyed the scenery.

We followed Rick Steve’s walking route through Interlaken East and West and Unterseen. Interlaken had some lovely buildings and the Aare River flows through the middle of the city. This area is known for its extreme sports including BASE jumping but while we were there the skies were full of parasailers. Dozens of parasails above us expertly landed in a park in downtown Interlaken.  It was fun to watch as we always feel they are coming in too fast (i.e. coming in hot), but at the last second the speed slows and they land perfectly gingerly on the ground. Interlaken feels like a proper mountain town and it was full of tourists, like us. Many families, but even more backpackers sporting huge frame backpacks were prevalent in this area. Our leisurely stroll through town was exactly what we needed for a relaxing afternoon. We stopped in a city Co-Op grocery store and scored big by finding natural peanut butter and Tracey’s gluten-free tortillas we have been searching for. We jumped on a free public bus which took us back to our campground in only 10 minutes.

The campground was much fuller on our return after our walk, mostly with Swiss campers with a few German and Netherland plates mixed in. As we have pushed further north in our travels, we are seeing bigger and bigger RVs, some even the size of an American 40+ foot Class A motorhome. It is mind-boggling to us how people drive these vehicles on such narrow streets but we have just come to the conclusion that Europeans are better drivers than Americans (I know those might be fighting words!).

The next day was forecasted to rain the entire day so we planned an easy relaxing day in the van watching movies, however we were treated to a change in the forecast mid-afternoon when the skies cleared. We found an easy hike near our campground but our walk was thwarted by construction work occurring on the road we needed to transverse to get to our starting point. We reversed course and randomly selected one of the many signed trails in the area and had a lovely walk along an unknown river. When we returned to the campground, Tony got in his daily bread order for pick-up the next morning. He loves having warm fresh bread delivered each morning so he has a rude awakening coming when we return to the US and he must eat sliced mass-produced grocery store bread once again.

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland: The next day we took a bus and a train to Lauterbrunnen and because of the efficiency and frequency of transportation options we made it door-to-door in only 50 minutes. We noticed that Lauterbrunnen had a lot of American tourists, the most we have seen on our travels.

Lauterbrunnen is the Colorado Rockies of Switzerland (in the same vein that they call Ouray, Colorado the Little Switzerland of the Rockies 😊). Lauterbrunnen is in a beautiful valley at the base of the Bernese Alps. It is best known for its 100+ waterfalls, but also for the numerous visible glaciers. We hiked along the valley floor from the train station to Trummelbach Falls passing numerous waterfalls on the way. Trummelbach Falls was a paid attraction that allowed access to a funicular which whisked us halfway up the mountain. Once we disembarked, we climbed dozens of flights of stairs to various viewing platforms where we could see waterfalls inside of the mountain created by glacial drainage of water from Jungfrau and other northly located mountain faces. The power of the water raging through these narrow gaps was impressive. We walked the 500+ steps back to the bottom of the valley and had a nice outdoor picnic lunch. The leaves have finally changed and reached their peak color and are now falling and accumulating on the ground. We both miss all the autumnal changes from our childhoods in Northern Ohio and this visit to Lauterbrunnen fully satisfied us.

We had dressed for wintry weather but the skies oscillated between sunny and overcast and temperatures were in the high 50s so we didn’t need all of the hats, gloves, etc. we had packed and were able to walk without even our coats on. We took a leisurely paced walk back to the train station passing grazing cows, more waterfalls and walked over several interesting bridges. It was a lovely way to spend the day. We meandered through town on our way to the train station and noticed many hipster coffee shops and cafes mixed in with the usual tourist shops. Lauterbrunnen is a playground for outdoor activities and it reminded us of our time in Alaska last summer. The always on time Swiss train system did not disappoint and we were back at our van in under 50 minutes. As with all Swiss buses and trains we have taken, nobody checks nor do you scan tickets when boarding. We use the SBB mobile app for making our train and bus reservations and then we just board and take a seat. We have never been asked for proof of our tickets except one time on a random bus check in Geneva, Switzerland in May.

Meiringen (Aare Gorge): We continued to get lucky with the weather and we had another day of a mix of sunny and overcast skies with low chance of rain forecasted. We purchased bus tickets to take us to Meiringen as our free pass did not go that far. The bus was going to make 44 stops and take over an hour, but when we boarded the correct bus, a bus official announced to the whole bus that there was another bus going directly to Meiringen with no stops and it was getting ready to leave. We boarded this new bus that did not have any markings or signage on it and we were whisked directly to Meiringen with no stops in only 30 minutes taking a highway route. We are still a bit confused by this bus, was it a special bus as it was not listed on the departure boards or on the app??

One of the staff in the dental practice we go to in Arizona heard we were going to Switzerland and recommended we go to Aareschlucht which is a gorge on the Aare River. We walked around the town of Meiringen which has a lot of Sherlock Holmes lore and walked to the gorge. The Aareschlucht was a paid attraction and easily accessible by car, so even when we arrived at 10:00 AM it was already quite busy. The walk through the gorge was nevertheless lovely, despite the number of people. For 1.1 miles, overhanging walkways which have been bolted into the side of the gorge, allow for impressive views of the turquoise water below. The gorge has steep sides allowing sunlight to only penetrate to the water level in various places making for a magically eerie experience. The walkways were narrow and there were people walking in both directions so in a few places there were some tight squeezes. The walkways were made with a metal frame, but the decking itself is made of plain old wooden planks which seemed an unusual choice to us given the amount of maintenance that must be required. Most people walk the gorge in both directions, but with the crowds building we exited at the far end of the gorge and hiked on a trail up the mountain before connecting with another trail leading back to Meiringen. Overall, we enjoyed this experience but we would recommend others to arrive at the opening time for the best experience with the least number of people.

When we arrived back in Meiringen, we were directed to yet another unmarked and unsigned bus which was a direct return bus to Interlaken. It was 30 long minutes sitting next to the most annoying American (from Chicago) family which included the mom (super high-maintenance and the “look at me I am so pretty and rich” type), dad (his eyes were dead), 3 small kids including a 3 month old(! Why? Just Why?!), several siblings of the parents and then all of the grandparents/step-grandparents (their eyes all showed pure exhaustion). They were loud, demanding, allowed their children to scream and yell and they brought copious amounts of luggage with them that rolled all over the bus with each turn slamming their luggage into other passengers. They boarded the bus last but then wanted to sit together as a group of 15. Everybody on the train was staring at them. I know all of this about them because they talked so loudly and shared their life story with everybody on the bus. This is why American’s have a bad reputation. #embarrassing. Our next connecting bus was waiting for us and the universe was mad at me for having such negative thoughts about this family that the universe had this same family board our connecting bus for a repeat misadventure. On their final disembarkation from the bus, they had so much luggage that the bus door attempted to close at least 10 times before their giant pile of giant luggage was all off. When the door finally closed, a few other passengers laughed as it was such a spectacle. The weather was still nice so Tony got in another bike ride. He tries to get in a daily bike ride before dinner but only manages this about half the time due to the lack of time and/or weather issues. We did some laundry as this campground had washers AND dryers. Dryers are not as common in Europe as many people hang their clothes to dry them. We also do this at home to a lot of our clothing in Arizona, but in a van we have nowhere to hang all our clothes so we always seek out dryers, especially for towels, blankets and sheets. Another morning bread order was placed as Tony indicated this was the best bread he had had on this trip.

Thun, Switzerland: We checked out of our campground and drove to Thun. Tony found a paid parking lot 0.3 miles outside the city center but the spots were short and narrow and not designed for campervans but somehow, we made it work. We did another self-guided walking route around the city, this one from Kamoot. We really liked Thun! It ended up being one of our favorite Swiss small towns. We walked around Old Town to the main square, on the raised sidewalk where there are many local shops, walked over the historic wooden bridge while eating vegan gelato purchased in the Muhli. This bridge was similar, but shorter, than the one in Lucerne but we liked it better as there were less people and it also had working locks. Towering over the city was the large Thun Castle built in the 12^th century. We initially planned to only walk around the castle grounds, but after seeing the castle up close from the outside we wanted to go inside, too. We have been to many castles, but this was hands down the best castle we have been inside, in terms of architecture, access to rooms, educational and informational signage and views. Inside the castle it was uncrowded, the entrance fee was inexpensive (10 CHF each) and the English audio tour was superb.  We walked through the grainery, Great Hall, prison, torture chamber, attic and into all 4 turrets. Interestingly, in addition to the information about the castle and history of this area, there were modern art sculpture installations throughout all the buildings. We liked the play of old and new and repurposing some of these large historical spaces for other purposes. The finale was the view from the turrets overlooking the town of Thun and with Jungfrau in the distance. It was magical and the weather was perfect. For us, if we could only visit Thun or Lucerne, we would pick Thun as it was much less crowded but had all of the views and charm.

We have noticed that our general fitness has improved since the start of this trip. With all the walking we do each day and with many of the walks requiring stairs (and lots of them) or steep inclines, our bodies have adjusted and these activities are getting easier each day. We hope to keep this fitness level up when we get back home although we probably will need to use the maximum incline on our treadmill to replicate the terrain in Switzerland.
Weil-am-Rhein, Germany: After leaving Switzerland, we returned to Weil-am-Rhein, Germany for an overnight. We stayed at the same Aire we had stayed at previously in May 2024. This stop served as a simple place to park overnight for us. Although just outside of Basel, we did not venture back into the city. Tony did get in a nice bike ride in the countryside while Tracey cooked another Indian rice dish for dinner.

As we crossed back into Germany, we noted our fuel tank was reading ½ full. We are still on the same tank of expensive Italian fuel from the full-service gas pump we bought weeks ago. This fact alone demonstrates how slow we move and how short the distances are between stops. On our US travels we easily drive 400-500 miles a day, but in Europe we only move 40-50 miles every few days. We travel very differently over here, but we found we are really enjoying this slow long-term travel lifestyle.

Overall, we really enjoyed this area of the world and it is someplace we would return to in the future. The weather ended up being better than forecasted and the temperatures have been holding in the 50’s and 60’s (°F) although the nighttime temperatures are colder, but not to freezing level yet. We have tank heaters for our van, but we have not had to test those out quite yet, thankfully! We are very thankful for our Truma heater that keeps our van toasty warm during the night especially after all of the problems we have with our Webasto gasoline heater in our other van. With 11 days left on our trip, we have begun our closing procedures which include eating up all our pantry food (why did I purchase so many cans of beans?!) and making lists of what to take home and what to leave in the van. Our next stop is to an Airbnb in Mulhouse, France as we are leaving our van at the local Hymer dealer for 3 days while they replace our skylight under warranty. We had 1 instance of our skylight leaking when we were in Cadaques, Spain in May and after contacting Hymer they want to take the skylight out completely and replace and reseal it. We appreciate Hymer wanting to fix it right the first time.

Onwards!

Cumulative Wildlife Spotted on this Trip: flamingos, 1 wild boar, jellyfish, 1 deer, swans, 1 lowly black squirrel and 3 storks

Short-List for a Possible Future Move: Geneva, Switzerland; Aix-en-Provence, France; Nice, France, Lugano, Switzerland

Up Next: Airbnb in Mulhouse, France for warranty van repair to our skylight