Includes: Bern, Sumiswald and Lucerene

So the thought of going to Switzerland on our world travels brought a sense of excitement and nervousness. Of course, I wanted to see the stunning scenery of this beautiful country but, I had always been told it was an expensive place to visit. The first bit is true, the scenery is simply out of this world and coming from New Zealand where we have this type of landscape on our doorstep I can honestly say that this country famous for cheese and chocolate certainly gives the Kiwi’s a run for their money in this department.

The second bit of that statement, expensive, yes it certainly is but we did well, we cooked inside our accommodation most of the time, took sandwiches and snacks for our day trips and in the end felt we could have been in any other expensive country, it was very manageable. Glad we made it here? You bet we were. Would we go back? You bet we would. Just look at the scenery

Avid readers of our travel blog will now know that we love love love the outdoors and take the kids hiking in any situation we can. We want them to enjoy God’s beautiful world in every detail, appreciate it and hiking to almost be part of their DNA. Switzerland was almost top of the list of countries, along with Bavaria for hiking, (see the previous blog), and as you can see the boys love being able to run and be free. Lara is already there and although we may get the look of disapproval when we suggest a hike when she is on the track her whole demeanor is one of someone who is alive with the outdoors, she loves it.

We spent a week in Switzerland and had planned to be outside for most of the time whatever the weather was going throw at us. Kristi had planned a great week (how many times have I written that?) We were staying outside of the small village of Sumiswald in a top floor apartment of a typical and quintessential farmhouse. Our plan was to visit the Lion of Lucerne (another bucket list of mine), The town of Bern, famous their Brown Bear inhabitants and of course explore the famous Swiss Alps. We had expected the accomodation to be closer to the Alps for hiking but we were very pleased that the accommodation was big, gave us room to breathe and run around and had short and long hikes right on the doorstep.

We arrived on a Saturday it happened to be Sumiswald’s traditional festival, so in true style, Lara and I took off to explore the village market and the traditional crafts on display. The art of traditional methods is very interesting and I was glad that Lara took an interest. woodwork, book binding, wheat beating, not sure what that is called but basically where a group of guys beat the wheat to a pulp with sticks, honey, food, beer, and other traditional crafts were on display.

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In between the rain showers we took walks with the three kids and explored the woods close by, another one of our kids was not pleased today that he was being asked to walk. His little face shows his displeasure but being little Charlie he cannot help himself but come out of his mood and show us his true self.

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The area was lovely, surrounded by Swiss cows, paddocks, woodlands and quaint farmhouses.

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When working in the US for Daimler, I had one of my team members who lived in the area. My colleague and best mate Steve, who he reported to and myself had visited him for a day when we were in Germany so I reached out to him again to see just how far he was away. Gallus soon came back to me and drove a short 40 minute drive to come and see us for the day. He gave us a great insight into the area, places we must visit, and then recommended a cheese factory only a few K’s away for lunch. The tradition here is cheese fondu and a spicy cheese soup so we sat down and let Gallus do the ordering. Man, it was good.

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Next day, the weather didn’t look great and Lara wanted to stay in and catch up on Te Kura, her online school as work was mounting up so Kristi and I took the kids about an hour away to the lovely riverside town of Bern.

Bern, the capital city of Switzerland, is built around a crook in the Aare River. It traces its origins back to the 12th century, with much medieval architecture preserved in the Altstadt or old town. The Swiss Parliament is held here and it is famous for its inhabitants……..brown bears.

The bears are a famous feature of the town, named after the first thing that the founder of the city saw on his first hunt in the area, a brown bear. The bears run in a caged area of the city, next to the river and old town bridge and are free for all to see. The boys were fascinated, the first live bears they had seen.

The rain was coming down so we explored the old town underneath the medieval walkway covers, we walked up the street and were pleased to see our favorite coffee shop willing us to come in and dry off. The inner town scenery is typical of anything you will see in Germany and equally as lovely.

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Looking at the weather forecast, we had three days left and decided that the one rainy day would be our visit to Lucerne, the next day (forecast dry and sunny) our visit to the Alps and the last day rest and relaxation.

So off to Lucerne with all kids. I was really excited to see the famous Lion. I had heard and read so much about it. Reading it was probably the most mornful piece of stone in the world I really tried to leave an open mind on what to expect. What I didn’t expect was to see it right smack in the middle of the town, between shops, offices, and houses.

Designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. It commemorates Swiss Guards in Paris, seeking to protect the life of King Louis XVI, who paid the ultimate price for their unconditional loyalty and untold bravery. What happened? On 10 August 1792, the revolutionaries stormed the residence defended by the Swiss, leading to the virtual annihilation of the Guard.

The Lion Monument, a powerful memorial, pays homage to the selfless heroes of the Swiss Guard.

The lion with a spear through its body lays wounded and waiting to die. the area was quiet, subdued and a perfect place to visit such a famous piece of art.

Now, story goes that Lukas on almost completing the work was told he would not actually get paid by the authorities and they expected his work to be for free. In a rebellious act Lukas actually cleverly carved into the sculpture a pig, known by us now as the Pig Of Lucerne. We could not for the life of us find this pig at the scene. we even asked the locals, where is the pig on the monument and no one knew what on earth we were talking about. But, sure enough we found the pig in all it’s glory………..Can you spot it above. If not see below.

We explored the town through the raindrops. The famous wooden foot bridge, known as Chapel Bridge, built in 1333, which spans the River Reuss was destroyed by a great fire in 1993. Thankfully and rightfully it was totally rebuilt in all its glory and well worth a visit.

We walked around for a few hours, dodging the rain and enjoyed the sights around the main central area of the town.

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Of course steeped in history and on a nicer day it would have been great to spend longer here. We decided to call it a day, said goodbye to Lucerne and drive the two hours back home for a bit of relaxation.

What else do you do to entertain the kids but try and do something that will make them laugh? So I tried, and I did try hard to learn how to do the “Floss” or whatever it is called. Much to Lara’s amusement and Kristi laughing behind the camera, I thought I did a great job, apparently not!

As if Switzerland had not given us enough beauty and relaxation, we saved the best until last. Kristi had found the perfect hike, about 11K’s, flat along the valley, cable car ride up to the top of the mountain, walk back along the top section and a cable car back down. Located in the town of Lauterbrunnen about an hour’s drive away. It was simply stunning.

We were gifted and blessed with such an amazing day, the sun was amongst us and yet it was not too hot for our time here. The area was surrounded by snow-capped mountains including the famous Eiger in all of it’s glory. Our walk began in the car park where we were greeted by one of 72 waterfalls into the valley, the best one was right outside the car.

We enjoyed this for a while, soaking up the beauty and trying the natural water straight into our empty water bottles.

We walked along the valley floor, about 5 or 6 K’s and enjoyed the beautiful mountains looking down on us.

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The next part of the trip was to take the cable car up to the ski town of Murren and walk back toward to car park on the top of the mountains. The cable car ride, to me was an almost vertical accent but so worth the trip just for the views alone.

We took time for our lunch here and to soak up the view that were simply everywhere. Snow capped Eiger was so close you could almost touch it.

There is something about being in such natural beauty high up, its quiet, peaceful and soul finding.

The walk back along the top ridge was different to the valley floor. It meandered through woods, alongside the mountain tram tracks and even gave us another viewing of snow of first glance. My gosh it was so stunning and the 5 k’s or so went so fast I almost wanted to do it again.

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We arrived at the tram station and took the tram back down to the main town. Probably about 12k’s later and not one of us, including 2 year olds had any complaints from one of the best hikes we have ever done.

Well, that’s a wrap for Switzerland. My advice is, as all of the places we have visited except Kampot Cambodia, is to come here and experience this truly beautiful country for yourselves.

We had a very relaxing, very memorable experience here and we will definitely be back.

Check out all 201 pictures in our Swiss gallery right here.

Next stop: Reminiscing in Stuttgart with our favorite boss and Freiburg, a place of university education for Kristi.