The Valley of 72 Waterfalls

During our time in Wengen, it rained.  A lot.

So after a rest day for the girls while Jason ran for hours, we decided to don our rain coats and go explore waterfalls.  They're wet anyway, right?

Ava falls asleep in the middle of our apartment one wet morning.

A short train ride from Wengen down the valley to Lauterbrunnen, from where you can access the valley of 72 waterfalls.  From anywhere in Lauterbrunnen, you can see Staubacch Falls over the town's churches and chalets.

We caught a bus to Trummelbachfalle, which is 10 cascades inside the valley wall.  "20,000L of water per second corkscrews through ravines and potholes shaped by the swirling waters."  We arrived at the gate to pay our 11 francs each, and were told babies and strollers were not allowed because it was too loud inside.  So Grandma and Jason went in, and I stayed out with the girls.  Jason flew through the exhibit and then ran outside to watch the girls while I went through.  

Rachel shares a snack with Ava while we wait at the bottom of the falls

Trust the Swiss engineers to figure out how to make an elevator whisk passengers up to the 6th cascade.  From there, you can hike up to the 10th cascade and slowly make your way back down to the entrance, enjoying each of the 10 cascades as you hear water crashing all around you and get wet from its spray.  The amount of water was unbelievable.  It was a very cool experience.

Waiting at the bus stop after enjoying the falls

We caught the bus further up the valley, despite the mist/fog/cloud/rain taking over the valley.  At the end of the line, Jason and I left Grandma under shelter with the kids while we tried to hike up the valley and explore more falls.  We hiked for a while before deciding we were getting very cold and wet, and ran back down to meet them.  

We caught a gondola up to the village of Gimmelwald, which was very small and more rural and cute.  Cheese was for sale in many of the homes, and cowbells hung as decoration.  

We particularly loved 'The Honesty Shop', which is a shop of snacks and trinkets with no attendant, where a customer is asked to leave their money in order to buy something.

We enjoyed a short walk around and a play at the town playground before catching the cable car over to the next village of Murren.

Murren was adorable, and we could have enjoyed staying there.  Walking through town toward the train station was fun.  We then caught a train along the valley to the next cable car, which took us back down to Lauterbrunnen.  One last short train took us back up to Wengen from there.

Back at our apartment, we made another simple dinner in the kitchen and fell asleep.  Jason and Rachel didn't even make it through bedtime before they both fell asleep on Jason's bed.