Well we don't want to leave, but it's time to move on. One last breakfast on our gorgeous patio overlooking the ocean, and a few more lemons for our stash, and it was time to pack the car. We were very pleasantly suprized when we checked out to receive a nice bottle of Limoncello...that is going to go down great! If anyone ever wants to visit the Cinque Terre, make sure you talk to us because this was a fantastic place to stay.
I had plotted all of our drives at home on the computer and then played with them a bit before loading them into the GPS. After crossing into Switzerland we had a bit of a wait to get into a tunnel....they have lights that stop traffic periodically so there aren't too many cars together at one time. After all, this tunnel was 18 kms long, and you don't want to have a problem in a tunnel that long. After exiting the tunnel, the computer had wanted me to stay on highways and keep going north, but I had altered the route to pick something the looked shorter.....I hadn't researched this alternate route but it turned out to be a fantastic choice.
We made our way over the Sustenstrasse Pass and were blown away by the scenery, and the road. It had started to rain a bit, but that isn't uncommon in the high mountains. But the scenery more than made up for it. Miles of rolling green hills, jagged peaks, and a road that twisted and turned every few feet, but it was in great shape. I will return and ride this pass on a motorcycle!!!
We stopped for a few shots along the way, but they really don't do it justice:
A short drive later and we were making our way back into the Lauterbrunnen Valley. This is my 4th time here, and Jo's 2nd.....and it feels like home to both of us. You drive a short way south from Interlaken and through a very narrow gap, then the valley opens up before you. There are 72 waterfalls in this valley, and it was J.R.R. Tolkien's inspiration for the valley of the elves in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There is really no way to describe it easily, other than perfection.
We checked into our hotel....the Hotel Staubbach is a fabulous place if you make it here. It was originally built in 1890, has amazing views (pay the few $'s extra for a south facing room - it is SO worth it), friendly and very helpful staff, and a great breakfast. We had emailed when booking our room, and as promissed we got the same room that we had last year, with a 15 x 35 foot patio overlooking the valley and Staubbach Falls (I believe it's the 12th highest free falling waterfall in the world). There was a nice suprize waiting for us, chocolate on our pillows, and a bottle of champagne on the desk. I could sure get used to waking up to a view like this!
After settling in we went for a short stroll down the valley floor to have supper at one of our favourite spots. There is a very big campground which has a restaurant, and their food is to die for. Big beer, grilled chicken with alpine butter, a huge helping of salad and the local specialty rosti....yum!
Then it was back to our room to enjoy our treats. Just after we settled in we heard a little bit of rain......last year we were treated to a spectacular thunder and lightning storm and we had hoped for a repeat this year. We got all that and more.....if you like storms then you must come to Lauterbrunnen to see one. The lightning lights up both walls of the valley and the thunder is louder than a canon, and it echoes down the valley over and over again. Each time the thunder goes it seems to echo for about 30 seconds. It lasted for hours and was awesome. Eventually it let up and we managed to drift off zzzzzzzzzz.
