Tuesday, July 7, 2026

The plan for the next day had been to go to Grindelwald First and hike, but none of us had a desire to see Grindelwald again so soon or to complete another hike, so we decided to take it easy. We slept in, ate breakfast, then took the funicular up to Allmendhubel. Here we found a very cute playground (with a very nice view) and a restaurant. One part of the playground had tunnels that the kids could crawl through. A marmot statue stood nearby, and Mr. Strange theorized that maybe you could speak into it and it would be heard in the tunnels. He started speaking into it, when all of a sudden it moved! He jumped back in surprise. Apparently it was a periscope, NOT a talk tube. LS continued playing while Mr. Strange and I got a table and ordered some lunch. He chose the rosti while I opted for the chicken. It was good, but not as good as the chicken he had gotten on our first evening.

At the playground, there was a maze created by water blocking paths through large flowers, and LS loved this. She played there for a good hour, getting soaked. When she was ready, we walked along the Flower Trail before heading back down to the village.

We went over to the restaurant at Hotel Eiger, where we sat on the terrace, enjoying drinks and desserts. We walked around town a bit (at one point we peeked into the Coop grocery store and were shocked to discover how cheap the prices were, comparatively), and then picked up a takeout pizza to share from the restaurant at our hotel, which we enjoyed on our balcony. Overall, a nice and easy day.

Wednesday, July 8, 2026

The next day was our last full day in the area, and we were scheduled to go paragliding! None of us had ever been before, and LS was feeling a bit nervous. After a quick breakfast, we headed over to the meeting point by the cable car station. We met one of our pilots and started the climb up to the takeoff spot. Once we arrived there, he started getting LS ready in her helmet and harness. Our other two pilots arrived shortly after. There were four or five other people ahead of our group, so we got ready and waited until they had cleared out, and then got ready to go.

Mr. Strange went first. To take off, you walk, then run, and then the wind picks you up. Then you just sit back, pulling your knees up and your arms through, and enjoy the view. We watched him take off, then two others from the other group went.

Then it was LS’s turn. Her tandem pilot, who we had walked up with, was super nice, and I felt she was safe with him. I watched her take off, and then it was my turn. We walked. We ran. Then we were in the air!

He flew me by the village, and I saw our hotel and our balcony. He flew me by the upper part of a waterfall and, after circling over the valley several times, flew me by the lower part as well. It was amazing, although some of the turns made me feel slightly queasy, and I wondered if breakfast had been a good idea.

But I held it together and towards the end when he asked if I liked rollercoasters, and if I wanted to have some fun, I agreed, and that was a ride! Soon we were back on the ground near the cable car station in Stechelberg. Mr. Strange had already landed, of course, but LS was coming in behind me. She ran up to us as I was taking off my gear, and exclaimed that she had so much fun and that her favorite part was the rollercoaster moves! We were all smiles.

We headed back up to Murren to change our clothes and grab our backpack, then started the journey over to Grindelwald and up to Grindelwald First. Now that the Coop secret was out, we stopped by there to pick up sandwiches to eat after going up the mountain. The gondola ride up was nice and took about half an hour. After arriving, we found a place to sit and ate our lunch. Then we headed out on the Cliff Walk, which was cool but I liked the Thrill Walk better.

We then set out for our last hike of the trip to Bachalpsee. The first part was uphill but then it leveled out. It was about two miles to the lake, which suddenly appeared in front of us with no warning. It was very pretty and we sat and took it in for a bit. I had written down to potentially continue the hike down to the Bort station, but I didn’t think Mr. Strange and LS would be much up for it, considering it would add an extra mile, so we just headed back the way we came.

The hike was lovely, but I didn’t think Grindelwald First (or Grindelwald in general) was really worth it otherwise. All the activities had 2+ hour waits. We had wanted to visit the Gorge as well, but we were low on time, so we just headed back to Murren afterward.

We grabbed dinner at the hotel restaurant again, where this time Mr. Strange and I split a steak and LS enjoyed her Danemark ice cream one last time.