Day 10: Männlichen, Switzerland - The Royal Walk & Old Friends

Monday, July 10, 2023

Männlichen, Switzerland

I awoke in our apartment in Mürren, Switzerland.  I hadn’t gone for a run in weeks and I knew I may never get a chance to see the Alps this way.  So, I quietly got my running gear on and left the apartment.  Our previous host recommended the road North out of Mürren, so I started at a slow jog on the flat mountain path.  It was nice and cool, the air feeling good on my face.  The path was running parallel with the valley below, surrounded by pine trees, it followed the same way as the train we rode each day to get from the cable car to Mürren.  I ran about 1.5 miles to the first train stop, Winteregg, where cows were grazing lazily on the hillside.  I turned around and ran back towards the apartment, taking a steeper detour for mountain bikes on the way back. 

I made it back in time to help make breakfast with coffee (keorigg style).

After we were ready to go, we made our way to the translation and then cable car down to the Lauterbrunnen valley. 

Today’s adventure would take us to the East slopes of the Valley, opposite of the Mürren cliffs.  We took a train up the mountain to a small village called, “Wengen”.  This is a slope-side town, similar to Mürren, but a little more modern.  After seeing both places, we definitely preferred Mürren as our base camp.  

We grabbed a cappuccino in town (5 out of 10) before making our way to the cable car that would take us up the East slopes of the valley.  This cable car had the option of going to the top for an open-air experience or a “royal ride”, but we kept our 15 francs for later adventures.  

At the top of the cable car ride, we exited a place called, “Männlichen”, a mountaintop destination.  I convinced the family to take a hike on a 25-minute, “Royal Walk” up to the crown lookout of Männlichen.  I think this was a walk that local royal people would take to get a view of the valley and the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau mountains. 

It was a rough hike for Jojo, so we had lots of breaks and group photos.  

The last section led us through royal gates to the top, where a “royal crown” platform gave a 360-degree panorama of the surrounding region— it was breathtaking. 

We made our way down the hill back to the cable car and a bit further to a hotel, restaurant and playground.  

The Männlichen Playground was really cool.  They had this huge wooden cow you could climb inside, ring cow bells, learn about bovine digestion, and slide down the mouth of the cow.  They also had swings, a hammock, a balancing course, a teeter-totter, and even a bowling lane! The surrounding view made it a beautiful and fun place to visit. 

After playing around for a while, we made our way to the restaurant, where we ate our homemade sandwiches and ordered drinks and fries.  

Today would be our last day in the Jungfrau region, which made the day bitter-sweet, but also made us savor every moment. 

However, the day was about to become even more special.  We were about to connect with Alina’s good friend, Adina.

Pause.  Who is Adina?  Well, Alina has been good friends with Adina and her family for many years in Romania.  The last time we saw Adina was in 2011 in Sibiu, Romania.  Adina was single at the time, but since then, she had married a Norwegian man named John, had 3 children, and has lived in Norway ever since.  

Since Alina was posting photos of our journey on Facebook, Adina reached out to let us know she and her family were traveling from Norway to Romania, and were stopping by Grindelwald… TODAY!  So, we coordinated with their family and planned a meet-up in Grindelwald.  We had already been to Grindelwald, but we couldn’t pass up this chance to reconnect with Alina’s good friend.  

So, at the top of Männlichen, how were we going to get to Grindelwald to meet Adina and her family?  Well, there just happened to be a cable car station that could take us down into the Grindelwald Valley.  Since we had our Berner Overland pass, all transportation was free.  

We jumped in a cable car and enjoyed the view all the way down to Grindelwald. 

We got off the cable car and boarded a train for a short ride to downtown Grindelwald.  We still carried fond memories of our time in Grindelwald First, but also the disappointment of the drone crash still in my mind.  

Alina and I both had opted to use eSIM cards.  This is a digital subscription to a local network to access cellular service.  They were a little tricky to activate, but once we had them, Alina had text, calls, and data for very reasonable prices.  I just went with data because that was what I needed.

Anyways, Alina coordinated a meeting at a small park where we were able to connect.  Alina enjoyed catching up with Adina, while I got to know her husband, and the kids played on the playground.  

We found a place that served ice cream and reluctantly ended our time with a group photo. 

We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways on our separate family adventures.  We were able to use the train to make our way back to Mürren, where we ate a store-bought, homemade dinner, packing late into the night for our next adventure.  

We saw this raised herb garden outside a hotel on the way back to our place and I wanted to make sure I captured it-- I would love to have this at our home because I constantly need to buy fresh herbs from the store.