Pre-trip work!

 April 1, 2025    Lauterbrunnen & J.R.R.Tolkien 

Collin has always been a fan of J.R.R.Tolkien, and recently, he came across the book Switzerland in Tolkien's Middle-Earth by M.S.Monsch which details the summer Tolkien hiked around Switzerland in 1911. It was from his time in Switzerland that greatly influenced the places and settings in The Lord of the Rings, specifically, the valley that holds Lauterbrunnen for Rivendell aka the Last Homely House.

We left at 8:30am and drove 3 hours 30 minutes on pretzel roads, (that will make sense in a moment), headed by into Switzerland, (still no passport check or stamp), and arrived in Lauterbrunnen and sunny skies.

The book that inspired today's trip.

View from the back seat.

Countryside from the car.

Many, many tunnels! The longest one was about 10 miles.

The route we were avoiding.

View from the car.

Lake Brienzersee, one of the lakes on either side of Interlaken, Switzerland.

Here are the roads.

Not too bad.

Getting worse!

This is real! It was also inside a spiral-like tunnel in a mountain.

Almost there!

First view of the valley.

Lauterbrunnen Valley is know for it's 72 waterfalls. We didn't see that many. It might have been the time of year.

Old barns.

Tolkien walked the valley in 1911.

The sheer cliffs are so beautiful.

The warmest average temperature in Lauterbrunnen is 60 degrees (in summer).

We spent time sitting on benches around the valley just taking it in.

Another waterfall shot.

Our lunch.

The mountain water was clear and rushing.

Rod looking at a gondola running up the other side of the valley.

Being goofy!

The view never gets old!

Home on the pretzel roads and no one got car sick! Many of us in the back seat slept a lot. That helped!