GoldenPass Train Ride

The biggest reason we stayed in Montreux was to be able to ride the GoldenPass train over to Interlaken. Switzerland has a great passenger train network, which many people use to commute. They also have special tourist trains that operate on particularly scenic routes. The two most popular are the GoldenPass from Montreux to Interlaken and the Glacier Express from  Zermatt to St. Moritz. The GoldenPass is the shorter of the two tourist trains and took us into the Bernese Oberland, which was on my must see list. I cannot recommend the GoldenPass train enough. It is fully covered by a Swiss Saver Pass (8-10 day, all-inclusive train ticket) and has panoramic cars for better views. We splurged for first class seats (an extra $45 for all three of us!) and reserved spots right in front. By right in front, I mean right in front.

We rode in the first row with the same view as the train operator. The train operator sits up top.

First class was predominately old people. I think our fellow passengers were a little worried about Inga, but she did great! 

 The GoldenPass line between Montreux and Zweissimmen is a narrow gauge rail line. It was built specifically for sightseeing.

Leaving Montreux station

The first 30 minutes are climbing out of Montreux with breathtaking views of Lake Geneva. This is the most dramatic part of the train ride.

Grapevines and chateaus

 Inga got her own seat for the train ride. She felt like such a big girl, which is probably why she kept wanting to take pictures with "Mama picture"(camera). The train goes through many tunnels, which Inga always announced for the fellow passengers in case they didn't see the tunnel ahead. She also made sure to say bye to the tunnels when we left them.

Inga in choo-choo heaven.

You go through a pass above Montreux and enter the Fribourg canton, which is French-speaking and known for its cheese (think Gruyere). You stop in Montbovon where you can change trains to go to Gruyere, which Sam has done on a previous trip to Switzerland. The French-speaking countryside is very neat and tidy. All the hay fields were freshly mown and raked. All the gardens carefully weeded. All the geraniums perfectly planted. 

Montbovon train station

You travel through this nice valley with lots of cows and hay fields. Eventually you cross another pass (well, tunnel through it) and come out in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. It definitely has a different look from the French part. The houses are a little bigger with the classic carved-wood balconies covered in geraniums. You stop in Gstaad, which looked beautiful, but expensive. I think I would stay in the next town over. The valley with Gstaad was the prettiest on the trip.

Gstaad train station

Homes outside Gstaad

Heading down to Zweissimmen

At Zweissimmen, you change trains to a standard gauge rail line. We were back in second class in a regular window train car. It was about lunch time by now and Inga was starting to fade. The trip to Interlaken is still pretty, but the train follows a river and doesn't have the same views. The area was more industrial with several lumber mills. I wish my daughter would take naps on a train, but she just never did. It was a fussy ride to Interlaken, but what else is new when traveling with a toddler.

Inga was not happy about being back in 2nd class.

The GoldenPass line is a must-see if traveling in Switzerland. I recommend riding a panoramic car and reserving first class seats ahead of time.

Montreux and Sion

We flew into Zurich, but our first couple nights were in Montreux on the other side of the country. The thing is Switzerland isn't really that big and it has an excellent train system. So we arrived in Montreux around lunch time completely exhausted. As soon as our hotel room was ready (several hours after we check-in), we all crashed.

Swiss train station sign

Taking a walk along Lake Geneva waiting for our hotel room to be ready.

Our hotel, Eden Palace, right on the water. It was pretty good, but desperately needed new carpet. 

The ferry that connects the towns and cities on Lake Geneva.

View from our hotel room balcony looking into France.

We had a late dinner in Montreux the first night. It was an Italian place. Inga's dinner request the whole trip was pizza.

Fox and Ornery posing in front of the Freddie Mercury statue in Montreux.

 We didn't do much sightseeing in the Swiss Riviera. We pretty much stayed in Montreux just to be close to an early morning departure of the GoldenPass line, but more about that later. For Inga's 2nd birthday, we took a train to Sion, the capital of the canton Valais. Valais is home to ski towns, the Matterhorn, wineries, and the oldest Catholic diocese north of the Alps, in Sion.

Sion train station

Immediately after getting off the train, we took a bus into the mountains to the ski town of Haute Nendaz. We had a slight detour when we got off the bus in Basse Nendaz, but got to see some of small town Valais in our walk up the mountainside. The previous post on Swiss gardens has picture of the cemetery in Basse Nendaz. Once in Haute Nendaz, we road the gondola up to a ski area because it was such a clear day.

Inga's first gondola ride. She LOVES gondolas now.

Tracouet had a playground and restaurant. This was like a mid-mountain ski station. The sign to the right in the picture showed the lifts that were open for hikers.

 We had lunch at the restaurant at the top and discovered the best way to make a ham sandwich. Hearth bread, soft cheese as a spread (like brie), mustard, cured ham, hard cheese (like Emmental), and a little pickle (sweet and spicy, not dill) made the best sandwich. We used this recipe for the rest of the trip. The restaurant also had a changing table! (Those are hard to find in Switerzland.) We didn't do any hiking because we wanted to go back to Sion to see the castle and old city.

Pretty Alpine lake

Our attempt at a family photo. You can see Sion at the bottom of the valley.

View of Rhone valley

 Sion is known for its medieval old city and the Chateau de Tourbillon and Basilique de Valere. The Basilique de Valere is a fortified church and monastery that Pope John Paul II named a basilica. The church is on a smaller hill so that's the one I wanted to walk to as I was carrying Inga.

View of vineyards above Sion

Old building outside the church walls.

Chateau de Tourbillon on the hill opposite the church.

Inside the church altar

The church's organ was built about 1435 and is one of the old playable organs in the world.

There was a museum in the monastery I kind of wanted to see, but it cost money and Inga was really worn out by this point.

View of old Sion

Tunnel street!

Center of the old city

We all took naps on some grass by the Cathedral Notre Dame de Fatima.

Beautiful fountain and the flag of Valais

 I really liked Sion. The people were very friendly and relaxed. I could tell they don't get many American tourists in Sion especially at that time of year. I really just saw Swiss people out enjoying a Friday afternoon in late summer. I had to laugh when we left Sion at 8pm that all the teenagers who had come into the big city for Friday night were leaving at 8pm. The Swiss do not stay out late.

Probably the most embarrassing toddler moment of the trip came on the train ride back to Montreux. It was passed Inga's bedtime at this point, but we still had a 45 minute train ride back. We got on the first train to Montreux that arrived at the station. It was a EuroCity train that had originated in Milan and was heading to the Geneva airport. It was packed with business travelers. We could only find two open seats and put Inga on my lap. This led to a toddler meltdown with Inga crying, "Want seat. My turn. My turn." The fit lasted pretty much the entire ride to Montreux.

But it was her 2nd birthday after all and we hadn't gotten her any cake. Well, we still didn't. We got her some ice cream instead. "Birday i cream" as Inga said.

Inga crashed hard that night. Happy Birthday.

Kinderspielplatz of Switzerland

Switzerland is a very family friendly country that also loves outdoor recreation so they put playgrounds in all the right places. It made the trip much more enjoyable to be able to always find a playground for Inga. She loves to slide and learned all about up and down on the teeter-totters. Her ladder climbing skills also greatly improved. It was an interesting cultural experience to see and talk with other parents. We were obviously the American, helicopter parents helping our daughter climb things too big for her and riding down the slide with her. The other parents just watched from the sidelines unless their child was really young (like 1 year old). Inga did a great job communicating with the other kids by being her extroverted self and teaching the other kids to say "jump" and "slide".

Here are pictures of some of the playgrounds we visited.

Family Car train (yes, a playground on the train):

Here is Sam being an American, helicopter parent.

The Intercity (IC) and nicer Interregio (IR) trains have family cars with a small playground. There is a short slide.

The boat was great for imaginative play.

The family cars are always at the end of the train and have a jungle theme painted on the outside.

Haute-Nendaz/Tracouet ski area:

There was a brand new playground at the top of the gondola from Haute Nendaz to Tracouet. This is a ski area in winter and hiking area in summer.

There was even a jump-jump! Inga played with a little boy in the firetruck for awhile, too.

 Gimmelwald (Lauterbrunnen area):

Gimmelwald is a tiny town above the Lauterbrunnen valley. It had the best slide we saw, in my opinion. This slide is located right next to the gondola station.

 Allmendhubel (above Muerren):

You can take the Allmendhubelbahn (a funicular) from Muerren up to this amazing view (that's the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau). There is a restaurant, hiking and skiing, and a playground. The slide wasn't as great because it had a flat spot in the middle.

 Muerren:

We went to the playground in Muerren many times since we stayed there four nights. Inga really liked the slide in teeter-totter although it was a playground designed for older kids.

 Winteregg (railway station/ski lift near Muerren):

The Winteregg train station/ski lift restaurant had just added a playground. It had a miniature "ropes" course, tunnels, playhouse, slide (of course), carved animal figures, and hammock swing. The restaurant also had toy trains inside to play with.

Lumberjack merry-go-round and wooden chickens.

Cow rocker with slide in background.

 Kleine Scheidegg (Grindelwaldbrick berghaus):

The redneck old chair lift swing at the Grindelwaldbrick berghaus playground. This playground is on the trail from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. 

Inga found a little to play with on the teeter-totter. The little Swiss girl just spoken German and all I understood her to say was "Jungfraujoch" as in she had visited the Jungfraujoch, I think.

Luzern:

This playground is in New Town not far from the train station. There was a water table with hand pump. It was messy.

The big kids side of the playground where Inga befriended the playground bully and got her to play nicely.

 Zurich/Oerlikon Migros restaurant:

This is the equivalent of a McDonald's play place. It is in the Migros (grocery store) restaurant.

Lauterbrunnen:

This playground is the near the cemetery and church in Lauterbrunnen along the main walking path out of town. It had a slide and tunnels built into the hillside. This water table thing drained into the sandbox area.

Other places with playgrounds we didn't take pictures of are:

• Montreux: in the central water front park near the Freddie Mercury statue
• Sion: a few blocks from the train station

All the playgrounds were principally made from wood. There were no monkey bars or large climbing structures. The sandboxes were filled with a granite type sand not the American play sand, but it worked just fine. There also weren't many toddler swing seats. 

The playgrounds were a lifesaver many days when Inga was begging to do something she wanted to do and to play with "other kids!".