International Travel with a Toddler

What I learned from traveling to Switzerland with my 2 year old:

For the long flights/train rides:

1. Child sized head phones + iPod: Load that iPod up with favorite TV shows, songs, and pictures of family. This was the most valuable toy during the trip.
2. Magna-doodle: Inga loves to draw, but crayons get lost too easily.
3. New books: New books are more interesting to read over and over again.

For carrying stuff:

1. Child sized backpack: Inga has a Northface backpack so she could carry her own toys. Yes, I ended up carrying this more often than Inga, but it was better than her rummaging through my purse for Mickey.
2. Ergobaby Carrier: This is the only carrier you need. There is no metal frame so it can be packed in a suitcase or backpack. It is also super comfortable. I never fly without it.
3. Rolling suitcases: These are easiest to take through the airport/train station when you have a child on your back. Just don't take too many. We brought 3 suitcases and only needed 2.

For going potty:

1. Bring your cheap US diapers. Disposable diapers in Switzerland are expensive. We packed all the diapers we needed for the trip. Best part is you free up more suitcase room for souvenirs as the trip progresses!
2. Public restrooms do not have changing tables, not even women's restrooms. The only place I saw changing tables were the berghauses. 

For eating:

1. Bring some favorite snacks from home for those difficult days. I brought Nutragrain bars for Inga (aka Jammies) because they are her go-to snack food. I never did find something similar so I am glad I had an emergency stash.
2. Go to the grocery store. Buy snacks and PB&J fixings. Switzerland doesn't have the explosion of fast casual restaurants the US does and restaurants are expensive anyway. Buy yourself sandwich fixings, too, because the restaurants are expensive. 

I highly recommend picking a home base and renting an apartment. In Meurren, we had separate rooms so we didn't have to go to bed at 8pm. There was also a kitchen for making meals, which is a money saver and more relaxing. 

Finally, adjust your expectations to a slower pace. You will not go as many places or see as many museums. We did, however, talk to way more Swiss than I expected because we visited playgrounds and talked to other parents just like you do at a US playground. Inga helped us have more of those cultural experiences that many international travelers are looking for (well, at least I am looking for).

Stopping to observe the rushing water. She sees the wonder in things I have learned to ignore.

As my father-in-law says, "If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right."

Swiss Cities: Luzern and Zurich

The last stops on our highlights tour of Switzerland were Luzern and Zurich. At this point, I was reluctant to leave the mountains. I should have known, but I loved the mountains the best. There was so much more hiking left to do! Well, I was the one who insisted on seeing Luzern and Zurich so we left the mountains and headed for Luzern.

It was really hot in Luzern and Zurich (30˚C) and there really isn't air conditioning in most buildings. It wasn't quite as pleasant walking around the old towns as we would have liked and with a two year old it is more difficult to sit at a cafe and enjoy a cold beer. Luzern does have an interesting old city and great shopping. We were a little annoyed by the large tour groups of Germans and Chinese that were always in the way. I walked to the iconic weeping lion memorial while Sam and Inga napped. It is a nice memorial and surprisingly quiet given the shopping mall and Swiss-Chinese (no joke) shops across the street.

Lowenplatz memorial carved into the rock face.

One of many fountains in old Luzern

Kapelbruche in Luzern (our hotel is on the left)

The best attraction in Luzern is the Swiss Transportation Museum. This is the only museum we visited on our trip and it was well worth it. It is a great museum for children; there are lots of hands-on activities. The courtyard of the museum has gravel pits with tricycle front loaders for building roads and a miniature port where you can offload container ships and load onto delivery trucks. There were also trains, lots of trains. Where we should have gone after the museum was to the Lido Luzern, which is a water park on the lake. We walked by it on our way back from the museum and Inga really wanted to go swimming, but we didn't have our swim suits with us.

One of the cutters used to make train tunnels

Train snow plow

Car inventory with automatic lift mechanism

Hands-on road building exhibit i.e. lots of rocks and tricycle front-end loaders.

We had one day in Zurich before our flight home the next morning. We hadn't done much research so we just walked around old town. Again, it was super hot and there was no air conditioning. We tried to find a playground, but didn't have any luck. There is really amazing shopping in Zurich especially if you have serious cash to spend. We didn't so we mostly window shopped and bought ice cream instead.

Street in old Zurich

Grossmunster

Street in old Zurich shopping district

Sushi tram! You eat sushi while driving around Zurich.

Our flight home was delayed several hours. We had gotten up really early in the morning to get to the airport. By about 11am, Inga was so tired she just fell asleep in Daddy's arms while we drank coffee and ate more chocolate croissants.

A very tired girl ready to go home

The Most Popular Trail in Switzerland

We decide not to go up to the Jungfraujoch, Europe's highest train station, because it just seemed like too long of a train ride for a two year old. Inga was super cranky that day so I know it was a good decision, but I really wished we could have gone to the top. It was the perfect day. Instead, we hiked from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. The trail is well deserved of all its hype. It was pretty crowded, but all the hikers were very polite. We had a great time and even found another couple playgrounds.

Ready to get on the cable car up to Mannlichen

The perfect view of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau (left to right).

We ate our sandwiches at the Mannlichen cable car station and took in the sights. Inga was ready for a nap at this point and not interested in pictures.

Inga did not want her picture taken. She will thank us in the future for getting this iconic shot.

Looking down on Wengen and Lauterbrunnen

My ultimate Swiss picture: cow and Jungfrau.

I loved the juxtaposition of the cow and BMW ad.

My good little hiker waking up from her nap.

We ate a snack and had some beers at the Berghaus Grindelwaldblick above Kleine Scheidegg. Inga made friends with some other kids and taught them to say "mountain".

Cog railway, Wengernalpbahn, that runs between Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald.

Hotels at Kleine Scheidegg below the north face of the Eiger.

Looking across the valley to Muerren and Gimmelwald

Muerren and the Schilthorn

Muerren is located on the western side above the Lauterbrunnen valley. Here is a good map: http://www.muerren.ch/wanderplan/index_e.html. There is endless hiking from Muerren and it is the perfect place to make an early morning trip to the top of the Schilthorn mountain. This is a 10,000 foot mountain was featured in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service as part of the opening of the cable car and revolving restaurant to the top of the mountain. It also has the best view of the mountains in the Bernese Oberland. I love how the Swiss just build cable cars to the top of mountains so I don't have to hike up there to get the view. We took the cable car up early in the morning and then hiked back down to Muerren.

View of the Eiger and Monch from our bedroom window

Muerren also has the Allmendhubelbahn funicular that goes up a smaller mountain above Muerren and is another great jumping off point for hikes.

The Allmendhubelbahn and Birg station

The company that operates the Schilthorn area attractions really plays up the James Bond thing. The cable car played the James Bond theme music. It was kind of weird. The section between Muerren and Birg station was the scariest part of the ride up. The last hundred feet into Birg station is up a sheer cliff. It was a little unnerving. 

Looking down on Muerren as we enter Birg station

Birg station 

The view was pretty good, but there were some high clouds. We could see Thun at the top of the Thunersee and Zurich and probably into Germany.

View of Thun from the top of the Schilthorn

The best thing was being able to see Mont Blanc in France. It was pretty far off in the distance, but we could definitely see it.

The white mountain in the background is Mont Blanc in France.

Best family photo from the trip

It was about 32˚F at the top this early in the morning so we got some coffee and hot chocolate in the revolving restaurant to help warm up. It takes about 45 minutes to go the 360˚.

Having some hot chocolate and coffee in the revolving restaurant

We decided it would be totally amazing the hike down from the top. Fortunately, Inga was asleep for the worst part of the descent. The first stretch down is just a scree field and this terrifying ridge. Sam kept stopping to take pictures, which really annoyed me because I just wanted to get down to the better part of the trail. In the winter, people ski down from the top.

No Bond girls on this trail!

Hiking down from the Schilthorn crossing the worst part of the ridge line

We promised Inga we'd take her to a new playground so we were hiking down to the top of the Allmendhubelbahn. That took us passed the Schilthornhutte, which is a mountain restaurant and hostel. We had packed lunches so we just got beers and enjoyed the view from their patio. It was a pretty epic view.

View of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau from the Schilthornhutte patio

From the Schilthornhutte, it was a very steep descent to the Allmendhubel. We were following the Inferno ski run, which is an amateur ski race from the top of the Schilthorn to Muerren. It was not the best route down to Muerren, but we had promised Inga a different playground. We played at the Allmendhubel playground next to the top of the funicular and restaurant. We took the funicular down so we would have time to go to the pool. Muerren has a modern sports complex with indoor swimming pool.

The Blummental below Birg station

We rented a 2 bedroom apartment at the bed and breakfast, Chalet Fontana. It was a true 2 bedroom with full, eat-in kitchen, and bathroom. The apartment could sleep up to six people! We loved staying there because we were able to cook dinner and save a lot of money because eating out in Switzerland is really expensive. It was also nice having a second bedroom for Inga. If we ever go back to Muerren, I would stay at this B&B again.

Our adorable B&B in Muerren, Chalet Fontana

There is really a lot of hiking to do on this side of the Lauterbrunnen valley and I wish we had had more time to explore. We were doing the highlights tour and I really can't complain about the epic views we had all day long of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau.

Lauterbrunnen Valley

Main street in Interlaken

Our GoldenPass train ride ended in Interlaken. It is the city between two lakes, the Thunersee and the Brienzersee. It is a pretty touristy town as it is the gateway to the Jungfrau region, which is like a national park of sorts. Interlaken is full of Arabs and Indians. I was slightly disturbed by the number of women in full burqa type clothing (nothing showing but hands and eyes). We didn't spend much time in Interlaken. We did some shopping for tourist trinkets and had a beer on the main drag. 

On the train into the mountains, Inga made friends with a little Swiss boy who was maybe five years old. He spoke English very well and tried to play with Inga, but she kept playing like a girl with his army man and policeman. I read them Curious George from the iPad, which was really amusing to the other passengers. The little boy really enjoyed reading a story in English. The Swiss are super relaxed about their children. It is very apparent they live in a very safe country.

Reading monkey George

We were headed to Muerren, which is above the Lauterbrunnen valley. We took a train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, a cable car to Grutschalp, and another train to Muerren. That was a lot of transportation with a 2 year old and 3 suitcases, but we made it with the help of some very nice Swiss people.

Looking down on the Lauterbrunnen train station from the cable car up the valley.

View of Wengen, on the other side of the valley, from the train to Muerren.

Looking down the Lauterbrunnen valley from Trummelbachfalle.

The first full day in Muerren it was kind of cloudy so we walked down to Gimmelwald, took the cable car down to Stechelberg, and walked the length of the Lauterbrunnen valley back to Lauterbrunnen. It was like a highlights walking tour of the valley floor. The area was very similar to Yosemite National Park in many ways except there were no rangers or bears (but a lot more cable cars and beer gardens!).

Playing in a water trough in Gimmelwald. All the public water fountains in Switzerland are fully potable unless otherwise signed.

"Downtown" Gimmelwald

Looking at the loud water (glacially fed!)

We visited Trummelbachfalle, which is a water fall inside the valley wall and the only run off outlet for that side of the mountain range. I really enjoyed the waterfall, but Sam and Inga were pretty scared of the rushing water right next to the wet walkway with minimal railings. Understandable. Inga got a piece of cheesecake for her troubles.

They had signs in 3 languages at the falls. They were big signs.

Happy little family

Fox and Ornery enjoying the falls

On the way back to Lauterbrunnen, we purchased some alpkase from these little girls with a cheese stand (similar to a lemonade stand). Sam had seen signs for alpkase in Gimmelwald, but it was Sunday so there were no sales (these are sales directly out of a home). He was super happy to find alpkase for sale and gave the girls an extra CHF 0.40 when he said, "Keep the change." This was a super awkward cross-cultural moment. The girls looked back at their mothers like, "what do we do? we can't accept this?" Sam convinced them to keep the change, finally. They probably talked about this all day. Those weird Americans just giving away their money. Along those same lines, the night before Sam tipped the waitress at the Stagerstubli in Muerren because the bill was CHF 95 and he just gave her a CHF 100 note and said, "Keep the change." The waitress blushed and was quite embarrassed. Yeah, it's just what Americans do. 

View of the Lauterbrunnen valley from the town of Lauterbrunnen. Staubbach falls visible on the right side of photo. 

The Lauterbrunnen valley is incredibly picturesque. It definitely earns its name. The river that runs through the valley is very loud. It was late summer so all the cows and sheep were in the high pastures, but this was definitely cow country. The trail that runs the length of the valley floor is well maintained and flat. This is such a great walk for everyone. It was Sunday so all the locals were out taking their afternoon stroll with the dog and family. I felt like I was in a California park hence the similarities to Yosemite. I didn't even know this place exists 1 year ago, but now I would say this is a top 10 place to visit before you die!