Switzerland pt. 1
The first 4 days in Europe's Playground.
Zurich - Day 1
The first steps beyond the airport doors into a new country are some of the most exciting steps one could take. A mixture of excitement, confusion, anxiety, freedom, apprehensiveness, and curiosity made up just a small portion of what was going through my jet-lagged brain as Kiah (my fiancee) and I eagerly awaited the tram. It was early afternoon now, but back home it was still hours til sunrise. We hadn’t been outside of North America together since our trip to Barcelona and Paris in 2019. There’s a unique feeling of isolation when you are now a foreigner. Even in a place such as Switzerland where English is everywhere, it’s hard to avoid this isolated feeling.
On the other hand, this isolation and discomfort steadily washes away and only the wonder and curiosity remains. On the tram I took mental notes of everything. They still drive on the right side of the road here. I still see a Mcdonald’s. All of these cars are tiny and I don’t see a single SUV. After 30 minutes of this we arrived at our stop and got off. I figured we still have a ways to go to get to the hotel but no, the tram stop is directly out front. Hotels can be rather convenient when they don’t need a pool, a parking lot, and 10 floors of 30 rooms each.
We were now in the heart of Zurich, but only for the night. This was merely just a recharge point. We headed out for dinner and went to try doner kebab, something I had never even heard of. My whole life I’ve been a pretty picky eater, but thanks to Kiah I’m working on it. Ordering a new food from people who don’t really speak English was a bit daunting for me at first. I didn’t really look over the menu and panic ordered a doner wrap with everything included. I didn’t really want everything, I really just wanted it plain but I was too tired to hash out the details across a language barrier. Despite eating a bunch of things I didn’t want for the first time, it was actually pretty good. The next time I still got it plain though.
We soon found ourselves at a chocolate shop across the river. By this point it began to snow, and despite the beauty, it was very wet and cold. The chocolate was good, but we were a bit let down to realize that this specific brand had locations in both Chicago and New York which killed a bit of the charm. Good chocolate is good chocolate regardless, so it was a win in my book.
By the time we were back in the hotel we were both soaked from the wettest snow imaginable and ready to go to sleep (and by sleep I mean sit in bed wide awake and watch the Bucks and the Brewers on my phone while Kiah actually does sleep next to me, of course.) This was our only night in that hotel before we headed off to Interlaken the following morning via train. I liked Zurich, and I wouldn’t have minded spending a bit more time there, but I know that the natural beauty of the alps was our main point of focus that week and I was amped.
Interlaken and Brienz - Day 2
After a rough night of “sleep” we were on a train heading to Interlaken. We were a bit nervous at this point because the fog had yet to lift. Just a week earlier, that days weather forecast was 55-60 degrees and sunny with the occasional cloud, but by then things changed: 35 degrees, rain, snow, fog, clouds. All very bad things if you actually want to see these mountains. I kept reassuring Kiah that I prefer the moody conditions from a photography perspective. Good weather tends to make boring photos, especially in the middle of the day. Bad weather makes things interesting and photographically easier, even if actually getting to the locations becomes more difficult at times.
The train arrived at Interlaken Ost after a couple hours, and we stepped out into a cold and snowy scene. Despite the fog, you can tell there were monstrous mountains hidden away nearby. All we could see was the base of these steep mountains, then a very distinct line where the trees became dusted with snow, and then eventually a thick fog. We put our bags in a locker so we could roam around unencumbered while we waited for our check in time. We immediately hopped back onto another train (shoutout to public transportation again, it really is a beautiful thing) and headed east to Brienz.
The first thing I noticed of Brienz was the way the village sat at the end of the lake. It reminded me of an interesting mix of a Mediterranean seaside town and a stereotypical ski village, but a little less rich and a little more comfortable. I was immediately drawn to a wall of bare rock across the lake. Despite being unable to see the peaks of these mountains, the cliffs I could see already looked huge. Their size was confirmed as the ferry crossed below them and I got a sense of scale, shown in the photo below. Kiah apologized again for some reason about the weather, and I assured her, again, that the weather helps the photos.
We walked west, down the main street through the town. The style of the town was truly beautiful. Wooden, floral, intimate, and I couldn’t help but shoot detail shots of windows, doors, and yards. The subdued light from the fog overhead made the colors of the town flourish. IN THE PHOTOS BELOW.*****
We kept walking, and our goal had become the church that loomed over everything. Neither of us said it, but it was very clearly the focal point of this village, and also of a lot of my photos. It towered above everything and made for an obvious subject, whether I was near the shore, on the main street, or tucked away within the village. The fog offered a beautifully natural layer of background separation, helping the church stand out even more than it already typically did. As we walked closer to the church, there was always an available shot featuring it. Eventually we made it and I briefly stepped inside out of curiosity just to see if the inside was equally as beautiful. After confirming that, I stepped back outside to look for Kiah who was roaming the area. We walked down to the shore and took a few more pictures before deciding to head back to Interlaken.
Luckily for us there was a small train station near where we ended up, so we didn’t have to back track all the way to the main station. The fog had started to lift and by this point we managed to sneak a handful of glimpses of the higher edges of the mountains, but nothing concrete. Just enough to get the full sense of scale at some points. We headed back to Interlaken to check in, via train and bus yet again. Even though it was fairly early in the day at that point we were still rather jet lagged, and other than a trip to the local store, we stayed in for the rest of the evening and fell asleep (actual sleep, thankfully) rather early.
Iseltwald, St. Beatus Caves, and Thun - Day 3
I looked out the window first thing in the morning and saw that the fog had lifted a bit more yet again. I had high hopes that maybe that was the day that it would clear up. Soon we were on a bus back to Interlaken, headed to a nearby bakery for breakfast before getting back on a bus to Iseltwald, a village on the south shore of Brienzersee. I didn’t really know what it entailed or why we were going, a common theme on that trip, but I knew Kiah put in the hours of researching where to go so I trusted her (obviously).
The bus ride was a bit longer than I expected but once we hopped off I quickly saw why we went. Looking down the hillside towards the lake I saw a peninsula extended into the water, capped off by a former castle stood above the rest of the small village. I walked uphill a bit and took some pictures of nearby sheep and some views out on the lake.
We walked towards the pier in town where plenty of other tourists were awaiting the ferry off in the distance. We considered taking the ferry back depending on timing but for now we wanted a better view of the castle. We walked along the road to the west along shore. Compositions of the castle were countless. Below is a gallery of some of the different shots I took. The subject was easy, it was just a matter of mixing up all the foregrounds, whether it was shooting through building gaps, trees, boats, or even just the water textures.
We eventually hit a solid turnaround point, but I decided to pull out the drone I bought specifically for the trip for a few photos first. I’ve dabbled in aerial photography in the past but I’m certainly no expert. Compositions still follow similar rules for most scenes so it’s really nothing special. A lot of my favorite drone photos are photos that you wouldn’t necessarily be able to guess are drone photos, they just look like they were taken from the perfect overlook. This does change somewhat when you dive into top-down photos which I also like a lot but only if the scene makes sense for them. The only top-down photo I took here was of a nearby island, the composition is very minimalist which is easy to do in this case, but it was a little boring which is the risk you take with photos like that. Drones are best used when you get a perspective that is unreachable without a drone. (They are also best used when they aren’t annoying other people or wildlife which is even more important, so don’t be a dick with a drone, thanks.)
Once the drone was back in hand we had to take a bus back to Interlaken while we decided what to do next. The buses took a bit to come back so we walked about half way instead of waiting. It was nice to walk together with nobody around for the first time in a while since everywhere was pretty busy most of the time. We decided we would go check out the St. Beatus caves during the walk, which was on the other side of Interlaken, so we had a bit of a long trip to get over there.
The caves were beautiful and extremely interesting. We weren’t just underground like the caves I had been in before, we were in the mountain. The bus dropped us off just above the shoreline where we ascended a seemingly endless path of steep stairs before finally entering the cold and dark cave. From this point it was essentially a normal hike with 800 feet of elevation gain following a river uphill, except here we were under the surface. Although it was truly a unique and awesome experience, I didn’t take any photos because it was (obviously) very dark. It also didn’t really fit into anything I typically cared to shoot.
Back outside the caves, though, I decided to pull out the drone again between checking out the museum and waiting for the bus. The way the road weaved along the cliffs and through numerous tunnels was a perfect blend of nature and infrastructure. I still struggle to edit the way I want on drone photos because sometimes it seems there just isn’t enough file to work with so I’m never quite as happy with them as I expect.
We had some time to kill at this point so we decided to head to the town of Thun. Although beautiful, something about Thun felt a bit empty and void of actual character. We looped around Thun with the literal peak of our adventure being a church atop the town. The river which quietly flowed and bisected the town was home to a rather interesting bridge which was also interesting to see. Our time in Thun was a short one, and maybe on another day it would’ve been more lively and worth sticking around but for now we were headed back to Interlaken to eat and sleep.
Broc, Gruyères, and Bern - Day 4
Day fours plans were primarily dictated by the weather. At this point we were tired of the cloud cover, and due to our lack of a specific itinerary which was more of a myriad of goals to accomplish, we decided to chase the lone cloudless spot we could see that aligned with some of those goals. This brought us first to Broc. The train ride to Broc finally began to show thin slices of blue beyond the grey sheet above, and slivers of sunlight were touching the surrounding landscape at last.
Our goal in Broc was to indulge in Swiss Chocolate. The main draw to this tiny village is a large factory for a company called Cailler, the oldest chocolate brand in Switzerland that is still in existence. The tour involved lessons in the history of not only the factory and brand, but chocolate itself. This was accompanied with a lot of taste testing which admittedly was the best part. Seeing precisely how everything is developed, made, packaged, and how the entire process is streamlined still tickled the engineering side of my brain.
We were soon back on the train and headed to our next stop, Gruyères. If you are from Wisconsin like I am, you may be thinking I’m talking about the cheese. Well you’d be somewhat right because this is the town where that cheese came from and is precisely why we are here. Gruyères, Switzerland is the home of Gruyère cheese. Until recently this cheese officially only came from here (or a nearby region in France that has to specifically mention that it is French Gruyère). However, the US deemed Gruyère to be considered a generic term not too long ago. That means that not all Gruyère cheese is from Switzerland now, but Swiss Gruyère cheese is still a protected title so you know it’s the real thing.
The trip to Gruyères isn’t too far as it’s practically the next village over. The train drops you off directly in front of the production facility. The tour of this facility was also on our list, and similar to chocolate we got a history lesson on how this specific cheese came to be, what makes it special, and yes, taste tests. The biggest thing I learned here was that the age actually does make it better. Surprisingly, I was not just interested in the cheese factory for the product and the process, but for it’s photo potential. I was immediately drawn to the storage facility where they let the cheese age. It was dark but doable, and the patterns of the stacked cheese wheels made for some surprisingly great shots in my opinion.
The town isn’t just known for the cheese. Sitting atop a nearby hill is the medieval town of Gruyères and one of the most famous castles in the country. We decided to roam around with the ultimate goal of getting into the castle for a tour there as well. During this walk was our short window of mostly blue skies before things closed up again for the day, so we were hectically shooting what we could in the medieval town before the light retreated beyond the cloud tops again.
The little village felt like a movie scene, and if it were in Disney World or Hollywood it would’ve made sense to me. It teetered on the edge of too fake feeling to be cool but there was enough authenticity to keep it grounded and interesting. The surrounding peaks certainly helped that cause. The castle itself held a lot of history and felt authentic through and through. The tour was rather interesting and I couldn’t help but try to get at least some photos while in there. They’re nothing special since this sort of thing isn’t really in my wheelhouse anymore but it was still worth the attempt in my eyes.
My favorite part of this castle was the view from the courtyard. Since the castle sat above the Saane Valley, we were able to see everything. The beautiful peaks were on one side of us, and a grand view of the valley on the other. This was the perfect place to take out the telephoto lens and pick out tiny sections of the massive valley. The photo below being my favorite example of this. I will never get tired of the beautiful simplicity of minimalism. I also couldn’t resist taking a photo of one of the famed cows that the cheese factory so revered while on the way back to the train.
The rest of the day was just a long train ride back to Interlaken, with only one stop in Bern to eat some Neapolitan pizza, so we could rest up for what was my most anticipated day of the trip.
Part One Wrap-up
Thank you for reading this post, I hope you’re enjoying what I’ve gotten through so far. I apologize for taking so long to write this, as I’ve stated previously I’ve been busy and definitely didn’t prioritize substack over the summer. The benefit of putting this off is that I get to relive it now that the memories are fading out a little so it’s almost like going back again. Subscribe and keep an eye out for the second part of this article, thank you.