Snowy drive through Switzerland

We flew into Zurich for a long weekend in October. At the airport car rental counter, the woman seemed to take pity on us when she saw our reservation for the cheapest, smallest economy car possible.  It was anticipated to be a snowy weekend, so she upgraded us for free to a medium size Toyota.  And I thanked her silently a few times that weekend…

Our 2nd day we ventured out early to see the city of Lucerne. But we were blocked from getting off the exit into town.  Road traffic was shut down due to the Lucerne marathon. Our backup plan was to keep driving south. It was snowing slightly but didn’t seem to be laying on the roads so we decided to continue on and see the town of Interlaken.

I was the navigator, so I directed Jim to get off the exit and follow what looked to be a major road – Route 4 – on the map.  Route 4 was not exactly a major road and the snow was worse here.  There was a rest stop type restaurant where we decided to stop for coffee. It was similar to a rest stop in the US in that it was a mini-mart set up on one side.  But that was the only similarity. On the other side there was a section for eating with a bar and bar stools.  It was extremely clean, everyone was intently focused on the skiing championships that were on the television,  and what I loved the most was the selection of pastries, some of the best homemade pastries I’ve ever seen.  Chocolate croissants filled with your choice of swiss chocolate. Jim had the “toblerone pain au chocolat.” Toblerone is by itself a remarkable chocolate but to put that goodness into a croissant – wow! Indescribable in words.

We thought we were only about another 15 or 20 minutes away from Interlaken, but decided to double check with the cashier.  She remarked, “probably another hour in these conditions”…Her tone seemed to warn us and the look on her face said “who are these crazy tourists trying to drive in these conditions?”

You think that would have stopped us but it didn’t. We continued on through winding back roads. Another few miles later, there was a problem. 4 cars and a bus that were on the road in front of us were pulled over, unable to proceed on without getting stuck. We noticed a snow plow making its way up the mountain which appeared to be the first time that day the road was getting plowed, so we followed it.

Good timing, but still a scary, tense drive. The next 15 miles or so of driving through the snowy mountains seemed unending. Every time we came around another turn I expected to see a clearing, but it was just another hill or steep twisty curve in the road. We slid a few times.

An hour and twenty minutes later, we made it to Interlaken! I want to pay tribute to my husband here for his amazing driving skills, and I will forgive him for the few times he snapped at me during that car trip 🙂 The truth is if I would have been at the wheel, I don’t think our Toyota rental would have came through unscathed. My husband knows things, practical things like if the car slides, you don’t want to immediately slam on your brakes….important lessons in instances like this.

My impression of Interlaken after all of that. Was it worth the long drive that day?…

The truth is I found it a little less charming due to the 4 tour buses that parked and unloaded a few hundred Asian people when we entered the town.  Nothing against the Asian tourists –  but unloading a few hundred tourists of any society WILL change the mood and feel of a quaint, small town surrounded by steep snow covered mountains.

Interlaken has been a tourist town for quite some time, as there were many hotels, souvenir shops and other ads for tourists throughout the town center.

But the scenery….wow. Absolutely remarkable!

Luckily there was another way out of town than the way we came in. That day we managed to drive to the capital city of Bern as well as spend the rest of the night exploring Zurich. A huge accomplishment and I felt like a real traveler that day!

May not have been the smartest thing we ever did, but it does make for a good story….