Two weeks ago we had a family visit from the Netherlands. My brother-in-law came for three days with his wife and their two small kids. We had a lot of fun, but I must admit that it was super difficult for me as I'm not used to being around kids having crazy amounts of energy. Their batteries didn't seem to run empty at all. We were jumping from one activity to another which left me totally exhausted. However, it was all worth it as my mother-in-law told us that anytime she visits them they keep asking her if she wants to see the photos from Switzerland again. We might have built some core memories for them. But why am I telling you all this?
I couldn't sleep the night before they left. My body was so weak and my throat so sore that I couldn't swallow at all. In the morning I didn't feel better, but I tried to hide it until they left. I went straight to bed thinking that I was exhausted and needed to recover. Little did I know that it wasn't the case. Two days later, my husband brought me to the emergency room because I was coughing so much that I couldn't catch my breath anymore. Turns out I caught pneumonia! Well, that's new. It was caught early, so I could manage without going to the hospital, but those two weeks were hell. I'm still recovering and I can't wait when I will finally get rid of that cough and will be able to sleep at night. A bit longer introduction than expected, but it is also an explanation of my two weeks long absence.
Let's go to the point of this post. One of the activity that we wanted to do was going to the mountains for a day. You can imagine that there is not much snow in The Netherlands, so the kids were really excited. We decided to go to Titlis as there are so many things to do. You can go skiing, sledging, hiking, walk on a suspension bridge, visit an ice cave, walk along frozen lake, and so much more.
The kids normally wake up around 6 AM, so we were able to leave very early. It took us about 2 hours by car, and we were joking that we arrived at the time when we normally wake up (or not 😊). We were lucky with the weather, and we could enjoy stunning views of the Alps on the way.
It took them almost 1 hour to get ready after we arrived. I admired their mother's patience while dressing them up. It looked like an aerobic exercise, and I'm sure she was sweating a lot. In the end, they looked like tiny astronauts, and moved like penguins because they had too many layers on.
There are various tickets that you can get depending on what you're planning to do. We planned to go to the station at the top as there were the activities that we wanted to do and we paid CHF 102 per person. Actually, with my husband we paid half the price because we pay a yearly subscription that allows us to get 50% discount. However, as a tourist you are expected to pay the full price.
We started our trip in a small cabin. Our 4 years old was claiming that it was boring (before we boarded), but he changed his opinion when our cabin quickly took off. It took him a couple of minutes to calm down, but then he was excited and looked for animals in the snow. He saw many footprints, but unfortunately no animals. I, on the other hand, was focusing on the views.
This part of the journey is quite long and you can stop on the way to enjoy the snow park or walk around the lake. You can see the frozen snow covered lake on the left. We decided to continue to the top and stop there on the way down.
The last part of the journey takes a few minutes, and you change the small cabin to a much bigger one called Rotair with the capacity of 55 people. There are only two cabins (one going up, and one going down), so we had to wait for about 30 minutes as there were many people in front of us. The cabin rotates, so you can enjoy 360 degrees views.
It's like another world... It was almost a spring day where we live, and here there was snow as far as we could see...
And we're finally above the clouds! The kids were jumping around us, trying to stamp as much snow as possible, and we were trying to make sure that they don't jump behind the rope and roll down the slope. I must say that it was much more stressful than when we visited this place just the two of us.
Titlis is the place where you come to enjoy the views. Many activities are not accessible due to snow in winter, but the views are more than enough. This mountain is located at the border of the Uri Alps, so from here you can see the mountains in the canton Uri as well as the canton Obwalden and Bern.
We have noticed some people going down off the slope and it looked so scary. Those mountains are steep and require a lot of skills to be able to ski there safely.
Once the kids were done with their snowball fight and snow angels we walked one layer up to the photo platform. It's a short, but very steep hike, so there were some tears from the little ones. Their parents refused to carry them up the hill, so they threw some tantrums, and I got reminded how good it is when we're only the two of us.
I've been here twice before, but I didn't see this background, so I'm not sure if it's new or if we just didn't notice it before. We took plenty of photos, and headed down for lunch as tears take a lot of energy, and those two bellies needed to be filled. It was still early in the day, so we were lucky that we got a table without the reservation. The food was great, and there was some excitement to go out again. In all fairness, it looks warm on the photos, but it was very cold, so I can understand a bit of resentment from their side.
The next activity that we planned for them was fun and exciting Titlis Cliff Walk! It's the Europe's highest suspension bridge!
I have forgotten how uncomfortable it was for my stomach 😊 The bridge keeps moving when there are even a few people on it which makes it difficult to keep balance and almost impossible to take photos. It was a bit too scary for the little one, so he only made it halfway through when he and his mom had to return back. We walked all the way to the back and had a lot of fun. As usually, there were people who were jumping up and down, so it took a toll on my stomach, but I still enjoyed that bit of adrenaline while walking on a wobbly bridge above the valley.
In summer, you can continue to the right and enter the ice cave, but it the entrance was blocked by snow, so this is the farthest where we got.
Can we call it some sort of a street art?
Here you can see another path that is open in summer. It's been my 3rd time here in winter, so we might have to come here once in summer too. I've seen some photos and it looks like a completely different place. The station is at 3020 m above the sea level, so it's known for its year-round snow, but the places below change as the snow melts.
On the left, we have the Titlis summit with its impressive 3238 m above the sea level.
A few more views before we head down to the lake to enjoy some sledging...
It's so great that you can enjoy such views out of comfort of the cable car. On the way down, there were only a few people together with us, so we could walk around...
The clouds were right below the lake, so it was the best time to go down before it would get cloudy. Catching as much sun as possible was our motto of the day.
And here we are! This station is called Trübsee, and it's well known for its snow park and other fun activities. The snow park is free of charge and you can choose out of snowtubes, balancers and minibobs to bring you down the slope. Let me tell you all of them are scary! I don't remember the last time I screamed so much. And the feeling when you get down and you still have all your limbs is amazing! We went down a few times, and then we went for a walk to calm down a bit.
The hiking trails goes together with the slope, so you need to be careful, and keep walking on the side...
Those views were fantastic. There were hundreds of people, but they all spread out because there are simply way too many activities, and it didn't feel crowded.
I wanted to walk around the lake, but it was getting a bit late and kids were tired, so at least I got them to walk down to the lake...
I'm sure that the ice was strong enough, but I didn't dare to walk on it. Also, it was so pristine clear that I didn't want to damage it.
Only some animals walked right across the lake...
And the last view before going back to the car...
We had such a great day, and I promised myself to go to the skiing school next season as it's becoming ridiculous that we live in Switzerland for so long and haven't learned to ski yet.
We arrived back home late, I made spaghetti with tomato sauce as it seems to be a hit for all kids, and then we all went to bed. Success!
See you next time...