While my mother-in-law was still here, she kindly offered to watch the kids again so that we could have one more quick getaway.  We hadn’t been in the Alps really since winter skiing except for one Saturday of hiking, so we decided to hit the trails!  I had heard good things about the Swiss hotel, The Cambrian, and since it was only 20 minutes from there to the Oeschinen Lake, a beautiful lake high up on the mountains that has been on my Swiss Bucket List, we decided it would be a good spot for our mini getaway.

Unfortunately we woke up to a rainy Saturday and it was supposed to be even worse in the mountains so we decided to stop for a bit to explore Bern, the capital of Switzerland.  We saw the famous Bern bears, had lunch at the brewery right behind the tourist info center (which had really tasty beers!), and walked around town a bit before the rain started.

When we arrived at the hotel we unfortunately couldn’t even see the mountains because of the thick fog, but luckily there was a nice spa which was an equally enjoyable way of spending a kid-free afternoon!

Thankfully on Sunday the rain had passed and we woke to a beautiful morning!

After breakfast and a swim, we headed out to Kandersteg to take the cablecar up to Oeschinensee.  From the cablecar, it is only a 2o minute hike down to the lake.  I really had to pinch myself when we saw this beautiful place…and to make it even more perfect there were cows!  Just hanging out, adding to the idyllic scene!

All these blue benches are just begging you to take a seat and enjoy the view!

Is this real life?!  So much beauty!

We had to get out on the lake for a closer look!  Such a nice and relaxing afternoon.

We debated about going for a longer hike, but we decided we should be responsible and get back home to unpack and pack again for our trip to Lake Como the next day.  There is so much hiking in this area, and luckily we are going back this weekend on a camping trip with the kids and another family so we will have a chance to explore a bit more!