The cool thing about Switzerland is that you don't have to search very hard in order to find a beautiful place to spend a day. This proved true the day that we decided to visit Kandersteg and Oeschinensee. Oeschinensee is a beautiful crystal clear lake at the top of a mountain. But apparently, the route up to see it closed for the season in early October (I mean it's cold, but it's not that cold). We somehow ended up seeing a little lake called Blausee (pictured above). The following is a retelling of a day filled with happy accidents and beautiful views. What are the chances? 

7:45 am: I wake up after about 7 alarms go off, and get dressed for the day in my warmest fall clothes, assuming that in a few hours I will be on top of a mountain. 

8:20 am: I pack a lunch and make a coffee to go, taking my time for the moment, as I still have a good amount of time before my train leaves. 

8:30 am: I discuss my plans for the day with my host mother over a raspberry yogurt. 

8:34 am: I realize that the train leaves at 8:39 am, that I live 20 minutes away from the train station, and that I am never going to make it.  

8:35 am: While waiting for the elevator, I see that there is a 3-minute delay on the train (an anomaly in Switzerland) and think "I can work with this." 

8:37 am: My bike pass works for once in my life, and I hop on an e-bike and literally fly towards the train station, yelling out "PARDON!" and "EXCUSEZ-MOI" to all the people I practically run over. 

8:42 am: I somehow miraculously beat the train to the station, park my bike, and get on board the train, out of breath and amazed that I made it on time. This was an all-time bicycle speed record, and I expect calls from the Olympic Committee shortly. This was the first miracle of the day. 

11:30 am: We arrive in Kandersteg, only to find that the cable car to the mountain is not doing what we want it to do. We ask the employee at the tourism office what to do, and she writes a German word on a business card and tells us to get on the next bus and then get off when everybody else does. We say okay.  

11:50 am: We get off when everybody else does, not really sure where we are, and not really sure what we are looking for. We follow everyone else to a little ticket hut. 

11:52 am: We buy our tickets (with that student discount whatuppp) and ask the ticket lady how long the hike is to wherever we're going (still unclear at this point). She responds with "Go looking." We say okay. 

11:55 am: After validating our ticket and walking about thirty yards, we found what we were looking for: 

CRYSTAL CLEAR BLUE WATER

FALL FOLIAGE

SCENIC VISTAS

12:15 pm: We walk several laps around the little blue lake, totally dumbfounded by how we had ended up here and how it was so beautiful. You can see the trout in the first pic just living their life in the most clear lil lake I've ever been privy to. This was definitely the second miracle of the day. 

We are immediately met by a glacial waterfall and some very well maintained trails.  All smiles.

The inside was as cute as the outside.

Milch, lol.