‘Ah, the dark waters under the mountains!’

My fascination with caves and underground streams was kindled at an early age, when my father took us to see the Trümmelbach Falls in the canton of Bern, Switzerland's capital. The Falls are more specifically located in Lauterbrunnen, which means the place of many springs, referring to the 72 waterfalls that tumble headlong into the valley. It’s kind of like a real-life Rivendell, actually. The most famous of the cascades is the Staubbach Falls, which plunges 300 meters from an overhang, making it one of the highest free-falling waterfalls in Europe. It apparently inspired the German-born poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to write his 'Song of the Spirits Over the Waters'.

Although I can appreciate the spectacle of a cascade being flung from a clifftop, seeing water plummet 1000 feet within a mountain itself is something special. The Trümmelbach Falls are made up of 10 subterranean cascades, which can be viewed from railed walkways and platforms, wet with spray. The thundering of water echoes throughout the sparingly-lit gallery, giving the Trümmelbach its name, meaning the stream that sounds like a drum. An impressive 20,000 liters of water rush through those caverns per second.

I went a second time with my father just recently, where I had the opportunity to gaze upon the Falls with fresh eyes. They were no less majestic than I remember, still roaring as they had done 20 years ago. The water is a pale green color, milky and icy cold. It was only on this trip that I learned where it comes from - turns out the Trümmelbach drains the glacial melt of Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. Imagine that!