A foggy Hike

Greetings from four tired hikers,

We hiked a high trail today rated as having the second best views in Switzerland.  After taking several connecting cable cars, we started across a ridge line hike. 

On our left was a very green pasture/skiing bowl populated with several hundred cows- each with a cow bell.  It was a wonderful orchestra of bell ringers!  On our right was a sheer drop off several thousand feet into a stunning valley- at least that's what we are told.  Fog shrouded that valley all day, and in fact came over the ridge line and into the valley to our left. 
 
But that made us appreciate the thousands of wild flowers blooming along the narrow trail.  After an hour's walk, we came down off the ridge line and onto a section of trail cut into the side of the mountain.  It is so steep and narrow that we were photographing flowers at eye level just by turning to the left.




 

We eventually hiked down to another ski bowl where we had lunch at a church celebrating 100 years.  Coming down, we enjoyed the views of farmers fields from a long cable car.  We've learned that most farmers are bi-vocational and may only have 10 cows.  A cooperative arrangement allows them to graze their cattle on "Alpen Ground" and produce cheese each day.

Walking through the high ground today, we were able to get up close and personal with some of Switzerland's finest.

There was a dinner for Untours people this evening in a classy traditional Swiss restaurant looking out at sunset on the Wetterhorn.  A special cheese dinner was followed by a couple who played the accordian and alpen horn.  They were talented folk music performers- a fun evening.

We are headed to bed to rest up for our next adventure tomorrow.

The Jung Frau and Grand Mothers' Walk

Hello Family and Friends,

Today we traveled to Interlaken, and connected to Lauterbrunnen- the picture below is of the Lauterbrunnen valley.

We continued up to a car-less village called Wengen by cog railway, then on up the mountain by cable car to a place where we started our hike.  We hiked about four miles on what is known as the Grand Mothers' walk- named as a favorite of Grand Mothers (we didn't want to tax ourselves too heavily.)  The morning was brilliantly sunny with a wonderful breeze.  We enjoyed views of three major mountains.  We saw the Jung Frau, highest mountain Europe, pictured below.

After lunch, fog rolled in as we were trying to hike to the Eiger Glacier.  We got within 1/2 mile of the glacier when thunder arrived, so we made for lower ground as fast as we could.  By the time we got back to Kleine Scheide, we were out of the fog.

Swiss trains and buses continue to amaze us- clean, on-time, staffed by helpful people.

Our Best,

Jack and Pam

Geisbach Falls on Lake Brienz

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings from the Confederation of Helvetica (official name of Switzerland).  We spent a lovely day hiking a four mile trail along the southern edge of Lake Brienz.  From Interlaken, we took a boat down the lake to a small village beyond which the trail started. 

The trail was fairly easy most of the way along the lake until we had to climb to the Grand Hotel about 300 feet above the lake. We had lunch on the Hotel lawn then hiked up to the Falls.  The Hotel was built in 1875.  The Falls have a walk hewed behind one of the sections of the falls.  We came back down to the lake on a cable car built in 1874- the oldest cable car of its kind in Europe.  The views all day were wonderful, as was the fellowship.

Love to you all,

Jack and Pam

Good morning Wetterhorn

Good Morning Family and Friends,

We awoke at 6am to the beautiful sight below out our front window.  This is the Wetterhorn with snow from last winter.

We are headed out in a few minutes to hike today in the mountains on the south side of Lake Brienz, West of Interlaken.  Such a feast for the eyes and ears, to say nothing of the nose with the clean Alps air.

From Jack and Pam.

Stairway to heaven

Hello, friends,

We are all tired tonight after a big day of hiking and sightseeing among all of these beautiful mountains and valleys.  We caught the bus early this morning to made our way to Grindelwald, a picturesque mountain village famous for mountain climbing and skiing. We met with our Untours guide who showed us the way through a forest to the beginning of a stairway of 1000 steps that led to a high point on the mountain above Grindelwald.  We found that our legs and lungs needed several stops as we climbed a very steep wooden stairway attached to sheer rock on the mountainside. We were rewarded with a fantastic view of mountains above and a rushing alpine stream below. We walked across a very bouncy, and somewhat shaky suspension walkway above the waterfall in the stream. The picture shows us safely back across the bridge, ready to tackle the stairway downward, a much easier and faster trip.

We are staying in a typical Swiss  mountain home. The landlady has planted flowers all around, and there is a vegetable garden in front. You can see the house in the picture below We have felt very welcome here.  Our apartment is on the top floor. We have two bedrooms, kitchen, living room and bath. Prices for food are high, but we are cooking for ourselves, for the most part.  This evening we splurged and went to a restaurant- it was delicious, great salad, meat, and french fries!

We are finding we are quite tired each evening- perhaps the elevation, perhaps all of the exercise, who knows?  Anyway, we are grateful for this travel opportunity.

Pam and Jack

Swiss busses and trains

The buses and trains are immaculate, run on time, and are staffed by friendly people- we are trying to get used to that.  Here is a video of our bus, train, and cable car trips today.

From near the village of Goldern, Switzerland

We arrived Wednesday morning in Zurich, and made our way to our apartment in Goldern- a tiny village up the mountain from Meiringen in south central Switzerland.  The apartment is very comfortable and has a wonderful land lady.  We shopped a little last night for a few things for supper, had a bite to eat and went to bed. 

We were up at 6am, and took the picture above out our front window.  After a quick breakfast, we caught a 725am bus down the mountain to Brunig, then the train to Lucern.  We toured a brewery and had lunch there, walked around the old city, had a boat ride for a couple hours on lake Lucern, then caught a train to Meiringen for a serious grocery shopping stop.  We walked about a mile to the cable car and had to wait an hour for the cable car up to our village, then walked another 15 minutes to our apartment.  If it sounds a bit remote, you're getting the idea.  It is very quiet- the only sound tonight is the rush of water down a mountain stream.

I'm the last one standing tonight, and am headed to bed- a long a beautiful hike awaits us early tomorrow.  We are wishing you all were here- the beauty is just amazing.

Jack