Tuesday, September 11
We wanted to take it easy today after our 10 mile hike through the Lauterbrunnen Valley. The weather was absolutely perfect so we decided to take the train to Jungfraujoch - also known as the Top of Europe. There were a couple of train changes but we are getting good at that. Pretty amazing the Swiss have figured out a way to get a train to 3454 meters - over 11,000 feet - but that is what the Swiss do. The first thing we did when arriving was buy caramel coffee. It seemed crazy expensive and then we realized it included a mug so not as bad as we thought. The Jungfraujoch attraction sits between the Monch and Jungfrau mountains and is breathtakingly beautiful. We wandered outside and reveled in the mountain beauty and took pictures - some with the Swiss flag. It was snowy and cold but crystal clear and beautiful. Afterward, we visited the Ice Caves. Truly remarkable - a tunnel of ice filled with ice carvings. We finished off our tour with a visit to the Lindt Chocolate Factory and with David's encouragement, I bought two of every kind of chocolate for sale, except I bought four caramel, of course.
When we arrived back at Wengen, it was about 2 pm and we were starving. We went to the Schonegg where we had delicious pizza before and discovered the only thing we could get was bread and cheese. We made the best of things, loaded up on bread and cheese with a little beer and then headed back to our room where everyone relaxed and took naps. Our dinner that night wasn't a win either - we ended up at a restaurant called Pasta and More which was not special. I had a salad that was amazing but those who bought main dishes did not really enjoy. Ah, well, such is travel. The beer is good anyway.
Wednesday, September 12
Today was the day of our planned big hike through the Alps. In order to get to Schynige Platte where our hike would begin, we had to get up at 5:30 and book out of our place and start the train schlepping. We arrived at Schynige Platte around 8:00 and had the most wonderful breakfast. It was a lovely mountain restaurant with just a simple but amazingly delicious breakfast buffet. The Alps were all around us, the coffee was amazing, we were eating fresh bread with four different kinds of fresh jam and I felt like I was having the experience of a lifetime. After we all ate to our heart's content, we headed out. A couple of miles in, it was getting warm so we stopped to take off jackets and readjust. I was helping David take the bottoms off his pants. When I turned around to take off hiking again, my toe caught the lip of a stone stair and I took a tumble. My hand hit first but then my chin took a good thump on the stone. I wasn't hurt bad enough to ruin my day by any means. I dusted myself off, put a bandaid on my finger and we kept going. My chin developed a nasty bruise by the end of the day. About 3 miles in, David started having problems with his hip which had been hurting him off and on before our trip. He decided he better turn back around. I hated to not be able to hike with him but knew it was for the best so we kissed and he headed back and we plowed forward.
The beauty around us was beyond description. Lush green meadows with snowy Alps and mountain lakes. It was a long difficult hike - about 11 miles with about 3000 feet of elevation gain. We passed a mountain restaurant where you literally had to pay to use the toilet because it cost 3.10 CHF due to the difficulty of hauling things in and out. We bought a bottle of water for 10 CHF and refilled and kept going. The hike got significantly steeper at this point. We could see Faulhorn Peak ahead which was the apex of our trip. When we got to the base of Faulhorn, the grade got really steep but thankfully short. We stopped for a few and took a breather and soaked up the beauty all around us. Now, it was time to go down. And down we went. Passed tinkling bells due to all the cows and goats on the hillside. Stopped and put our feet in an amazing mountain lake. Just so wonderful. Finally arrived at First where we took a gondola down to Grindelwald where caught a train back. First has an amazing Cliff Walk which I loved. Out at the end of the walk, it appeared you were suspended in air over the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Laurie was the only one that did it with me.
Arriving back at Wengen, we had an amazing dinner at Schonegg which has quickly become one of our favorite restaurants. David had been sitting there drinking beer and listening to music. David bought me a very nice blouse while he was waiting for us as well. Very Swiss. I love it.
Thursday, September 13
We had a hard time deciding what to do with our last day in Wengen. Kathy wanted to take it easy and do some shopping in Interlaken and Tricia wanted to do a mountain run. David, Joanne, Laurie and I decided to do the king of all schleps and go hike to the Trift Glacier and walk across the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in Switzerland. Our schlep went like this: Wengen train to Lauterbrunnen. Change and catch a train to Interlaken Ost. Change and catch a train to Meiringen. Change and catch a train to Innerkirchen Grimseltor. Catch a bus to Nessental, Triftbahn. Catch a gondola to the beginning of the hike. We had a 40 min pause in Meiringen so we had a cup of coffee and bought sandwiches for later. When we purchased our tickets for the gondola, the woman running the gondola told us we had to catch the gondola back at 3:36 - this gave us barely three hours to hike up and back and walk across the bridge. We agreed to do this because we were already there! The gondola was interesting. The lady pushed us in and shut the door and said, "Get in, I drive". So off we went. When we got to the other side, the first thing we did is go down about 200 steps and David instantly realized the hike was not going to be for him. His hip was acting up again. So Laurie gave him francs for a beer - no credit card or US dollars here - and the three of us set off like a house of fire. Somehow, we wore running shoes thinking this was not going to be a serious hiking day. Well, it was the most serious hike we did. We were scrambling over rocks going straight up for two miles. It was a day for hiking shoes!! Hard and brutal but oh so beautiful. And the bridge!! The most awesome thing ever! 300 meters high and 170 meters long. 300 meters is so high - it took your breath away to look down. We crossed the bridge and ate our sandwiches on the other side which Laurie had carried the whole way up. Joanne couldn't eat hers because she was facing the mother of all fears for her - just going on this bridge. Her stomach wouldn't let her eat at that point. We finished up and headed back - still hiking like crazy people. Places in the hike were seriously exposed with a wrong step sending you to your death - no exaggeration here. But we made it safely down and headed back - schlepping back the way we came.
For our last night, we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant - Da Sina. David and I shared a delicious pizza and of course, enjoyed yet another beer. For people who don't even drink at home, we have drunk a lot of beer here, especially David.
Friday, September 14
Today was a travel day.......and how!! We got up and packed up which took considerable effort after living in our Wengen home for five days. We were out of there by 10 am and on the train. We had five train changes before arriving in Zermatt about three and a half hours later. The big event of the day was Tony and Paola had their little girl today and we got our first picture while we were enjoying lunch in Zermatt. We wandered around Zermatt for a while but all of us were exhausted. Came back to the room and rested a bit and headed out for dinner. Lunch and dinner were too close with lots of eating in between! Dinner was delicious at a place called Grizzlies. Very unusual food but so delicious. We all walked for a while after dinner to try and recover. In bed fairly early with a day of sightseeing and hiking planned tomorrow.
Saturday, September 15
I did not sleep well in the Zermatt house. David and I were on a small bed sharing a blanket meant for one person. Additionally, my finger than I injured when I fell had managed to get infected and was throbbing so much through the night that it kept waking me. I finally got up and soaked my finer and slept on the couch. In the morning, we all packed up and put our luggage in the cellar and headed out for our Zermatt hike - our plan was to do the 5 Seenweg - a five lake walk. We caught a funicular which took us to Sunnegga and then switched to a gondola which took us to Blauherd. From here, we hiked to Fluhalp and had an absolutely marvelous lunch at the restaurant there. We have been blessed by the weather gods on this whole trip and our blessing continued in Zermatt. A clear and sunny day gave us views of the Matterhorn that took our breath away. After our lunch we continued our hike past all five lakes: Stellisee, Grindjisee, Grunsee, Moosjisee, and Leisee. The hike was not particularly difficult as it was mostly downhill but it did have some rather steep uphill ascents as well. Beauty such as this is unparalleled in the world and I can't stop marveling at the mountains. We completed our hike at Sunnegga and took the funicular back down. We decided to have dinner before heading to Zurich and ate at a place called Snow Boat. Besides the cigarette smoking which was ghastly, the food was wonderful. We are now on a train headed to Zurich as I type this.
I have wanted to hike in Switzerland my whole life and have anticipated this trip with great excitement. It is hard for a place to live up to such expectations but Switzerland has surpassed my expectations. I have loved being here - even if I am going home with some new bruises.
Sunday, September 16
I'm actually writing this on September 30 from home. My blog went the wayside once we hit the last day. We spent the morning wandering around Zurich on Saturday but all of us were tired. It was nice to see the city even if it did confirm to me that I'm not a city person and I'd much rather be in the mountains. We had an uneventful trip home, thank God, and never to be taken for granted. Spent the night in New York on Sunday night and then flew home on Monday. It was an amazing trip and the memories will warm my heart to my last breath.
We wanted to take it easy today after our 10 mile hike through the Lauterbrunnen Valley. The weather was absolutely perfect so we decided to take the train to Jungfraujoch - also known as the Top of Europe. There were a couple of train changes but we are getting good at that. Pretty amazing the Swiss have figured out a way to get a train to 3454 meters - over 11,000 feet - but that is what the Swiss do. The first thing we did when arriving was buy caramel coffee. It seemed crazy expensive and then we realized it included a mug so not as bad as we thought. The Jungfraujoch attraction sits between the Monch and Jungfrau mountains and is breathtakingly beautiful. We wandered outside and reveled in the mountain beauty and took pictures - some with the Swiss flag. It was snowy and cold but crystal clear and beautiful. Afterward, we visited the Ice Caves. Truly remarkable - a tunnel of ice filled with ice carvings. We finished off our tour with a visit to the Lindt Chocolate Factory and with David's encouragement, I bought two of every kind of chocolate for sale, except I bought four caramel, of course.
When we arrived back at Wengen, it was about 2 pm and we were starving. We went to the Schonegg where we had delicious pizza before and discovered the only thing we could get was bread and cheese. We made the best of things, loaded up on bread and cheese with a little beer and then headed back to our room where everyone relaxed and took naps. Our dinner that night wasn't a win either - we ended up at a restaurant called Pasta and More which was not special. I had a salad that was amazing but those who bought main dishes did not really enjoy. Ah, well, such is travel. The beer is good anyway.
Wednesday, September 12
Today was the day of our planned big hike through the Alps. In order to get to Schynige Platte where our hike would begin, we had to get up at 5:30 and book out of our place and start the train schlepping. We arrived at Schynige Platte around 8:00 and had the most wonderful breakfast. It was a lovely mountain restaurant with just a simple but amazingly delicious breakfast buffet. The Alps were all around us, the coffee was amazing, we were eating fresh bread with four different kinds of fresh jam and I felt like I was having the experience of a lifetime. After we all ate to our heart's content, we headed out. A couple of miles in, it was getting warm so we stopped to take off jackets and readjust. I was helping David take the bottoms off his pants. When I turned around to take off hiking again, my toe caught the lip of a stone stair and I took a tumble. My hand hit first but then my chin took a good thump on the stone. I wasn't hurt bad enough to ruin my day by any means. I dusted myself off, put a bandaid on my finger and we kept going. My chin developed a nasty bruise by the end of the day. About 3 miles in, David started having problems with his hip which had been hurting him off and on before our trip. He decided he better turn back around. I hated to not be able to hike with him but knew it was for the best so we kissed and he headed back and we plowed forward.
The beauty around us was beyond description. Lush green meadows with snowy Alps and mountain lakes. It was a long difficult hike - about 11 miles with about 3000 feet of elevation gain. We passed a mountain restaurant where you literally had to pay to use the toilet because it cost 3.10 CHF due to the difficulty of hauling things in and out. We bought a bottle of water for 10 CHF and refilled and kept going. The hike got significantly steeper at this point. We could see Faulhorn Peak ahead which was the apex of our trip. When we got to the base of Faulhorn, the grade got really steep but thankfully short. We stopped for a few and took a breather and soaked up the beauty all around us. Now, it was time to go down. And down we went. Passed tinkling bells due to all the cows and goats on the hillside. Stopped and put our feet in an amazing mountain lake. Just so wonderful. Finally arrived at First where we took a gondola down to Grindelwald where caught a train back. First has an amazing Cliff Walk which I loved. Out at the end of the walk, it appeared you were suspended in air over the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Laurie was the only one that did it with me.
Arriving back at Wengen, we had an amazing dinner at Schonegg which has quickly become one of our favorite restaurants. David had been sitting there drinking beer and listening to music. David bought me a very nice blouse while he was waiting for us as well. Very Swiss. I love it.
Thursday, September 13
We had a hard time deciding what to do with our last day in Wengen. Kathy wanted to take it easy and do some shopping in Interlaken and Tricia wanted to do a mountain run. David, Joanne, Laurie and I decided to do the king of all schleps and go hike to the Trift Glacier and walk across the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in Switzerland. Our schlep went like this: Wengen train to Lauterbrunnen. Change and catch a train to Interlaken Ost. Change and catch a train to Meiringen. Change and catch a train to Innerkirchen Grimseltor. Catch a bus to Nessental, Triftbahn. Catch a gondola to the beginning of the hike. We had a 40 min pause in Meiringen so we had a cup of coffee and bought sandwiches for later. When we purchased our tickets for the gondola, the woman running the gondola told us we had to catch the gondola back at 3:36 - this gave us barely three hours to hike up and back and walk across the bridge. We agreed to do this because we were already there! The gondola was interesting. The lady pushed us in and shut the door and said, "Get in, I drive". So off we went. When we got to the other side, the first thing we did is go down about 200 steps and David instantly realized the hike was not going to be for him. His hip was acting up again. So Laurie gave him francs for a beer - no credit card or US dollars here - and the three of us set off like a house of fire. Somehow, we wore running shoes thinking this was not going to be a serious hiking day. Well, it was the most serious hike we did. We were scrambling over rocks going straight up for two miles. It was a day for hiking shoes!! Hard and brutal but oh so beautiful. And the bridge!! The most awesome thing ever! 300 meters high and 170 meters long. 300 meters is so high - it took your breath away to look down. We crossed the bridge and ate our sandwiches on the other side which Laurie had carried the whole way up. Joanne couldn't eat hers because she was facing the mother of all fears for her - just going on this bridge. Her stomach wouldn't let her eat at that point. We finished up and headed back - still hiking like crazy people. Places in the hike were seriously exposed with a wrong step sending you to your death - no exaggeration here. But we made it safely down and headed back - schlepping back the way we came.
For our last night, we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant - Da Sina. David and I shared a delicious pizza and of course, enjoyed yet another beer. For people who don't even drink at home, we have drunk a lot of beer here, especially David.
Friday, September 14
Today was a travel day.......and how!! We got up and packed up which took considerable effort after living in our Wengen home for five days. We were out of there by 10 am and on the train. We had five train changes before arriving in Zermatt about three and a half hours later. The big event of the day was Tony and Paola had their little girl today and we got our first picture while we were enjoying lunch in Zermatt. We wandered around Zermatt for a while but all of us were exhausted. Came back to the room and rested a bit and headed out for dinner. Lunch and dinner were too close with lots of eating in between! Dinner was delicious at a place called Grizzlies. Very unusual food but so delicious. We all walked for a while after dinner to try and recover. In bed fairly early with a day of sightseeing and hiking planned tomorrow.
Saturday, September 15
I did not sleep well in the Zermatt house. David and I were on a small bed sharing a blanket meant for one person. Additionally, my finger than I injured when I fell had managed to get infected and was throbbing so much through the night that it kept waking me. I finally got up and soaked my finer and slept on the couch. In the morning, we all packed up and put our luggage in the cellar and headed out for our Zermatt hike - our plan was to do the 5 Seenweg - a five lake walk. We caught a funicular which took us to Sunnegga and then switched to a gondola which took us to Blauherd. From here, we hiked to Fluhalp and had an absolutely marvelous lunch at the restaurant there. We have been blessed by the weather gods on this whole trip and our blessing continued in Zermatt. A clear and sunny day gave us views of the Matterhorn that took our breath away. After our lunch we continued our hike past all five lakes: Stellisee, Grindjisee, Grunsee, Moosjisee, and Leisee. The hike was not particularly difficult as it was mostly downhill but it did have some rather steep uphill ascents as well. Beauty such as this is unparalleled in the world and I can't stop marveling at the mountains. We completed our hike at Sunnegga and took the funicular back down. We decided to have dinner before heading to Zurich and ate at a place called Snow Boat. Besides the cigarette smoking which was ghastly, the food was wonderful. We are now on a train headed to Zurich as I type this.
I have wanted to hike in Switzerland my whole life and have anticipated this trip with great excitement. It is hard for a place to live up to such expectations but Switzerland has surpassed my expectations. I have loved being here - even if I am going home with some new bruises.
Sunday, September 16
I'm actually writing this on September 30 from home. My blog went the wayside once we hit the last day. We spent the morning wandering around Zurich on Saturday but all of us were tired. It was nice to see the city even if it did confirm to me that I'm not a city person and I'd much rather be in the mountains. We had an uneventful trip home, thank God, and never to be taken for granted. Spent the night in New York on Sunday night and then flew home on Monday. It was an amazing trip and the memories will warm my heart to my last breath.
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