We hadn't planned a Europe trip this summer for a few reasons....unfortunate events taking place in different countries, the high rate of exchange on the Euro vs. the Canadian dollar, and the fact that we put a new roof on the house and installed a fence this year. However, after a trip to Mont Tremblant for some hiking in late June, we talked about how much we were going to miss our favourite spot on earth. We talked about the possibility of a quick in and out trip. Normally we would rent a car and hit a number of locations, but we thought, what if we flew into Switzerland and trained there, spent a week and flew back. We didn't think we'd be able to get flights, because we wanted to use our Aeroplan miles, and normally you have to book a long time in advance. But we found some flights that worked, they weren't ideal, but they would get us here. Next was where to stay...we have a favourite place that we always stay, and they always look after us so well, even when we book late...late meaning any time after January or February. This time we were trying to book in early July. We didn't want to trouble them by trying to squeeze us in, so we did some more searching and were able to find a vacation apartment that worked with our dates. The rest, as they say, is history.
So we flew out of Ottawa 6:00 p.m. on Saturday evening....a quick hop to Toronto then we settled in for the 8 hour light to Munich. We had supper just after take-off, yup pasta or chicken lol, then we napped off and on. I like flying through the night as you arrive at a decent hour. Did I mention that Lufthansa really has their act together. Anytime we fly through an airport in Germany they have serve yourself machines with coffee, cappuccino, latte, whatever you want....and as much as you want! We also helped ourselves to some sugar packets and teas for our stay. If anyone reading this is affiliated with Lufthansa in any way....you never read this!
Less than an hour later and we were off to Geneva. It's a great airport with a train station right downstairs. A quick stop and we had tickets to our valley and Swiss Half Fare cards good for a month. About 3 hours later we pulled into the town of Lauterbrunnen. We have been multiple times and we keep coming back because the region is simply magical. Enough of the blah blah...I won't bore you with the details of our travel. We got here, we checked in, we got some groceries and we had an awesome sleep.
We woke up the next morning refreshed and adjusted to the time-sone, and it was time to do what we love.
It's hard to complain when this is the view from your living room window before the sun is even really up...yes I said our living room.
We made some breakfast and prepared our packs for the day and got ready to head out. Had to take a photo of the front of the house we are staying in.
We walked down to the train station and picked up our 6 day passes, good for almost all trains, cable cars, gondolas and lake boats in the region. Then we hopped on a cable car up to Grutschalp where we connected with the start of the Mountain View Trail. There was some climbing at first. All over the place there are pastures where the Swiss cows hang out at different times of the year. All the trails pass through fences....here is Jo making her way through a (sorry I have to say it) Cow Gate LOL
Howard asked earlier in the day about the chocolate factories along our hiking route today. Here is the first one we stopped at:
We climbed up and it wasn't long until we got into the sub-alpine zone. The scenery here is amazing, no I don't mean me. The three peaks in the background are (from left to right) The Eiger, The Monch and The Junfrau. The Eiger is what first brought me to this region.
Up and up....I can't stop taking these vanishing point photos
Where's Waldo?
The higher you go, the more spectacular the scenery becomes. There isn't a bad view to be had anywhere....ok, well maybe the business end of a few more chocolate factories...
We continued to climb, soon we were in to the alpine zone, where wildflowers are a plenty
We finished the Mountain View Trail and connected to the North Face Trail where we continued to climb higher. We decided to branch off the North Face Trail and head for one of the mountain huts in the area. First we stopped at a stream crossing to eat some lunch. Then we set up the camera on a tripod for a self-timer shot
Did I mention that all these little streams in the mountains end up feeding into waterfalls. There are actually 72 different waterfalls in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. One of the reasons we love it here so much. We kept climbing, coming across more cows high in the alpine
Then we reached our goal. There are mountain huts all over the place in Switzerland. You can get food and drink at most of them, and some of them have beds and you can stay overnight. Most of them have their supplied flown in by mountain helicopters
Look, Jo took one, and it turned out!
We started to make our way back down. We took a different train, and it was pretty special. At times it was narrow and there were pretty significant drop offs
After we descended a particularly steep section I looked back up and took a picture. The trail actually came down through the saddle between the two little peaks and winded down very steeply. The picture doesn't do it justice at all. One wrong step and well.....splat!
As we neared the town of Murren we spotted a funny sign. Question - how do you feel after doing an 18k high at altitude your very first day of the trip? Answer - read the third sign down
After arriving in Murren we took the train along the cliffs back to Grutschalp and the cable car back down to our village. We cleaned up and sipped on a local beer while making a nice tasty supper of salad and pasta, then went for an evening stroll along the river to work off supper and stretch out the legs. The sun was just setting deep down in the valley, but still shining on the snow covered peaks high above
What will tomorrow bring? Stay tuned to see. Wish you could all be here in this magical place with us!
P.S. You should be able to click on any of the pics to see bigger versions.
Night all!
