Switzerland 10: The Matterhorn, wildlife, the final gorge, and a herd of goats

We embarked on a long train ride to our final real destination, Zermatt, the home of the Matterhorn.  The Matterhorn is actually only the 12th highest peak in Europe, but is known for its toothlike shape.  It is on the border of Switzerland and Italy and there was a race to see who can reach the summit first.  Switzerland arrived three days before Italy and four of the seven died on the way up.  They all would have died had it not been for the rope breaking.



Since I promised myself I would not go up any more cable cars, Stephanie went without me and I relaxed in the room.  Then we took a short walk to the nearby Gorner Gorge.  I have tried to use up as much of my Swiss currency as possible, since we are nearing the end of the trip.  Because of this I was 70 cents short for us entering the gorge.  Luckily, a man nearby overheard me counting change and gave us an extra dollar so we could enter.  He told us that someone had done something similar for him in Japan.

This gorge was much smaller than the others we had been to, but the water rushing through it was much fiercer.  It was very loud.



As we exited, I noticed a man with a camera standing motionless next to a nearby tree.



Stephanie spotted the Edelweiss plant, the national flower of Switzerland.



Back in town, we walked around a bit, taking notice of some of the older buildings buildings in the old town.



We came back out to view the sunset but were a bit on the late side to get better colors.



This morning we walked around again to take pictures in the clear morning.



As we were walking back to our hotel we were passed by a herd of goats, being shepherded through town.



We are off now for our longest train trip yet, to our Geneva Airport hotel.

Switzerland 9: The Glacier walk and the cow walk.

Today we decided to do our final hike, which was said to be about four and a half hours.  We took the cable car from town up to fieschalp.  We walked about an hour or so to Bettmeralp.  Then we took a tiny cable car up to Bettmerhorn.  

This cable car was more like an amusement park ride.  Instead of housing fifty people, it was a tiny thing with maybe room for 3 people on each side.  It ran automotically, opening the doors for people to get out, then people were to board by themselves, as no attendants for at hand, and then it closed by itself.  It was a pretty neat system.  We had the car to just the two of us.  I still sat on the floor, barely fitting between the two benches.  It was a very long ride up.

At the top, we began our longer journey.  It brought us fairly low and close to the glacier.

Looking upward from the beginning of the journey.

After a very long time, we turned away from the glacier and into the valley.  We visited a small restaurant and I bought the most expensive orange juice I've ever bought.  From there, we passed by a lake and entered the Talligrattunnel.  This tunnel lasted a good ten to fifteen minutes of fast walking.

Once on the other side, we curved back toward fieschalp.  We were able to get views of the second glacier behind us.

Back in town we witnessed someone and their dog pushing cows down the mountain.

Here is a video of the cows walking past us.

We left the hotel around 10:30.  We returned a little past 6:00.  Once sun had mostly gone down, we did a quick walk outside of the hotel to take pictures of some of town.  The town was the prettiest of the small towns in Switzerland.



Tomorrow we leave for Zermatt, to view the Matterhorn.  Zermatt will be our last stop before Geneva for the airport hotel.

Switzerland 8: The endless night of Swiss National Day celebrations and my first glacier.

Two nights ago was the night of Swiss National Day.  We were being lazy and staying in the room until we heard cowbells marching down the street below our balcony.



We decided to go out and take a look at the night's festivities.  Kids were out playing soccer while a crowd of people were headed towards a tent behind the tourist information center.  Inside we watched some horn playing.

They had more traditional music that I was not interested in.  I went back to the room while Stephanie stayed to watch fireworks.  I took a few pictures from the room.



Unfortunately, the fireworks didn't end after the official fireworks ended.  People were shooting off random fireworks well past midnight.  It sounded like people were being randomly executed.  It was difficult to sleep.

The next day we left for a 3 hour train ride spread across five different trains, on our way to Fiesch.  Fiesch is the best place to get a good look at the Aletsch Glacier, with a view from a distance of the Fiescher Glacier.  We went up two cable cars, to Eggishorn mountain.  Stephanie went up to the peak, but I did not dare.  Instead, I walked a little whiles down in the other direction.  When we met back up, she confirmed that I would not have liked it.

Fiescher Glacier in the distance.  On the left was the mountain peak that Stephanie walked up to.

While Stephanie walked to the peak, I went down in the other direction.

Afterwards, we just relaxed up there.  I noticed some birds kept flying from one side of me to the other, over the glacier.  I took many pictures with 3/4 camera settings correct.  I didn't realize it until the last few shots.  Oh well.

Switzerland 7: Swiss National Day and yet another gorge

Unbeknownst to us before yesterday, today is Swiss National Day, celebrating the creation of Switzerland over 700 years ago.  For breakfast, they were serving up glasses of champagne.  We left later than usual for Grindelwald, to visit Gletscherschlucht, the glacier gorge.

After about an hour of riding the train, we arrived at Grindelwald.  A quick forty minute walk down hill and we had arrived.  The weather was cooler than usual and rain clouds started to gather.

The entrance fee was steep and the Aare Gorge was much prettier in my opinion.  That being said, it was still nice to see.

At the end of the gorge path was a wooden door that was locked.  We had to turn around and go back the way we had come.  Once we were out, it began to drizzle.  We took the bus back to the train station and then returned to our hotel.  Just below us, a band was playing music for Swiss National Day.  Every single song that they played was American.  Makes sense.

Tomorrow we leave for Fiesch, where we will be able to see a glacier first hand.

Switzerland 6: Six cable cars and one funicular train to see a mountain peak and some more hiking.

Yesterday we began by travelling down to Lauterbrunnen, taking a bus to the cable car station, and then going up to Gimmelwald.  Gimmelwald is another small town.  I had expected the small towns in Switzerland to wow me, but compared to the towns in Germany, especially in the Black Forest region, Switzerland small towns look much less interesting and more run down.

We walked about forty five minute uphill to the neighboring town, Murren.



From Murren we took two cable cars up to Schiltorn, a mountain top at 9,740 feet.  This was the location of the filming of James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  I have no interest in action movies, so this wasn't what interested me.  The views were what interested me. 

A job that I would never take.

The bathrooms in the facility were James Bond themed with quotes from the movie being repeated, similar to what you would see in Disney World.  It was weird.

We took the two cable cars back down and walked a short way to a funicular train that we took up a little ways to Allmendhubel, which was supposed to feature an alpine garden.  It was mostly weeds and dead flowers, so we walked quickly through the "garden" and onto the mountain view trail.  This two hour trail was beautiful and most importantly, nice and wide, with no sheer cliffs. 

My favorite picture of the day.  Having a subject in the foreground really added to the picture.  It was Stephanie's idea to wear that hat.

At the end was a cable car that brought us back down to Lauterbrunnen.

I was very nervous about the day due to the cable cars.  My strategy for dealing with them was to sit down in the cars and distract myself by reading on my phone.  This worked well until the last one, which was extremely steep and had about four of the metal installations that the car goes through that makes the car swing afterwards.  By the end, I was feeling a bit tingly in my head, but I survived.