Hi all,
Just a really quick update before the tour ends on Wednesday. Switzerland is absolutely stunning. The scenery is breathtaking.
Yesterday was great. We visited the Swarovski crystal museum in the morning (I did a bit of souvenir shopping). Next stop was Vaduz, the capital of the tiny country of Liechtenstein, for lunch and photo ops. We all went to the tourist information office and paid 2 euros to have our passports stamped, just to be able to say we’ve been there. Corny, I know, but kinda fun.
After lunch, we drove to Lucerne. I was so excited to go there again, and it was every bit as beautiful as I remember it from back in 1993. The wooden bridge was rebuilt from the time it burned down two days after the last time we walked across it, but you’d never know it because they did a good job on the reconstruction. We saw the lion monument to Swiss soldiers who were guarding some French king, and took pictures. Then we went shopping and I bought a Swiss Army Knife, which I’m really happy with. It has a light and a pen and is engraved with my initials.
The scenery on the drive from Lucerne to Jungfrau was amazing. We made a photo stop on the side of the road at one particularly beautiful spot. Snow-capped mountains with waterfalls and clear blue water that literally sparkles. We arrived at the chalet in time for a late dinner, and then there was a great party in the “bomb shelter” – i.e. the basement of the chalet.
Today we went exploring and saw waterfalls in a mountain and we had hot chocolate in a chalet halfway up. We were supposed to go up to the top of Jungfrau mountain but it was snowing too much so it got cancelled. Just as well – I’ve certainly seen plenty of snow but today’s scenery was well worth it. We did what was called the “Murren loop”, starting off at the base here in Lauterbrunnen and riding a steep cog railway up the mountain, from where we caught a train to the town of Murren. Like Lauterbrunnen, it’s very picturesque and full of ski chalets and whatnot. Also lots of fog. We went to take a group photo of the non-view view (total whiteout), and by the time we finished setting up everyone’s cameras on mini-tripods and taking all the pictures, we looked up and it had cleared up almost completely. Quite a sight.
We then took a walk to Schlicthorn and rode the cable car down, which was famous because it was the scene in a James Bond movie. From there, we took about a half-hour walk, with stunning scenery along the way – we followed a stream in a valley with snow-capped peaks all around us and waterfalls everywhere. I kept taking pictures, I couldn’t help it.
We then visited Trummelbach Falls, which are waterfalls actually inside a mountain. We were actually able to go inside the mountain and see the rushing water. Definite trip highlight. We walked back to Lauterbrunnen from there and had dinner at the campsite, and now we’re just doing some laundry. It’s been really nice just being able to relax and drink in the scenery here.
I need about 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep.