Swiss Alps (AKA heaven on earth)

I am sitting on a wooden bench, high in the Swiss Alps. The sun twinkles through the leaves above and a gentle alpine breeze disturbs the warm air. My eye traces down the colorful meadow falling steeply before me, soon lost in the tips of trees as the terrain drops to the hidden valley floor far below. On the other side, forest and meadow quickly give way to rushing waterfalls and shear rock faces, capped by glaciers and jagged spires. The three sunstreaked peaks loom far above me, flanked by rugged ridges and framed by deep blue sky, so close I can feel their magnitude. Flirting butterflies draw my attention back, as a friendly local tiger-striped cat settles next to me on the bench for a nap. As I close my eyes, I listen to the gentle tinkle of cowbells and the distant rushing waters and deeply breathe the wildflower-scented alpine air. This is about as good as it gets.

...and that was just yesterday.

I'm not sure how much more needs to be said about my long weekend in Switzerland, but for the sake of filling in between pictures I'll give it a shot. I took off Saturday morning (alone) by train and arrived in Zürich, Switzerland (or "Züri to the locals) late morning. I took a couple hour layover here and walk around the downtown area. Zürich [Here - train station at top, N tip of lake at bottom] is a very nice city, with the highest standard of living in the world. It is situated right on the edge of a large turquoise-blue lake and is known for banking, cheese and chocolate. Saw a couple cathedrals, some cool buildings, etc, but this is not what I was searching for on this trip.

Zurich Lakefront

I caught a local train down to Luzern (Lucerne), then a scenic train to Interlaken. The scenic train went through heavily mountained regions, from lush river valley, through a tunnel to a deep blue lake through another tunnel to another valley, etc. Interlaken [Here] translated directly means "between lakes", and the reason should be readily apparent from the satellite view. After a quick layover, I caught a local train up to Lauterbrunnen [Here] where I would spend the next two nights. I was greeted by a torrential thunderstorm. Things got better from there, though!

View from my hostel room... not bad!

*Since google maps is low res in this region, from here on you can refer to a local map of the jungfrau region, found here. This is an external link*

My hostel was right in the middle of the valley, on a small rise with a beautiful view up a valley which shames Yosemite. (Especially since there were only some tourists, not floods!) That evening I walked up the valley a mile or two to view several of the 800+ foot waterfalls cascading down. The tallest waterfall (1000 feet) is right above Lauterbrunnen, and a path was hollowed out of the cliff wall to walk behind it. Once outside the town, the countryside was dotted with quaint local farmhouses and barns. The weather was moody, and I barely made it back to my room before the next thunderstorm hit.

Walking up the valley

Sunday, the weather was a bit better. I got up early, and hiked up the steep valley walls to Wengen (a car-free town accessible only by train) then on up to Männlichen. After just under 3 hours of hiking, I was 5000 feet above Lauterbrunnen but probably not much more than that away from it on a 2D map. (lots of switchbacks!) The hike led through woods that could have been in the Pacific NW, then into high steep alpine meadows carpeted with wildflowers and dotted with grazing sheep.

Looking down on Wengen and Lauterbrunnen (below)

The sky was patched with clouds, and a small raincloud formed right in the direction I wanted to hike (toward the mountains). So I got a little wet, but only for a few minutes. I continued on to Kleine Scheidegg and then to Eigergletscher, right at the base of the sheer rock cliffs of Eiger mtn.

Raincloud between me and the mountains

All these locations are accesible by train or gondola (so there were quite a few other people up there), but this also meant I could hike all day from point to point and always have water sources. Of course there was food available, too, but I had brought mine (cheapest meal I saw was in the range of 25 franks or $20). There is a world-famous train ride up to Jungfrauhoch at 11,000 feet (observatory, restaurant, glaciers up there), but it came at a price that would have tripled what I spent for the entire weekend, so I opted out of it this time.

Some of the abundant alpine wildflowers

I then hiked back around to Wengen through Wengeralp and returned to Lauterbrunnen at around 7pm, to make an 11 hour hike in all. The next day (Monday), I checked out of the hostel, loaded up on food from the grocery store again (Where food is much more reasonably priced), and set off up the other side of the valley toward Winteregg.

Goats at the foot of Eiger

Looking down the valley from Mürren

After the 2500 foot climb out of the valley, the trail was (relatively) flat, and I enjoyed the picture-perfect sunny weather. This side of the valley had fewer tourists, more forest, and more fabulous views of the mountains. (First three pics of post) All too soon, it was time to head back to Lauterbrunnen to catch the 4:00 train out. After the seven hour hike, I was ready to have the scenery come to me, as I enjoyed the rail trip out. This time my route took me through Bern and back to Zurich, where I nailed a close connection to get me back to Stuttgart at around 10:00.

Overall, it was the best weekend I've had in quite a while. Despite Switzerland's reputation for expensiveness, I was able to do the entire weekend for less than 60 Fr (~$50), not counting the Eurail pass. Not a bad deal for a weekend surrounded by such amazing beauty...