2nd stop: switzerland

One word: breathtaking. Switzerland is hands down the most beautiful place that I have ever visited (2nd being the Cinqueterre in Italy, 3rd: Costa Rica, 4th: Venice :). I hope all of you can go there someday if you haven't already. This part of our trip was a nice change from the bustle of a big city - all of the towns we visited were teeny tiny. I was in awe of the different ways people live.

We took a quick flight in from Amsterdam and picked up our rental car in Basel, Switzerland. We had previously bought a GPS with European maps, which made the whole road trip process incredibly slick. No squabbles over directions, no banging our heads against the steering wheel in frustration (I mean, that wouldn't happen in our car anyway but...:)

Our first night was spent in Lauterbrunnen Valley. Here is a shot from our hotel room at the Hotel Staubbach. We were lovin' life as we laid in bed and looked out at this view. Incredible! In the parking lot below was a cow beauty contest - a sight every person has to see. All of the cows in Switzerland wear HUGE bells around their necks, so the farmers can find them in the hilltops. Apparently on this particular day they were having the "Miss Lauterbrunnen" contest, where the best cow is chosen and then all of the cows are paraded through the streets - also something we saw often in Switzerland, as cows have to be exercised regularly.

View from our hotel room

A highlight of this town was our cheese fondue dinner. Switzerland is known for their great cheeses! As you can see, Jeff takes his cheese very seriously.

The weather was insanely cold - this town was our first glimpse at "the winter that came a month early" as the locals informed us (lucky us). It didn't stop us though - the first day we took a lift (straight) up to Mannlichen, which runs as a ski area in the winter on one side, but is literally on the edge of a cliff above Lauterbrunnen Valley. The ride was a bit nervewrecking, but I decided to just get used to it - it would be the first of many! I was nearly frostbitten by the time the photography session was over, so we went into the restaurant for some warm drinks (there are restaurants EVERYwhere, literally)! Here are some pics of the view at Mannlichen, and the gondola ride up.

It was a steep slope to say the least!

Here we are pretending we aren't freezing our rear ends off

The second day we parked our car, and took our luggage with us up a different gondola to stay in the teeny tiny town of Murren (only accessible by gondola), to stay for two nights. This was our favorite portion of the whole trip. Such a quaint and gorgeous place. We rented a little chalet that was brand new, warm and cozy, and with a great view (Hotel Blumental, ask for the chalet).

The gondola ride up to Murren

Our time in Murren included several hikes, wonderfully sunny (yet cold) weather, relaxing on our chalet balcony, drinking wine and tasting different Swiss beers, exploring the town, and eating a LOT of cheese. Murren was very low-key, due to the fact that it's off-season (between summer and ski season). We ate dinner both nights at a great little restaurant - thankfully we loved it, because it was the only place open in town (cheese fondue round #2).

The town of Murren - to the right is a steep drop-off

View from our chalet

One of our hikes, from Murren to Grutschalp - spectacular the entire way

Another hike, down to the even tinier town of Gimmewald (200 people). Cows everywhere!

Last hike: up to Allmendhubel, steep all the way up

The highlight of our trip was definitely the visit to the Schilthorn restaurant and viewpoint. Remember the picture I posted before our trip of the view in the Swiss alps? That was it. James Bond was filmed here, and it's one of the highest peaks in Europe. We took several gondolas/lifts to get there, but once we arrived the view was out of this world. Of course we made the most of our spendy little ticket up there and ate lunch and had beers here too, in the rotating restaurant!

On our way up to the Schilthorn - you can see it in the distance on the peak

Enjoying the sunshine!

The spectacular viewpoint, with 360 degree views of the snowy Alps

In Switzerland, this is a typical gorgeous setting you will drive by


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Observations I had about Switzerland...

*The locals are often people who come intending to stay a summer, and never leave. It's that great.
*Many new chalets mixed in with the old - like circa 1353!
*Most people have huge gardens and cows roam freely. At certain times of the year the farmers move their cows from lower to higher altitudes. We could always hear the cows because of the giant bells on their necks.
*Manure smells are common...
*The local kids ride gondolas to school!
*We ordered beer at the local Murren restaurant - Jeff asked the owner what kinds they had on tap - the owner nonchalantly answered with a smile, "the kind over there in the barrel!" It's quite a bit simpler, but the beer is GOOD.
*Cheese fondue is to die for.
*Cleanest bathrooms I've seen in Europe.
*Which brings me to...the TP feels like sandpaper, wherever you go. My Charmin Ultra Ultra-loving friend W would absolutely hate it.
*Most expensive place I've ever been. A Big Mac was $12 SF (=$12 US), and it was around $110 to fill up our small car with gas (but that's just Europe's gas prices I suppose). I heart America.
*The language is Swiss-German.
*We could not read any road signs! EVER!
*All of the countries are so close to each other. At one point on our road trip, we weren't sure which country we were in - Austria, Germany, or Switzerland! So funny.