DAY 109 The L-O-N-G-E-S-T and B-E-S-T-E-S-T Day

July 6 – Hiking in the Swiss Alps in the Jungfrau Region

Another early rising and catching the bus at 6:59 to go to the Jungfrau area near Interlaken.   This was our 4th and final day of using the Swiss pass.  Switzerland has a north-south length of 220 kilometres (140 mi) and an east-west length of about 350 kilometres (220 mi).   Our host was in Bern, which is in the north-west part of the country.  We were trying to see the whole country in 4 days, so we had to have lots of ENERGY!

We're always hanging out of the windows trying to catch the best photo opp.

Yep, Carolyn - I do wear my sunglasses ALL of the time, except for photos, usually...ha!

We arrived in Murren at 10:30 by train and funicular. 

Elevation of 4875 feet and we were going to go a lot higher before this day was done

We could even go higher on this funicular, but we chose to walk.

 The town of Murren with some fun Swiss decor...

We started our hike up the mountains with the most spectacular view of the Alps in front of us. We went where very few tourists go as the hike is quite long and steep. It seemed that a more popular hike went a different way.

Now this would be a fun way to see the Alps - maybe next time.

OK - pinch me.  Am I in Heaven?

We just keep going UP UP UP.

We saw cute houses and cows and wild flowers dotting the hillsides everywhere and all the while the jagged, snowy mountains led the way for us.

What a nice sunny day we chose here in early July.

The little houses mostly were deserted - not sure why.

We'll remember this day forever.

We came across several cows who were mostly content to eat and eat.  Occasionally, even cows become victims of the mountains, wandering off cliffs. These days cows are double the weight of cows a hundred years ago...and no less stupid. If one wanders off a cliff in search of greener grass, the others follow.  We heard of one story where 40 cows performed this stunt. They died like lemmings. The meat must be drained of blood immediately or it’s wasted. Helicopters fly them out, but it’s only meat for the dogs.

Hey, be careful guys ...  don't fall off the cliff.

 The Alps become a lively world of cows, cut-glass peaks, and fragrant meadows trimmed by a pastel carpet of flowers: gold clover, milk kraut, daisies, and bell flowers.  This is a good mix for the cow’s milk and cheeses sold all around Switzerland (and abroad).

"YUM YUM - just love these flowers."

So typical Switzerland and just how I envisioned it.

These are beautiful cows; a lot healthier than the ones in Baja, Mexico who eat couches and cardboard.

Hey - just leave me alone and let me eat.

Hey, Bessie - smile for the camera.

 And shortly after this photo, the cow did charge and I got away just in time.  WHEW!  Close call.

By the way, my black top is new to me.  It was given to me by a fellow couch surfer who was tired of it.  I welcomed it as I'm getting pretty tired of my same 5 tops.   I've been wearing them now for four months.

LOVE LOVE the wildflowers.

Bet you don't know which song I made a video of?  
**If you're having trouble hearing it, I am, too, so I'll try and re-post this later.

Which way do we go?

DOWN DOWN we go

Cute little girl picking wildflowers.

 

My FAVORITE shot of the Alps and the brook - happiness and joy!

This was one of my favorite spots with the bridge and brook.

 Finally - Gimmelwald was in sight.  WOW - that is a LONG way down there.  This should be lots easier going down - right?   NOT...give me UP the hill any day.

 The Swiss people are so industrious and hard-working.  In June they take the cows out to the hills to start feeding on the land, and shortly afterwards, the people start cutting the grass, raking it up, and storing it for the L-O-N-G winter ahead.  This is how they do it.

By hand - can you imagine?  And on a steep hillside?

This guy rakes it

This lady (his wife?) collects it in large sheets

This guy (the brother ?) rakes it all into the barn

Heidi's Grandfather comes to greet us.  :)

What a setting for such a cute town - the people were so friendly.

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho - welcome to Gimmelwald.

 I wanted to buy some cheese especially made in this area. We found a sign to one little house.  When we got there, it said to come on in.  We opened the refrigerator up, picked out our cheese, and put the money in the little box.  What trusting souls!  It was fabulous.

"Alps Cheese For Sale"

Welcome to our house - come on in although we're not here.

They had eggs and sausages for sale, also.  The cheese had been aged for a year so it was a little sharp - still yummy!

So exciting to meet Heidi's Grandfather.!

Here is his back yard - beautiful garden and flowers

 Time to leave and get back down.  We have to catch the last train out of here and we were truckin' it to the bottom of the hill and was it a long way down. YES siree!  We saw many waterfalls along the way.  The water from the snow-capped peaks have to go somewhere - right?

Mmm - smells so good up here.

Such great photos - good job, Rich

We walked down a VERY steep incline for nearly 3 hours and I thought my knees were going to pop. It was one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. We had to hustle because we had to catch the 2:30 train back to our host's house near Bern.

We're almost to the village where we'll catch the bus back to Bern.

We made it with 5 minutes to spare.  Another WHEW!

We're home to Nathan & Michaela's house - only 30 minutes to catch the next train.

We arrived there at 5 p.m. where they had dinner waiting for us.

Roasted sausages and vegetables - tasted so good.

 We manage to find the best hosts, especially here in Switzerland.  We were grateful that they, too, were busy, because we sure didn't see much of Michaela & Nathan.

The Bernese-Oberland cheese that we bought in Gimmelwald.

 We quickly packed, then took off for the train station to catch the 6:00 train to Strasbourg, France. Unfortunately, they routed us on and off the train three times because someone had thrown themselves in front of a train and it upset all the train system for the rest of the evening. Such a sad circumstance, so we missed our connection and they had to re-route us through Germany. We didn't get in to Strasbourg until midnight. What a L-O-N-G day!

 We hadn't been able to get a hold of the young couple we were going to stay with and they hadn't sent us any messages either.   Turns out that they really had, but our phone didn't receive them.  (Lost in cyber-space.) Everything was closed as it was Sunday. Luckily one bus was running and with the help of a young man who asked us for a stick of gum,  (luckily I had one), we were able to catch the bus and walk for an hour to find our hosts at 1:30 a.m. We rang and rang the door bell. Of course they were asleep because they had given up on us coming.  He had gone to the train station and waited for us, but because of the problems earlier, we weren't on that train. It all worked out, but boy were we all tired the next morning.  I thought we would have to sleep on the streets that night.

ADVENTURES in Europe couchsurfing through 40 countries in 200 days.  We are sure to have some exciting times such as these.