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Europe 2007 - Swiss Alps

Day 9 (cont): Arrive in Switzerland

After a 4 hour bus ride from Beaune with an hour break at a big cafeteria (lots of fresh food and tasty) we arrived at our destination in Switzerland around 5pm. The bus ride was enjoyable as we had great scenery and we sat next to the "Wisconsin's" group so we had fun plus we I got my first Swiss chocolate at a rest stop. Upon arriving in our village of Lauterbrunnen (which sits on the valley floor of the Lauterbrunnen Valley) we checked into our charming hotel (Hotel Oberland) and immediately started to explore the town. Our hotel is right in the middle of this town, everything is within walking distance and everywhere you look is beauty. I immediately fell in love—I was downright giddy actually.

After exploring the town we came back to our hotel and joined some fellow group members for a beer at the outdoor restaurant. This was our first chance to get to know Ronnie our bus driver as he was having a smoke so we invited him over. Ronnie rules. After finishing our drinks we headed inside to have our group meal which was excellent. We were in the Germanic region of Switzerland so we had our first authentic German beer and bratwurst! Also this was the first dinner that I felt the group was really coming together—I think it all started with the wine tasting in Beaune. After dinner we moved to the lobby with most of the other youngins in the group until we all finally moved to our room for a late night wine night-cap. We bought a few bottles (and 100 plastic cups) in France as did Dennis & Jean, fun night!

Day 10: Wake up in Switzerland

We woke up early and headed next door to get bike rentals to take up the mountain on the gondola (cable car) lifts to then bike down the alps! The "Wisconsin" crew joined us on the journey. It started with 3 miles on flat terrain to head over to the first gondola lift. What a start! The pics we got show how beautiful the area was and it felt like we were the only humans for miles! After taking our bikes up the lift to Murren we got off and locked them up before heading back up on the gondola to the top—the Schilthorn. 

The Schiltorn is a 9,744 foot summit which gained fame when a Bond movie was shot there and it normally has beautiful panoramic views. However it was a bit too cloudy (and snowy) to see more than about 20 feet out that morning. But we still had a great time and this is where the now legendary snowball incident (youtube link) occurred. Kristy hit me with a snowball in the crotch and I have it all on video—funny now, wasn't then. We then headed to Murren to make the 3,000 foot downhill journey back on bicycle. 

This was one of my favorite moments in all my life. The views were better than I could have imagined and it was exhilarating to fly down the mountain at high speeds. I speak for only myself on that as Shannon was riding those brakes hard. I'll just shut up and let the pictures speak for themselves now.

While we had planned to do an afternoon hike on the other mountain side (Jungfrau side) we decided against it due to the cloudy/rainy weather that appeared up at that peak. So after returning our bikes we did something we HAD to do—laundry.  See we packed Rick Steves' style which means we both only had a single carry-on with about a week's worth of clothes for a 3.5 week trip, you do the math. In between doing laundry we enjoyed some beer and porch time with our new friends Tom & Robin who had the room next to us. At night we met up with about 10 other group members and had dinner at a hotel restaurant down the street. Then we decided to do another night cap of wine- this time in Kathy's room which had the best view I've ever seen out of a hotel room window. See below for yourself! As for the Douche Appt Only pic—I could try to explain, but let's just say that's there for those in the know. What a funny group we had, speaking of which—thanks chocolate thieves!

Day 11: Wake up in Switzerland

We woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland. Crazy considering I was wearing shorts the day before and now it's snowing like mad. It was great—especially for a couple of Floridans, although Alaskans would have probably enjoyed this snow. The town and the mountain side setting turned picturesque in a whole new way. After taking some pics we boarded the bus at 8:30am for the 5 hour ride to Austria. I was sad to leave, I loved it here.

page 4 of 12

 

This is one page in a 12 page series of our Europe 2007 trip. Links to other pages:

London - Paris - Beaune - Swiss Alps - Austria - Venice - Tuscany - Rome - Munich - Weisbaden

Group Pictures - Favorites & Thoughts

 

Related Links:

Europe Trip Page - Our Family Site

 
COMMENTS
Jerii said at 5:00 p.m. on Jul 14, 2007:
The saga continues and I'm enjoying every picture and the storytelling. ( You are very good at it.) Biking down the Alps sounds like something everyone dreams they can do. What an adventure!
Tinkerbellkim said at 9:39 p.m. on Jul 15, 2007:
oh my gosh- the swiss alps are amazingly beautiful!
CptJckSparrow said at 6:23 p.m. on Jul 16, 2007:
Ahh to be Swiss...I can't believe you can make an appointment to Douche.

Awesome that it snowed while you were there! How beautiful this trip was, I'm so Jealous
Evoklarry said at 10:12 a.m. on Jul 26, 2007:
where are the buildings made out of chocolate?
where are all the hot swiss girls?
if you ride a bike in the Alps, do they make you take steroids pr doping? I mean, is that a law?
What side of the bike do you sit on in Europe?
JoanW said at 11:32 a.m. on Jul 27, 2007:
Enjoying your story very much. Switzerland is certainly beautiful. We got to see Lucerne for a couple of days, and also did a mountain trip by cog railway and cable car. It was great. We did our trip in May/June and I think we were luckier with the weather than you were in Switzerland. I was looking at your first pics with the white-out skies, and only a few with blue skies a bit later in the tabblo.
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