Last Saturday I decided to finally make it down to Switzerland. Why the heck did I wait so long? What was I thinking? This trip to Switzerland was about as good as it gets. Reagan and I packed into the Trailblazer at "0-Dark-30"and made a run for the border. Only this time, south of the border means crossing into Switzerland, not Mexico.
When we first crossed the border, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. I crossed into a major city (Basel) and well...it looked exactly like Germany. When you cross the border and suddenly you're in TJ, it gets your attention. I am talking total sensory overload--kids asking you if you want chicle, adults asking you if you want drugas, air smelling like a fart, green replaced with varying hues of brown, etc. Not so with the crossing into Switzerland. More of the same...
...That is until you start to get close to the Alps. This is where it gets good. Not just good but unbelieveable. On our way to the Alps, we passed by a lakeside village just outside of Interlaken. This place was so cool looking that I decided to heck with the schedule, I was going to check it out. We stopped the truck, got some Swiss cheese, chocolate, and sandwich fixings and ate lunch at what had to have been one of the most picturesque spots in the world. What was so cool is that this wasn't some Jet set town where Mary Kate and Ashley were seen the other week...no, this was a small village where no one spoke english and the villagers awake to the sounds of churchbells.
After promising myself we would come back, we made our way further south into the Berner Oberland Region. Suddenly I found myself in a scene that was what people think of when they think of Switzerland: Half timber houses with geraniums spilling out of the flower boxes, crystal clear streams roaring down from the towering Alps, and trust fund hippie backpackers everywhere. Anyhow, we found our way to a goldola that would take us to our base of operations in Muerren. The problem is that you can't drive there. All of the villages clustered on this hill were only accessible by gondola due to the incredibly steep elevation gain. Once we ascended the mountain via the goldola (which was once used in the 007 film Moonraker), we found ourselves in Muerren. Now I thought that the village by Interlaken was good, this was even better. This place had a panoramic view of the entire valley and all of the soaring peaks of the Alps. We checked into our hotel and when I opened the curtains, I had a pano view of Jungfrau which was the highest peak in the area. Simply breathtaking.
We spent the rest of the two days hiking around the Alps. The hiking was challenging but fantastic and Reagan absolutely loved it. He didn't complain once! He was made for this sort of thing. Anyhow, I could go on but sadly the story ends on a sad note: We had to get back in our truck and go home back to Germany.
I've posted some pix from my cell phone camera at: http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c351/grego108/Switzerland/
Take a look!
When we first crossed the border, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. I crossed into a major city (Basel) and well...it looked exactly like Germany. When you cross the border and suddenly you're in TJ, it gets your attention. I am talking total sensory overload--kids asking you if you want chicle, adults asking you if you want drugas, air smelling like a fart, green replaced with varying hues of brown, etc. Not so with the crossing into Switzerland. More of the same...
...That is until you start to get close to the Alps. This is where it gets good. Not just good but unbelieveable. On our way to the Alps, we passed by a lakeside village just outside of Interlaken. This place was so cool looking that I decided to heck with the schedule, I was going to check it out. We stopped the truck, got some Swiss cheese, chocolate, and sandwich fixings and ate lunch at what had to have been one of the most picturesque spots in the world. What was so cool is that this wasn't some Jet set town where Mary Kate and Ashley were seen the other week...no, this was a small village where no one spoke english and the villagers awake to the sounds of churchbells.
After promising myself we would come back, we made our way further south into the Berner Oberland Region. Suddenly I found myself in a scene that was what people think of when they think of Switzerland: Half timber houses with geraniums spilling out of the flower boxes, crystal clear streams roaring down from the towering Alps, and trust fund hippie backpackers everywhere. Anyhow, we found our way to a goldola that would take us to our base of operations in Muerren. The problem is that you can't drive there. All of the villages clustered on this hill were only accessible by gondola due to the incredibly steep elevation gain. Once we ascended the mountain via the goldola (which was once used in the 007 film Moonraker), we found ourselves in Muerren. Now I thought that the village by Interlaken was good, this was even better. This place had a panoramic view of the entire valley and all of the soaring peaks of the Alps. We checked into our hotel and when I opened the curtains, I had a pano view of Jungfrau which was the highest peak in the area. Simply breathtaking.
We spent the rest of the two days hiking around the Alps. The hiking was challenging but fantastic and Reagan absolutely loved it. He didn't complain once! He was made for this sort of thing. Anyhow, I could go on but sadly the story ends on a sad note: We had to get back in our truck and go home back to Germany.
I've posted some pix from my cell phone camera at: http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c351/grego108/Switzerland/
Take a look!
No comments:
Post a Comment