We got ready for our day of Hiking in the Swiss Alps. (I love saying that!)
The view out my window! I love there gardens...no fussy lawns around here.
Soon we were out the door and ready to hit the trail to Allmendhubel. With our trusty little map at hand, we worked our way over to what we thought was the right trail....well, it was what I thought was the right trail. Why in the world would I listen to my highly intelligent mom that has been her many many times?
So...we ended up hiking on this VERY steep service road for quite a while. It was still ridiculously beautiful. Where else to service roads look like this?
We were hoping that the road would connect up with the trail to Allmendhubel eventually. In the meantime, there was so much to see. I fell in love with the itty bitty flowers that were everywhere.
Eventually our road did turn into a trail. It was one of those trails that goes straight UP.
It was tough! We took lots of breaks to let our calves stop burning and our lungs to start working again. Taking a break always resulted in turning around and seeing this:
I was torn between looking at the majesty of the Alps and those sweet little blossoms everywhere. Mom was incredibly patient and let me stop and take photos. And more photos.
We came upon this gate and I really liked the way it made me think about who laid those pavers up here. I remember my mom laying our mosaic path in Payson...stone by stone, digging it in and making it level with the others. The idea of someone doing the same here reminds me how much we are the same all over the world.
Catching mom before she was ready for her photo....but it's such a cute picture!
What a beautiful place! And I am so glad to be here with my Mom.
Up ahead on the peak is the Schilthorn. It's a rotating restaurant where they filmed a scene from one of the James Bond movies. Most people take a cable car up, but it's also possible to hike there. We aren't doing either. We have cows to find and miniature flowers to admire!
A gorgeous panoramic view of the valley and mountains behind us.
More flowers!
At last, our service road did meet up with the trail we to Allmendhubel. And we headed in that direction....
But then we heard the cows! So we turned around and crossed the meadow to meet up with some wonderful fellows and listen to their bells. I really wanted to get up a little closer. I always think of the picture of my mom with one of these Swiss cows. I love that picture!
Once we got to see the cows up close. We went back to our trail and started heading to Allmendhubel once again. Luckily, there were little flowers along the way...
The trail turned from meadows to pine forests as we got closer to the top.
I kept noticing these twisted tree roots that formed perfect little fairy houses. I couldn't help but think how much the little girls would have loved to see them and imagine that little people live there when we aren't looking.
And we made it to the top!
One of my favorite pictures of our trip...
Mom showed me that the peaks we were looking at all have names. There is the Jungfrau (the young maiden) on the right, next her is the Mönch (the monk)...he protects her from the Eiger (the ogre) on the left. I really love that.
Here's my little map I drew to help me remember:
We wandered over to the restaurant, yes...a restaurant on the mountain. This is a great view of the three peaks!
We thought we'd see if they had any apple strudel. They only had apple PIE. Apple pie should not be legal when you are from a country that knows how to make apple strudel.
You would think that since they did not have what we were looking for, we would leave.
But no.
That is not who we are. We stay and order food we don't want, at prices we can't afford when we aren't even hungry because we don't want to hurt any feelings. There are a lot of great things about being a blue. This is not one of them.
But the sparkling apple juice was cold and delicious!
I was grateful we had purchased tickets to ride the funicular back down to Mürren . My feet were aching and was more than happy to ride STRAIGHT DOWN the hill.
We were back in the apartment in no time...just catching a nap. It's an essential part of a perfect vacation!
We still had a good amount of time left in the day, so we decided we should go down to Interlaken and find a music box store. We looked up the address before we left and I took a screenshot of the city map.
When we arrived, we did what we always do....we just sniffed our way there! We found it like we knew where were going. (We didn't).
Mom bought me this beautiful box:
It plays a beautiful tune and I have no idea what it is! Someday I'll figure it out.
I have fond memories of playing my mother's music box when I was younger. Her mom bought it for her in Lucerne!
We didn't stay long in Interlaken. We took the train back to Lauterbrunnen.
Before we hopped back on that scary cable car, we walked down to Staubach Falls. Seriously! Look how beautiful this place is! People actually get to live here.
The falls were awe-inspiring. As we stood there at the base of it, I couldn't help but watch a small section of the falling water fall all the way down. It made me think of what it would be like to fall over those falls...ack! They say that this spot is a favorite for base jumpers from all over the world. People are crazy!
What would a Swiss Fall be without Swiss cows?
We filled up our waterbottles at one of the ever-flowing spouts nearby. Then we started our walk back to the cable car lift.
On our way we spotted these little deer. You can't tell from the picture, but they were really red!
Back to Grütschalp and then to Mürren. We heated up a lasagna for dinner and buttered our favorite semel buns. Our new batch of müsli is in the fridge for tomorrow's breakfast. Yum! We have high hopes for this batch!
I stayed up late to talk to each of the kids, except for Everly. Ethan was sounding particularly happy. School is going well and he's excited to have a job interview at Walmart. That made me happy to hear!
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