Family Visit
My family (brother, sister, mother, father) visited for a week in August. We took the train to the Swiss Alps and spent two night in the small Swiss town of Wengen. From the city of Interlaken you board a privately-run railway for a 20 minute ride to Lauterbrunnen. There you change trains to board the Wengernalpbahn, the longest continuous cog railway in the world. Fifteen minutes later you are greeted by a train station and small car-free village in the shadow of the Jungfrau.
That is, if the weather is good. On the afternoon of our arrival it was completely clouded over and just to add to the experience, there was a constant drizzle.
We awoke the next morning with hopes of an amazing view, but only found more drizzle. Undeterred we boarded the train to Kleine Scheidegg, where could catch a train to Jungfraujoc, in the saddle between the Mönch and the Jungfrau. As we would have viewed a big grey nothing. Instead, we set out across some fields and encountered some the famous Swiss cows with their famous cowbells. Alas, we were too early to read of the Swiss Hiking Federation's warning to avoid encounters with cows. Even so, we escaped with our lives.
The next day showed more promise. The entire mountain loomed above us surrounded by a deep blue sky (this is when the first photo was taken). We again found ourselved at Kleine Scheidegg but this time we boarded the Jungfraubahn for the 9km (5.6 mile) ride,over 7 km (4.3 miles) of which were inside the mountain.
At the top, the view was amazing. Note the four hikers in the valley in the second photo.
After the snow and sun (for which I was rewarded with a sunburn and cold sore) we travelled down to Interlaken and boarded a train to Lucerne. The next morning was spent walking through the town the next morning, seeing the requisite Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke), Water Tower (Wasserturm), and Lion Monument (Löwendenkmal). The later is a dedicated to the Swiss Guards killed while guarding the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the French Revolution.
From Lucerne it was off to Munich, the Hofbräuhaus and other attractions. After that, back to Wiesbaden.
The next two days were spent driving along the Rhine, visiting Heidelberg, Burg Eltz and Kloster Eberbach.
My father and brother flew out on a Sunday morning as my mother and sister boarded a train for the next two weeks of their European adventure.
That is, if the weather is good. On the afternoon of our arrival it was completely clouded over and just to add to the experience, there was a constant drizzle.
We awoke the next morning with hopes of an amazing view, but only found more drizzle. Undeterred we boarded the train to Kleine Scheidegg, where could catch a train to Jungfraujoc, in the saddle between the Mönch and the Jungfrau. As we would have viewed a big grey nothing. Instead, we set out across some fields and encountered some the famous Swiss cows with their famous cowbells. Alas, we were too early to read of the Swiss Hiking Federation's warning to avoid encounters with cows. Even so, we escaped with our lives.
The next day showed more promise. The entire mountain loomed above us surrounded by a deep blue sky (this is when the first photo was taken). We again found ourselved at Kleine Scheidegg but this time we boarded the Jungfraubahn for the 9km (5.6 mile) ride,over 7 km (4.3 miles) of which were inside the mountain.
At the top, the view was amazing. Note the four hikers in the valley in the second photo.
After the snow and sun (for which I was rewarded with a sunburn and cold sore) we travelled down to Interlaken and boarded a train to Lucerne. The next morning was spent walking through the town the next morning, seeing the requisite Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke), Water Tower (Wasserturm), and Lion Monument (Löwendenkmal). The later is a dedicated to the Swiss Guards killed while guarding the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the French Revolution.
From Lucerne it was off to Munich, the Hofbräuhaus and other attractions. After that, back to Wiesbaden.
The next two days were spent driving along the Rhine, visiting Heidelberg, Burg Eltz and Kloster Eberbach.
My father and brother flew out on a Sunday morning as my mother and sister boarded a train for the next two weeks of their European adventure.
posted by tcw1138 at 12:32 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home