Wednesday, June 14

More from Cow Country

Yes! We made it to the top of the Jungfraujoch today!
And it wasn't even very cold! We were fine with just a light jacket (or less in the sun), believe it or not! I heard from one local there's only about 45 days of the year that it's this nice weather in Switzerland, and we're lucky we nailed it at the best time. It's times like this that all the hours of research that were stressing me out before the trip feel like they were all worth it.

The cog railway that's called the Jungfraujoch is "the main thing" to do in the Bernese Orberland, but even so, it wasn't too crowded today. I think the whole world's population is in Germany for World Cup, seriously. I keep hearing horror stories about the madness. Great.

Anyway, the view from the train all day today was awesome, but it's hard to capture it with just one picture, so I thought I'd post instead a scary view from the gondola that goes up to Gimmelwald which we've had to take 3 times now.

If it looks familiar, the valley below us looks almost like a clone of Yosemite Valley, with lots of waterfalls trickling down the cliffs around it. If you ever want to visit this area, we highly recommend Gimmelwald of course, but the cute town below us that doesn't require this steep gondola, and has more hotels and restaurants is Lauterbrunnen.

Here's another shot of the gondola cables looking up (way on the right).

You can feel the passengers' tension build when it rocks back and forth a few times along the way! A few hundred feet above us (on a different gondola ride) is a funky restaurant where the 007 movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service was filmed around 1969 - it's one of the movies that Austin Powers spoofs the most, right down to the suede suit and lace cravat.

Speaking of which, one more important photo - yes I got a Barba Pappa souvenir from the store in Rome - it's my bag. Isn't it groovy baby? My bright red t-shirt above is a souvenir from Barcelona which says says "Baddest Surfer Girl" in Spanish. Appropriate souvenir. I'm also sporting a new Paul Frank hat, with Julius monkeys all over the other side, I'll have to find a better picture of it.

Check out Kate's blog for a few more pictures & laughs.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey. I happened upon your blog while bored at my desk at work. I enjoy looking at other people's blogs and came across yours. I just came back from a one week stay in Switzerland. We stayed in Kandersteg. It was a cool little town. We took day trips on the train to Bern; Lucern; Zermatt and Sion; Domodosolla, Italy and Lucarno; Brienz and Interlocken; Stein am Rhein. Whew! We were typical Americans and crammed as much into a day as we could unlike y'all. Your blog is nice and your trip looks fabulous. Enjoy your trip! Safe travels! Wendi in TN