My assignment in the Netherlands is now complete and it’s time for vacation! Switzerland is the first stop then we’ll be moving on to Egypt and Israel. We have been in the Alps several times before in Germany, Austria and Italy but never in the Swiss Alps, so off we go.
We flew into Zürich and immediately caught a train to Interlaken, a smaller town higher up in the Alps. We stayed in a small hotel on the edge of town with easy access to bus transportation.
The Harder Klum is a 4,334 foot high observation viewpoint above Interlaken, it is accessed by a cable tram. It was a beautiful cool day in the Alps. There were a quite a few low laying clouds but every now and then we could see the mountain peaks pop out wanting to have their picture taken, and we did.
The “Top of Europe” is the name of a high altitude building from where you have incredible views of some of the tallest mountains in Switzerland. The most notable peaks are Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. Eiger is the most famous as it gained popularity from the Clint Eastwood movie “The Eiger Sanction”.
We had a beautiful day, sunny, cold and few clouds, the mountains shouted to us, take our pictures.
To access the Top of Europe we took a narrow gauge cog train from Interlaken. The train didn’t make the usual noise other cog trains I have rode on, it was smooth and quiet. The complete trip took about two hours with two train changes.
The final access is through the Jungfraujochtrain station where you catch a elevator to the Top of Europe building. The Sphinx Observatory is one of the highest observatories in the world.
Taking a tunnel outside you find yourself on the Aletsch glacier. The glacier was a little slick from the warm sun beating down on it. Although it was 35 degrees and windy, it did not seem cold. After a while we sat and drank some hot chocolate and while it was nice, it did not compare to the incredible hot chocolate we had at Bolzano in the Italian Alps. Every now and then we could see the mountain peaks pop out wanting to have their picture taken, and we did.
Time to move on, we took a train to Lucerne and another to the Entlebuch Biosphere. We expected to see "karst" however we ended up taking a cable car up a mountain and getting a wonderful view. Part of our view included the mountains we had seen the day before; Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. How cool to have seen them from a different angle.
Back in Lucerne we saw the Lion Monument. It is a beautiful carving of a Lion in the side of a mountain that commemorates the massacre of Swiss Guards during the French Revolution. It is a very moving sight, it is one of the nicest rock sculptures I've ever seen.
We walked across the Kapelbruke or Chapel Bridge, it is very nice with triangular paintings in the peaks of the roof. Many of these paintings were destroyed in 1993 when a fire broke out on the bridge.
Last stop is Zurich from here we will fly to Egypt. One thing I try to do in every country we visit is get some fabric for Elizabeth. I have not always been successful but today we scored. We went to a Bernina shop and found some Swiss themed fabric, home run!
TJ & EA in
Switzerland
We flew into Zürich and immediately caught a train to Interlaken, a smaller town higher up in the Alps. We stayed in a small hotel on the edge of town with easy access to bus transportation.
The Harder Klum is a 4,334 foot high observation viewpoint above Interlaken, it is accessed by a cable tram. It was a beautiful cool day in the Alps. There were a quite a few low laying clouds but every now and then we could see the mountain peaks pop out wanting to have their picture taken, and we did.
The “Top of Europe” is the name of a high altitude building from where you have incredible views of some of the tallest mountains in Switzerland. The most notable peaks are Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. Eiger is the most famous as it gained popularity from the Clint Eastwood movie “The Eiger Sanction”.
We had a beautiful day, sunny, cold and few clouds, the mountains shouted to us, take our pictures.To access the Top of Europe we took a narrow gauge cog train from Interlaken. The train didn’t make the usual noise other cog trains I have rode on, it was smooth and quiet. The complete trip took about two hours with two train changes.
The final access is through the Jungfraujochtrain station where you catch a elevator to the Top of Europe building. The Sphinx Observatory is one of the highest observatories in the world.
Taking a tunnel outside you find yourself on the Aletsch glacier. The glacier was a little slick from the warm sun beating down on it. Although it was 35 degrees and windy, it did not seem cold. After a while we sat and drank some hot chocolate and while it was nice, it did not compare to the incredible hot chocolate we had at Bolzano in the Italian Alps. Every now and then we could see the mountain peaks pop out wanting to have their picture taken, and we did.
Time to move on, we took a train to Lucerne and another to the Entlebuch Biosphere. We expected to see "karst" however we ended up taking a cable car up a mountain and getting a wonderful view. Part of our view included the mountains we had seen the day before; Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. How cool to have seen them from a different angle.
Back in Lucerne we saw the Lion Monument. It is a beautiful carving of a Lion in the side of a mountain that commemorates the massacre of Swiss Guards during the French Revolution. It is a very moving sight, it is one of the nicest rock sculptures I've ever seen.
We walked across the Kapelbruke or Chapel Bridge, it is very nice with triangular paintings in the peaks of the roof. Many of these paintings were destroyed in 1993 when a fire broke out on the bridge.
Last stop is Zurich from here we will fly to Egypt. One thing I try to do in every country we visit is get some fabric for Elizabeth. I have not always been successful but today we scored. We went to a Bernina shop and found some Swiss themed fabric, home run!
TJ & EA in
Switzerland
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