Switzerland

Oh Switzerland! I can tell you’re going to be a love I will not soon get over! This might have been the most perfect day of this tour. We headed out this morning to catch a ride on the cable car that took us up the mountain a bit. Then off on a hike to Mürren. Hiking through the Swiss Alps is something I’ve been dreaming about for years. And here I am, actually doing it. Surreal feeling! The hike was beautiful with all the oooohs and ahhhhh. Views of snow-capped mountains, giant pine trees for days, the crisp clean mountain air! I loved every second. We passed steams and waterfalls and freshly cut piles of huge logs. At one point we were looking out directly at three of the most famous mountain peaks, Jungfrau, Eiger and Mönch! We stopped and had lunch in Mürren. Kim (my trip buddy) Doug (her husband) and I found a place where we could sit and look out at that gorgeous mountain view. We had broccoli cheddar soup and it was perfect for the occasion. Topped the meal off with more apple strudel. So good! Then back out into the majestic scenery. This was another one of those places where it was so stunningly beautiful, it didn’t look real. A postcard picture everywhere you looked! I thought my camera was going to explode, I took so many pictures! We got lucky with the weather. There were clouds and fog, but they went away as fast as they came in and it was mostly a sunny, cool day. Highs in the 50s. So nice! After the hike, we descended back down to Lauterbrunnen and headed over to a very unique place, Trummelbach Falls. There were 10 cascading waterfalls inside a mountain so it was like being in a cave. This is where the run-off goes from those 3 giant mountains I mentioned above. The water in the falls was very forceful and loud and pretty fascinating. We climbed up high, lots of steps, but like I said, a very unique experience. The photos didn’t really do it justice. But the best part of the day hadn’t even happened yet. We found the cows! With bells! This is what I had been waiting for and hoping for!! We found quite a few that were right near the road, so very accessible. There were brown ones, white and black ones and even some goats. I don’t know what it is about these guys with their bells ringing... it is just magic to me! And they were on this big green pasture with a mountain backdrop and a waterfall in the background. Could not have been more picture perfect! I could have stayed here for hours, but we had to go to dinner. We headed over to Horner’s Pub in our village and were joined by a few other couples in our group. Beer, wine and pub food. I had chili and it was really good. From my seat, I was facing a Memory wall that had photos of all the people that had died while adventuring in these mountains. There were a lot of them and many were so young! Pretty sad. We headed back to our rooms at Hotel Oberland (I think one of the oldest around), but the night wasn’t over yet. We had one more surprise in store. Turns out we had a professional concert pianist in our group and there just happened to be a spare piano at our hotel. So we got our own private concert and it was awesome! He was so good. His name is Justin and his wife is Lauryn, who actually is an expert whistler and joins in on some of his songs. He played some classics, some ragtime, some Billy Joel, some Beatles, some Elton John. Very impressive and so fun!! Great couple! So now, this near perfect day was over. As I closed my eyes, I could see that gorgeous waterfall out my window. Don’t know if it gets any better than this!!!