Hiking in the Alps – Tour Day 5

I woke up today feeling better than I expected to. Though my neck and back muscles are sore from getting sick my stomach and digestive track are functioning well. Nic and I rolled out of bed at 9, in time to have a little breakfast before we had to head out on the hike. I had a small bowl of granola and some fruit salad. Nic went to the store to buy some chocolate for our picnic.

On her way to the store she encountered another cow parade. It seams they move the cows up and down the mountains at different times of the year. We have now been greeted by cow parades twice in 2 days. Pretty cool.

The hike started with a gondola ride up the mountain side. This wasn’t the type of gondola you see in Disneyland or in Tahoe but a 10ft wide by 20ft long hanging box. We piled our group of 25 on and headed up the mountain. Nic was a little scared but she held on for dear life and made it to the top just fine. I distracted her by telling her to take pictures, like shaking something shiny in front of her or taking candy from a baby, it worked very well.

Once at the top of the gondola the majority of the group hiked uphill to Murren, Nicole and her band of rebels opted for the train, I opted for hiking. Nicole did bring up a good argument though: “why hike UPHILL when there is a train taking me to the same place along the same path?” Since this was only leg 1 of 3 for the entire day I understood but still wanted to use my legs, a day of being sick had given me serious cabin fever.

How best to describe a hike in the Alps? Well first off it was AMAZING (you’re welcome Joe, you can now imitate me on our blog). Our hotel is in the base of what appears to be a glacier cut valley. The hike started about 2000 ft above our hotel, an elevation of of 4600 ft. Looking out to the side we could see peaks of the three major mountains in the area, the valley itself, gondola tracks, villages, cows, more cows and para-gliders.  The pictures do it much more justice than I can hope to type out; however, even pictures don’t do this magnificent valley the justice it so rightly deserves.

Our first top was in Murren; a really quaint little village above the town where our hotel is. By quaint I also mean small. There was 1 grocery store that closes from 12-2 for lunch, 1 cafe, some ski shops, a gondola lift and houses. That’s it. It was about 100 yards long but still very cool. The houses are all a little rickety and slanted, obviously built by hand with a plumb or level. Some of the doors were barely 5 ft tall and most of the wood looked weathered and unfinished. NOTHING like we see in mountain towns at home.

One funny thing about these hillsides are the cows. There are a ton of them and they all have bells on. The more milk they produce, the bigger the bell. It’s like their medal or award for having efficient udders. So, as you hike along the hillside you hear a constant chime of cow bells. Since they are all different sizes it sounds like a large wind chime quietly dinging throughout the hills. We walked for over 2 hours today and we could hear cow bells for over half of it. Pretty funny to hear these soft dings coming from herds of cattle simply grazing throughout the hills.

We all bought food at the grocery in Murren, where Nicole and her rebels were patiently waiting, and headed down the hill to another small village to eat. This paved path wound around houses, cows, a small school  house and a chicken coup. The community seems to nestle 10 or so houses together in a given area and then the rest move down the hill. Over a course of a 60 minute walk we traveled through about 3 of these little villages. I know they aren’t villages per say but what else do you call 10 small houses stuck together with cows on a hill side?

After our 60 minute downhill hike we had lunch time. One thing this group likes is food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, no one cares everyone just wants to have good food. Lunch was great, we had purchased some pull-apart style bread which Nic tasted and renamed “pretzel bread”, water (I tried to buy still water, turned out to be sparkling water, second time we’ve done this), 2 apples (gala), peanuts and some gummies. The group sat out on picnic benches outside a youth hostel that overlooked the valley. This had to be one of the most breathtaking picnic spots on earth. The mountains surrounded us from all sides, the views were unbelievable, it was 75 and sunny and we could even see a glacier. We were entertained by paragliders floating through the sky and spinning themselves in circles. I ate a small bit of bread, a lil cheese, some apple juice and 1 apple. Nic had her bread, cheese, peanuts and a shredded veggies with mustard (which she bummed off of Colleen) on a piece of the pretzel bread. I still didn’t have my complete appetite so after I ate I opted for a nap in the sun on one of the unused picnic benches.

Our next stop? A gondola back down part of the mountain. I hope we can get the video uploaded tonight. Nic, who is already slightly nervous, gave me a look of shear terror after Colleen told us “everyone, move to the front on this one because it tips forward and and goes weeeeeeee over the edge”. I told Nic she would have a great opportunity for pictures; she reluctantly agreed. This gondola ride was a blast. Just as Colleen had advertised as you go over the first support and head down hill the gondola tips slightly and you rock back and forth. The huge windows give you a great view of the valley floor as you make a speedy, yet swingy, decent down.

Once we had our feet safely on the valley floor we all headed out for Trummelbach Fals (TF). These falls are the largest falls in Europe that are inside a mountain and still accessible. The walk over was absolutely gorgeous. There is a beautiful blue/grey river running through the valley that you walk along. This isn’t a grey that seems dirty but a clean and cold grey of water that is completely pure. I assume it was very cold as it is all snow melt fed from the mountains above. The walk took us along the river and through another little village on the valley floor. More cows, more flowers and more houses. Everything here is so quaint and beautiful.

So, anyway, we make it to the entrance to TF and what do we see? A placard describing the 60 minute cave elevator you have to take to the top. Nicole, once again, is not happy. This has been a day of gondolas and now an elevator inside a mountain. I, am stoked. How cool is this going to be, a huge hole dug out of a mountain that they stuck an elevator with glass sides in. Sounds good to me, let’s go. The ride was uneventful, very cool, but nothing scary. Nic took a video, should be on flickr later.

The elevator dropped us off at the 6th of 10 fall lookout points. These falls are like nothing we’ve ever seen. They have carved tubes and tunnels into the rocks. They don’t fall too far, I think the largest was probably 50 ft, but there are so many twists and turns and holes that it really creates a mountain like we’ve never seen. Think of a water park slide, only natural, with 10 drops built in all surrounded by a mountain. That’s about what we saw. One of the coolest things was that at the higher points you could see the valley and opposite side mountains out of the cracks and holes in the waterfall mountain.

Our trip to TF ended with 300 stairs down and a quick, but windy, bus ride back to our hotel. Nic and I opted for a little shopping before coming back to our hotel to rest up. We made dinner reservations for 7:30, bought internet access (you’re welcome) and headed back to relax, upload pictures and write. Dinner started at 7:30 and was very good, I had a small garden salad followed by chicken with ham and risotto while nic had mushroom soup followed by a huge salad of fresh veggies. Switzerland is much friendlier to the vegetarian than France was. All in all our day in Switzerland was very very nice. Both of us want to come back sometime in the future. We even think the family would love it here, hiking, mountains, gondolas, tons of site seeing, it’s like a Howe/Heuer dream, only without the botanical gardens. Goodness how I hate botanical gardens.

Goodnight everyone, I hope 3 blogs in 1 day is enough to keep you satisified.

Flickr pics