Blogs from Grindelwald, South-West, Switzerland, Europe

Today we decided to make the trip out to Grindelwald again and do some more toboganning, as it may be a while before we are back in Switzerland! We were able to get there earlier today than we did last week, and got in way more runs over the course of the day. Amazing what can be done when you don't lose your partner and you know how to do what you're supposed to be doing! Don't have any pictures to show for it, as we forgot the camera back at our apartment. We considered buying a helmet cam so everyone could get the full experience, but 600 bucks seemed a bit steep! Take our word for it that we are now seasoned tobogganers - we kept getting faster and faster, with more air on the ... read more

Early morning wake up call! On the road before 7:00 so we can get to Grindelwald and take on the world famous 15km toboggan run. Donna’s driving today, as Jon may or may not have gotten a photo radar ticket yesterday! After a 2 hour drive, we arrived in Grindelwald, another smallish ski town. We stopped at the visitor centre to figure out just how one goes about getting tickets for lifts and rentals and parking etc., only to be told that Big Fritz, the 15km run, is closed today due to avalanche risk. What??? We decide to make the best of things anyhow, seeing as there were still several trails that were open. Parked the car, rented ourselves some “sledges” and helmets, purchased transit passes for 2 different options, and boarded the train for the ... read more

Heute morgen haben wir Marc getroffen, denn er ist selbst erst in der Nacht aus Deutschland angereist. Nach einem erfrischenden Fußbad im Pool kamen auch schon Pierre und Michaela zu Besuch und es gab erst einmal ein reichhaltiges Frühstück. Währenddessen wurden die Pläne für den heutigen Tag geschmiedet: Es sollte zur nahe gelegenen Aareschlucht gehen, eine große Gebirgsspalte, die durch einen Gletscher entstanden ist. Es stellte sich heraus, dass dies genau die richtige Entscheidung war. Während die Sonne auf dem Weg zu neuen Rekorden war, spazierten wir zwischen Wasserfällen und großen Felswänden entlang an einem Gletscherbach, die uns eine Abkühlung spendierten. Von dem Durst nach weiteren Naturschauspielen getrieben ging es in 2000m Höhe den Grimselpass hinauf. Kurve um Kurve arbeiteten wir uns an mehreren Stauseen vorbei bis wir endlich die Spitze des Berges erreich... read more

April 7-9 This weekend seemed almost like a how-much-of-Switzerland-can-you-see-in-three-days whirlwind. Saturday Anna, Julia, Carolyn and I spent the day in Lucerne, wandering the town, climbing the old town wall, crossing the old covered bridges, and exploring the many churches. Since it was the day before Easter every single one of the churches we went into was having rehearsals so we got several amazing free organ and choir concerts. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but the acoustics in these old churches are absolutely amazing! In the evening we cooked our own feast of pesto pasta, frizzled spinach with feta, and a strawberry-spinach salad with stroppe waffles to top it off. Then we proceeded to spend the cold rainy night playing all sorts of card games in the hostel lobby. Sunday morning we attended Easter Mass ... read more

It’s the Swiss National Day today and one of the reasons we came back here before leaving for home. Our memories of the last one we saw encouraged us to stay a couple of days longer. We’ll see if this evenings celebrations live up to expectation. Today we did another favourite but it also meant being in amongst large numbers of people. It is a Public Holiday and the weather is superb so we cannot expect any less given our route for the day - Mannlichen, Kleine Scheidegg, Wengin, Lauterbrunnen, Murren, Grusalp, back to Lauterbrunnen and home. We walked to Grund and took the cable car up to Mannlichen and walked to Kleine Scheidegg. The mountains are in their most absolute magnificence today. Clear blue skies, a lot of snow and 360 degree views. We sat ... read more

The weather has improved somewhat and although it’s not a clear and sunny day, it isn’t raining. We caught the busy Grosse Scheidegg bus up as far as the Vogel Park (a mountain bird sanctuary) which is about 2/3rds way up the hill. We walked up the road further and took the 1600m track across the hills and on up to Bort. A lot of it was uphill, some through forest, over streams and steepish farmland. We even saw a deer in the wild. It is extremely beautiful at that level. The farmland is magical and dotted with chalets and wooden farm buildings. At the same level are the upper and lower glaciers in all their glory with the towering sheer rock walls of the Wetterhorn and Eiger to each side. It really is a most ... read more