Blogs from Murren, South-West, Switzerland, Europe

Two years ago, on my last trip to Europe, I had attempted to hike from Engelberg all the way to Leukerbad (about 130km in all) through the heart of the Swiss Alps, along a section of the multi-national Via Alpina trail network. Unfortunately though, having successfully crossed three reasonably high mountain passes (the Jochpass, Grosse Scheidegg and Kleine Scheidegg) on my way from Engelberg to Lauterbrunnen, I was then forced to abandon my attempt to cross by far the two highest passes on my route – the Sefinenfurgge at 2612m and the Hohtürli at 2778m – due to bad weather. While I was then able to complete the final leg of my through-hike from Kandersteg over the Gemmipass and down into Leukerbad, this left a gap of about 25km, stretching between the town of Mürren (above ... read more

Well, the weather didn't ever clear for us, but the good thng about that is Lizzie got to play in the snow!! We put on our warmest clothes (Elizabeth was even equiped with a pair of my wool socks in her jacket pockets to use as mittens) and headed u p to the Jungfraujock. At 11,333 ft. it's Europes highest train station. Quite impressive even without the views.... read more

OK, this is not a regular post, but if the weather report is accurate it is supossed to snow tomorrow! I'll believe it when I see it, but that's the forecast right now (almost midnight) it is 34 degrees and foggy. The fog is right, but it doesn't really feel that cold of course its dead calm out there so maybe it is that cold. Supossedly the hogh tomorrow is 33 and the low 26, but the weatherman hasn't been right so far on our trip so I'm not going to start believing him now. More news later. Pictures at eleven.... read more

This morning we woke to another beautiful day! Once we got ready, we left the hotel and walked about 1/4 mile to the Schilthornbahn station. There we bought our tickets and then boarded the cable car. After about a 10 minute ride we transferred to another cable car for another 10 minute ride to the Schilthorn. That is a restaurant, souvenir shop, etc. built right on the peak of a mountain. There we sat down on a revolving floor and ate the breakfast buffet. The had sausage, eggs, bacon, big loaves of bread that you cut your own slices off of, cold cuts, lots of different cheeses, several kinds of yogurt, and more. The waiter asked us if we wanted champagne and I said no, no champagne. Well, then he asked "grape juice" and I said ... read more

We thought the French Alps were speccy - and then we arrived in Switerland .... amazing. Cable cars, trains gondolas, scenery beyond description ... our camera has not done Switerland any justice... but a few snaps of where we've been and what we've done.... read more