Advertisement
Published: January 26th 2013
Edit Blog Post
from my fall 2012 trip
Wengen
Our a delicious breakfast, it was time to hit the road again.
Wengen was our destination for the day, to get a more up-close experience of the Swiss Alps.
We parked the car and took a scenic train to Kleine Scheidegg. Dazzling alpine views all the way.
Kleine Scheidegg:
At 2,000m above the town, the magestic snowcapped mountains of Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau (4,158m/13,642ft above sea level). Climbed to viewpoint. Saint Bernard dog at the station.
On the way back we got off at
Wengernalp, headed to the market called Coop where we bought cheese, crusty bread and chocolate. Had a picnic at the square, in front of train station
On our way back...
Susten pass
,After
Interlaken, the views of the greenish blue lake was spectacular, with the high mountains as backdrop and innumerous little towns on the lake shore.
The view of the stupendous
Stein Glacier was breathtaking and the highlight of the drive. Worth the scary winding road which at times reminded me of my daring bus trip on the Indian Himalayan.
We
slept in
ANDERMATT, another small German speaking town, at the old Three Kings Hotel. Both accommodation and food very overpriced and not that good. However, the charming way of a small Swiss valley town could be felt in the air.
After being spoiled with good weather for 4 days, by day 5 the climate turned. But again, a raining and cold day on the Swiss Alps is still a treat.
We decided to take more twisting roads going north, passing through
ALDORT, and many other hillside towns, always with at least one church with pretty towers displaying a clock.
We drove by the cobalt
Lake Uri surrounded by green mountains with peaks covered by fog.
SCHWY:
When randomly looking on my Lonely Planet for a place to have a quick lunch, I chose to stop at this town once I read the description of the "My Thing" café. It is lovely, with a cave like room and right in front of the cobbled Haupplatz. From inside I could admire the town hall outer walls covered with elaborate 19th century murals. SCHWY is where Switzerland was born and a main
Swiss army knife factory is. But I'm not interested in knives, so we got on the road again, snaking around a narrow road up to the Ibergeregg pass, all the way passing the clouds, just to hit a road construction. And we turned around through the clouds, down to the valley.
Hikers: It was refreshing to see so many elders hiking around the countryside. Hint for my years to come.
BASEL:
The reason to visit this city on the NW, wasn't to visit Novartis or Roche, but to reunite with our friend Marius, a super friendly Swiss guy who opened his home in Bern to us, 23 years ago. We hadn't seen him since his visit to us in California in 2004.
We stayed at a hotel in Germany, driving to dinner with him and his family at their home.
Yeap! This was a trip mainly about vising good friends we hadn't seen in ages, but still lived in our hearts. Combined with picturesque scenery along the way as we jumped from city to city, taking some detours, this was indeed a perfect week long vacation.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0246s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb