King of the Alps

---

9/10/09

It was a cold, loud and restless night with little sleep. According to Andrew, we had to be out of the parking lot by 7am. Around 6:30am he headed to another parking lot for breakfast. I fell back asleep and woke an hour later in yet another parking lot. He just kept moving us around like fugitives on the run till the campgrounds opened at 9am. We finally got to the campground and got a little shut eye till 10am. We then headed down the river to catch the Gondola up to Gimmelwald and Murren.

The view from Murren was breathtaking. We were surrounded by the King of the Alps mountains. We had lunch in front of the famous Eiger mountain, snow capped at 13,000 ft. and the majestic Jungfrau, the tallest (13,600 ft.) and where they filmed James Bond. They were surrounded by 5 or 6 other glacial mountains. We had stiff necks from continually looking up in amazement. They didn’t look real, it looked like one of those pull down backdrops you get at a photographer studio. Sensory overload. It was a gorgeous day and the view spectacular.

There where hikes everywhere on very defined tracks. We climbed out of Murren, and headed up another 1,500 ft up the mountain. We went through farms, with the cows bells clanging, and into the forest. The hike was demanding but not that difficult, with more down hills than uphills. We descended into Gimmelwald - what a simple & hard life the residents must have. I felt that we where walking through peoples backyards. From Gimmelwald we descended to the valley another 2,500 feet below us.

This was a thrill seekers paradise with crazy downhill mountain biking everywhere, over 230 km of ski trails, paragliding and base jumping. A guy died yesterday from base jumping. Now, that’s a stupid sport! I don’t even like Space Mountain at Disney so getting lots in the beautiful views and hiking was exciting enough for me.
We were thinking of going out tonight for Fondue but it was a cost of 43 Swiss Fancs per person. The Franc is almost even with the US dollar. That is some expensive cheese. We passed and had pasta in our mobile kitchen with the Swiss Alps as our backdrop.

---

Photos

Checking out the view
In Murren, looking down to the valley where we camped. The Swiss Alps are 8,000 ft taller than Murren.

Gimmelwald
The small village of Gimmelwald, with the Junfrau towering over us.

Comments

[Vicki]

Cow Bells
Don't you just love those cow bells......I remember many years ago camping on the side of those hills........just beautiful and can't wait for Bill and I to make a similar trip........although no camping for me this time.....van would work but definitely no tents.............