Switzerland

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We have been in Switzerland for 2 weeks now and have been around much of the country so this blog will be more of a summary of the best bits.

From France we drove into Switzerland, Through Martingny, across to Zermatt at the base of the Matterhorn, across the Grimselpass to Interlaken, up to Grindelwald at the base of the Eiger, then out of Switzerland via Bern and Basel (on our way to the Black forrest in Germany). Back into Switzerland at Kreuzlingen (at lake Constance) through St Gallen to briefly pop into the 6th smallest country in the world (Liechtenstein) then through Chur, the Oberalppass, Luzern and then to Solothurn where we are staying with Matthias a friend of Richards from high school.

Did you get all that?

From Solothurn we have been to Zurich, Bern and the Emmental.

One of the highlights:
Grindelwald was the starting point of our 'epic' day walk under the Eiger. We started wandering upwards through the surrounding farmhouses quite early. The path took us right through peoples backyards, and at times we thought we had probably taken the wrong path (we now know this is normal here in Switzerland). The path was pretty easy going as it meandered through local farms and skifields, the only obstacles being the cows. There are no fences, so the cows just wander freely through the hills, with their bells clanging. Despite the easy path we still arived at Kleine Scheidegg (1200m higher than our start point) looking a little worse for wear, in comparison to all the tourists that took the train. After a quick break we headed to Männlichen. This route was pretty busy, full of people that caught the gondola up! The path down from Mannlichen was more of a trail, and the 2 hour descent was pretty hard on the kness! We did spot some wildlife though. We saw a marmot chasing a fox down the hill - something you dont see everyday! And the only Marmot we have seen on our trip so far.

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Photos

Stereotypical switzerland!
We had been in Interlaken about an hour before the cows come perading through.

Our view from the campground in Interlaken
From left to right, Eiger, Monch, Jungfrau

Klein scheidegg, above Grindelwald
We are looking slightly more tired after the 1200m ascent, than everybody else who caght the train!

Snow!!
Snow in the hills around Oberalp pass

Matthias and Lena
Our guides in Solothurn

Comments

[Kate and Dave]

Great photos guys - looks beautiful!