Europe, Part 4 · Switzerland

OK, I realize Switzerland gets raved about all the time and that I'll just be repeating what everyone else has said before.... but that's because it is just UNREAL!  We loved being there and it was awe-inspiring, but looking at these pictures again really brings it home- it is, quite simply, gorgeous.

It didn't hurt that our weather was positively magnificent!  I was a bit concerned about the weather for this portion of the trip, as it would make a huge impact if it wasn't very nice... well, I needn't have worried- we had sun and wonderful temps the whole time. :-)

(Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the trip found here!)

Quite literally, this was the view from our room.  Stunning.

We stayed in Gimmelwald, a tiny town nestled in the Swiss Alps and only accessible by cable car!  We traveled from Colmar, France to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland on our travel day and arrived at the cable car in the early afternoon.  It was a short ride up, but wow! was it steep!

That was one of the aspects of our alpine stay that was a huge "culture" shock- there was no flat ground!  Literally, always an incline.  We come from the prairie and we don't even have many steps to climb in buildings, either!  Needless to say, we got a workout. ;-)

My cousin had been to Gimmelwald twice before and has taken stunning pictures, which is what prompted us to put it on our itinerary!  We got our accommodation referral from her too, and we enjoyed our quaint stay! :-)  

Hotel Mittaghorn (or "Walter's") is a small, old-fashioned hotel in a wonderful location!  The accommodations are more "old-school"- bathroom down the hall, showers on a 5-minute timer, not remodeled for 40 years, etc.  However, with that also comes a certain charm... everything was clean and cared for, our host was wonderfully welcoming and personable, our stay felt more authentic, and... we had really cute little green beds. :-) 

Stunning location!!

We took a walk one day that led us into a little wooded area- it seemed like something out of Narnia. :-)

(oh, and can we just have a moment with that waterfall picture??  yeah, I'm pretty impressed that I was able to achieve the coveted "soft" look for the water!  LOL, it's the simple things, folks... ;-))

A sampling of the alpine flora on our walks.

Shepherds huts from our walk.

I felt like Heidi.

On all our walks we saw cows and goats (or heard their bells), but this group was the most photogenic! 

A hotel in Gimmelwald; the cable car that goes up to Gimmelwald and then Murren, as seen from our balcony.

(oh man! Swiss buildings are just as cute in person as you'd expect!!)

Downtown Murren.  Not exactly bustling itself! ;-)  It does however boast a grocery and a few restaurants, as well as some souvenir shops.  I'm not a big one for buying souvenirs or mementos of my travels, but I did indulge while in Switzerland.... :-)  Something about edelweiss scarf pins and decorative cow bells (to make my cow dress more Swiss, ya know! ;-)) isn't to be resisted!

Actually, I realized after we were already in the Alps that it was another of those rare opportunities to wear my cow dress!  That clanging bell wouldn't be out of place at all!  Such a pity I didn't think to pack it... heehee. ;-)

Just look at those mountains!  It's really just unreal.....  In the second photo, that's the view from our hotel- looking up the mountain to Murren.  It's farther to walk up for dinner than it looks.  Just sayin'. ;-)  However, the amazing cheese fondue dinner was totally worth it.  And this way, we burned off a few of those calories. ;-)

We saw this sweet kitty several times throughout our trip- from all appearances, it looks like he walks back and forth from Murren a few times each day, looking for loving from anyone along the trail.  So cute!  Gretel is great with animals, and has a special fondness for cats, so we always kept our eyes open for them. :-)

Is this for real?  Can I live here forever?

I took a series of photos for a panorama, but as I mentioned in my last post, they don't translate as easily to digital sharing as I expected.... and this group is even worse than the one in Colmar. :-P  So instead, I'll just share the pics individually. ;-)

These are from our hike up above Murren.  We had the same view from our hotel, just a little closer and a couple thousand feet lower and thus less capturable with a camera. :-)

 Look how huge and amazing those mountains are!!

The view over Murren- complete with a parasailer taking off!  There were lots of them out all day- sounds like such a cool experience!  Looks absolutely terrifying. ;-)

Thanks for visiting!