Day 2: Schilthorn trip

After an early breakfast we walked to the other end of town and took 2 cable cars to reach the Schilthorn for some magnificent views---likely the most impressive we have
EVER seem.  Murren altitude 5413’/ Schilthorn 9744 feet, so a pretty impressive cable car ride.  I know the photos do not do it justice but here are a few anyway. 

After we got back to town we enjoyed some good views from our balcony but when the clouds raised up they hung in town for the rest of the day.

Dinner last night:  Rosti with sausage and onions.  Tim said it was one of the best meals he has ever had. 

Daybreak from our balcony

walk through town

Leaving the 2nd cable car station on top of hill after we got abouve clouds

Top of mountain: Schhilthorn

Cable car as it approaches top

The bottom half / 2nd cable car  to get back down:  the clouds starting to lift and village of Murren where we are staying is visible

Eiger Guesthouse where we are staying

view from room balcony

...view from balcony 10 minutes later....here comes the clouds/fog again

clouded in all the way--can barely see train station across street

NOTE to Stacy and Susan:  would love to bring some of those huge truffles home, but wouldn't fit in suitcase.  Afraid if I bought one I would have to eat it all before we head home.

Day 1: Arrival in Switzerland

Double decker train, 1st class car

Start of cable car ride into the unknown fog

DREW!!!!!!!!!!!Look what I found--real big truffle

View from our balcony--fog is coming and going this afternoon, but mostly fogged in

We made it!  Had an uneventful flight with the exception of sitting on the armac in ATL for 45 minutes before taking off.  My plan to reach Murren was flawless and everything went as planned.  Train to Luzern, change to train to Brienz where we took boat to Interlaken on one of the most beautiful lakes we had ever seen then train to Lauterbrunnen where we switched to cable car to Grutscalp and finally cog rail to Murren.  I know I just bored you with too many details, but I wanted to let you know you how many connections we made while jet-lagged and it was so simple.  Switzerland is truly as efficient as I had heard they were.  It was a piece of cake getting to our mountain top hotel.

Pull up your chair and get ready for another vacation with Tim and Joy.  This year we are going to mark a place off Tim’s bucket list.  We are going to Switzerland!  And you can’t be that close to Italy and not stop by there, so the second part of our trip will take us to Florence and Venice.   We are flying TRI to Atlanta then straight to Zurich.  We have a 4 day Swiss rail pass which will take care of all our transportation needs along with 2 very scenic train rides.

While we have the pencil out, we might as well mark another one off the list—it will be just Tim and me.  We enjoy traveling family and friends but Tim said he was about to develop a complex because I never went anywhere with just him, so wish granted.  I can’t help it if I am a good planner and have a following when it comes vacation time.

We are departing USA on Friday, September 28 arriving Zurich on September 29 and will return on October 10.  We will start in the Jungfrau Region/ Bernese Oberland of the Swiss Alps staying in Murren, then to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn, take the Glacier Express train to St. Moritz in the Engadin area, and end Switzerland visit with the Bernini Express train ending just across the border in Tirano, Italy.  We will then travel by train to Florence for a few days before finishing out our trip in Venice.  Google maps calculates we will cover about 862 miles but this does not include the cable cars and mountain railways. 

Europe uses the metric system, so part of my research was to figure out altitudes of the places we were going to visit.

Kingsport is 1208 feet above sea level.

Interlaken is 1864’

Murren is 5413’

Schilthorn is 9744’ (a very high cable car ride from Murren!)

Zermatt is 5315’

Gornergrat is 10,134’  (cog train from Zermatt)

St. Moritz is 6089’

Check back Saturday or Sunday and I will try to have some pictures posted.