Jungfraujoch

Our hotel started breakfast early for us so we could catch the 7:00am train to the top of the Jungfrau. It's about a 45 minute ride up with stops along the way to check out the panaroma views and take pictures. We were definitely not the only ones catching the early train and we ended up very grateful that we did. The place was ridiculously crowded by the time the 9:00am train arrived.

Steve and I took this trail to see what was up over the ridge. It was only about a mile (maybe), but the cold, windy, uphill walk at 11,000 ft. was quite difficult (for me, anyway).

Steve helped me pace by stopping at every other pole to catch my breath - okay sometimes it was every pole. He was very proud though when I made it two poles and sometimes three without stopping. :)

There was a little hut & restaurant when we got up over the ridge - yes, we were seriously roughin' it - where we warmed up with the largest cup (or bowl?) of coffee ever...

We hiked back to the train station/observatory where Steve's parents were patiently waiting for us. We rode the train down to the Kleine Sheidegg stop where we ate lunch on the sunny, warm terrace with fantastic views of the Eiger Glacier.
Then we set out on one of the suggested "easy" hikes to the next station - about an hour and a half away - where we would then catch a ride to the bottom. This was a fun, warm, relatively easy hike with LOTS to see. There were just the most spectacular views at every turn and fields and fields full of wildflowers.

The next day we drove to Zermatt which is about 3 hours from Grindelwald, including a rail ferry through a mountain (a first for us all). We hoped to see the Matterhorn but the weather was not so kind. We started up the trail but eventually conceded that the cloud cover was there to stay. It was rainy and Zermatt disappointed a little. It is unique in that there are no cars allowed in the city. So we had to park our car and take a taxi to the edge of town where they essentially dropped us off to walk into town. There are however, electric cars all over town so it's not exactly the 100% pedestrian feel you get in say, Venice. Still have to watch for cars. We bought some Swiss chocolate and headed back to Grindelwald. Even so, the drive was beautiful and we can say we've been on a rail ferry!

Grindelwald, Switzerland

Steve's parents came to visit in July for two weeks. We spent July 4th weekend exploring Switzerland. We knew we wanted to take them to the Alps and we hadn't made it to Switzerland yet so it was a good excuse to knock another country off "the list". We headed for Grindelwald which is about a five hour drive from our house. As we neared Interlaken we drove past Lakes Thun and Brienz and had to stop and stare for a while. The pictures really don't do it justice. This was one of the most beautiful bodies of water I've ever seen.

When we got to Grindelwald we spent a little time exploring the town and then headed for dinner. I had Rosti, which is essentially hash browns, with some local sausage and cabbage in a cream sauce.....delish. Rosti was available just about everywhere we went, with just about any flavor you could ask for. Steve's mom had it once with tomatoes and cheese and Steve had it once with bacon and eggs. Good stuff.

There are trails all over Grindelwald - easy or hard, short or long, whatever you want. We did a little 20 minute walk to get an idea of what we were in for the following day and called it an early evening. We had a 7:00am train to catch to the top of Jungfraujoch.

Belgium & The Netherlands - Part 2

We set out from Brugge and headed toward a little coastal city in the Netherlands someone had recommended to Steve - Noordwijk - try saying that five times fast. As we pulled into town, we instantly caught the "California beach town" vibe and quickly changed into flip flops and short sleeves and shorts.


We took a nice long stroll on the beach and enjoyed being near the water (it's been TOO long!) It wasn't quite what I would call "California beach warm" but it was a welcome change of scenery nonetheless. It was quite windy so there were lots of kites flying and sunbathers had these orange contraptions up to block the wind.

Steve was ambitious enough to put his swim suit on though it never got wet. I stuck the very tip of my pinky toe in the water so that I could report back to you that yes, the North Sea is in fact, cold. We did a little window shopping, ate an early dinner at a little Greek joint - very friendly and tasty - and headed on to Haarlem where we would stay for the night. We intended to go out and enjoy the nightlife in Haarlem which is supposed to be quite colorful. Unfortunately, due to spending half the night in Brugge awake - killing a few dozen mosquitoes - we were something less than enthusiastic about getting back out once checked into our hotel. We called it an early evening and enjoyed a good night's sleep in our air-conditioned hotel room.

The next morning we took the train into Amsterdam. We had a fairly long walk from the train station to our hotel so we got to see a good portion of the city right away. Lots and lots of canals and bicycles and fashionable people. Very European.



We toured the Anne Frank house - the only museum we allowed ourselves the whole weekend. Truly fascinating and sobering to see the house first hand. We liked Amsterdam a lot, somewhat surprisingly. I was expecting it to be a little licentious and the vast majority of it is not at all. It's a really beautiful, fun, laid back city.