I arrived in Switzerland safely after an 11 hour plane flight, and then, after a 2 1/2 hour train ride, Mike met me at the train station in Kandersteg. After a good nights sleep, we woke up Satruday morning and decided to spend the day in Zermatt, home of the Matterhorn. From Kandersteg, you have to put your car on a train which takes you through a tunnel to the other side of the mountain and drops you off in the village of Goppenstein.

Then we drove to the town of Tasch, left the car, and boarded a "people" train for the short ride to the carless city of Zermatt. It was a beautiful, clear, COLD day!
Here we are at the foot of the Matterhorn, in the village of Zermatt:

We rode the cable cars about halfway up to the station called Trockner Steg, which is the ski stop for those interested in skiing the area surrounding the Matterhorn. It was about -10 at that altitude. We had lunch at a restaurant there, and stopped for an obligatory pose at a spot with a more unconventional side view of the mountain:

Mike has been practicing with creating picture panoramas, and we thought you would enjoy his Matterhorn pano. It shows how the Matterhorn kind of "sticks" out of the surrounding area with it's distinctive shape:

On Sunday, we drove to the Lauterbrunnen Valley, which is a beautiful section of the Bernese Oberland. We were surprised to find Lauterbrunnen Falls almost completely frozen, with just a small spray coming over the side of the cliff -- and it was freezing on the way down. It was a very interesting sight.

From there, we drove around Lake Brienz, and stopped for some pictures at Brienz, which is one of my favorite little villages. It is famous for wood carvings and music boxes. Yes, I am spoiled. I have a wood carving and a music box from Brienz, compliments of the per diem Mike gets paid by Raytheon!


We went through the town of Interlaken, which connects Lake Brienz and Lake Thun. We stopped and had a quick lunch at McDonalds (hey...it was quick, and we were running out of daylight!) that cost us a little more than $20 for two burger/fries combos. Even at that, it is cheaper than most Swiss retaurants -- albeit not nearly as tasty! We drove around the shoreline of Lake Thun, and enjoyed views of Thun Castle on it's shores. See the swan in the water? It was a really nice day!

1 comment:
Loved the photos of Switzerland; they brought back wonderful memories.
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