We awakened and looked out the window the first thing this morning, and the skies were clear and blue…a perfect day to spend in the Alps! After a delicious breakfast with an even-better view, we reluctantly left the lovely Hotel Baren in Wengen and caught a train down to Lauterbrunnen.
At the Lauterbrunnen train station we got a locker and left our big backpacks there for the day, using only our smaller daypacks. From there we hopped on a lift that took us back to Grutschalp. From there we hiked the “Mountain View Trail”.
In case the name of that hike sounds familiar, it is. We took this same trail on Tuesday. If you remember, it was the trail that was supposed to take an hour and a half, but we managed to spend three hours walking the distance. There are literally hundreds of trails we could take in this area, but we decided to take this trail again because it was up in the mountains and passed so many wonderful views of the even higher mountains. Besides that, the weather was so much clearer today. However, today we hiked the trail in the reverse direction, and this time it took us four and a half hours. We are getting older, not better. We stopped many times on the trail…sometimes just to look at the beautiful vistas.
We saw some people who had left the trail and were working on something, so I asked what they were doing. They were picking wild blueberries, and we quickly saw that the wild blueberries were in abundance along the trail and in the nearby pastures. We made more stops to pick-and-eat blueberries as we slowly hiked along.
Cows in the pastures always slow up our progress, also.
We stop and take lots of photos. At one particular scenic spot we tried to pose wistful, romantic shots of each couple. The light had to be coming from just the right angle on each face, so we decided to “look toward Jack” to get just the right angle. At the moment the photo was taken, Jack did “the weasel”, and that was the end of the dreamy photo we had in mind. (If you are not familiar with “the weasel”, just ask Jack about it the next time you see him!) You won’t be able to keep a straight face, either!
We stopped along the trail to eat our snacks we had brought for lunch. It was a spectacular view…and more time was taken up with more photos.
A little farther along the trail we found the perfect spot for a group photo of the four of us, but there were no other hikers in the area at the time that we could ask to take our photo, so we decided to put the cameras on small tripods, set the timers and take the photos ourselves. As you can see, this put the photographers in strange contortions prior to setting the timers and running to make it in the shot before the photo was taken.
However, we did get a suitable shot…eventually.
A little while farther along the trail we found a perfect bench and sat and enjoyed the view. While we were there, a young couple from Poland came along and we persuaded them to take our picture. Incidentally, their goal was to hike the hour-and-a-half trail in one hour. We didn’t tell them how long we had been at it!
It seemed that the longer we were on the trail, the better views of the mountains we had. We could not stop taking photos.
Finally we completed the hike and took the train to a city named Thun…but is pronounced “Tune”. We arrived at our hotel, the Zuntfhaus zu Metzgern, late in the afternoon. Our hotel is the white building on the left. It is a medieval building that dates to 1361. And…oh yes…there is a castle behind it. But, the castle is on the “to-do” list for tomorrow. Tonight we are going to bed early to rest up from the all-day “short hike” we enjoyed today.
We have had a wonderful day and made so many happy memories. As Olen put it, “I think I am getting too old to have this much fun.” We hope your day was full of fun and happy memories, no matter how old (or young) you are.
At the Lauterbrunnen train station we got a locker and left our big backpacks there for the day, using only our smaller daypacks. From there we hopped on a lift that took us back to Grutschalp. From there we hiked the “Mountain View Trail”.
In case the name of that hike sounds familiar, it is. We took this same trail on Tuesday. If you remember, it was the trail that was supposed to take an hour and a half, but we managed to spend three hours walking the distance. There are literally hundreds of trails we could take in this area, but we decided to take this trail again because it was up in the mountains and passed so many wonderful views of the even higher mountains. Besides that, the weather was so much clearer today. However, today we hiked the trail in the reverse direction, and this time it took us four and a half hours. We are getting older, not better. We stopped many times on the trail…sometimes just to look at the beautiful vistas.
We saw some people who had left the trail and were working on something, so I asked what they were doing. They were picking wild blueberries, and we quickly saw that the wild blueberries were in abundance along the trail and in the nearby pastures. We made more stops to pick-and-eat blueberries as we slowly hiked along.
Cows in the pastures always slow up our progress, also.
We stop and take lots of photos. At one particular scenic spot we tried to pose wistful, romantic shots of each couple. The light had to be coming from just the right angle on each face, so we decided to “look toward Jack” to get just the right angle. At the moment the photo was taken, Jack did “the weasel”, and that was the end of the dreamy photo we had in mind. (If you are not familiar with “the weasel”, just ask Jack about it the next time you see him!) You won’t be able to keep a straight face, either!
We stopped along the trail to eat our snacks we had brought for lunch. It was a spectacular view…and more time was taken up with more photos.
A little farther along the trail we found the perfect spot for a group photo of the four of us, but there were no other hikers in the area at the time that we could ask to take our photo, so we decided to put the cameras on small tripods, set the timers and take the photos ourselves. As you can see, this put the photographers in strange contortions prior to setting the timers and running to make it in the shot before the photo was taken.
However, we did get a suitable shot…eventually.
A little while farther along the trail we found a perfect bench and sat and enjoyed the view. While we were there, a young couple from Poland came along and we persuaded them to take our picture. Incidentally, their goal was to hike the hour-and-a-half trail in one hour. We didn’t tell them how long we had been at it!
It seemed that the longer we were on the trail, the better views of the mountains we had. We could not stop taking photos.
Finally we completed the hike and took the train to a city named Thun…but is pronounced “Tune”. We arrived at our hotel, the Zuntfhaus zu Metzgern, late in the afternoon. Our hotel is the white building on the left. It is a medieval building that dates to 1361. And…oh yes…there is a castle behind it. But, the castle is on the “to-do” list for tomorrow. Tonight we are going to bed early to rest up from the all-day “short hike” we enjoyed today.
We have had a wonderful day and made so many happy memories. As Olen put it, “I think I am getting too old to have this much fun.” We hope your day was full of fun and happy memories, no matter how old (or young) you are.
I know "the weasel" very well. That rascal!! I am enjoying your blog and pictures so much. I am so thrilled that you are making such wonderful memories.
ReplyDeleteEnjoying your blog so much!
ReplyDeletedon't know how old you are, actually i do know, but i am really old!ann
ReplyDelete