Do you remember Heidi, and Gulliver, and Cinderella?

It was about 7:00 this morning when we noticed the sunrise out of our window of our hung-on-the-side-of-a-cliff room for last night.  I spent several minutes just looking at the sunrise and how the lights reflected on the mountains, just like Heidi did.  She loved to look out of her window at the mountains, and we certainly understand why.  Sunrises are beautiful, and even more so in the Alps.

After breakfast we had to hike UP to catch the lift to take us back to level ground.  Leaving this unique place we had spent the night required us to take one last backward view. 

Remember all of the "down" paths we took to get to the hostel for the night yesterday?  Today was "pay-back" time, and the hike that took 15 minutes yesterday, took 45 minutes today.  The views and stops for photographs slowed us down some, but so did the stops we necessarily took in order to breathe.  The beautiful green valleys and tiny villages thousands of feet below reminded us of the Lilliputian world in Gulliver's Travels.  

We rested a bit on the hike, and a nice man agreed to take our photo.  We had him take it from a distance "to show the scenery", but actually it was because we are not close-up-photography worthy after a night with no showers and running water "only when it rains".

On the lift on the way down I was able to take some more photos of the beautiful countryside a little closer to the houses and land.

Once back on the ground, we decided to take the train to Luzern.  We wanted to go up Mt. Pilatus since the air was clear and the sun was out.  Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in Luzern, the weather there was hazy, and we decided it was not wise to spent money on lift tickets to the top of the mountain under the circumstances.  So, we went to the Swiss Transportation Museum for a little while.  It was really an excellent museum, and would be great for children, too.  They had hundreds of exhibits, including train cars, airplanes and automobiles, old and new.  There were all sorts of unbelievable machines, like the huge drill bit that the Swiss use to drill tunnels through mountains for roads and railroads.

Before we rode back to the Zurich airport area where we are spending the night, we made one more important stop in Luzern at Dolce Amore for what we believe is the best ice cream anywhere.

Unfortunately, our wonderful trip is quickly coming to the end.  Tomorrow we get on a plane that will take us to Amsterdam, and then another plane to Atlanta, and finally to Huntsville and the "real world".  It has been a great trip.  We enjoyed a wonderful week with family, another week with friends, and a third week with just the two of us enjoying Switzerland.  We used our terrific Swiss Pass which allowed us unlimited access to the entire train system in the country along with many discounts on other events.  However, just like Cinderella's world, at midnight tonight we turn into pumpkins.  Our Swiss Pass will be used up.  I guess it really is time to go home.  Besides that, we have finally eaten up all of the snack food Daryl and Bonny left behind.  It is sort of sad.  We have almost become accustomed to people speaking in a language that sounds like they are attempting to cough up a fur ball.

Seriously, we have learned to appreciate the Swiss people.  They are intelligent and appear to be able to accomplish the impossible when it comes to roads, train systems and timing.  They are punctual to a fault, and unbelievably clean.  There is absolutely no litter anywhere, and even the cheaper hotels are immaculately  clean.

But, tomorrow we leave.  We take with us many wonderful memories and so many photographs it will take us months to sort them out and arrange them in a suitable order.  That will be fun, too.  It is aways good to enjoy every stage and event in life, and be thankful for the oppoortunities we have.  Life is full of wonderful surprises.

Until the next "journey"...