Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Wengen Switzerland - The Alps

Yesterday we drove about 2 hrs south and east into the Swiss Alps.
Our destination is the small town of Wengen which is precariously perched
high on a hillside below the famous trio of Swiss Mountains named
 Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau.


Our home for the two nights is the
Hotel Schoeneg.
It will be our last hotel of this trip but certainly not the least.


2 sets of twin doors open up to a nice balcony and
the view is fantastic!


One of the reasons I selected this hotel was the reputation of the resturant.
I opted for the "half board" which means a 4-course dinner is included.

Last night we had a pickled seaweed, caviar, and crayfish appetizer followed by
Creamed truffle soup, and finally Medallions of Venison with red cabbage and
a condensed berry sauce.

Our room is the top floor - right side with the two awnings extended.


Wengen is a car free town.   We left the rental in a parking garage at the train station
and took a cog railway train up the mountain.


Today we headed further up the mountain on the train to Kleine Scheideg where
we switched to the Junfraujoch Cog Railway for a 1 hour trip up to
Jungfraujoch, the highest train station in Europe at over 11,333'

We sat next to a newlywed couple who were visiting on their honeymoon from
Singapore.   I learned that in Singapore - English is the main (and first) language.


I visited here almost 50 years ago with my father.
The views from on top are amazing.
Down in the valley in the center of the picture is Interlaken Switzerland.


The Aletsch Glacier - the longest in Europe at about 14 miles.
It is over 3,300' thick.




On Junfrau is the Ice Palace.
It is carved into the Glacier and contains numerous ice sculptures.


Bears


Penguins


Heading back down from Junfraujoch we change trains to the Green/yellow
ones at Kleine Scheideg.   These trains runs down either side of the mountain
into either Lauterbrunnen or Grindlewald.

We took the train towards Lauterbrunnen getting back off at Wengen.


On the way to Wengen, you can see the mountain village of Murren on the
far side of the steep valley.   Kate and I stayed in Murren 6 years ago.
It was cloudy during our stay last time and we never got to see the mountains.
This time the weather was perfect.


We have some time to kill tomorrow so we might head over to Murren,
and take the tram up for lunch and see the view under better conditions than last.

My watch battery happened to start to go bad on me last night.
Since it was made in Switzerland I was able to find a repair shop in
Interlaken so we headed down there this afternoon to drop it off.
It should be ready tomorrow afternoon.

Normally I have to send it out for service and it takes
almost 2 months to get it back and meanwhile I am lost without it.

It's all about timing.

Tomorrow after I get my watch we will head back to
Marcel & Michaelas house for our final night in Europe.

We will say good bye to our friends and head back to the US, to
Ron & Maxine, The Doodles, The RV, and The Arizona Desert.

Thursday we have a 1pm flight on a Swiss A340 headed back
to San Francisco.

Again it will be business class seats so the trip home should be 
another fine flying experience.

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful photo's! I can't believe your trip is almost over! I've enjoyed following your experience and I'd imagine the time flew by even quicker for you. Save travels...
    T

    ReplyDelete
  2. Time sure does fly when you're having fun. Glad I can live the experience through you since I'll probably never go there.

    Lots of Love
    Hugs & Kisses
    Miss you

    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  3. Greg:

    Glad we are following along with you - we did some of these same explorations when we lived in Europe in the early 80's. Thanks for bringing the memories back in such a great way.

    PS: We were skiers back then and spent some quality (read cold) time in the Alps. Most memorable times were after skiing in the bars and restaurants! Well maybe except for one or two? Story for our next visit.....

    ReplyDelete

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