Bel Air Eden Hotel Grindelwald

... br>Deze hebben we eerder tervergeefs getracht te beklimmen in 2004 én 2007. <br>Helaas ook deze keer zijn we op de helft gestrand... <br>We hadden reeds 4uur omhoog geklommen van 1620 naar 2050 meter hoogte! Volgens de bordjes zouden we hier echter 2uur over moeten doen; Door de sneeuw was dit voor ons niet mogelijk.<br>Eerst was de sneeuw nog leuk maar na dat hij tot de schenen en vervolgens tot de knieen was het bijna niet meer te doen ...

... mix need reviving. The weather was clear on the main view side and overcast on another. Evidently God didn't feel that the view and revolveing restaurant was good enough for us, so he threw in a couple of snow falls for good measure. Gotta love the guy!<br> <br>We made a couple/few revolutions, took a few dozen pictures, and started our descent. We decided, at the encouraging of Rick Steves, to stop off at the tiny, and I mean TINY ...

... On Thursday I went begging for interviews. I went to Terre des Hommes (an organization that advocates for children's rights) and was able to secure one for Friday after being passed from person to person, trying to find someone who spoke english and worked on education. Begging for inteviews is a big deal for me, if you have ever been shopping with me you probably understand my fear of talking to strangers and asking for things. I also went to ...

last night we did as the locals and Mick and Sue tried Fondue... spicy cheese hot on table and dunked bread/pickled onions/gerkins and potatoes... interesting but not again!!!.. a few drinks and a good nights sleep.. today is HOT.. must be 30 degrees.. beautiful sunshine ..but odd in the mountains lookng at glaciers.. impressive...<br><br>Geoff and Mick took a cabel ride this morning up a mountain... at the top there is a ...

We were then supposed to take an overnight train to Bern Switzerland but I managed to **** that up royally and booked the train to Berne Germany, which is in the opposite direction... Jon was not impressed... and I only realized this 1 hr before our 10 pm train. So after hours of trying to rent a car (impossible during Oktoberfest) we got really lucky and found a car that needed to be returned to Switzerland anyways. So after a full day of ...

... and stuck our heads out to breath in the fresh air whose temperature was dropping as we headed deeper into the mountains. Keen observation by Allison: EVERY SINGLE house here fits the description of a "Swiss Chalet", with Geraniums in the flower boxes and everything. The government must have some kind of penalty for those who deviate from the standard red Geranium theme. There's no way it's a coincidence. Only 3 hours from Lausanne, Grindelwald seems ...

... enter Nelly the rain is heavy and non stop.... And I mean non stop, its relentless, never lightening off by just constant heavy rain. The awning poles are bending and we have to manually push the water off its roof every 20 minutes or so. We place a bucket in the corner of the awning, inside where it seems to be draining more than other spots and it fills in less that an hour, the water is coming through the roof and everything is wet. Not least of all Rob who looks like he ...

... down (or else it was a LONG walk to the bottom) so we pushed ourselves pretty hard. The hike turned out to be basically straight up - past a few wandering alpine sheep who weren't too happy to move out of our way. Unfortunately the clouds literally rolled in around us, so we lost our great view, but we huffed and puffed our way up and down and made the cable car back. Friday night we tackled the traditional Swiss fare - fondue and rackli (similar to a Waffle House hash brown ...

... way to end a prefect day. We spent the evening repacking our panniers and eliminating excess weight. Tip #22: Most useless article we have carted all over Europe - our sleeping bags and silk sleeping bag liners (altogether cost nearly $300). We have used them twice and both times we didn't actually need to. The Hostels and Backpackers now supply all linen and blankets or doonas. This is to stop the spread of bed bugs which were apparently rife through all budget accommodation.

... we anxiously jumped in the boat, ready for action. Also with us were our Australian guide and two high-maintenance American blonds. The source of the river was a glacier. Since we had a cold night, the glacier wasn´t melting fast, thus resulting in weak water currents. If it weren´t for the priceless view of the mountains and waterfalls or for having jumped in the ice-cold river for fun, I would´ve cried of boredum. The two ...