Sunday, July 24, 2011

The most beautiful place on earth?

***A word of warning. This post is ridiculously long with an insane number of pictures. But, if you're going to title a post "The most beautiful place on earth," don't you need to justify it? ***

Apologies again for the big gap in posts, but I'm finding it very difficult to get things done over the past month and a half. Laura has been traveling a lot recently, and there was a lot to do to finish up the school year through June. Then, with the kids at home all day through July, it's been pretty hectic around here.

We had friends visit us over the first weekend in July. They arrived the same day the boys finished school, and we decided to take a quick trip to the Bernese Oberland -- the valley sections of the Alps near Bern/e and perhaps the most famous and "typically Swiss" part of Switzerland. Laura decided this was her "most beautiful place on earth." I guess I can agree, because not wanting to commit to anything, I've decided to have more than one "the most beautiful place on earth."

A photo-tour of our trip follows:

Looking across the Lauterbrunnen valley from Mürren.
That's a beautiful valley down there!

In this view, you can see how Mürren sits on a shelf in this side of the valley.

Three quarters of our family. The boys are at that age where asking them to smile
doesn't always work out too well.

Old* friends and the Lauterbrunnen valley (looking the other way).
* Not old, you know what I mean!

Watch out Elliot....
(If you look closely, you can see a paraglider in the middle distance of this photo.)

...that next step is a doozy!
These first pictures were taken just after we arrived in Mürren, when we decided to take a quick walk around town. We'd taken the train to Mürren, and in spite of making five connections (five trains plus an aerial tram) in three hours and 19 minutes, it was a pretty easy and relaxing journey. It was nice to take a trip with a group of people where I wasn't driving for once and could sit back and enjoy the view!

The journey was very scenic and kept getting better. First, we rode a train through the rolling hills of the plateaus above Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). Then, took a train from Bern into the Alps that included a run along the beautiful lakes around Interlaken. Then, a narrow gauge rail journey up into the Lauterbrunnen valley. Next, an aerial tram up the side of the valley where we gained over 1600 meters in six minutes. Finally, another narrow gauge railway trip to Mürren, this time in an 40 year old railway car along a track that skirted right along the cliff face above the valley.

We stayed at the Hotel Eiger in Mürren. It was pretty expensive, but had a wonderful room for the family, a superb deck with the most amazing views of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau, a pool (great for energized kids and weary parents!) and by far the best service we've had at any establishment in Switzerland. It's quite expensive, but if you're ever in the Bernese Oberland, we'd highly, highly recommend the Hotel Eiger!

We've found now, after a few trips, that while they enjoy the views, museums, churches, etc., the boys' definition of a successful day is finding a great playground. So, in order to maintain health and sanity of parents, we always try to find a place to stop and play. This was our playground in Mürren (will the kids end up rating European destinations by the quality of its play equipment?).

Kids spent 90% of their time on this, and we have a million pictures of it, but they all look pretty much the same....





Adults can get in on the fun, too!


Laura took a couple of nice portraits at this park:





The next day, our first order of business was a visit to the Schilthorn

Ring any bells? No? Okay, how about the restaurant on that peak called Piz Gloria

No? All right, how about James Bond? Do you remember that hideout the villain Blofeld had that was on top of a mountain, and James Bond got trapped there and tried to monkey-walk his way down across the cables for an aerial tram? The movie was "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," the actor was George Lazenby (the guy after Sean Connery), and the setting was the just completed revolving restaurant Piz Gloria.

We went there. More aerial trams. These things are suspended way high up in the middle of the air, and it feels like you're barely moving until you pass the tram going the other way and you realize that you are just flying up the mountains!

That's Piz Gloria we're heading for.


Random view from the tram.

Beautiful view! (And I'm talking about the foreground, not just the background!)

Panorama from Piz Gloria. Chrismas picture?

Big boy enjoying the panorama. You can see the intermediate stop where we changed trams on the tip of the mountain peak above his forearm.

Our fellow travelers head out to the mountain top, should we follow?

Good looking family!

Christmas photo? Wait, didn't we already take one of those?

Looking back at Piz Gloria at the top of the peak.
(You can also see a helicopter in the middle of this photo, against the mountains.)

Taking a break.

The other photographer!

Snow in July!

Having fun!

Two seconds before they toppled over and the smiles disappeared....



I took dozens of pictures of the flowers up here, but I'll only bore you with two.



Random family beginning a walk down toward Mürren. The lake in the background is one of the two lakes
surrounding Interlaken.

I like this because you can see the drop off into the valley. It doesn't quite give
an accurate representation of the plummet, but it's close!

Happy for the handrail. One of the few places in Switzerland that has a safety feature!

On the tram heading back down to Mürren. I like this photo because you can really see how Mürren sits on that plateau hanging onto the edge of the cliff.

Eiger...Mönch...Jungfrau. One of the most famous vistas in Switzerland.
 Sorry for the tram cable right in the middle of the picture!
So, that was just our morning activity. Next, we took a little hike in the hills above Mürren.

In a funicular singing songs from the Sound of Music. I know, I know, that's Austria, not Switzerland....

Found another park! Important to stop when you see one.

Edelweiss. Yes, it grows in Switzerland, too.

The hills are alive! Wait, wrong country again! Okay, look, it's Heidi!

Nature, it's all around me! (Moving from Rodgers & Hammerstein to The Samples.)

This was described to us as a flat walk.

Just another random beautiful view!


More nature. Flowers, meadow, trees and mountains all together this time.

The two big kids leading the way.

Hmm, looks like we'll be sharing the path with cows if we want to continue with our plan.

Yep, those are cows.

Mürren again.

This is why Calvin doesn't mind these hikes. This won't last forever; he's already getting pretty heavy!

Time for a break. Should we have lunch here?

More nature. Laura went crazy on the flowers this time....

First, let's try this with Elliot.

Add in Laura.

Let's get that same picture, but be able to pick out your faces this time!

Yep, nature again.

Where's Waldo Elliot?

What, I'm carrying him around on my back and he's sleeping?!

We found a cute little mountain stream.

Calvin wants to touch the water.

Watcha doin'?

Ooh, that's COLD!!!

I'm getting out of here!

Very proud girl found a butterfly and walked with it on her hand for 10 minutes!

Showing off her discovery!

Almost back to Mürren. Christmas photo #3?

More nature. Laura didn't notice the caterpillar until after she was looking at the flower on the camera display.

Just finished our hike. Tired, but happy!
I should mention that half way through that hike we stopped at a little farm where they made ice cream from their own cows, probably some of the same cows that you saw in the photos above. That was fun, and it helped with the kids to promise them that we'd have ice cream part way through the hike.

That's pretty much our adventure in Mürren. We were only there for two nights and one full day plus a half, but we'll definitely be returning again!