Sunday 19 July 2009

Grindelwald, Switzerland

While in Freiburg we got the opportunity to visit Switzerland for a bout 4 days as it was quite close to the Swiss border. We stayed at a place called Grindelwald, about half an hour by train from Interlaken. Grindelwald is a small town on the base of the Swiss Alps with the famous Eiger and Jungfrau mountains providing an imposing backdrop.

The first day we spent in Grindelwald we got picture perfect weather with the sun shining through a clear blue sky. The next two days it rained quite a lot and then again on our last day the skies cleared and the sun shone triumphantly over the snow capped mountains. A lot of the region was covered by cog railways or cable cars that took you to various peaks and lookouts as well as cute small towns in the valleys. We got a rail pass and spent a lot of the time exploring the area by rail and cable cars. It was so serenely beautiful I really cant do justice to the views.

On the first day we took the train to Eigerglacier and did a small hike with the Eiger's famous north face on one side and the sun-kissed valley on the other. We didn't let the rain bother us too much in the next couple of days because it was fun to go in the trains and cable cars while the mist and rain did its best to overcome everything. On our last day we woke up to clearing skies to find all the mountains above 2000m had gotten snow overnight and thus looked pristinely beautiful. We took a cable car to 'First' and did a hike to lake 'Bachalpsee' hidden amongst the snowy peaks. It was ideal conditions for a hike as the sun was out but there was a cool breeze to keep you refreshed. We both thoroughly enjoyed the hike and were really blown away by beautiful Switzerland.

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