so much today! so tired! so sore!
today was to be a day of hiking, and it certainly was. we started out by visiting wanda and getting a coffee and then were off! first to wengen (passing by the appel house that wanda and andree are obsessed about), and we made it up in 40 minutes despite the stated 1:20h. in switzerland, they don't state distances, they do times. good for beginner hikers i guess. wengen is nice! there was a festival going on with live music, we chugged 1L of OJ and got lunch supplies (with btl of rose from lauterbrunnen). we also saw a big outdoor chess board so planned to come back at somepoint to play.
then wengen to kleine scheidegg, and we wanted to go via mannlichen but the signs confused us and we ended up going thru allmend, wengernalp and then to end location in 1:45h (stated 2:45h). we decided to push on through so took the very steep route just off the pool/reservoir looking thing to eigergletscher where just before we ate on a perfect little rock bench with the beautiful alps surrounding us. at this point, we were in shorts and decided to change into pants (editor 2010 - it was starting to get cold as we were quite high up altitude wise). along the way on an earlier part of the route, we also chanced upon a cacphony (well, nice actually) of bells that were around cows! very docile creatures and they crap everywhere. the grass on mountains nearby also looked perfect, soft and very rollable except for high likelihood of hitting a patty of cow poo. at the beginning of the hike, we also took pics of various peaks, and as the hiking progressed, it was very cool to see them get closer and bigger and more beautiful
once we hit eigergletscher, we decided it was clear enough (or would be) to go to jungfraujoch (the top of europe, UNESCO world heritage site). on the train ride up, there were 2 short stops at viewpoints but andree and i decided to sleep instead. at the top, i started to heavily feel the affects of high altitude (3454m) and was light-headed couldn't think entirely straight, and had shortness of breath. hence i blame that for my unintentional shop-lift of my final postcard to emily! whoops...
being that high (and despite having paid 100CHF each for return ticket to eigergletscher), they still charge crazy amounts for food and drink, and our cashier was a mean-ish lady. BUT... the views are wicked! my gosh. so pretty and peaceful (although some tourists have no common sense/etiquette at all). we first went to the ice palace (which was kinda cool, but more a series of tunnels then a palace), then the plateau viewing point which was mindblowing with views of various peaks from the other side (we crossed thru the mountain range on the train ride up), and the glacier. then we went to the sphinx tower thing, another 100m up and andree made good friends with a few birds that ate out of her hand!
after, we had a gassed hike (10-15m, stop to rest...) to the hotel/restaurant that was a good 40 min away along the snow. i went to order a coke and some soup and the following conversation ensued:
"hi, can i order some stuff?"
"are you staying here?"
"no, i just wanted some food"
"the last train back down leaves in 15 minutes"
"oh... good to know. thanks...(to andree) babe, we gotta go!"
"you won't make it back in time... we'll give you a ride"
... first ever snowmobile ride! and in the beautiful alps!
we made it in time (luckily)... at eigergletscher, we decided to not hike the eiger trail, and hiked back down to kleine schneidegg and then as last train had already left, back down to wengen where we met wanda. along the way, we peed in the alps (had to... sorry), saw lots of slugs and i proved that sheep respond to "baa", not "beh" (editor 2010 - andree and other quebec peeps are convinced that sheep say, "beh" instead). a sheep came right upto me and almost kissed me! we also found a wally look alike.back in wengen, we had our game of oversized chess and i got schooled. caught the train back down to lauterbrunnen (for free!) and had dinner with wanda. then i came back to hostel to res, shower and update journal and andree had one last drink with wanda before she leaves for her trip!
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