Schynige Platte - Aug 5, 2012

Cogwheel to Lauterbrunnen, train to Wilderswil, and then an attractive little cogwheel took us up to the Schynige Platte with its unique mountain views of the Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau.

Nearby is the botanical Alpine Garden, nearly 6560 feet above sea level with over 500 various plants.  It was quite wonderful and the setting beyond compare.  A botanist could spend days there and overnight accomodation is available.

 We were supposed to hike the circular trail for about 2.5 hours and picnic, but a storm rolled in so after a very information geology talk from Dick Liebe and Bob Dodd, and an alpine milk tasting provided by Doris, we took the cogwheel back down to the Lauterbrunnen valley for an easy walk along the river.

Field lecture:  The Alpine Garden; walking time: 3.5 hours
Description of the Panoramaweg trail
Botanischer Alpengarten

Majestic Bernese Alps - Weds, Aug 1

Today was Switzerland Day.  We were so lucky to be able to see the celebrations in Wengen.  We started with a special roll, along with all the other food on the breakfast buffet.  After the days activities we were able to watch the town's celebrations (see below)


We began today's field trip by taking the cogwheel down to Lauterbrunner and the funicular to Gruetschalp (4875 ft), and then walked to Muerren (5373 ft).

The Bernese Alps appeared right in front of our eyes.  We had a lovely restaurant lunch in Murren and then continued by cable car down to the Lauterbrunner valley.

On the return, we saw the most impressive Trummelbach Falls (the only waterfalls in Europe inside a mountain). 

 It was a lovely day but the highlight was the community band, bell ringers, alpenhorns, and parade.

The fireworks were so late we missed most of them in Wengen, but we could see them going off all over the Lauterbrunnen Valley


Field lecture:  Lauterbrunnen Valley and Truemmelback Falls

Trail Murren-Grutschalp in Bernese Oberland from MySwissAlps.com

Off to Switzerland

Believe it or not, our driver was early and there was little traffic so we arrived at Newark Airport EARLY....early enough to use my two free passes for the United Lounge.

Posted with Blogsy

Rick Steve's Sketch of the Berner Oberland

Use this sketch (thanks to Rick Steves) to figure out where Nancy and I will be exploring and walking in the Berner Oberland between Aug 1 through Aug 5.  We'll be based In Wengen, right there in the middle and will be taking every cogwheel, train, bus and funicular we can find.  Click on the map to enlarge.

After that we're in Bettmeralp in the Valais until Aug. 12

Whale Watching off Santa Barbara in June

March visit to California

I spent a little time with Mother in California.  She's doing really well, but you know how she hates to have her picture taken.  So here's a photo of Mary, Jeanne and me.  We're in Carpenteria, helping an artist with his mural, after a great lunch at Zookers.  Note Jeanne's got the brush!

Home again!

Should I post some rainy cloudy weather?  Well, here I am back in New Jersey, and caught up on sleep and laundry.  And back long enough to think of perhaps the next trip.
Our last night in Bangkok at the Kantary Bangkok was just fine, although I got tired of fighting with their wonky Internet codes.  The last dinner in the super duper, very-high-end mall nearby was culture shock, and it was interesting to try to decipher menus only in thai.  Luckily, Tim showed up around then and helped out.  The grocery store part of the mall was surprising, only luxury import goods, and we were looking for Thai stuff to take home.
The flights from Bangkok to Hong Kong and then on to JFK were fine, but long.  We stopped in Vancover to let some people off which meant 3 seat across for the last part of the flight!
I heartily recommend Gate 1 Travel, and even more heartily recommend Tim Pattrraporn Sangkapat, our wonderful tour leader.  Tim, we miss you so!  Maybe another visit to East Asia is in order.