Swiss Alps and Bern

Wengen by Taxis, Plane, Trains, Gondola, Skis then to Bern

Getting to Wengen was a challenge. Took all day to manage this. Heathrow to Zurich, Bern, Interlochen, Wilderswil, Wengen. Went from an airplane to train to a smaller train to a very small train . There are no cars in Wengen which is quite nice but then you are walking the whole way.

The Swiss manage this perfectly. The key is to not book a hotel to high up the mountain or you get a nice work out climbing up to the hotel. But the ski management is so cool. You rent your equipment very efficiently, have a place to keep it at the base of the gondola so you are hands free climbing up to hotel. The tickets to ride are so cool also , you have a credit card and put it in your arm pocket and just swipe your arm and you are clicked into the ride. The chairs, gondolas and trains all use these, very efficient, very Swiss.

We arrive and you can not even tell there are mountains any where. Even the next morning we were still in the clouds. As far as I could tell we could be in the middle of London in the fog.

There is a cool magic carpet that Haley would love. Even one with a cover.

As you ride up the gondola it rises directly straight up. It is amazing. Kirk wipes the window so we can see out but it really did not change the view. As we get to the top you still can not see anything although your ears have popped so it was obvious we were higher.

We were with a local that had skied the area growing up so we were glad we had some one to follow. He assured us that the Eiger was right above our heads. And that we would not fall off the edge of the mountain as you really could only see 10 feet in front of you, but yes we were determined to ski.

We had a quick lunch hoping it might clear up a bit. The Eiger and the Juanfrau did peak out and it was stunning. I was taken back, glorious. Unfortunately as we skied down the mountain we dove back into the clouds and could not see even the snow in front of us. The key was to stay close to the leader to give you some idea what the vertical was. Crazy skiing. Kirk on the snowboard was gallant, either brave or crazy but he did manage two runs. Lots of bruises.

From time to time the mountains would reveal themselves and that was worth the skiing blind most of the day.

Hot bath was in demand on our return. We were really sore and tired. Not really in shape for skiing in the alps. This was of course followed by cheese fondue, delicious made everything better.

This day was only surpassed by the -17 degrees C without windchill the next day. Boy was it cold. You would get a brain freeze without drinking a Slurpee! Yikes! The visibility was better on the slopes but the mountains stayed hidden most of the day. So you would ski from the clouds into the sunny lower piste(slope). This required a quick stop at a warming hut and hot chocolate serenaded by beautiful Swiss accordion music. There was a big cow bell Kirk could not keep his hands off. He rang it and had to by the bar a round! Kirk left after two runs and I explored some more of the hill. It was a little scarey as you had no idea where you were going. But I managed and got back to the Gondola to get home.

The ski gods were on our side as the third day of skiing was a bluebird day. Absolutely spectacular, breath taking views. Now that I was able to see the slope you could see the system they use to keep you on track, and not go over the edge. This was not visible on the blind days so I felt lucky that the other days I survived.

Kirk and Richard gave their talks. So some work got done.

On our way back to the Zurich airport we stopped by Bern to check out one of the places Einstein lived. It was a beautiful city representing a medieval town .