​Our last breakfast in Europe! Nooooo!. Mike had four or five croissants and cried as he finished the last one. How will he survive without fresh butter, jam, and delicious, delicious bread? After breakfast, we headed to the train station. We caught the train to Zurich where we changed trains and headed to the airport or flughaffen (one of Mike’s favorite German words along with gemüse and genau). We checked our bags, thought about taking the 4,000 dollars and staying another night since they oversold the flight, but then decided family trumps money. We then headed back down into the flughaffen train station, where we stocked up on Luxembergli, treats at the Migros and Orange / Peach Capri Sun! We drank our Capri Sun on the way to security, breezed through that, Passport control, the Duty-Free shops where we picked up some last-minute gifts, then took the train to the E gates. We waited for our Delta flight knowing that we were leaving croissants, fresh jam, cheese, butter, alpine meadows, and tasty fresh water behind us until the next time we are lucky enough to come back to a land where we can’t understand what people are saying so we are free to enjoy the beautiful world all around us.

​Our last day in the mountains. Breakfast was grand and our Alpine Cosplay friends sat at the table next to ours. After breakfast, we packed up our stuff and caught the train to Spiez, then on to Bern where we switched to our train to Lucerne. Sara was bent on getting Madeline a cute dress from the French kid’s store and Mike just wanted to amble around. Both got their wish, and we even ran into the missionaries along the lakeshore. We ambled, shopped, and ambled. Now part of the mass of tourists trying to milk Lucerne for all its worth. None of them knew that we were not just regular tourists, but bad ass hikers that had conquered the king’s trail! None of them would have cared much anyway as they were all busy trying to buy fancy watches, kitschy knives, and take the perfect selfie. Our goal was to eat treats as we ambled and so we ate chocolate, Luxembergli (The champagne ones are gross btw), breads, and anything that looked tasty. We also were on the hunt for that Orange/Peach Capri sun as we hadn’t found it at any Coop or Migros since the first day.  We tried on clothes, looked in fun stores at unnecessary stuff and just enjoyed a really hot afternoon in Lucerne. After some rest at the hotel watching Big on the British channels, we went out and got Pizza at La Bestia (it was really good) and wandered around town a little more to work off all that pizza. We walked past a concert by the lake, and then the unthinkable happened. Sara got stung by a bee on her toe! This emergency called for ice cream, and we got some tasty Gelato to help calm the nerves. This only helped a little, so we headed back to the hotel and watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 and 2. In all, that’s a perfect way to end the day for us. Lying in bed, watching a good movie as we iced Sara’s poor toe.
 

Griesap to Kandersteg via the Hohturli pass

​The monster day. Yesterday was a beast. Today was the beast’s ugly brother from out of town. Fortunately, it started with breakfast where we had the most wonderful Muesli ever created. It was divine. We packed up our stuff and picked up lunch from the hotel and headed up the path. And up it was from the start. Through beautiful forest, by the river, by waterfalls we hiked past endless spruce trees until we emerged onto the side of the mountain. The sun was high in the sky, and it was hot. With over 4,700 feet of climbing to the highest pass on the Via Alpina, we had a long day ahead of us. We headed up until we came to the first farm and restaurant of the ascent toward Hohtürli / Blümlisalphütte. When we arrived at Oberi Bundalp, we ate some chocolate, used the restrooms, listened to the swine make horrible noises, and then headed on pretty quickly so we could gain the summit by lunch. The hike from the restaurant got real steep, real fast. Fortunately, there were benches along the way which we took advantage of as our legs were tired from the prior day. The last part of the hike was up steep, steep steps, the Swiss incline! Sara decided to strut her stuff and basically ran up the last 250 meters to the summit. Mike just did his best not to fall off the mountain, but still managed to pass people on his way to the summit. After a brutal ascent, the reward was amazing views of the mountain’s glaciers and a cool mountain hut where we had lunch. They had a restaurant there and people were eating sausage, hashbrowns, and drinking beer. I don’t know how the Swiss hike so fast while eating such heavy food. They are a remarkable people in both engineering but also functioning highly while eating food that is clearly not on any diet plan.
 
After taking in the amazing views, we started out on the long (and I mean really long) steep descent from the pass to lake Oeschinesse. The descent was long, steep, and rocky with crazy steep grades. So naturally, there was some lunatic mountain biking down it. He had mad skills, because we could barely walk down it. 
 
By the time we got to the lake, we were pretty exhausted. None the less, Mike stripped down and jumped in the water and Sara soaked her feet. It was a nice moment to regroup for the long descent to Kandersteg. The lake was beautiful and the cliffs staggering. However, our favorite part was the ice cream. Without it, we would not have made it down the final steep descent to town.  We skipped the gondola to show how bad ass we were and wandered into Kandersteg exhausted but thrilled we made it. We never did see that other American family. For all we know, they are still trying to find Griesalp. 
 
Kandersteg was gorgeous. The views of the mountain pristine. Our hotel was delightful and the dinner perfect on the patio. The lamb was exquisite, there were some people in old school Swiss outfits (like Cosplay for Alpine folk), and the guy sitting next to us just enjoying life. No phones, no distractions, just the perfect Alpine air, beautiful views, and delightful food. Our view from our room’s balcony was probably the best of the trip in many ways. Not as grand as the Eiger, but just perfect. The little church in the field had a light go on as the night settled into the valley. In our minds, a little Swiss lady was playing the organ as people sang hymns in that little church thanking God for this wonderful place.

Wengen to Lauterbrunnen to Murren via train and cableway
Murren to Sefinenfurgge to Griesalp via Via Alpina route 

​The big days begin. From the moment Mike planned this trip, he has been dreading today and the next day.  These were the big ones. Wengen to Lauterbrunnen to Murren to the pass and down to Griesalp was our adventure for the day. We ate breakfast, probably the most meager one of the trip, and then headed out early to catch the train down to the valley. There were no clouds in the sky.  It was a perfect day for what is commonly known as the most beautiful segment of the Via Alpina. It did not disappoint. The views of the valley from the train were spectacular. Having already done Lauterbrunnen the day before, we headed directly to the gondola, bought our tickets, and headed up the mountain. What a blessing it was to go up to Murren by gondola and train. We met a man on the train who had been hiking in Switzerland but didn’t invest in good socks. Good socks are where it’s at when you’re hiking, but especially in the Swiss Alps. From Murren we headed out into the forest and began our steep ascent up to the pass, the Sefinenfurgge. The views were absolutely amazing. The Eiger, the Monch, and Jungfrau loomed large the whole trip and were soon joined by other mountains, more glaciers, and more peaks. It was staggering in the bright sun with alpine flowers blossoming everywhere. Truly, this was a heavenly place! As we climbed, we ran into a family from America that was not prepared for this hike and clearly had no idea what they were getting into. You could tell the dad didn’t think it through very well before he planned this hike. It was as brutal as it was breathtaking, and they had a long way to go to get to the hotels in the Kiental valley. Half way up, we stopped at a little farm (after busting our way through the herd) and ate some lunch on the bench in the shade. We saw a cowgirl walking with a big stick to go beat the crap out of a cow, or maybe the Americans, but either way, she was a little intimidating. So, we ate lunch, and headed back out on the trail that was now fully exposed in the sun as we crested the peak to the pass. The views from the pass were second to none and we celebrated our summit with selfies and chocolate. From there, we started the long and grueling descent to Griesalp (actually our mountain hotel was past Griesalp, so bonus hiking for us). In all, it was a beautiful hike, but a brutal descent. In stark contrast to the American family, was an old Swiss lady we saw hiking up the mountain at a perfectly steady pace. She caught us on the descent as we were filling up water at one of the randomly placed water spickets that dot Switzerland’s mountains. She told us which way to go, and we descended into the woods toward our hotel. We did finally see some goats, one of which was desperately in need of a good milking. After a long descent, we arrived at the hotel Waldrand, a historic hotel where we got to share a bathroom with two other couples. Dinner was wonderful and we sat outside looking at the mountains and giant waterfalls in the cool summer evening. It was a wonderful meal, and the people were super nice. The menu was all in German and we asked the hostess what one of the dishes was, and she thought for a moment and said, “little moo”. Perfect, we’ll have the little moo and the pork cordon bleu. It was a great meal and a wonderful end to a long and tiring day. With memories of beautiful mountain peaks, we fell asleep listening to the Germans next to us laugh and make commentary that we could not understand at all as we snuggled under our fluffy Swiss comforters. It was bliss.
 

Grindelwald - Eigergletscher - Jungfraujoch 

​Goodbye Belvedere, Hello trail! One more amazing breakfast and then back out into the wild, well sort of.  Because the weather was decent, we decided to go to the top of Europe (or at least the highest train station in Europe), the Jungfraujoch. We took the Eiger Express gondola from Grindelwald and then hoped on the train that goes through the mountain (literally for 20 minutes) in a tunnel dug over 100 years ago. When the Swiss get bored or have a problem, they did a tunnel. The top was cooler than I thought it would be. The views of the glaciers and the three main peaks (the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau) were staggering. We could have done without the annoying Chinese tourists (not being racist here, but Chinese tourists are the worst since they have no sense of personal space, how to wait in line, or be politely quiet). It was pretty obvious that even the Swiss were constantly annoyed. 
 
Undeterred, we enjoyed our tour of the summit, the ice caves, the freezing cold, and the grand vistas. From there, we headed back down to the mountain in the train to a different stop where we had lunch looking back up at the mountains. We then made a critical error. Instead of hiking up the mountain and taking the gondola down to Wengen (or the train for that matter), we then hiked down to Wengen. While there were some good views, this was a rather forgettable hike on a gravel road and our feet were not happy to be going down for many, many, steep, steep miles. Oh well, we made it to the hotel with sad feet.
 
Our hotel that night was quaint (a far cry from the Belvedere), but pleasant. Thomas, the inn keeper was very nice and helpful. Since it was so early in the day, we decided to take the train down to Lauterbrunnen (our second mistake of the day). Where Wengen has amazing views of the valley and is very quiet, Lauterbrunnen was overrun with more tourists. Having already had our fill of tourists at the Jungfraujoch, we weren’t impressed and didn’t stay long. We headed back up to Wengen for dinner to escape the hoards or humanity. Our third mistake was not making a dinner reservation before we left, so we got turned away from the restaurant nearest our hotel.  We then wandered deeper into Wengen and stopped at a pasta place that smelled like ass, so we went to a traditional Swiss restaurant (finally not a mistake)! The food was excellent and the couples around us chatty and fun. We sat next to an Anglican pastor and his wife of one year who were very chatty and full of commentary. He runs a church outside of London, but in the summer comes to Switzerland to run the church there. What a gig! Then there was a couple from Greece with their little kiddos. Everyone was quite jovial, so the day ended on a very positive note, especially when the ice cream and apple strudel came out. We gave our unused train tickets to the Greek family, so they didn’t have to walk down the trail to Lauterbrunnen in the dark and returned to our little hotel full, exhausted, and laughing about our conversations with our dinner friends. 

Grindelwald - Grosse Scheidegg Summit - First - Grindelwald

​Breakfast! Every morning it’s so exciting to get up and have a crazy awesome breakfast. Today was no different and Mike has now eaten his weight in croissants and jam. After breakfast, we headed out on an e-bike adventure! It was a beautiful day, so we headed back up to the pass and then over to First. We absolutely loved the e-bikes, until Mike’s ran out of power. Then it wasn’t so much love as it was suffering, but it was worth it. The views were grand and the suffering worth it. We ate lunch at First after unsuccessfully trying to find some way to charge Mike’s bike. The hotel was gracious when we called to tell us they wouldn’t charge us, so that was nice. The people at the bike shop at First were super nice, but in the end unsuccessful. We ate lunch, Mike hit his head on a ski rack and made a nice bruise, and then decided to go even further up the mountain to the lake. From there, we would take the downhill trail back to town. Little did we know that the downhill trail was this psycho double black mountain bike course with death looming at every turn. Sara, of course, rode it to show up the Swiss people watching, but it was pretty crazy. Fortunately, that turned into a road later on and most of the trip down was super flowy and fun. It would have been a quick trip down, but we had two cow related delays. The cows were on the move and being taken back to the barn, so the whole village showed up to move them. It was quite fun to see and probably the first time we have ever had to wait for cows when we were biking. All in all, it was a wonderfully fun day, with crazy views, fun adventures, and it all ended with a delightful dinner back at the Belvedere. The evening weather was wonderful and the views of the Eiger just staggering. Truly, this is a beautiful place. 
 

Meiringen to Grindelwald via Grosse Scheidegg Summit ​

​After such a wonderful dinner, and with a full day of hiking ahead of us, we were eager for our Swiss breakfast. It did not disappoint. There was so much wonderful food in the morning to fuel our day. The chef asked us what our plans were for the day and gave us some hiking advice, which we followed and ended up making the day awesome. He told us there was no rush since the clouds wouldn’t start clearing until nine o’clock, so we took our time then headed out into the rain to take the funicular up to Reichenbach falls. These are the famous falls where Sherlock Holmes met his end. Of course, none of that is real, but the town really markets it like it was a real thing. The funicular was awesome and saved us about 1,000 feet of steep vertical ascent, which was great because we still climbed over 4,000 feet later on. When we got to the top, we got to talk to Peter on FB messenger! What fun it was to talk with him. It always makes our day better. After using half Mike’s phone battery on that call, we headed up the steep trail away from the falls and toward the Grosse Scheidegg pass. 
 
The chef was right, and the hike was staggeringly beautiful along a soft dirt alpine trail, slowly rising toward the pass through lush forests. It was truly magical and didn’t feel like we were climbing as much as we really were. About half way up, the clouds cleared, and we got our first glimpse of the Wetterhorn and were completely blown away. It’s so big and grand that it’s hard to take in. We ate lunch at Rosli by a little hotel on a little green bench. Sara discovered the joy of Orange/Peach Capri Sun and Europe’s version of Sun Chips.
 
From the lunch spot, the trail got more and more Alpine with less trees and more staggering views. We made it to the top, exhausted, but exhilarated by the amazing climb and the views of the mountains. We were so grateful that the clouds cleared up enough for us to see the mountains in their grandeur. With it being late, we decided not to head over to First and take the gondola down, rather we took the Post Bus down to Grindelwald. This proved fun because the bus plays this wonky little horn medley when it comes around the corner, so you know the Post bus is coming. It was entertaining. 
 
We walked over to our hotel, the Belvedere, which would be our home for the next two days. We checked into our room, then headed to the hot tub and just soaked away our sore legs and feet. Both of us were sore! We weren’t used to hiking 12 miles a day, so it felt good to sit in the hot tub, listen to loud annoying Americans be loud and annoying, and then be grateful when they left. 
 
The Belvedere is a fairly swanky little establishment so for dinner we had another five-course meal.  However, there was a problem in the kitchen and the main course took a long time to come out. In all, it was like a three-hour dinner. The main course was pretty forgettable, but we were just glad to be warm, cozy, and looking at the magnificent peaks of the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau looming large over the village. It was quite a sight to behold. 

Engelberg to Meiringen via Alpina Route 1 and then took Route 40

​With the closest church being hours away, Sunday saw the start of our hiking excursion rather early. We got up, enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with our hotel mates from yesterday (the happy coupe with a baby and the grumpy couple from the Middle East). We checked out, left our bags for the delivery service (Eurotrek) and headed across the street to the Coop to get some lunch supplies. From there, we walked over to the gondola and rode up to lake Trubsee. This would cut off quite a bit of the hike in the rain, which was the right thing to do. At the lake, we found Schmuggli! It was probably the highlight of that part of the trip. We then walked around the lake in the cold rain to the chair lift that would take us up to the pass. Fortunately, the chair lifts had plastic covers, otherwise, we would have been even more cold and wet. It was a fairly mixed sky at the top and it was clearly snowing just a few hundred feet up from our location. Fortunately, we were headed down. Sara wanted to take some quick shots with her camera and promptly dropped her hiking stick in cow crap without realizing it. She then proceeded to smear the cow crap all over her jacket, hat, and hood. I turned around and she was covered in crap, it was raining, it was windy and cold. Not a great start to our long hiking adventure! Fortunately, we recovered from this moment and started hiking down the mountain. The skies would clear from time to time, but overall, it was a rainy day. By the time we reached the halfway point, the hotel at Engstlenalp, we were wet and tired. We stopped to use the restroom, ate some overpriced carrot cake, and met a young couple from the states. They were camping their way through the Alps and looked wet and stinky. She was from Vail, and he was from southern California. It’s good to be young and stinky!
 
We headed out from our latest Wes Anderson hotel and decided to change plans and follow the lower route to our destination instead of the higher route. This was probably a good decision and saved us from hiking in the snow. We also got to hike down this ravine with amazing waterfalls and followed Gandalf for a while until we found Rivendale. It was such a lush and beautiful canyon that the time passed quickly, until it didn’t. Going downhill for 12 miles gets a little rough on the feet and we were starting to get tired and needed a bathroom. There was a farm selling Alpine cheese and butter. So, we rang the doorbell and discovered that the young girl didn’t speak English, and as our kids will tell you, we don’t speak German. Fortunately, she spoke French so Mike negotiated the purchase of some Alpine butter and Sara got to use the bathroom in the barn. We then continued hiking briskly until we got to the Meiringen gondola. Oh, blessed gondola that took us down the last 1,000 feet to the town. I think we would have been found dead on the trail if we had to go down another 2 miles of steep rocky trails. In all, the first day saw us traveling 18 miles, so we didn’t feel bad taking the gondola down. We arrived at our boutique hotel and gave great thanks for the abundant hot water in Switzerland and their awesome water pressure. 
 
After returning ourselves to human form, we headed downstairs for dinner. It was quite amazing. The chef prepared a five-course meal, and we enjoyed every inch of it. From the ceviche (yes ceviche in Switzerland) to the perfectly cooked steak, it was quite the treat after our long, long cold hike in the rain. After dinner, we promptly fell into a food coma. Someone must have taken us upstairs because we woke up the next day in our room.
 

​It’s 3 AM and time to get up! At least that’s what our bodies and minds did. Get up, get up, get up! It was still dark, so we laid in bed and probably fell back asleep, but then were fully wake again by six or so. The plan was to go up the gondolas into the mountains and hang out on Mount Titlis, but the day was cloudy and rainy, and you couldn’t see the mountains at all in the morning. The webcams at the summit were totally greyed out, so we decided to head back to Lucerne for a day in the city. But, not before we had a tasty breakfast! Oh, the joys of European hotels where they have amazing food for breakfast. Fresh bread, fresh jam, fresh yoghurt and granola, croissants aplenty, cheese for days, fresh juices, eggs, sausage and of course gemüse! There is nothing like stewed vegetables for breakfast. Europeans really take their time eating in the morning, for lunch and for dinner. It’s a nice way to live. Not a nice way to live was the Muslim couple behind us. The wife was all bundled up and the husband was a douche bag. It made everyone very uncomfortable. I think Sara felt like she had to go liberate this lady from her and take her out on the town, go watch Pitch Perfect 2 and have a girl’s day at the spa, because they were pretty hard core. Obviously, we saw plenty of happy Muslim couples on our trip, but this was a bit hard to see. So, we stopped seeing it and left for Lucerne.
 
The train ride down was pleasant, and we arrived back at the Lucerne train station with no rain and somewhat sunny skies. It was a perfect day for a walk around the town. We saw the Castle bridge first and admired all the pretty flowers. We then admired all the chocolate and bought some Luxembergli. The first taste of these little macaroons are life changing. It was a wonderful moment and we walked from there up to the sad Lion monument that commemorates the lives of Swiss conscripts killed serving French Kings. It was kind of a staggering number in the end. It also seems to be the lion that they based the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe on because he was a dead ringer for Asland. We then walked through the shopping area and back over to the Castle bridge (and crossed it this time) taking the obligate number of selfies. Then it was shopping time for a few minutes (Sara found Madeline some cute clothes that were more expensive than our last car). In a panic, Mike discovered a distraction: lunch! So, we ate fondue and salad down by the river. Following lunch there was more strolling to other bridges, watching ducks surf the rapids, and then off to the castle wall that sits on a hill overlooking the city. The views from the top were outstanding, but the best part (in Mike’s mind) was that there were two little girls from the UK that sounded 100% exactly like Bluey and Bingo. Mesmerized, we unknowingly followed them down the stairs and out into the courtyard where the parents politely told us to “pop off”. No, actually they were a super nice family, and we enjoyed a quick little convo with them. We popped back up the castle for some more amazing views, and some more Luxembergli. We ate these while sitting at the lake watching the swans swim by and wondering why we don’t live in Switzerland. One of the boats on the lake was even named the Wilhelm Tell, so it seemed like a sign. Tired from our day in Lucerne, we hopped back on the train to Engelberg. By now, the clouds had cleared up and we went for a long walk around the town, up into the canyons and marveled at the beautiful views. It was stunning. So much green, so much water, so may mountains! It really is a beautiful place, and we were grateful to be able to see it without being covered in clouds. After our long walk, we found another Italian style place and got a pizza and some dessert. What struck us the most was that everyone else, after they finished their meals, pulled out card games and started playing them at the tables. It was so fun to see friends and families, just sitting playing games after dinner instead of getting back on their phones. Very refreshing. No games for us, however, we were again exhausted, so it was off to bed. 
 

​It’s off to Switzerland! Our day started with a typical morning of breakfast, making sure Emma had what she needed for camp, and saying goodbye to the kids and then we drove up to Denver to catch our flight to JFK and then to Zurich. We parked the car in the garage and sped through security, grabbed a second breakfast at the Centurion lounge then popped on our Delta flight.  It was a rather nice flight overall with no complaints. At JFK, we went to the Centurion lounge, grabbed some more food, admired the Lego store creations of New York landmarks, then popped on our flight to Zurich. There was sleeping here and there but overall, it’s tough to sleep well when you are sitting up. 
 
As we started our descent into Zurich, we could see lots of clouds covering pretty much all of central Europe, so we knew it would be a bit of a rainy first few days. We landed at the airport about 30 minutes early, but then had to wait a bit for our gate to open up. Once it did, we sped through immigration, customs, and hopped on the train to the main terminal, grabbed our bags and headed to the train station that is basically under the airport.  It reminded us a lot of Japan because there were layers and layers to the train station. Each layer had different shops and then at the very bottom you could catch a train to pretty much anywhere in Europe. Milan? No problem. Berlin? Easy. Engelberg? Of course. So that’s where we headed off to. Mike bought the tickets on his SBB app, and we hopped on the train. It was a mixed cloudy day, but the thing that struck us most was how crazy green everything was in Switzerland. It’s just a lush, lush place. We switched trains in Lucerne, grabbed some tasty pastries there, and then continued our journey into the mountains. On the train, there was a kids compartment that had kid books and kid activities. I can’t even imagine what would happen to something like that in America, but it seems to work in Switzerland. 
 
Engelberg is a quaint little town and the first thing we saw, that made us laugh was the Schmuggli-Bus. The second thing was a bathroom sign that said, “Men to the left, because the women are always right.” Sara liked that a lot. We checked into our Wes Anderson approved hotel (every Swiss mountain hotel looks like it fell out of a Wes Anderson movie) and then immediately laid down for a quick nap. Oh, glorious sleep! We set our alarm for a couple of hours because we had to get on a European schedule. After our nap, we went for a walk up a trail behind our hotel and then circled back because it started to rain. We found a place to eat dinner (an Italian place that was just down the street from our hotel). It was a tasty meal, but we were so delirious at this point, we could have been eating styrofoam. We wandered back to our hotel like drunken sailors and promptly fell asleep.
 

We were up early and packed for the airport. We set out to explore Zurich. We walked down the main banking street and found the most amazing little souvenir store. Too bad everything was so expensive!  You could blow some serious money in a place like that. We then grabbed an Uber and headed to the Lindt factory for some chocolate indulgence. When we stepped out of the car, the air was heavy with the smell of chocolate. Sara was instantly in heaven and freckles started jumping off her arm and heading directly for the chocolate store. It’s hard to explain how wonderful Lindt chocolate is in Switzerland, but they must feed the cows cocaine because it is magical stuff. Magical. After spending unreasonable amounts of money on chocolate, we headed back to old town. We wound our way through back alleys and little shops. We walked along the river. We heard an amazing string quartet and heard the church bells chime one last time. The bells heralded the end of our Swiss adventure. We grabbed an Uber to the airport. We got our passports stamped and indulged ourselves in the Priority Pass lounge. We hopped on our Edelweiss Air flight. There were empty rows in economy plus, and because we had upgraded we each got our own row to ourselves, away from the noisy family and their kids screaming in economy. The service was impeccable. The direct flight was easy. We arrived in Denver and breezed through customs with our global entry cards. Traveling right is the only way to travel. Myisha greeted us at the airport and soon enough we were back in the minivan heading down the highway. We were excited to see our kids.  Excited to be back home, but a piece of us will always long to sit in the crisp mountain air, eating chocolate and croissants and talking about nothing in particular while the mountains stand silently above us.

It’s easy to get up in the morning when you know that bread, cheese, jam, fresh juices and other wonderful goodies await you. We were up early because we wanted to be out on the trail and up the mountain early on the train in case we had some good weather. We weren’t prepared for what we saw after breakfast. We finished packing our bags to drop in the lobby, had our day packs ready to go, when we walked out onto our veranda and were completely dumbstruck by the site of the Matterhorn. It was giant and majestic as it towered over Zermatt with a commanding presence. It was hard to believe that the mountain had been there this whole time, shrouded from our vision by the clouds. It was immense. It was regal. It was the perfect finish to our long journey.  
 
We rushed out of the hotel and over to the cog railroad to make our way up to the Gornergratt. The views from the train up the mountain were outstanding. With each turn of the cog the views grew more immense. More peaks. More glaciers. More expansive views! Soon we were above the clouds and the majesty of Zermatt was on full display. Any of the views along our hike were worth the trip, but this place blew them all away. It’s hard to even begin to describe the immensity and the grandeur that surrounded us. To be able to see this on a perfectly clear day was a great blessing. We road the train with a wonderful older couple from Palo Alto. It was fun to see how blown away they were by the views as well. We arrived at the top of the Gornegratt and ran like giddy kids on Christmas morning around the top of the mountain to take pictures and take in the panoramas. We were on top of the world and witnesses to the immensity of God’s creation. Everywhere we looked, we could hardly believe what we were seeing. The Matterhorn was just one majestic peak among the glaciers and precipices that culminate in this part of the Alps.  It was awesome.  
 
After spending time taking it all in, we hiked back down the Gornegratt to Riffelsee, where there are 2 lakes that reflect the Matterhorn. Picture time for Sara! Yelling at people to get out of the picture for Sara and getting a picture with a Toblerone in front of the Matterhorn was priceless. After a morning of visual delight, we headed back down the cog to our hotel. We gathered our belongings and headed to the train station. Riding first class is the way to go. We headed down to Visp, and then got on the bullet train to Zurich. It passed through the mountains, by Interlaken, and then to Bern. Soon enough, we had left the Alps, the pastoral side of Switzerland and were in the banking capital of Europe. It’s hard to believe that in 2 hours we were suddenly somewhere so far away. 
 
We walked from the Zurich Central train station along the river to our hotel. The front desk clerk was from Portugal and was amazed that Mike spoke fluent Portuguese. It’s worth noting that everywhere we went, the service in Switzerland was amazing. It blows the service in America out of the water. The hotel overlooked lake Zurich and the old town. Dinner was a traditional Cordon Bleu and ridiculously tasty apple filled crepe with ice cream. How were we going to go back to America and eat normal food again?

​Of all the places that you don't want it to be rainy, Zermatt is one of them. Fortunately, this was a down day with no traveling needed, so we enjoyed a nice breakfast (hooray for bread and cheese and fresh juice!). After breakfast we hiked through Zermatt and went shopping. It was fun to spend time in each store and find something unique for each of our children. We hiked through to the top of the town to the chair lift that takes you up to the glacier. There were people going skiing. Zermatt is one of the few places you can ski year round because they ski down the glacier. We ate lunch at a little coffee shop in a back alley and had Lindt hot chocolate and a Brie sandwich. It was pretty decadent. After a day of shopping, we went back to the spa and just sat around in the hot tubs and lounged around in the spa. It was great to have time to just do nothing. Too much of life is spent in doing too much. Sometimes, you have to just take time to do nothing.  
 
After an afternoon of doing nothing, we headed out and had pizza at an Italian brick oven pizza place. Since Italy is just a short cable car away, the Italian food is pretty authentic and pretty good. After dinner, we ate crepes and talked with the guy who worked there who was from Germany, but came to Zermatt to work and to snowboard since you can board all year long. Sounds reasonable to me. We strolled back to the hotel in the rain and enjoyed a great nights sleep.  

​Gruben! No need to hang around here for long.  Breakfast was early in the morning, so we got up, put our bags out, got our hiking stuff on and grabbed some breakfast. As soon as breakfast was over, we headed out and UP! We were one of the first groups out of the hotel and we hiked with speed up the mountain.  We hiked up and up, and up some more. We had to go from the valley floor all the way to the Augstbordpass. The start of the hike was through beautiful pine trees that helped distract us from the fact that we were going straight up. We continued up and up through the mist toward the Augstbordpass.  We were glad that it wasn’t raining. We came upon a heard of cows that were sneaking in and out of the mist.  It was kind of cool to hear the bells and then see a cow pop out of the mist. The trail got steeper and we had to go up over some steep rocks. One of the annoying American couples was gaining on us, and we were determined that they would not pass us and beat us up to the top of the pass, so we huffed it. We hiked as hard and as fast as we could to the top of that pass and we beat them to the top. Suck it young, fit American couple with no kids!  

The top of the Augstbordpass was very misty and we headed quickly down the other side into an avalanche of rocks. The hike down was ridiculously hard and crazy. I imagine the views on a clear day are spectacular, but hiking through these impossible rock paths in the mist was somewhat awesome. The trail was really quite amazing. Definitely don't want to fall off the side of this mountain. Eventually, after quite a long hike on the rocks, we made it to a little town up in the mountains. We came into a courtyard area with fountains and a pond. It reminded me of a scene from Legend of Zelda. We looked for treasure chests, but there were none that we found. It was starting to rain and we headed over to the cable car….which was closed. We deciphered the timetable and it seemed that at 1:00 PM it would open back up. Since everything in Europe closes during lunch, this seemed like a safe bet. Some other hikers passed through and were inpatient and started the 1.5-hour steep hike down to St Niklaus. We waited and were rewarded with an easy ride down the mountain to St Niklaus. The guy from Portland was in the cable car with us. It was so great not to have to hike down the steep trail (and it was ridiculously steep). We figured that one of the girls in the group that didn’t wait probably pushed the guy off the mountain during the hike down because he didn’t want to wait. Wrong move for sure.  Plus, we got to see the drunken fat French guy running the gondola. He was one drink away from death. Good to know we were in his tender care as we moved down the mountain over impossibly steep cliffs. 
 
In St Niklaus, we looked around the town for a few minutes and then caught the train up to Zermatt. The train ride up to Zermatt is so amazing. The German conductor guy wouldn't accept our transfer tickets, so we had to pay, but it was just so great to be on a train. We arrived in Zermatt and it was rainy. Zermatt is a big tourist town, so it was full of people from all over the world with their luggage and stuff. We were back in civilization. Just a few hours earlier, we were in one of the quietest places on the planet and now we were back in civilization with credit card machines, trinkets, and train schedules. Although it is great to be pampered, there is something wonderful about being alone in the mountains. We hiked over to the Hotel Ginabelle and plopped down onto our luxurious beds. It was definitely nice to be back in comfy beds compared to the Hotel Schwarzhorn.  
 
Dinner was phenomenal and over the top. The Swiss take food seriously, and it was wonderful to have a great meal after hiking in the mist and the rain. Every hike we did on this trip was fairly strenuous.  Wonderful food is a great reward for hiking over the steep passes between the valleys.

​Breakfast was wonderful and we sat out on the veranda taking in the majestic views we were starting to take for granted. We left the Hotel Bella Tolla and headed up to the Funicular where dozens of hikers were eagerly awaiting the quick trip up the mountain. We were very glad to not have to hike up from St Luc.  We hopped off the Funicular and started our ascent to the Cabana Bella Tolla. We decided to take a slightly longer route to the Medipass by going to the lakes and around. The thing that struck us about this part of the trip was that it was almost completely silent. As we got closer to the Medipass, there was absolutely no sound. No birds, no cowbells, no wind, no cars, no people. It was as quiet as any place we had ever been in our whole lives. You could spend all day here just being quiet out in the grandeur of the world. It’s amazing that something so big can be so quiet. The hiking was rather easy and a pleasant change from the immensely steep climbs of prior days. We made it to the Medipass and clouds were moving in so we ate some lunch at the top and then headed down the trail to Gruben. We had made it into the German speaking part of the Swiss Alps. No more pleasant French conversation, just harsh German that neither of us could understand. The hike down into Gruben was fairly steep and we were thinking that Gruben was going to be this horrible place but it turns out that Gruben was quite a delightful town sitting on a little river. At the hotel, we had ice cream sundaes on the veranda looking out to the mountains and the river.  It was SO good. We both got our own. The hotel Schwarzhorn where we stayed was more like a hostel, then a proper hotel, but it was great to have a place to stay and the showers were warm. How people do this trip staying in huts is beside me. Hotels are definitely the way to go. The mailbox where we mailed our daily postcard noted that August 31st would be the last day for pick-up this season. Winter is coming!
 
Dinner was in stark contrast to prior dinners. We were grateful for dinner, but we missed the delicious food of days past. There were lots of hikers here because there were no huts so all the hut hikers and hotel hikers converged into one space here. We quickly determined that Americans are loud and mostly annoying. There was an investment banker from Portland that we said hi to….we would see him randomly for the next 3 days in different places.

​A rest day! What a marvelous idea. Breakfast was not in the dining room, but rather in the 2nd floor salon.  It was as decadent and over the top as the dinner the night before. All the usual assortment of goodies was found in abundance with the addition of crepes! The best part was the stacks of oranges that you could cut and then juice. There is nothing better than truly fresh orange juice in the morning. Why can’t store bought juice taste like this?!

​The hotel had given us a town venture pass, so after we ate breakfast, we headed up through the village to see if we could take the cable car up the mountain and then down into Zinal. Unfortunately, it was closed, so we hiked back over to the bus stop and took the Post bus over to Zinal to start our adventure.  Fortunately, the hotel pass made the bus ride free as well. We headed further up the valley to Zinal which sits on the other side of the ski mountain from Grimetz. Since it was fairly early in the morning, we headed out of Zinal fairly quickly and up, up, up into the forest. The initial ascent was rather steep and we decided that the Swiss just didn’t have time to put in switchbacks, but probably should have at some point done that. The path followed along the path for a marathon that ends in Zinal. That would be one tough race. Once we gained the ridge, however, the remainder of the hike was fairly gentle and flat as we hiked the rim from above Zinal to the Hotel Weisshorn. The views back toward Zinal were ridiculous and it was hard not to stop and keep looking back toward the mountains. We met a family from Belgium on our way around and enjoyed the watefalls, eating chocolate, and the views. After a rather long hike, we made it to the Hotel Weisshorn where we had Fondue.
 
It turns out, we didn’t know how to eat Fondue, because no sooner had we started to eat, a rather obese French man sitting next to us came over grabbed a piece of bread and taught us how to eat Fondue properly. He mostly used gestures and grunts to teach us, until he discovered that Mike spoke French. At that point, he used words to do the instructing. Just watching his big meaty hands break the bread and dip it in the warm melty cheese was somewhat surreal. We would see him and his wife later hiking down into St. Luc. We will always be grateful for the random man who decided to put his hands all over our food so that we would no longer be stupid Americans eating Fondue incorrectly.  
 
Interestingly, our waiter was from Portugal and Mike got to speak Portuguese with him. We headed out from the Hotel Weishorn with the intent of taking the Funicular down into St Luc, after all, we were pretty hammered from all the hiking. However, it was about 45 minutes to the Funnicular and 45 minutes to just hike down to St Luc, plus, the family from Belgium told us it was a pretty hike, so we headed down. It turns out, that it was a pretty hike and it was a nice way to end a long day of hiking with a leisurely stroll down the mountain. The weather was amazing, and the views wonderful. What a great place to be and a great time to be alive.  

We made it into St Luc and hiked past the Funnicular station straight into a Wes Anderson movie at the Hotel Bella Tolla. It is hard to describe a place like this and do it any justice. It is a storied boutique hotel wherein everything is perfectly appointed and prepared so that you can enjoy a quaint and terrific day in the mountains. The staff was prepared for our arrival and knew us by name as we walked into the hotel. Our bags were waiting for us in our rooms with a bag of fresh fruit and a personal note from the host and hostess welcoming us to the hotel. What a great place to spend a couple of days. One thing of note throughout our trip was that the room keys in Switzerland are all attached to giant items. At the hotel Bella Tolla it looked like a peppershaker for Andre the Giant. Where do people put these giant-ass keys?
 
Once we had gotten ready for dinner, we were greated to a phenomenal meal that was more a celebration of taste and design than anything in recent memory. The décor of the dining room, the service, the presentation of the food were all over the top. The host and hostess came to each table, speaking fluently in several languages making sure the guests were not only well cared for, but felt that their stay was personally important to the hotel. It was a sight to behold and to experience. After dinner, we sat outside under the stars and a furry blanket listening to the piano music drift into the night sky. You could imagine that the stars in the night sky wished they could be so cozy and warm.

Grimentz was a pleasant surprise as it is an incredibly beautiful little ski town nestled on the side of the mountain. It was so striking, so fun, so pretty that we spent the rest of the evening just walking around and admiring the quaintness of this little village. Even the souvenir store was charming. We stayed at the Hotel de Moiry and had dinner there. The thing that struck us most was the guy standing by the fire with a block of cheese the size of a Volkswagen with a giant samari sword of a knife sheering melted cheese off the side of the block of cheese onto plates. It looked like liquid heaven. We had another wonderful dinner and walked back through the town getting pictures and admiring the views, the flowers, the neatly stacked woodpiles, and the quaint old cottages. We would spend the next few days here in Anniviers, and it would be well worth it. ​

We were up early and ready for breakfast.  Again, there was wonderful bread, cheese, granola, and fruit to get you ready for a day full of hiking. Heading out of La Sage was spectacular. The skies were bright blue and the mountains stood in brilliant contrast to the clear skies. We hiked steeply up through the farmland above La Sage. With each step, more mountain peaks came into view and it was hard not to stop and constantly be taking photos. We were glad to be in the trees for much of the initial climb because the climbing was tough and we got warm quickly. Soon more glaciers came into view and we arrived at a little collection of chalets on the side of the mountain. The path wound further up the mountain until we came to an amazing lake with waterfalls all around. We only had to hike through a herd of bulls to get there. It was a little intimidating! This part of the trail reminded us of New Zealand! We took advantage of the gorgeous view to stop and eat some cookies and enjoy a little rest. After leaving the lake we climbed steeply from there up to the Col du Tsate, which is a pass at 2868 m. We hadn't ascended too far from the lake when we heard a boy scream at his parents because he couldn’t make it. Even in Switzerland, parents torture their children by making them hike in the mountains. We were tempted to yell back, "You can do it," but decided against it. With the lake in view we came across the most beautiful butterfly who joined us for part of the ascent. It landed on Mike's hiking pole and stayed there for quite some time.  We loved our little orange buddy.  

​The views from the top were spectacular. We could see the lakes down below and began to see the Glacier du Moiry around the bend. We were excited to get down to the water!  It was a steep hike to get down! As we hiked, more and more of the Moiry glacier came into view. It stood with its immensity at the top of the valley and was truly magnificent to behold. I don’t think we realized how many glaciers there were in the Alps, but they were stunning. The lakes were dotted with little flowers and we were glad to be off the steep part of the mountain. We had just missed the bus that went from the Glacier back down to Grimentz, so we decided to hike along the lake to the dam. The water was a rich copper toned color of blue that it was hard not to just stare at it. Looking back toward the lake with the the glacier in the background, it was hard not to be overhelemd by the grandeur of it all. The hike was quite long and our feet were quite tired. Sara had a close photography encounter with a cow, which was nice because it was hot down in the valley and the sun was beating on us. By the time we made it to the dam, we were spent.  The thought of hiking another 2 hours to Grimetz was daunting, so we decided to take the Post bus down….and oh how grateful we were for that bus! Even with its snarky English driver.  We took the bus down the impossibly steep terrain into Grimentz.

​A gentle downhill day to start! Or at least that’s what we thought. It turns out there is no gentle grade in Switzerland. It’s either straight up or straight down…nothing gentle about it. We awoke and had breakfast at the hotel (more bread, cheese, granola, and deliciousness!). From there, we headed out along the lake.  There were lots of people fishing from the shore, speaking in French, smoking, and generally looking very European. We turned behind the Hotel Alpina and started heading down from Champex to Sembrancher.  Our legs were quickly reminded of the many miles of steep downhill we had done just yesterday. The views, however, today were excellent. The clouds had lifted and we could see well the peaks of Valais. It was truly breathtaking. The trail followed mostly grassy fields down the mountain. Along the way, there were many benches that allowed you to sit, relax, and enjoy the amazing views. It was fun walking through little farming communities with their victory gardens, large farms, and quaint chalets. It was so green and so majestic. It was hard to take it all in. This place was truly a beautiful and pastoral part of the earth.  ​

After winding down the mountain ,we made it to Sembancher. It was exactly 11:00 AM when we were supposed to meet our driver, so we hurried through the town square as the church bells rang out the hour to make it to the train station. We didn’t want to be late! Fortunately, we weren’t late….in fact, they had totally forgotten about us, so we sat around for an hour before calling the tour company. Eventually, someone called us back and 3 hours later, they came to pick us up. We got to go back into town and walk around a little more, down to the river, but it was Sunday, so nothing much was open. We did enjoy the vending machines in the train station, especially the pregnancy test called, “Maybe Baby”. Finally, a girl from Nampa, Idaho picked us up and took us back down into the central valley and onto the next valley to La Sage.  

Unfortunately, we got to La Sage a little late in the day, so we decided to go for a stroll through the town and down one of the country lanes. La Sage is at the feet of a few peaks and is truly one of the most striking views to be seen on the planet. There are 2 peaks that sit right at the end of the Val d’Herens.  They rise above the green farmland and truly blow your mind. It is so big, and so sudden that it is hard to imagine being around something so grand. These peaks sit in a backdrop of other peaks forming a little fiefdom of grand vistas. We took this time to go on a little hike through the farmland and made the bend toward the glacier that feeds the river that comes down through the Valley. We enjoyed the farmland and the little chalets and of course the ridiculous views of the mountains. We made it back to our hotel, Hotel de La Sage, in time for dinner. Dinner was magnificent and was punctuated by a chocolate mousse that we both inhaled so quickly we were sad that it was gone. The dinning room windows faced out over the peaks making the food taste all that much better because the views were so immense. After dinner, we got packed up for the next day and went to sleep.  ​