Schone Alpen (Beautiful Alps) - Julie's first post of the trip

The Swiss Alps might just be the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Lush mountain foothills constrast with imposing, snow-capped peaks of the Eiger, Jungfrau, Monch and "lesser" peaks of Wetterhorn, Schreckhorn and many more. Wildflowers are out everwhere (except the snow-capped peaks), waterfalls in abundance, clouds that wrap themselves around the mountains at times and then, when they break and you can see the peaks again you feel like you've been given a gift. The view from our chalet, and just about anywhere in this entire region, is literally breathtaking.

Don't let the baby carrier on my back fool you.
Josh is the one who has to carry her on all the hikes
when she gets tired of walking (about 2 minutes into the hike).

Before we left a friend (who is religious) said to me that going to Switzerland was literally a religious/spiritual experience for her, because the natural beauty is so great it renewed her faith in God, and I can see why.

Everything is steep here. Our "walk" from the Wengen train station to the chalet where we are staying is a good 10-12 minute "climb," most times with large 3 and a half -year-old on one's shoulders.

I won't go into all the contrasts with what we're used to (the heat of summer in Israel vs. the beautiful temperatures here; water, water, everywhere, and many more), but suffice it to say that (as Josh wrote two days ago upon our arrival) the Swiss have it pretty good.

We've learned about the Swiss climber Ueli Steck, who climbed the North Face of the Eiger in a record-breaking 2 hours and 47 minutes. (Watch a clip on YouTube). And we've learned about the dozens of people who have died trying (65), including two climbers just three weeks ago.

Yesterday we went to the "Top of Europe" -- the highest railway station in the world, a railroad that goes through mountains, up sides of mountains in half-tunnels, and gets quite close to the peak of Jungfrau. Again we saw a wall of plaques dedicated to all the railway construction workers who perished on the job. The Jungfrau railway was opened in 1912 so this is its centennial year. Quite amazing to think of what they were able to accomplish 100+ years ago.

We're learning a lot of German (Eismeer = Ice Sea; Jungfrau = Young woman; etc.).

One plane ride, five trains, a bus and 14 hours after we left
home we have finally made it to Wengen. Luckily we left
the bike in Zurich!

I'll let the kids' words speak for themselves about what they're experiencing but snow tubing was a huge hit, and of course the free mini golf (only for the week, due to some festival), cable cars, waterfalls and just seeing SNOW are high on their lists.