Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland


This is in the running with Hallstatt for my favorite place we went. We stayed here longer than anywhere else, and it was just breath-takingly beautiful. It is near the Interlaken area and nestled between two large mountains. One of them is the Jungfrau/Monch, and the other is unnamed. One day we decided to head up to Jungfraujoch via tram. It's over 9,000 feet up, and man do you feel it!

	This is looking out from our room. Yes, you'd have trouble beating this view. It was a wonderful place to stay. That waterfall is REALLY tall and.. lit at night!
This is the cat that came with our room! I tried to sneak her out, but I was caught. Alas! We only got to stay here for one night, which was really a shame. After that we moved on to another place, which was actually, just as nice. (But didn't come with a cat)
	This is our trip up to Jungfraujoch. The view is incredible, and we're barely even up the hill. You can't see Lauterbrunnen in this picture, which is really just a few streets big.
This is the view of where we're heading! That saddle between the two mountains is our destination.
This is a panorama of one of the stopping points the tram made. Well up into the mountains at this point, it is just a stunning view of ice, everywhere! Click on the picture for a medium sized view of the pano, or click here for the large version.
	This is looking down at the valley from one of the stopping points. As you can see it's just a beautiful region. If they had DSL here, I'd gladly move.
At the observation area, you can go into the Ice Palace. This turned out to be this wiggy tunnel area cut through the glacier. Inside, they'd also made ice sculptures. It was just so odd. Another thing that would never exist in America, as you were literally walking on ice. It was very easy to fall!
	Another ice carving, this time of an angel.
This is the tunnels we were walking through. Admittedly, this was a smaller one, but it was still just odd!
	And this was the reason to walk through! You ended up outside, where the air was thin and COLD. I don't remember which peak was which, but I THINK this one is the Jungfrau.
From this high up, the view was amazingly dull. But it was neat being at the same level as the clouds!
	If the last mountain was the Jungfrau, that would make this one the Monch. Hopefully I haven't messed these up. There are three peaks in a row, the Jungfrau (young lady) being protected by the Monch (Monk) from the Eiger (Ogre).
The Swiss flag next to one of the mountains. Makes you think of Hot Cocoa, doesn't it!
	You have to see this picture. There are HIKERS in it. This will give you an idea of the scale of the glacier. When we were watching them, we heard a rumbling like thunder. It was LOUD. Then we saw what it really was, an avalanche! Fortunately, the hikers weren't anywhere close.
Coming down, you can see some of the waterfalls made by the glacier melting. Also on the way down, we saw a helicopter. Which wasn't very odd, but it looked as if it had something hanging from it. And it did! It was a COW. They lowered it down into the farmer's field, and the farmer helped it up and away the cow went. Really odd.
	This is the waterfall we can see from our room. It's a lot bigger than it looks in this picture, I assure you. And that is a SERIOUS drop.
You can see the trail that goes behind the waterfall in this picture. And not to be daunted, we were heading there, too!
	Another view of the waterfall and the trail that cuts behind it.
This is just the lower falls with a view of the trail that winds behind it. We were getting closer, now!
	And here is a picture from the trail itself. Love that slippery rock! It was really neat since the trail was mostly closed off except for these "windows".
And here we are, behind the waterfall! This is looking out at the town below. Not a bad view, if you don't mind getting soaked!
	And another view of the water itself. There was a LARGE volume of water coming down from this thing.
Here is a view of the valley from the trail leading down from the waterfall. Very peaceful and quite lovely.
	This is looking back on the town. As we were heading back down the trail, we heard it. The unmistakable sound of.. COWBELLS. You can barely make out the line of cows going down the main street.
We hurried down to check them out. And sure enough, the cows were coming down from the mountains. It explained the helicopter. They put them all in a parking lot and waited for the owners to come claim them. It was really quite odd.
	The cows had decorations and cow bells. According to the book I was reading, the cows that gave the most milk during the summer were decorated the most. I'd think with how sweaty and tired they all looked (they were coming down at a FAST pace) I'd be doing my best to not give very much milk. ;)
And a closeup of one of the decorated cows. At least someone is ready for Christmas!

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All photos copyright Anne Sullivan