Grindelwald - A little slice of heaven...

Alpine trek No. 3 - I woke up at the wee hours this morning to board a 3 hour train (well 3 trains, spanning 3 hours) to hike some more Alps. My Swiss friend Marianne and I met up in the Eiger village of Grindelwald in the Bernese Oberland, to board a gondola up to First--ski resort by winter, hiking wonderland by summer. We are squeezing in some serious hiking before it becomes blustery here.

The views were immediately breathtaking. Jutting snow-capped mountains, glaciers galore, cow bells a ringing (I know, what's new, its Switzerland), etc. I was channeling Buzz Gher and getting the shakes when I realized that I did not have a wide angle lens. WHAT WAS I THINKING? I talked myself off the proverbial (well, and literal) ledge and we proceeded forward. Marianne tells me we were at around 7000 feet or more. I am not exactly what altitude we were at, but we can go with that figure. My breath was not coming as easily - that means we were high. I was snapping away old school-style and Marianne went macro - she photoed every flower on that mountain, a couple mushrooms too. She also provided a lovely commentary about our surroundings, that can be viewed here:

The weather was perfect! There was as brisk breeze, but the sun was certainly a shinin'. Hikers peppered themselves all over the mountainside for picnics and all was right in the world. Marianne and I, however, were dead set on finding THE perfect lunch spot. I almost gave in a few times to the hunger pangs, but she insisted that we hold out to ensure that we were strategically placed on a cliff, where no other humans daned too linger - our own little slice of Alpine heaven. I give it to her - we had one AMAZING view. I had to promptly run to the edge and do a gymnastics move in honor of it.
Marianne did a few yoga poses too. Perhaps we get along because we are equally crazy and quirky. Whatevs, its working out :-).

After our fitness session and a fabu lunch, we started heading down the mountain. It was a truly truly truly glorious hike. Cannot wait to drag Ames up this mountain. I am going to make her do a headstand somewhere. She'll love it!


PS-thought dad would like this shot. He hearts birds, in fact, he may be a bird.