After the excitement of Lausanne

After the excitement of spending time with Jelle and Gina, we woke early the next morning reasonably tired and decided to drive towards Interlaken stopping for a beautiful and relaxing breakfast in the sun as we looked at the magic of the mountains in the area and enjoy the sound of the cow bell. Just love that sound and often imagine how the cow feels when the bell is actually taken off - must be strange to be so quiet. Quite something if you haven't heard it before.

Early morning 'sunny' breakfast overlooking the Alps and listening to the cow bells ....

Arrived at Camping Jungfrau (with 5 Stars) and set up camp. We explored the area, experienced a little retail therapy and few chores at the van. Grant went for a long ride to a Mountain pass which was a beautiful area and we both enjoyed the sound of the river which wasn't far from our van.

Up really, really early the next day to catch the 7am train to Jungfraujoch (the mountain which is at the Top of Europe @ 3454M and in the snow line!) It was a fantastic little train, and the view of the alps was amazing. Getting out of the train we rugged up and headed to the 'Top of Europe'.

Scenery is quite something ....

TOP OF EUROPE - and we made it

Awesome feeling.......

We stayed there for a while and then decided to catch the train and make our way to Grindolwald and then do a four hour walk to the next mountain village. Sounds good doesn't it ??? Well it is but it was ALL downhill and after two hours Helena was experiencing a little pain in her right knee which increased significantly when we decided to walk the rest of the way down the mountain when the connecting train was delayed. This probably wasn't the wisest of decisions but one made at the time. Quickly it became obvious that something was going on because she couldn't use her right leg and started the downhill shuffle which put pressure on the other leg - resulting in blisters etc.... We made it to Grindelweld and caught the cable car back to Lauterbrunnen where we were staying. We later bought some new Alpine Hiking Poles which eased the discomfort and made life for Grant a little easier !!!!  

Fantastic area - so clean and pure

We waited for the train to arrive only to find that there was a problem with the brakes and it was going to take a little time before the replacement arrived. While we waited, Grant decided to taste a local favourite. 

Includes a large fat German sausage, which is carefully cooked ......

On our walk, we came across a hut which was 'singing' a tune. We knew it was the sound of the cow bell but wondered what they were doing in there at this time of the day. It was sunny, and not overly cold and there was lots of fresh grass around. The story goes that one of them just decided that they all needed to go under cover, so that's what they did. It was quite 'warm' inside if you know what I mean......  

 

 

 

The girls were 'singing' a tune 

 

 

 

Grant spotted this little shed and stopped to talk to the man inside who was making cheese. Fantastic to see this kind of thing in the countryside. 

He was quite happy to talk about his cheese

and Grant enjoyed talking to him

It was a magic, magic experience. Switzerland is really lovely and the area we were in was sensational with snow on the upper Alps and beautiful rivers and countryside. A sight to see.

Beautiful one day, perfect the next

                                                        Goodbye Switzerland, we'll be back.