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Kind of a dull day weather wise, but Zurich is a lovely city.
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The back and side streets were the best part.
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Great train station. It felt like the nerve center of the city.
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Sat here sipping tea waiting for our train...
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Took the train to Lauterbrunnen, a gondola up the mountain side and a train across the mountain to the little village of Murren.
11-OCT-2007
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We had great views across the valley to three of the tallest peaks in Europe, the Eiger (Yes, THAT Eiger!)the Monch and the Jungfrau. This is the Eiger. People fall off of this mountain with regularity.
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Just one of the back streets in Murren.
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Here are the three peaks. Left to right; Eiger, Monch, Jungfrau.
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Looking from our hotel room across Murren at sunset.
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It's a charming little village and there are no cars to speak of. There are a few, mostly electric, but the streets are for walking.
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Steeple of one of the local Churches.
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Another view from our hotel westward.
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This is looking down on Murren as we take the cable car up to the Schilthorn.
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Getting up higher on the way to the Schilthorn. Pretty scenic huh?
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Looking up to the Schilthorn. It's a little over 10,000 feet high.
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The Schilthorn featuring the Piz Gloria restaurant. This was the set for the first James Bond Movie.
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Looking down from the Schilthorn into the valley to the west of Murren. (SW direction)
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Now looking south east from the Schilthorn.
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Looking down to the half way point on the cable car ride up to the Schilthorn.
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This is the midway point on the cable car to the Schilthorn, here, we're on our way down.
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Nice view of the Eiger and Monch from downtown Murren.
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Nice view of the Jungfrau at sunset. This was the view from our room.
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This is the train station in Lauterbrunnen. This is where you come in if you are going up to Murren. Or you can go up the other side of the valley to Wengen. Both are great ski destinations. Made me want to come back in the winter...
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Great waterfall right in the middle of downtown Lauterbrunnen. We didn't explore Lauterbrunnen at all really. We were on our way to Murren or going up the other side to Wengen, then up to the mountains behind Wengen to Mannlichen.
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This is looking down into Lauterbrunnen on our way up to Murren. The light in the valley was constantly changing and we saw a variety of different lighting effects.
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Again there is the most interesting lighting in the valley. It seemed as if the lighting was coming in sideways across the valley even though the sun was high above. I suppose there is a good explanation for that, I'm not sure I want to know. Just beautiful...
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This is going up the cable car, or gondola, to Mannlichen from Lauterbrunnen, looking down into the valley on the opposite side from Murren. Well, opposite and down a bit to the east.
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This is looking down into Lauterbrunnen from the gondola going up towards Murren.
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Looking down into Lauterbrunnen with a great view of Wengen and the Eiger and the Monch. Sorry I'm missing the little dots that go above some of the letters for proper German pronunciation. I haven't quite figured out how to do that on my computer. Go figure, I can shoot the pictures, post them on the web, But I haven't figured out how to put the little dots there yet. I'll work on it...
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This is where you arrive when you take the gondola from Wengen to the top. There is a real easy walking trail that goes from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg at the base of the Eiger. There are great views of Grindelwald along the way and even benches to sit on and take in the view.
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The hiking trail begins here with a stunning view down into the valley. (Lauterbrunnen and also Murren up and to the right, can't be seen from here.)
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Another of the same view with a little bit more of the opposite side of the valley. Murren would be ahead on the right on top of that middle ridge.
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Looking back at our starting point at Mannlichen after getting off the gondola. Those are avalanche fences.
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Part of the trail. Wide and easy to walk. It took us about and hour and a half, but we kept stopping to take pictures...
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Great ski field right in the shadow of the Eiger.
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Great view down to Grindelwald.
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Spectacular views all the way, here we are almost to Kleine Scheidegg.
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Approaching Kleine Scheidegg. It's got a hotel, restaurant and a train station. We took the train back to Laterburnnen from here.
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Another view back down to Grindelwald from Kleine Scheidegg.
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View of the Eiger reflected in a pond at Kleine Scheidegg.
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This is looking back down to Wengen from the gondola. Lauterbrunnen can be seen at the bottom of the valley.
13-OCT-2007
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Nice view of Wengen as we are arriving from Kleine Scheidegg by train, then on to Lauterbrunnen by the same train.
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After a short side trip to Budapest we made our way to lovely Lugano. Italian in many ways, it even used be a part of Italy. This was our hotel, right next to the 15th century Church of St. Mary of the Angels and Louis Vuitton.
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Lake Lugano, a bit hazy that day.
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More Lake Lugano. There is a great parkway along the city center by the lake. Great for walking or sitting.
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The haze cleared out the next day for picture perfect weather. This was in October. Sunny and cool.
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Tree lined parkway along the lake.
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The Piazza della Riforma.
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One of many little back streets where we discovered for ourselves what may have been the most beautiful delicatessen in the city, seen here. Great sandwiches here too, get there early for best selection.
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Lovely outdoor market right next to the deli.
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Same back street. Bought a watch here too. Seemed like the thing to do in Switzerland. Eat cheese, chocolate, and buy a watch.
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Another side street. Be prepared to walk a few hills.
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Back to the Church of St. Mary of the Angels. Built in 1499 it used to be part of a monastery. It has incredible frescoes.
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Incredible frescoes. Painted by Bernardino Luini in 1529.
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More from the interior of the Church. You can see restoration work being done above the altar.
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While in Lugano we took the ferry to one of the many lake front towns. This is Gandria. You can drive here to, but the boat ride is much prettier, especially on a bright sunny day.
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This is where the boat comes in to Gandria. Have a meal right at the edge of the lake.
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Gandria, old and charming.
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Wish we could have spent more time here in Gandria. It was a photographers paradise.
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We walked up to a great view spot above most of Gandria and looked out over the lake. That's the Church steeple in the middle.
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Off we go after a too short stay in Gandria. There is more of Switzerland to see...
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Here we are in lovely Zermatt. As you can see in this shot from our hotel window, the Matterhorn dominates the view from most of the town. This is another place that does not have cars except for electric taxis and work vehicles. Lot's a walking. Another picture postcard town.
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The views around town look like this.
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Lots of older building too. The window box flowers were beautiful even in October. Below freezing at night is was cold during the day too.
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Some really old buildings here. I don't know the story on these structures but many were still in use as homes. Wish I could have peeked inside some of them.
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The Matterhorn is such a distinctive mountain. It's over 15,000 feet high. Definitely not Disneyland.
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Very imposing. People actually climb this thing.
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We are taking a cog wheel train out of Zermatt up to Gornergrat. Great looking ski field. Would love to come back in winter.
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Another view from the train to Gornergrat.
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You can see in the middle of this shot snow making machines blowing snow. There is skiing here year round via helicopter. I don't know all the details but what a beautiful place to ski.
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This is the train station at the top called Gornergrat. We are a little over 10,000 feet up at this point. The views are spectacular.
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The top at Gornergrat. Great place for an observatory.
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Pan to the right for mountains and glaciers.
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Looking back to the Matterhorn.
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Looking out to the mountains immediately to the right of the Gornergrat station. It was cold.
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The view from Gornergrat. Can't beat this.
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Up close.
Zermatt was our last stop and then back to Zurich for the trip home. Train travel was great, but don't be late for you train! They are always spot on time! Travel first class if you can, it's very comfy. Wonderful country all the way around. I wish the Swiss would ban smoking in their restaurants. Go easy on the cheese. Try Merkur stores for chocolate. The Swiss make a mean ham and cheese sandwich. Laundry at the hotels is expensive. The head waiter at the Hotel Du Lac in Lugano is wonderful and funny. If you can afford a Patek Phillipe watch you can ignore everything I've written, you're in a whole other league from me. I bought a Patek Swatch. Met a train station worker who had memorized all 50 US states and their capitals.