Day 10

Today was our hike day, we headed out to get tickets up to Alpiglen but the train was not running there yet due to the snow still being around that area. They are still skiing at the higher altitudes so that limited what we could do for hikes. We decided to head back to Lauterbrunnen, which was at 800 meters, for our starting point for the day. From there we decided to try and hike up to Suls which has a beautiful mountain lake that would be a perfect endpoint for our hike. We planned on taking the bus to Isenfluh, which is at 1081 meters, but just missing the bus we decided to just hike to Isenfluh.
An hour later we took our first break in Isenfluh where we decided to take some pictures. We saw this Nordic Walker which was one of the hundreds that we saw throughout our time in Switzerland.
Here is a picture of the climb that we had to endure most of the hike. The picture truly does very little justice to the quad ripping incline.

As we neared the top of the hike we found our first alpine meadow where we could see all three of the major peaks Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. This picture was taken about the same time the fastest accent of Eiger occurred in a mere 2 hours and 28 minutes!

As you can see the snow was still in full force when we reached the 1901 meter mark. We were only 20 minutes away from our alpine lake and I made the difficult decision that we should head back down since we did not get an early start due to new plans being made the day of the hike.

So at this altitude we decided it was time for lunch of bread, apples, and Rugen Brau, the locally brewed beer.

As you can see the sun was starting to set on the top of the peaks putting us in the shade for most of our decent. Here Ashley got a great picture of me descending into one of the small meadows near the town of Isenfluh.

Day 9

Berner Oberland is one of the most beautiful regions in all of the world, at least in my eyes. Today Ashley and I took what we like to call a stroll through the Lauterbrunnen Valley seeing many of the Waterfalls that it had to offer. The first we came upon was Staubbach Falls. In a book, I recieved for christmas from my parents, it is one of the 501 must-visit natural wonders
so Ashley and I had to get a picture in front of it. We now have one checked, off only 500 left!

Here is a full picture of Staubbach Falls including the Staubbach Creek.

As you can see the valley is extremely amazing, unlike anything in the States. There are perfect little meadows filled with cattle with bells hanging from their necks. So as you walk down this amazing valley you hear bells ringing from the cows grazing nearby. Then you look to the side and hear the roar of a water falling upwards of 300 meters from the top of the cliff faces that surround this picturesque setting.

Trummelbache Falls, also one of the 501 must-visit natural wonders of the world, was very amazing. It is a waterfall that is made up of 10 smaller falls inside the valley wall. Here is just one of the pictures that I took during our visit. More to come when I can make a few crops and rotations on my desktop computer.

Here is Ashley as we escape the very cold cavern of Trummelbache Falls. I imagine when it is at full force you cannot emerge dry from the caves that expose each of the smaller falls.

As we normally do, we had cheese and bread for lunch on the trail.

Day 4

Booked our tickets to Avignon, Provence and Amersterdam. Looks like we get/have to take the slower train down to Avignon because we did not reserve our seats and Saturday is also the first day of break for the region.

After we finished up booking our tickets we headed out to Ashley's favorite hiking trail for a nice little walk and picnic with Champagne,of course. The older French women that we encountered did not even act like we were doing anything weird, most would give me a bad look in the States. We saw tons of ducks and spring was in the air all of the mallards were trying to mate with a hen and Ashley was not happy and wanted to Bagettue them but it was across a little creek so they were safe from her.

Ashley is obviously better at making Bagettue sandwiches than I am.

After the great day of walking and eating we headed back to Ashley's apartment to pack for our journey the next day but I took an amazing nap. We then headed to another assistant's farewell gathering for food and good company.