Day 1 (Travel Day, October 1, 2008)

The main purpose of this vacation in Switzerland was to visit some very good friends and secondarily to do some hiking in the Bernese Oberland.

We took Air France from Philadelphia to Paris, then a small CityJet from Paris to Zurich. That route to Switzerland offers a nice low flight over the scenic French countryside, and weather permitting provides a great view of the Alps from the air. The state-of-the-art architecture in the Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris is worth seeing. Terminal 2E has recently reopened after collapsing in 2004.

Day 2 (October 2, 2008)

In Zurich, we were disappointed to find that one of our bags was lost. The tracking service quickly located it in Paris. We filled out the paperwork, and they promised to send it to our hotel late sometime the next day. The only problem was it contained gifts for people we were going to meet before our bag was likely to arrive.

We took the train from Zurich to Bern, and then checked into our hotel on Gerechtigkeitgasse. We chose our hotel for sentimental reasons, and we were lucky enough to get the very same room we once spent a month living in early in our marriage. The street is among the oldest in Bern, and we like the strong medieval atmosphere that still persists. It's not hard to imagine the continuity of day to day living on the street since the late 1100s.

We closed our travel day with a nice stroll through the old city, walking past many favorite old shops that we hadn't seen in a long while. We were very excited to be back in Bern. It is one of our favorite places. We were treated to a fantastic sunset that backlit the gothic cathedral of Bern and the old city in a striking red and black silhouette.

Day 3 (October 3, 2008)

At breakfast we had Birchermüesli, croissants, homemade jelly, an assortment of cheese (Berner Alpkäse, Emmentaler, Tilsiter, a few varieties of Tommes), and that famous strong Swiss coffee with a thick brown foamy crema layer on top. It is the kind of crema that makes you believe its well worth replacing the automatic drip machine at home with a Swiss Jura Impressa X-line coffee machine; although, to do so would probably mean selling the car.

After breakfast, we climbed the 344 steps to the top of the tower of Bern's Gothic cathedral. From the top you can see a beautiful panorama of the entire old city. Finally, a payoff for all those 5:30AM trips to the gym. After the climb down, we took a quick walk through of the cathedral. The dance of death stain glass that was created during the plague is very powerful. The cathedral took centuries to build, and has an amazing history.

After the cathedral, we went to Annemarie, and Karl's house. Also present were Fely, Suzie, and Doris. Visiting all of them was one of the major highlights of our trip. Annemarie and Karl have a wonderful house with a large Swiss style garden filled with special fruit trees, flowers and plants. The rest of the day was a wonderful party filled with conversation that went on for hours. At the end of the day, we watched the movie "Die Herbstzeitlosen" a very funny Swiss movie about an elderly women who decides to open a lingerie shop in the very conservative farming village of Traub. Annemarie translated the movie for us scene by scene, and then Karl gave us a candle light concert playing his "Hammered Dulcimer". He played for us some of the Swiss folk music he played, with his family, on the "Die Herbstzeitlosen" movie sound track. We then watched an interview with Karl that is one of the extra features on the movie's DVD. Of course, our favorite part of the movie was Karl's music, but the comedy was also very good.

Day 4 (October 4, 2008)

After breakfast we toured Albert Einstein's old apartment in Bern. It is where he wrote the Theory of Relativity. The Einstein House museum was just a few doors up from our hotel.

We then decided to visit our old flat out in the country. It was great to walk the same old streets and to see that some of our old neighbors were still in town.

In the afternoon we met Annemarie and Karl at church in Bern. I was surprised by how they repainted the sacristy in a bright orange with unusual features. After Mass, the Pastor explained it to us. We then all went to eat in "The Prairie". It is a special place on the church grounds for the church community to eat and socialize after Mass. We met some very interesting people there. We then went to Annemarie amd Karl's after church and finished all the great cookies and cakes from the night before.

On the walk to our hotel we stopped by the Chocolate Feast. Toblerone was celebrating their centenary and had a free concert, special exhibits, and the world's largest Toblerone bar at 100 kilos.

Day 5 (October 5, 2008)

We checked out of our hotel in Bern and took the long journey by train to Schynige Platte. In our planning we thought that the mountain hotel at Schynige Platte would be the perfect base camp for 2 days of hiking, but it was very late in the season and the hotel was preparing to close for the season. Unfortunately, an early snow had fallen in the area we were planning to hike and many people advised us not to go. Needless to say we were nervous about the conditions we might encounter.

Other than by hiking, access to the hotel is via a special rack railway that goes up the mountain. When we finally got to Schynige Platte the weather was perfect. There were near perfect views of all the surrounding mountains. We checked in, and did our first hike. The trails were snow covered and very muddy. However, the scenic vistas more than made up for it. We got back to the Hotel to find there were only 8 guests (including us), and there was an incredible 5-course meal. At dinnertime we had a full panoramic view of the sun setting on the Swiss Alp's tallest icy giants. We were definitely glad we did not cancel because of the snow.

Day 6 (October 6, 2008)

We got up very early so we could watch the tall icy Alps emerge from the darkness of night. It was a majestic sight to behold in the quietness and isolation of the mountainside so far from the hustle and bustle of my normal Philadelphia traffic jams.

After breakfast we set out for a day long hike. After half a day of hiking though alternating bands of rain and sunny skies, we got as far as a glacial rift valley not too far from the Faulhorn. On our way back, we were on a treacherous part of the trail on the Laucherhorn, when a formation of F/A-18 Hornets flew over us and caused the snowfield above us to give way. The falling snow sounded like a heard of charging cattle (baby cows might be more accurate). Had the snowfield been a little bit bigger, it might have pushed us off the mountain. As it was we had to hold on to grass in parts to keep from falling. There was another hiker coming towards us when this micro avalanche occurred. Needless to say he turned around even though there was no real danger.

When we got back to the hotel, we discovered we were the only guests. At first it felt very strange to be the only guests. Especially, when we saw a single table set for dinner. The table was complete with a reserved sign in a room that can sit a pretty big crowd during the high season. At least there would be no fighting for the table with the best view. There was the chef and the server and the two of us in the hotel. We had another fantastic romantic 5-course meal as we watched the sun set on another perfect mountain day. Being the only guests magnified the feeling of remoteness, and it did feel a little like being in a novel, but on the other hand it felt like we had the entire Alps to ourselves. It was a once in a lifetime experience and the Schynige Platte hotel is a fantastic place to stay in October after the crowds have gone for the season. The staff at the hotel is excellent.

Day 7 (October 7, 2008)

The Berg Hotel at Schynige Platte is the perfect place to get away from it all. It is very quiet with no TV, no computers, no news. We had breakfast at the hotel and then did some hiking until about noon. We then checked out and made our way by train to Grindelwald. At the train station we asked a cab driver if he knew the location of our next destination, the Hotel Lauberhorn. When he told us it was a short 20 minute walk from the station we decided to skip the cab ride. We had forgotten that the Swiss do not differentiate between flat land and 45 degree inclines. Our Hotel was located very much "uphill". Some 45 minutes after starting our assent - we saw our hotel!. Later we learned that they would have been happy to pick us up at the train station. The Lauberhorn is the perfect place to stay in Grindelwald. Without luggage it is less than a 20 minute walk to the train station. The view of the North Face of Eiger, from our room was spectacular. We would definitely stay at the Hotel Lauberhorn again.

Day 8 (October 8, 2008)

Today, we decided to spend a quiet day on a lake steamer on Lake Brienz. The lake has a strong blue/green color from glacier melt and it surrounded by mountains. It was very colorful, because it was the peak of the autum foliage.

The highlight of the day was getting off the boat at the Grand Hotel Giessbach stop, and taking the furnicular from the lake level to the hotel. We ate on the hotel veranda over looking the lake. We also took a small walk to the waterfalls that cascade past the hotel.

Day 9 (October 9, 2008)

Our day began with a walk from our hotel to the Grindelwald/First cable car station. The cable car goes over many cow pastures and there is constant clanging of cow bells below. At the top of First, we hiked to Lake Bachalpsee and then spent the entire day hiking the trails in and around First. It clouded up in the afternoon, but we still had a good hike.
At one point we were lucky enough to see an Alpine Marmot.
At night, back in the hotel, we had a nice long talk with Tim and Sharon from Australia. They were on a month long honeymoon and touring France, Switzerland, and Italy.

Day 10 (October 10, 2008)

The hike on day 10 was from the Hotel Lauberhorn to the Upper Grindelwald Glacier. To get there from the hotel you have to walk through the countryside past lots of cows and friendly dogs. At one point we encountered someone leaf blowing the trail (only in Switzerland).

To facilitate access to the glacier, a series of 900 steps were made out of split logs. It is a very good workout to get to the top. Once we finally got to the top, Liz was shocked to see how far the glacier has receded since her last visit in 1995. The lower parts of the glacier were completely gone, more than 100 meters higher. When we got back to Grindelwald, we had a rustic pizza, and watched the sun set on the Eiger.

Day 11 (October 11, 2008)

At breakfast we realized the weather was perfect for going to Jungfraujoch. It is a good place to get a taste of the high mountains. We began our journey by going on longest gondola cable car ride in the world from Grindelwald to Männlichen. The ride took about 1/2 hour, the
scenery was spectacular. From Männlichen we hiked to Kleine Scheidegg. It is one of our favorite walks. We once saw an entire choir on a gigantic rock singing to the mountains on this trail. From Kleine Scheideggwe took the Jungfraubahn to Jungfraujoch at 11,333 feet.
This was one of the highlights of our trip, we spent most of the day there.

Day 12 (October 12, 2008)

For our last full day in Grindelwald we chose to hike from Grosse Scheidegg to Swartzwaldalp. According to the bus schedule there was 1 bus that would take us back to Grindelwald from Swartzwaldalp. The only problem was the hiking time to Swartzwaldalp would get us there too late for the bus, so we decided that if we did not want to be stranded we had to jog parts of the mountain trail. It was a good fitness run, similar to the alpine setting on a treadmill except with lots more sceneary and rocks. We got to Swartzwaldalp early and toured a sawmill, then we bought some mountain cheese and had lunch. We ate a hardy traditional Bernese dinner of several thousand calories back in Grindelwald that night.

Day 13 (October 13, 2008)

We checked out of the Hotel Lauberhorn, and decided to walk with all our bags the 20 minutes to the train station. The hotel would have been more than happy to drive us, but the walk would give us our chance to say goodby to Grindelwald and the mountains. We took the train to Bern and checked into the Hotel Sternen in Muri. This is another hotel that Liz and I spent a month in back in the 90s. We then went to Worb to do some shopping and stopped at my favorite brewery, Egger brewery.

In the afternoon we went back to Bern to say goodby to Annemarie, Karl, Fely, and Suzie. We had a great dinner at Annemarie and Karls. Karl and Bridget gave a final concert. It was late, so Bridget drove us to our hotel room. We are going to miss them a lot.

Day 14 (October 14, 2008)

They offer a really nice breakfast experience at the Hotel Sternen in Muri. So we took it slow. After breakfast we took a train to Thun, and spent the entire afternoon there.

Our primary event of the day was to visit with Albert and Beatrice and to see their new son Nicolas. We met Albert at the Bern Train Station, and then went to his beautiful new high tech house. It was one of the nicest homes that I've ever seen. It was a wonderful visit that was over too quickly. It was really great to see them again after about 8 years.

Afterwards, Liz and I had sad walk through Bern to our hotel, knowing that soon we would be leaving Switzerland. How could it be possible that 2 weeks could fly by so quickly?

Day 15 (October 15, 2008)

In order to make our flight we had to get up at 5AM in order to be at the Nydegg Bridge in time to catch the first bus of the day. Then we had to run through the Bern train station with all our bags with only 5 minutes to catch the 6:02AM train to the Zurich Airport. After a week of hiking, our huffing and puffing was at a minimum as we jumped on the train just in time for the doors to close just behind us. The Swiss train and bus schedule is precise enough that you can be pretty confident making plans with zero margin for error.

We had a quick breakfast at the airport, and got on a bus that took us out to the CityJet Avro RJ85. It was a nice flight to Paris. Then it was lunch in Paris, followed by dinner in New Jersey.