Grindelwald

Last year, I began the year hiking in the Italian part of Switzerland. This year, I decided to change it up and hiked in the German part instead. In the "real" Swiss alps.
From September 7-10, the touristic town of Grindelwald (1034 m) just above the uber-touristic Interlaken was where we stayed.
At the end of the summer, heavy rainfalls flooded many areas of Switzerland (something completely unheard of) so badly that road, bridges and railways were washed away. There was concern that the repairs wouldn't be made in time for our stay in Grindelwald. Luckily, we could made our trip and on the bus ride up you could still see the construction that was being done to rebuild different parts of the area. We went up on a private coach, but the commuter trains still weren't up and running, so to get from Interlaken to Grindelwald there were shuttle buses.
Grindewald was so picturesque. It was so different to see the alps not completely covered with snow. The last time I was surrounded by alps was in the winter in Zermatt, so this was a whole new experience being in an alp-town, where everything around me was green!
The area was filled with tourists. Lots of English speakers which always makes me do a double take. The streets were lined with hotels and chalets as "Swiss chalet" as you can get. You know, the wooden buildings with flowerboxes just outside of the windows. Fabulous.
We stayed in a little chalet in which my bedroom window looked out to the infamous North face of the Jungfrau.
One interesting experience to tell. I got to try playing an Alpenhorn. You know the one. Ri-co-la!!! I had great difficulty. I've never played a brass instrument before, and when learning how to play the digeridoo...well that took a lot of effort as well. Apparently my embouchure was too tight, but no matter how hard I tried, it wasn't what I wanted. I got some high pitched sounds out, which is better than nothing (albeit after a couple of attempts) so I guess I should be satisfied...and I guess I am. It was an experience, that's for sure! It was a lot harder than I expected and the mouthpiece was about the size of that of a trumpet. Those horns look so big. You forget that it gets bigger at the end that you're usually looking at, and the mouthpiece would need to be quite small. So yeah, I don't see a future in Alpenhorn playing, but it was a lot of fun trying!
We hiked up to a glacier. I was expecting a huge mass of ice, but was disappointed with what I saw. If I had been there only 5 years ago, I would have seen a much bigger mass. It's pretty incredible seeing the effects of global warming and such. Seeing the scrape marks on the rock from the glacier was really neat too. It's always more interesting to see things you learn about in a textbook in person.
Our hike lasted about 5 hours. We took a cablecar up to an altitude of about 2168 m and then hiked up to Gassenboden (2553m) just above a small glacier lake. We walked by quite a few cows who obviously had the right of way. It's pretty clear that when a cow starts heading towards you and crosses the path, you should stop and let the cow go wherever it wants to go. There was the option of hiking up to Faulhorn, at an altitude of 2681m before heading all the way back down again, and of course I jumped on that one. Who knows when the next time I would be able to stand on the top of an alp would be? The view was UNREAL. You could see the fabulously picturesque Interlaken and two lakes below. Yet another indescribable experience.
This particular hike didn't seem too strenuous. Just long. Although, I did feel my breathing change the higher we got up. The way down was more difficult than going up. Something about my anatomy doesn't bode well for going downhill on unsteady terrain. I think my pigeon-toedness tends to work my side-bum muscles a lot more. I was definitely feeling a good pain for the next couple of days. I love that kind of pain. You know you've accomplished something if you're in pain. On the way down some people stopped for a dip in the glacier lake. Darn cold! After just wading in to my ankles, after just a short while, my ankles clenched up and became like ice. I lost feeling pretty quickly. Those that just dove in, wow. Daring.
At the end of it all, you get such an amazing feeling. I guess the point of a blog is to try to describe things, but there are just some things that you can't describe. You just have to experience them for yourself.
At night, we would often go to a cafe with a fab terrace for drinks. Sitting there in the candlelight, wrapped up in my special Parisian etole and staring at the spotlit Jungfrau and the stars up above...my life...it's like a dream. I never want to wake up.