Switzerland - Part 2 -

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Dear Readers: we are now safely back home and completely overwhelmed with mundane tasks followed by a big storm and power outage. Please forgive the late blog post/travel reporting.

Switzerland: Interlaken & Grindelwald – Part 2

The next day is Christmas Eve and we want to do the Cliff Walk up on First Station, a summit point on one of the mountains. As we ride the gondola up the mountain, we see skiers and snowboarders. If i didn’t have a cold or maybe if we were visiting in spring or summer, I would have tried the first flyer option to get downhill, which seems an exhilarating way to get a majestic view. I’m not going to lie, walking the Cliff Walk was terrifying. Halfway, we encountered the Aussies, Karen & Craig, we met yesterday. After the walk we warm ourselves with hot chocolate at the summit cafe and more easy conversation. Karen and I share a fear of heights so, of course challenge ourselves to brave the suspended walkway that juts out the furthest for best viewpoint. We brave the cold and freezing wind and conquer our fears, snapping some photos in celebration.

Christmas is a busy time in Grindelwald. When I reserved our hotel nine months earlier, the hotel informed me that their restaurant, along with several others, would be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Rather than risk eating Christmas dinner out of a vending machine, I found a nice restaurant that took reservations far in advance: The Belvedere, also a very nice hotel, offers a fine dining Christmas Eve meal. Incidentally, Belvedere means “beautiful view”. The hotel is festively decorated and the meal is one of best of this trip. In addition, Urs the owner comes to our table to visit and tell us the history of the hotel his grandfather build in the early 1900s, handed down to his father, then to Urs, who recently handed the reins over to his kids. Later Urs comes back with his wife and we visit a bit more. A room at the Belvedere is more expensive than Hirschen Hotel, where we stayed, but if I ever return I’d splurge and stay at the Belvedere.

Christmas morning we wake to another morning of Alpenglow, when the sun hits the mountains creating a fiery, golden glow, looking almost like a volcano erupting. Today we celebrate by visiting Jungfraujoch, the top of Europe. To get there, we take a brief train ride to the transfer station, then the Eiger Express Tri-cable gondola, an engineering marvel in itself. Once at the top, we run into our new Aussie friends, Karen & Craig. We explore the glacier viewpoint and the ice palace. Once sufficiently cold, we duck inside for a mediocre fast food lunch with a ridiculous price ($56 for chicken nuggets, a beer, and 2 waters!). We find the highest Lindt chocolate shop in the world and, bonus, I run into Roger! For our Christmas dinner, we visit the Belvedere again.