Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Italy and Switzerland...Day 10: Hiking Kleine Scheidegg to Grindelwald...

We woke up on Saturday morning feeling tired and refreshed all at the same time.  We knew we wanted a far easier day than the day before, so we decided we would hike from Kleine Scheidegg to Mannlichen, only to change our minds when we arrived to Kleine Scheidegg.

I went for a run down the valley to start off my day before breakfast.  It was nothing but blue skies.

Any day that starts with running this view, is bound to be a good day.

After breakfast, we rode the train from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen to Kleine Scheidegg.  This is also the route that people take to catch the Jungfraujoch to go to the Top of Europe.  Ken and I are obviously not those people.  The train was packed and we were both relieved that we enjoy hiking versus visiting such tourists spots.  

Arrival in Kleine Scheidegg.  It was fun watching people lose their shit over running to get in line to the Jungfraujoch.

We walked around Kleine Scheidegg for a few minutes and this is when we decided to hike to Grindelwald instead of to Mannlichen.  Ken was wanting to visit Grindelwald, so we chose to go ahead and hike down to visit the village.  

The view from Kleine Scheidegg down to Grindelwald.  Much different than in 2016. You can barely see the Saint Bernard to the left of the buidling.


The same view from 2016.  It is amazing how different it looks without the snow and the clouds.


We started the hike with a pretty steep downhill section.  We saw a few mountain bikers that were pushing their bikes up the hill because it was so steep.  I kind of laughed at the thought of us going downhill because we both truly dislike it so much.

Looking back at Kleine Scheidegg.  It was a beautiful day.

I wanted to include a picture that shows the tee pee.  I love the tee pee for whatever reason.


The trail leading from Kleine Scheidegg to Grindelwald

We had a great time hiking along the trail and talking about our trip thus far.  We were all alone on the trail and enjoyed seeing the mountains from this side of the valley.

The North Face of the Eiger.  Can you believe people climb that thing?  Clearly with my dislike for chain hiking, this will not be something I will ever attempt.

Taking time to stop to play in the wild flowers.  Why is it that even weeds look more beautiful when there are gorgeous mountains around?  (tank and pants)

These guys were enjoying the sunshine and the views.

The highlight of the hike was when we noticed a mountain hut that we were approaching.  We decided to stop to enjoy a cocktail.

A mountain hut with cows outside?  Yes please!


Ken enjoying the sunshine


It might look like I am enjoying the view, but I am really staring at the cows in the valley below.  I love me some Swiss cows.  (long sleeve shirt)

Looking back at the mountain hut


A beautiful, bright-sunny day.


We saw another mountain hut, so we stopped for a drink.  We both agreed that we did not enjoy this stop as much as we did the first one.  The highlight of this one was watching the cows around it take off in a herd sprinting.  They were quite funny and I have honestly never witnessed cows moving so fast in my life!

Our second stop of the day.

At this point, we were kind of hot and tired of walking downhill.  The views were beautiful, but we were kind of losing steam.  We approached a field that had farmers out raking up hay by hand and we decided that we did not have it so bad hiking downhill.  The Swiss farmers are incredibly hard workers.

Even Grandma was out working in the field

I might consider farming if this was my view everyday.

Looking down into Grindelwald.  We are getting closer!

We were really ready to be finished at this point.



We finally made it to Grindelwald and checked out the train times to get back to Lauterbrunnen before we shopped for a bit.  We stopped for a panini at a place called Avacados, where we spent 52 Francs on two paninis, one radler, and two margarita type drinks.  It was good, but not 52 Francs good.  We both agreed that Grindelwald was not our favorite, but we were glad we checked it out.

We took the train back to Lauterbrunnen, relaxed for a bit in our room, and then went out in search of dinner.  At this point in the trip, we were very tired of sitting down for dinners every night.  We could not decide on a place to eat and then we remembered that there is a meat shop in town and he had set up to make sandwiches and what not so we stopped there.  

It was just what we needed for dinner.  We enjoyed some fries and schnitzel sandwiches and a chocolate shake.  It was much better than having to sit down for an extended dinner.


The view of the little shop set up in Lauterbrunnen.  It was the perfect little spot for an easy dinner.


Out of all of the hikes we did in Switzerland, this was my least favorite.  They cannot all be your favorite, right?  Tomorrow, we take on the hike from Schynige Platte to First.

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