At my friend Cindy's House on a beautiful, warm summer afternoon in June
Boenigen, Switzerland with Lake Brienz in the backdrop - two ladies, tons of hand-picked cherries and what a view!
I forgot to take a photo of the finished product because, um...all I could think about was digging in to the pie! I totally spaced-out on the photo, but did get the recipe on how to make it.
1. flakey pie crust
2. chopped hazelnut, flour, sugar, (I forgot) on the bottom
3. Cherries
4. topping: Brown sugar, cream or milk or both, one beat egg, flour,
5. bake
6. cool and eat
Cindy and her bowls of organic cherries right from the garden behind us - pitting them for pastei met kersen. I was telling her how excited I was to have 'organic' cherries and she laughed at me. Organic? About 90% of what she and her family eat is grown, farmed, or cultured right at their home. Oh, the Swiss life! Later we had some of her homemade cheese from her happy alpine cows.
Later Denise stopped by and we all drank coffee and talked till the weeee hours!
Boenigen, Switzerland, Lake Brienz
Walking into Lauterbrunner towards Air Time and Horner Pub on Thursday morning with Denise and Annabella. We stopped at Air Time for a coffee and some of their amazing carrot cake (do not pass by the opportunity to try their carrot cake). Busy summer morning in the LB
Coffee and cake with my very good friend Denise out side Air Time
Above Photo is the view from our Hike from Lauterbrunnen to Wengan
Amazing views of the Lauterbrunnen Valley from the road half way to Wengan. The hike takes about one hour from the valley to the top and it's very steep, but the views are all worth the climb.
All the trails in this area are marked by how many minutes it takes you to walk to your destination. Here is a typical walking sign with direction and time. Very cool
Annabella taking a break on in Wengan before our trek back down the mtn.
My friend Denise on our walk on Thursday. It was so warm out this day that I can't believe the rain and wind we experienced later that night. The weather in the mtn can change so quickly and so drastically.
Swiss flowers everywhere - people here really take care of their gardens and front yards with beautiful red and white flowers.
More flowers on the hike
Outside the Trummerlbach Falls (
Trümmelbachfälle)
Glacierwater Falls inside the mountain - the temp was about 12 degrees cooler inside the caves than outside temp. It was 11 Swiss franks to enter, but well worth it.
Different levels to climb and see the Trummerlbach falls - there is a lighting system inside the mtn so you can see where you are walking, but in some areas it was just black. The Trummelbach alone drains the glaciers of Eiger (3970 m), Mönch (4099 m) and Jungfrau (4158 m) and carries 20,200 tons of boulder debris per year.
I think this was level 4 or 5 of the walk - still some natural light and very cold water - just beautiful and only a 30 minute walk from Lauterbrunnen. It's a must do / see.
Inside with some light and very cold
This is the top level and natural light leaks in from the top. See the guy on the right! This place is massive
After the hike from the falls back to Lauterbrunnen, I ran into some old friends at AirTime Cafe and had a beer.
Ran into one of Grant's friend from Australia, Monica who is now living back in LB. Such a small world. Got a ride back with Tony to Wilderwills.
Later that night we went to the Funny Farm in Interlaken to meet up with friends for a drink. Isn't she lovely!
When I was here in Interlaken in Sept 2010 I met a very energenic couple that were thinking about starting an electric bike company. They asked Denise and I to join them on a photo shoot in and around the lake one autumn afternoon and almost 8 months later... Voila!
Lovely couple Mirium and Frankie at their bike shop in Interlaken on Friday June 17, 2011 before our epic all day ride
At the top of a great climb Grosse Scheidegg and the Eiger in the background. We started in Grindelwald and road to the top where we had coffee and bread soup or Schwarzbrotsuppe (very Swiss dish) was really good, believe it or not!
Link to bread
soup:
Link to
Flying Wheels
The Eiger from Grindelwald (this is out of order, but will update when home)
I love all the walking/biking signs in this area - see Swiss flag in background. The weather changed from very warm to foggy with no visibility in 20 minutes.
Our descend down the backside of Grosse Scheidegg on our way to Meiringen. We stopped to take photos of the falling Wetterhorn Glacier.
Somewhere between Grosse Scheidegg and Schwarzwaldap we stopped at a bench for a picnic with local cheese, fresh bread we purchased from the hotel in Mountain-Hotel Grosse Scheidegg, air cured meats and an amazing view
While having lunch, we had four little Swiss Alpine Cows come for a visit and some TLC. There were two farmers and their dogs herding the adult cows to a distant grass pasture, however, these little dudes were not moving!
Cows love us!!! Love the baby Swiss cows!
After lunch we road our bikes to Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge in Rosenlaui for a hike and to make photos -- "The Weissenbach River has carved a way into the slate and limestone. A narrow hiking trail follows the rushing mountain stream step for step. In some areas, the gorge is so narrow that the highly polished cliffs seem to nearly touch, leaving only a sliver of sky." "Rosenlaui Valley, at the foot of the Engelhörner, Dossen, Wellhorn and the Wetterhorn, offers everything one might expect of Switzerland: rich pastures, great old maple trees, age-old stables and mountain huts, rough rocks and sparkling glaciers. To crown it all, there is a glacial gorge, the Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge, which has attracted romantics from near and far for more than a century."
See website
"Gletscherschlucht Rosenlaui is the the gorge of the small river Weissenbach. With up to four cubic meters of water it cut a 500m long narrow gorge with up to 80 meters high wall into the hard limestone. The gorge is entered from the Schluchthüttli (gorge hut), the ticket office and cafe. A path leads along the river upstream. At the border between the soft shists and the hard limestone, the gorge path starts with an artificial tunnel. The huge waterfall is only a first highlight of the tour. At first various dolly tub were formed by the flowing water. In the middle section the gorge forms a dome like overhang. A nice highlight for children is the elephant's head at the end of the gorge, a phantastic rock formation."
see website
Wasswerfall Terrasse and Louisa outside the gorge and now hiking down to our bikes!
Map of the Rosenlaui Glacier Gorge at the start of the hike
World famous Hotel Rosenlau apricot kuchen (Kuchen the German word for cake)
About a 4 minute walk from the gorge, we stopped at the Hotel Rosenlau and had a massive slice of apricot kuchen with fresh whip cream and a Swiss coffee. Sat outside and enjoyed the view, talked, coffee and relaxed before gettting back on the bike.
On my list to do next year in June - The
jungfrau-Rallye! Vintage sports cars and all women drivers - slogan "Ladies, start your engines!"
As we were riding our bikes down to Meiringen near Zwirgi, we ran into about 200 vintage cars driving up the hill (I almost ran into one on a tight turn). It was so cool to see all the women driving the men around in vintage sports cars - some even had the old leather helmets on! Soooo cool!!
This baby cow really like my rental mtn bike - he was so sweet!
New Baby Cow in Kaltenbrunnen
Thousands of yodellers, alpine horn blowers and flag swingers are doing it at the Swiss Yodel Festival in Interlake. Women in traditional Swiss clothing Raining in Interlaken on June 19, 2011
Jodlerdörfli village - Swiss Yodel Festival in Interlaken. Swiss men in traditional yodeling clothing in one of the lunch tents. June 2011
The Official festival motto is - Gemutlichkeit, the German word for Friendliness, good humor, pleasure -- Swiss Yodeling Festival in Interlaken, Switerland
It wouldn't be a swiss festival without Raclette. Raclette is a semi-firm, cow's milk cheese - most commonly used for melting and eating with bread or potatoes. It smells really bad, almost makes me sick to smell it, but it tastes sooo good. Just plug your nose. Pete, the guy serving the food is a friend of Denise's. Mostly people in Interlaken and surrounding area volunteer their time for beer to work the tents!
Swiss horns or alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone. They sound so beautiful and the amazing backdrop of the Jungfrau mountain or the Swiss Alps makes it so special
Swiss horns or alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone. They sound so beautiful and the amazing backdrop of the Jungfrau mountain or the Swiss Alps makes it so special
Swiss horns or alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone. They sound so beautiful and the amazing backdrop of the Jungfrau mountain or the Swiss Alps makes it so special
Now it's time for us to get beer or wine and enjoy the festival!!
Swiss horns
Beer and Yodeling
Links for reference:
Blogg about bike ride
Hotels in area
flyer for the festival -
yodel fest website
The “Oesch’s die Dritten” group, who can be seen on
YouTube with the KuKu-Jodel
Ice Climbing the next day with Hano, Lucas, Dan and Justin on The Stein Glacier (German: Steingletscher) in the Urner Alps in the canton of Berne in Switzerland.
Getting set-up to test climb and learn the ropes
Dan and Justin of San Francisco in the 1980ies gear - Lookin' raddical
Ice Climbing in on a glacier in Switzerland - The Stein Glacier (German: Steingletscher) is a 4 km long glacier (2005) situated in the Urner Alps in the canton of Berne in Switzerland
Making our way up the glacier one crevasse at a time
2 ice axes, crampons toe-in and some rope
Intro to ice climbing in a crevasse - we started by repelling down a crevasse, then climbing out
Stopped halfway up to make a photo with my GoPro
Hano from Swiss Alpine Guides of Interlaken
Hano, of Swiss Alpine Guides, making fun of me
Afterwards, we stopped at a coffee cafe and had some kind of crappy coffee, but it was warm
Lucas, Dan and Louisa
Hike the Eiger Trail with Joyce (Hano's wife) and Denise
Take the train from Grindelwald or Wengen. See Transport Map for the Jungfrau Region. We started our hike in Alpiglen (5302 ft. above sea level)
Get off the train at Alpiglen Station and follow signs to Eiger Trail
Our friend Sandy's cows - randomly ran into her along our hike... she moves her cows every two weeks to 'greener pastures' for fresh alpine grazing
Beneath the famous north wall of the Eiger on the Eiger Trail
Planking (Plank) on the Eiger Trail, Switzerland
View of the trail with Joyce and her dog - the walk takes about 3 hours
Planking the Eiger Trail, Switzerland - her dog isn't too sure what is going on?!?
Louisa Planking the Eiger Trail, Switzerland
Passing some delightful waterfalls as the path twists and turns through rocks and grass
