Switzerland vacation: Wednesday in Zermatt

We woke up on Wednesday in Zermatt to cooler temperatures and cloudy skies, but then miraculously we saw sunny skies on the webcams for one of the mountain peaks.  So we scurried outside and to the train station to hop on a cog railway trail to take us to the top of the Gornergrat mountain.  As always, the train rides up to mountain peaks are almost as cool as the views at the tops, because you get to slowly see the green, summery world fall below and turn into a snow-covered winter wonderland in a matter of minutes.  I just find it so fascinating to know that in the valleys below summer is in full force while up top, spring has barely even started!  

Train parked at the top of the Gornergrat mountain

The views on top of this mountain peak were the best I have seen yet in Switzerland because we could see an entire glacier spreading out in front of our eyes.  Its one thing to see it in pictures, but another to see it laid out in front of you.  Its hard to get an idea for how huge this glacier is based on the photos and videos, it stretches for miles below! But here is an attempt...

Feeling on top of the world

In the left of the picture is the Dufourspitze, the highest mountain in Switzerland. At the base of this mountain is actually a hut (the Monta Rosa hut) that you can hike to and stay at by crossing the glacier fields... insane, I'm fascinated by the people that can actually do that type of hiking!

Looking to the right, the Matterhorn was covered in clouds the entire time unfortunately

The snow was still really deep in some areas as it continues to melt

The station on top of the mountain

After spending a few hours at the Gornergrat station, we decided to make out way back down to town and then up go up to one of the other peaks in Zermatt, this time via an underground metro type of train. Our destination was Chez Vrony, a restaurant that is consistently named one of the world's top ten mountain restaurants.  This is a favorite of one of my friends here in Switzerland and I had been dying to check it out.  The tricky part is that you have to hike 25 minutes to get to it, but in the end that just makes the food taste that much more delicious because you had to work for it, right? ;)  The setting, views, and food did not disappoint.  The restaurant's terrace is as Swiss perfection as it can be -- its covered in comfy lounges, pillows, blankets, sheepskin rugs, and basks in the sun  - a place that invites you to eat and stay awhile... and so we did just that.

The sun terrace

Truffle risotto and goat cheese/pear ravioli

Go away clouds! We want to see the Matterhorn that you are hiding.

Toberlone mousse with pomegranate foam for dessert

If the setting and food wasn't amazing enough, perhaps the best part about our experience at Chez Vrony is that they have a trampoline on their terrace.  I mean, could it get any better?! With this discovery, I declared Zermatt yet again one of my "happy places" and we bounced to our hearts content while overlooking the scenery - check out the video below for our bouncing fun (and giddy giggles)

Sarah the gymnast showing off her skills

After our trampoline session, we hiked our way back to the metro station and I decided that the plentiful dandelions in the meadows along the way were just begging to be made into a floral wreath

Washing the dandelion stickiness off my hands in the stream

Having landed back in town, we again indulged in the spa area and then took our sunburned faces to dinner for the evening.  All in all, another day of vacation perfection!

Here is how we met our cheese/chocolate/wine requirements for the day:

Cheese: Cheese at the hotel for breakfast and goat cheese in our ravioli
Chocolate: Nutella on croissants,chocolate on our pillows in our hotel, and mousse made out of Toblerone chocolate
Wine: Whites for lunch on Chez Vrony's terrace and red for dinner

Switzerland vacation: Tuesday in the Interlaken area and evening arrival in Zermatt

 Tuesday started with a wonderful, simple Swiss breakfast at our hotel. Although breakfasts in Europe can't hold a candle to the traditional American eggs and bacon breakfasts, there is definitely something to be said for a breakfast of freshly baked croissants with Nutella spread, fruit salad, homemade cheese from the neighboring farm, hard boiled eggs, and fresh OJ (all served on adorable plates adorned with Swiss cows of course).

With fully bellies, we headed into the mountains in our hiking gear.  After finding out that the trip to the top of the Jungfrau mountain cost a whopping 198 Swiss francs (!!), we opted to go to the peak of the Schilthorn instead, which was one of the sites in the James Bond movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' and our hotel concierge claimed that it had better views than the Jungfrau anyways. We took a variety of trains and cable cars to the peak.  The cable cars are used in the winter to transport skiiers to the various trails while in the summer they transport tourist view-seekers to the various peaks.  All of the cable cars in this area played the James Bond theme song over the loudspeakers while on the rides (it was cute the first time, but by the 4th and 5th time it got a little old!).  Cheesy music aside, the view from up top was amazing, it provided a full 365 degree panorama of the surrounding mountains and the 50 degree temperature on the summit was also welcome as the temperatures in the valley below were approaching 90 degrees. As with all of my past pictures of the mountaintop views, pictures just don't do this spot justice - I could have stayed up here for hours taking in the sights, basking in the sunshine, and watching the world go by in the valleys below.

The building contains a restaurant that rotates 365 degrees once every hour to allow visitors to take in the views

After dragging myself away from this peak, we rode a different set of cable cars down to the little village of Gimmelwald, one of Rick Steeves' favorite spots in Europe.  The popular tourist saying about Gimmewald is: If heaven isn't what its cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald! And heavenly it is, it is a slice of Swiss alps perfection with outstanding views, pastures dotted with alpine flowers and cows, mountain chalets, and a quaint way of life.

Benches in town 

Heidi braids in full force

Filtered glacier water that you can use to fill up your water bottles

We had lunch at a hostel overlooking the mountains. Lunch was a "croute fromage", basically a big slice of toasted bread with cheese and an egg on top -- do you notice a pattern yet with Swiss food? :)

The hostel where we had lunch

To give you a better feel for this adorable mountain destination, below is a video from Rick Steeves on the town:

After lunch, we took another set of cable cars down all the way to the valley floor (known as the Lauterbrunnen Valley) and proceeded to hike down to one of the lower train stations on our way back to Interlaken. This valley is often called one of the most beautiful in Switzerland because of its dramatic cliffs and waterfalls. We managed to get close to one of these waterfalls to cool off in its mist.

Feeling the temperature of the river (FREEZING) and skipping rocks

After a rewarding and steamy day of hiking and adventuring, we went back to our hotel in Interlaken and grabbed our bags and hopped aboard a 1.5 hour train to Zermatt.  I had been to Zermatt previously in the winter season and if you remember from a previous blog spot, I named it one of my "happy places" in the world, so I was excited to check out all that it had to offer in the summer to see if it could live up to my expectations in this season as well.  Our first order of business once arriving in town was to find a hotel.  Apparently summer is the "low season" in Zermatt (which is the opposite of Interlaken, whose ski slopes are lower than Zermatt, so winter tends to be its low season), which meant that we found an awesome deal at a swanky hotel in town, complete with a "wellness" spa area that we took advantage of.

After relaxing in the wellness spa, we grabbed an Italian dinner in town and caught a good night's sleep in preparation for more alpine adventures the next day.

Here is how we met our cheese/chocolate/wine requirements for the day:

Cheese: Home made cheese at the hotel for breakfast and cheese on our croute fromage
Chocolate: Nutella on croissants, mmmm and chocolate on our pillows in our hotel in Zermatt
Wine: Glass of white for lunch and red during our Italian dinner

Switzerland vacation: Monday in Interlaken

What a perfect week. Sarah and I had a glorious time exploring Switzerland. We lived by only a few simple rules for the week:

#1) travel within Switzerland, keeping an open and flexible itinerary
#2) consume cheese, chocolate, and wine at least once a day (not necessarily at the same time)
#3) take in scenery and experiences whenever possible
#4) plan our excursions based on where the weather looked best each day
#5) wear braids in our hair for as many days as possible in order to channel our inner Heidi

In recapping our experiences, I thought what better way to share then to provide a day-by-day recap of our adventures, starting with Monday...

After waiting for Sarah's suitcase to be delivered to our apartment (the lovely Iberia airline decided to lose it for a few days somewhere between Miami and Madrid), we headed out to the train station to embark on our adventure.  We decided to travel by train for the week since the trains here are very frequent, reliable, clean, and it would allow for both of us to take in the scenery and not be stressed by driving on mountain roads.  Sarah bought a "Swiss pass" at the train station that let her travel on all government run transportation (trains, buses, trams, and boats) for free for a specified number of days. This turned out to be hugely convenient because it covered almost every form of transportation that we used for the week, and for what it didn't cover, it offered a 50% reduction (i.e., on tourist cable cars and trains that aren't run by the government). As a resident of Switzerland, I already own a 50% discount pass.

Waiting for the tram in Geneva to take us to the station

Our destination was the town of Interlaken, famous for its views, adventure sports, the "trio" of famous Swiss mountains (the Jungfrau, Eiger, and Monch), and last but not least, for my female readers -- the site of the finale of the Bachelorette for Ben's season.

Interlaken is situated in between two gorgeous lakes

Taking in the views on the train ride to Interlaken

Arriving at our hotel (Hotel Rossli) with a balcony view

Our first order of business was to get ourselves acquainted with the Interlaken area by exploring the center of town. The weather in the early part of the week of our trip was VERY hot for Switzerland (80-90 degrees), so everyone was out and about and the town and lakes were mobbed by tourist groups as it is also a very popular summer destination for tourists in Switzerland.  While the town of Interlaken itself was a bit too busy and touristy for our liking, we soon found that there were still plenty of quiet spots in the town, mountains, and idyllic Swiss pastures in the area for one to feel serene and alone and we couldn't wait to escape into the mountains the next day.

The view of the Jungfrau from the park in the town center 

For Bachelorette fans, the hotel that Ben and the ladies stayed in

If I were a better photographer I would be able to figure out how to get both us in the shade and the sunny Jungfrau mountain in the background to show up in this picture, but alas, you will just have to imagine that I was able to capture both in one picture :)

The river in town - all week we noticed that the rivers and lakes in Switzerland are an icy blue color, and upon further investigation found that this is due to the way the fine rock powder sediment from the mountains is carried downstream and suspended in the water, refracting sunlight in a particular manner to create the gorgeous blues 

We grabbed a mini bottle of wine and paper cups from the grocery store in town and had some wine in the park while we contemplated the views and researched our dinner destination

We decided on a traditional Swiss restaurant for dinner (Restaurant Zum Baren) that had good reviews on TripAdvisor. It had super convenient maps of the Interlaken area for placemats so that while waiting for dinner, you could plan your adventure for the next day

Our meal consisted of Rosti, a traditional Swiss dish of shaved potatoes browned with oil, ham, butter, and other artery clogging ingredients and topped with melted Swiss cheese and an egg. 

Post-prosecco picture opp at dinner

We ended the night by taking in the stars from our hotel balcony and Face-timing our beloved third college roommate, Julia.

For fun, here is how we met our cheese/chocolate/wine requirement for the day:

Cheese: Cheese on our rosti dish
Chocolate: Toblerone bars on the train ride as a post-lunch snack
Wine: Wine purchased at the grocery store in Interlaken and prosecco at dinner

As always, to see more pictures from Monday in Interlaken and our summer season in general, click on the link to the right of the page that says "Our Summer 2013 photos", which will bring you to a photo dump of all of our photos.

Europe's highest cable car

Today Ryan, Sarah, and I went to the Aiguille du Midi, Europe's highest cable car with an observatory that overlooks the peak of Mont Blanc.  The weather in the valley of Chamonix was sunny and in the 80's, but at the the top observatory, the temperature was only in the mid-30's!  The ride on the cable car takes only about 30 minutes in total and ascends to a height of approximately 13,000 feet.  Once on top,    the views stretch for miles over the glacier, the "Mer de Glace" that cuts through it.  Half of the fun of being up here was watching all of the INSANE hikers/skiers/mountaineers, who had on full winter gear and lots of scary equipment that were literally descending and ascending cliffs and walls of snow. What beautiful scenery and weather to kick off vacation week with!!

Sunning himself on the cable car ride

Descending back into town

Beautiful Sarah in beautiful landscape

The Mer de Glace, stretching for miles below

Crazy hikers...

Where's waldo? Can you spot the hikers...

Again... crazy is the only word to describe these people

Sweet, sweet vacation!

Today marks the first day of my week and a half long summer vacation!  I decided to take a vacation with my hard earned hours AND one of my best friends from college, Sarah, is currently en route from the US to join me for my vacation for the week AND the weather forecast is in the upper 80's all week!  Could it get any better?  I think not! Well, maybe if Ryan could join as well it would be better :(

Our plans are to venture around Switzerland for the week - generally the plan is to head east, stopping perhaps in Zermatt for a day/night, going to Interlaken to go up the Jungfrau and hike with glaciers, and taking the Glacier Express train, a word famous train known for its gorgeous views on the 7 hour ride across the mountains.  I can't wait to explore this beautiful country this week! I will be sure to take lots of pictures to share.

The sun returns!

As I mentioned a few posts back, Switzerland's weather was looking pretty dismal for a few months.  Dismal enough for the forecasters to start predicting that we might not have a summer AT ALL.  Apparently this summer-less summer phenomenon occurs once every 30 or so years when the Atlantic ocean doesn't warm up enough and the mountains in Switzerland continually collect moisture from surrounding areas thus making Switzerland a cold mess for an entire summer. I'm happy to report that at least for the time being, summer has returned.  The past week it was in the 70's and sunny every day and the weather was nice enough on Saturday for us to have a little picnic besides Lake Geneva.  One of the things that we miss a lot about home is having access to a grill, so we decided to improvise and bought one of the "grills in a box" from the grocery store.  We then went to the local butcher and bought some hamburgers, chicken skewers, and ribs and marched our way down to a grassy area near the lake that people often congregate in when its good weather. It took awhile to get the little grill box going, but eventually it worked and we were able to enjoy some grilled food, a greek salad, and some Swiss wine by the lake while getting a little tan.  Then Ryan took a nap in the sun while I read Game of Thrones - a perfect little Saturday outing!

As a side note, one of our amusing European observations as the weather gets warmer is that it seems Europeans don't like shorts or sundresses even when the weather is warm. I break out my simple sundress and I feel a little risqué, I guess they just save these kinds of things for real beach destinations. Oh well, me and my sundresses will truck on because they make me happy that summer is here :)

Switzerland in the world rankings

The OECD recently published two survey findings on the "happiest countries" in the world and its "better life index".  The happiest country index measured the satisfaction of the countries' citizens as well as how they scored compared to key economic indicators while the better life index measured a wider set of criteria (safety, civic engagement, GDP, etc.) that citizens consider imperative for living a good life. 

Switzerland won the top spot for the happiest country in the world and fifth on the "better life index", the OECD cited reasons such as the high income of its residents, good health, low unemployment, low probability of high working hours, high life expectancy, among other things.  Below are the links to some of the articles if you're interested in learning more.  It looks like we chose a pretty fantastic place to live. I can confirm that the living is easy and happy here: clean, beautiful, prosperous, safe, and a simple way of life.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/06/01/happiest-countries-in-the-world/2377563/

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/130528/australia-tops-the-world-quality-life-well-being-says-oecd

1. Switzerland
> Life satisfaction score: 7.8
> Self-reported good health: 81% (7th highest)
> Employees working long hours: 5.9% (17th lowest)
> Disposable income: $30,060 (4th highest)
> Life expectancy: 82.8 years
In no other country did residents have a better sense of well-being than in Switzerland. People in the country tend to be better off financially than residents of most other countries. In 2010, the average household's disposable income was $30,060, higher than all but three other countries. Meanwhile, the average household financial net worth in Switzerland was more than $99,000, higher than any other country except for the United States. As many as 79% of the country's residents were employed in 2011, tied for the highest employment rate in the OECD. People in the country work just 1,632 hours annually, compared to the OECD average of 1,776. Very few residents were unemployed in 2012, when the unemployment rate was just 4.4%, lower than all but three other nations studied.