Hiking in Swiss Alps
I always wanted to visit Switzerland. So in July 2007, I finally had an opportunity to go there, when my boyfriend at that time James was stationed in UK.
We arrived in Geneva on a nice sunny day, rented a car and headed towards mountains in the Jungfrau region.
We didn’t know that August 1st is the Swiss National Day celebrated with a lot of festivals and activities.
We already booked our return tickets for July 31st, which means we were, unfortunately, missing all the festivities.
We stayed in Grindelwald, a small Swiss village surrounded by mountains with a big network of hiking trails.
Grindelwald from above. July 2007
Scenery
The area is so beautiful, that it’s been frequented by different movie makers. For example, some of the scenes from James Bond’s movie “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”‘ were shot there. Apparently, it’s also a popular spot with Bollywood movie producers.
Swiss Alps, July 2007.
Between the two of us, we took incredible amount of pictures.
Swiss Alps, July 2007.
Swiss Alps, July 2007.
Flowers in Swiss Alps, July 2007.
Swiss Alps, July 2007.
You can see cows everywhere on mountain slopes. They all wear big cow bells, so it easy to spot them even in a fog. I actually climbed an electric fence, without knowing it, to take this photo of a cow with her calf.
Swiss Cow and a calf, July 2007.
Hiking
Grindelwald is great for hiking of any kind, from easy trails to multiple-day trips of high level hiking with overnight stay on the mountains.
Hiking in Swiss Alps, July 2007.
Hiking in Swiss Alps. It's hard to see from the photo, but there is a very steep cliff to my left.
Hiking to Kleine Scheidegg, Swiss Alps, July 2007.
Shopping
Shopping in Switzerland is extremely expensive. That includes groceries and clothing shopping. There was one sweater that I really liked in Grindelwald store, but it was around $700 CAD. Everything else in the store had similar prices.
Downtown Grindelwald, Switzerland.
Walking in Grindelwald, July 2007.
Houses in Grindelwald. View from our balcony. Switzerland, 2007.
The house that we rented came with a bath,a kitchen, a good size living room and a lovely bedroom.
Swiss Houses are quite nice inside. July 2007.
It was located close to the center of Grindelwald, had a big balcony and a great view of the Eiger glacier. We stayed there at the end of July, which was a high season, but the prices were surprisingly low. We paid 140 CHF per night.
Safety
Safety is not an issue in Grindelwald at all. People often don’t lock their cars or their houses. We actually never met the guy that we rented the house from. Part of his instructions in the email to us was “You find the door key in the plant pot at the right hand side of the entry. In the appartment, everyhting will be ready for you. You will also find some more information about Grindelwald and events. At the day of the leaving, if we do not meet, please deposit the key in the plant top again.” We also were instructed to leave the money for our stay on the table, which we did.
Languages
Locals usually speak 2-3 languages. Popular languages are German, Portuguese, Italian, French and some English. I remember one gentlemen was asking me something on the train and I responded in English. He said “No English, German?” I said no, then he tried Italian, then French, then I asked “Russian?”. We both laughed. Between the two of us we spoke 6 or more languages, but still couldn’t make a conversation.
Transportation
Speaking of train rides, trains are actually is the best way to travel in this area, as you can’t get to many places by car. If you plan to stay for more than a few days, get a multi-day train pass. It will save you money on transportation.
Train Map in Swiss Alps.
One thing to remember though is that trains in Switzerland leave exactly on time, not a minute late.
Train ride, Switzerland, 2007
Jungfraujoch, Top Of Europe
We took a train from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg station (2,061m/6762 feet) and then to the Jungfraujoch (3,454 m/11,333ft), the highest railroad station in Europe, also called “Top of Europe”. The train climbed up the mountain inside a huge tunnel. The views at the top are breathtaking.
"Top of Europe" Mountain View, Switzerland 2007
What’s so interesting about this train ride is that you start your journey in the middle of the nice summer day and end up in the middle of winter. So on the same day you can hike at the bottom of the mountain and then ski at the top.
Jungfraujoch station, Switzerland, July 2007
If you walk a few meters from the train station, you’ll reach a restaurant sitting on the side of the mountain. Most people have difficulty walking at this altitude. Surprisingly, I was ok and didn’t feel anything. I’d be running up and down the hill, when the rest of the people on the trail would be struggling to walk. I don’t know why I was virtually unaffected by the thin air. I didn’t grow up in mountains. That was my first time being at high altitude.
On the trail to the restaurant in Jungfraujoch. You can see the restaurant behind me.
I was wondering if they get enough customers there, as the only people who’d visit them are those who could make it by walking that path from the train station to the restaurant.
Paragliding in Switzerland
I absolutely loved paragliding. We traveled to the Lauterbrunnen village that lies in a stunning Lauterbrunnen Valley, surrounded by mountains on both sides. You can also see from the village Staubbach Falls that drops about 300 m (1000 ft) from the valley above.
Me in Lauterbrunnen village, August 1, 2007.
Paragliding near Staubbach Falls in Lauterbrunnen. 2007
Paragliding in Switzerland, Lauterbrunnen Valley, 2007.
It was very unsettling to jump off the cliff. But once you do that, you feel amazing flying above the valley and over the tops of trees. It’s a very smooth ride and not scary at all.
Behind me is the cliff, from which I had to jump. Paragliding in Switzerland, 2007.
We had so much fun in Switzerland that we actually missed our flight back to UK. This was especially unusual because James is a pilot and is very good with being on time.
Those paragliding shots were taken on August 1st, the day we should’ve been back to UK. We drove like crazy back to Geneva, as James had to be at work in a few hours. Later, already in Canada, we received this huge speeding ticket from Switzerland, along with the photo of our speeding rental car. 
By the way, here is a good resource for travel to Grindelwald.
