Gstaad

After a few great days in the Swiss National Park, we made our way to the town of Gstaad. Though it was a 6 hour train ride, we had a great time and spent a few days hiking, relaxing and just enjoying being in the Alps.

The photos below are in no particular order.

Enjoy!

After a 5+ hour hike - we got a big storm -

we hitched a ride with some really nice Dutch people back to Gstadd.Cute town of Saanen...
Robert happy to be dishing out more Swiss Francs for our train ride home...
Beautiful view of Gstaad...
On our hike to the lake...perfect day...until the storm came
Nice lake
Here comes the storm....
The clouds are building....

Nice views with lots of wood - gearing up for the winter?

The cows were everywhere...
Robert hiking through the cow field...
Gorgeous wild flowers...
Robert and Melinda enjoying the hike and the views...

You got to love the Alps...
Happy cow on the Alpine trail..
Back to the barn...The sun setting in Gstaad...

More sunset....
And more sunset...
Nice day for being in the sky...

Church in Gstaad...

Our hotel...
Lounge area in the hotel....
Awesome clouds...
The train going up the valley...

More nature...



Gstaad - great town, great visit~

Swiss National Park

Six Years and Counting!

To help celebrate our 6th anniversary, we thought we would spend a few days hiking and exploring the Swiss National Park. We had a great time, hiked miles each day and explored a new area of Switzerland.

Hotel Parc Naziunal - Il Fuorn - They speak Romansch in this area...

The hiking trail...
Designated rest stop...no picknicking unless otherwise noted....

Majestic River...

Melinda and Robert hiking...


Melinda in action on the trail...

Hiking with the babe...

Robert enjoying the views... Kloisters St. Johan 1725...located in Mustair, CH...very close to Italy...

Happy Anniversary!
The only hotel in the Swiss National Park...

Mini Tour de Swiss - A Story of Pictures

Arrival in Grindelwald on our way to Bort.

Lois and Melinda
The Schoutens Blog, famous Berghaus Bort photo...
It was overcast, but we headed for the lake (Bachalpsee) anyway...
It actually was raining good and pretty windy, so we stopped here and headed back... (For a picture of the actual lake, refer to Post #53
Back at the Bort, we had great views of the numerous glaciers...
Wetterhorn
Group photo
You could look at the Alps all day long...
Then we went river rafting... Just Kidding, we saw this group from the train
Panoramic on our way to the lake (Bachalpsee)
Arrival in Spiez. (sounds like shh-pee-ehtz)
The castle, a nice view from our hotel window (good choice Melinda)
The lake was wonderful...
Near the castle, a church...
Near the church and the castle, some nice gardens...
With lots and lots of nice flowers...

And another garden where a wedding reception was wrapping up...
Same Castle, Another angle...
Good thing they are close to shore (and it's a lake)...

Nice Sunset...
An evening walk through the vineyards where Riesling and Sylvaner are grown...
The next morning, perfect blue skies!
Panorama of the lake...

Panorama above our hotel looking at the harbor...
Arrival in Luzern...
A view of the lake...
Lois and Melinda

The famous bridge...
And then a boat trip across the lake to Vitznau, we saw some nice houses...
Did we see this same boat in Spiez? (the lakes are not connected, I think)
Then from Vitznau, we took a funicular up to the top of Mt. Rigi...

This kid's mom convinced the driver to let him ride in the front seat, she then got off at an unscheduled stop infront of the farm...
Still going up...
And finally we get there... the weather looked ominous...
But it seemed to be holding off...

This fence is here to keep the cliff out of the field...
In the distance, thunderheads...
and the sun began it's inevitable daily decent...
The colors were fantastic...

Trying to get that "National Geographic" winning shot...
Nice!
The next day we were in the clouds with rain, but that doesn't stop the swiss... What better way to cap off a Swiss Tour than with chorus of Alphorns? The silver swiss cows loved the music, and continued to eat in the rain...

And who says cows don't eat wet grass?

Pick a train, any train...

We took the red up, and the blue down...
Wait for me, don't leave...
Sunset Panorama at the top of Mt. Rigi...