There is a reason...

There is a reason why Switzerland is considered one of the most beautiful countries in the world.  While on vacation we drove through Switzerland to get back to Germany.  The scenery was amazing...we simply could not get enough of it.

You may not be fully impressed with the photography.  I'm ok with that.  I've had my moment of acceptance that photography taken from a moving vehicle is not always going to capture the full "essence" of what you want, but that just makes these photos even MORE amazing to know you are getting really shoddy photos and yet still the view is breathtaking.

Like this mountain.  In the middle was a giant glacier.  I wish you could see it better, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

Oh wait...no you don't...

And once you got to the other side you could see the full extent of that glacier and the "change" it had caused on that mountainside.   It reminded me of a trip many years back when I went with my sister Sarah and my dad into an actual glacier high up on a Swiss Mountian...googling it...be back soon...

Dang...couldn't find it, but I remember it had this rickity bridge you walked over to get into the ice cave and then it was just this pristine almost neon blue color...absolutely amazing.

And here we have one of many "natural bridges" we drove through, under, over and around...

And after getting below this little tunnel look what was on the other side!

And if that wasn't enough waterfall you should know that you can see one about every 100 feet or so as you drive through the alps...

The Swiss, like the Germans are very very careful about the beautification of their space, homes..even the freeway coming into their towns...

Which from further away look more like this...

The color of this water made my teeth chatter.  Glacier runoff...there is no color quite like it in the crayola pack...

We rounded a corner and saw this amazing lake.  I just love the lone sailboat...

And last, but not least...a glimpse of what we drove on...check out these hairpin turns.  Did I mention John gets carsick?  muwahahahahaha....

And, just for a laugh...at least it was funny to a recently returned soldier from Afghanistan...we drove through this town and aren't they nice...a parking lot specifically for the Taliban.  :)

Until next time, lovely lovely Switzerland... Read More...

Little Man in Interlaken....

You *might* be thinking I'm talking about a "little person..."  i.e. midget...?  But no, alas you will be sorely disappointed to learn that my nephew, Orion, is half Swiss.  When he was born he adopted the name, Little Man and it stuck.  During the summer months, Orion can often be found with his dad, Sascha, in Interlaken, Switzerland.  Since we were driving that way to get to Triberg we decided to stop for the afternoon and play a little.

Sascha had to work, but he had left Orion with his friends at the Hotel Mattenhof...

It hadn't been more than 30 seconds that we were there before the boys had to play foosball...It was them against John...guess who won?!

If you guessed John you were WRONG!  It was a very exciting end to a foosball game...tied..one ball left and WHAM...they whacked it right into the goal before John even had a chance to spin...  He spent a few minutes crying in the corner and sucking his thumb.  *wink wink*

The kids had to do lots of hugging and investigating of Orion's summer stomping grounds...

Including petting the biggest dog EVER.

We decided to spend the afternoon at Trummelbach Falls.  Its one of the things I remember most from my last visits to Interlaken.  That might be because those were the fall where I lost my brand new $400 camera...They slid right into the pounding tons of water...I dove for the camera (yes, there are guard rails) and a German woman and a Japanese woman must have thought I was throwing myself over the ledge because they shrieked and made quite the scene. 

Maybe my desire to have a better experience there was what led us back that direction...it was very different.  Now they have a funicular to take you to the top and you can walk down...oh, and you have to pay to see them.  AND there is a touristy thing there too...little souvenir shops and all.  It was very strange, but we were glad we went...the falls were spectacular....even better than I remembered them.

You can get just a glimpse of the awesome power of the water from this short video....It was spraying us so hard...our backs were soaked from standing there for 10 seconds.

When we were done I figured the kids still had too much energy so we did runback races...they had to run long distance, do spins, jumping jacks, burpees and other forms of physical torture to get all that energy out.  Even Bella ran...in fact...she's got a set of little leggies on her...

Plus I made her climb a tree...she did pretty good...

Upon our return to the Mattenhof we met up with Orion's dad, Sascha, and had ourselves some delicious Thai food.  It was great fun to catch up with him and spend a little time with them.  Next summer we've already got plans for a longer trip to visit them...a little fishing...some canyoning...maybe I'll actually get to paraglide...?! 

Our final goodbyes were quite appropriate...they do call the Mattenhof the "funny farm..."  I wonder why.  :)

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