Water Falls, Gorges, Glaciers and more!

You name it, and Switzerland's got it. On Sunday, we went to see two places in the Berner Oberland area. First up was a St. Beatus Hohlen. This is a cave located near Interlaken and lake Thun. People friendly passages allow easy viewing of waterfalls, streams, stalagmites and stalactites too! We had a guided tour with about forty of our closest friends. It was our first cave experience in Switzerland, and well worth the trip. Next up was a gorge that was thirty miles down the road in Rosenlaui. After driving up extremely narrow and steep roads (5 miles), we finally reached the gorge. It's really amazing to see how much water the melting snow, ice and glaciers can send down the mountain. A convenient walk (uphill) provides an excellent view to where thousands of years of running water has created an amazing cut through the mountain (see video). The sound of the powerful water makes it difficult to have a conversation with a person standing next to you. It was truly a beautiful sight. You can see pictures from the cave here, and pictures from the gorge here.

Hiking in Switzerland

On Sunday, we decided to go for a hike. The scenery in the area turned out to be exactly what you imagine when thinking of Switzerland. Watch this short video and you'll see for yourself. We walked a circular trail near Col du Pillon which is located in Southwest part of the country between Gstaad and Montreaux. Along the way, we saw lakes, cows, mountain goats, water falls, different varieties of wild flowers, and lots of beautiful mountain scenery. We also enjoyed our back pack lunch beside one of the lakes, and then later, liquid refreshments at one of the chalets that had a great view to the mountains. Have a look at the pictures, and you'll see why we enjoy hiking in Switzerland. The scenery is simply amazing! Pictures are here.

Solarbob & Hash House Harriers

On Saturday we decided to stay close to Basel. In the morning we drove to Langenbruck to visit the Solarbob. You must leave the main road and cross over a pass to get to the town. There were many bicyclers on the road leading to the summit - impressive considering it was a 15 degree uphill slope). The solarbob is a sort-of toboggan ride that is cut into the side of a very large hill. The solar part powers you and your 'toboggan' up to the top so you don't have to walk. Once at the top, gravity takes over and whirls you through a metal track of twists and turns to the end. You control your speed with a break and there is one point on the run that displays your speed (our top speed was 47 kph). After a quick lunch back in Basel we headed to our second activity for the day: Hash House Harriers. This is a very unusual group and we were both shocked that it has been around since 1938! In a nutshell, it's a running group with a beer habit (how can that be bad?!?). It gets to be a bit of a treasure hunt looking for the clues that mark the trail which really takes your mind off the fact that you are running (the bonus is that there is a break in the middle of the run for beer!). We saw many parts of Basel we had never been to before and met many nice people. Wow - there's even one in Indy! See all of Basel events here. Other pictures from around Basel here.

Trummelbach and the Thunersee

Trummelbach (navigate the site using the red bar on the left side) is 10 glacier water falls inside a mountain and drains the run off of 3 major peaks: Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. IT IS AWESOME - YOU MUST COME TO SEE IT! Its magnificence cannot be described (see video). After this amazing experience we went on a very nice boat ride on the Thunersee (which is lake on the west side of Interlaken). Its beautiful blue/green water is a color only created from glacier water and its surrounded by some of the most magnificent mountain scenery in the Alps (see video). You couldn't ask for a better day in Switzerland. See the pictures of Trummelbach here, and the pictures of Thunersee here.

Surf Zurzach

This weekend in between the raindrops we were able to venture out into the nearby hills. We attempted a hike via our German-language hiking book, but didn't quite find what we were looking for. At the mid-way point of the hike we arrived in Zurzach and decided to walk back along the Rhine river to our starting point. It was a very nice walk on a well-kept foot path and along the way we were able to watch the Rhine and see a very nice old mill (complete with a paddle wheel). The highlight of the trip was to see several teenagers 'surfing' the Rhine - here's how they did it: a very long bungee cord is attached to a tree, the surfer holds on to the handle and lets the fast moving current pull them until they are able to stand up on their boogie board. They ride the wave produced by the bungee pulling them forward for several seconds until the ride is over - see the video here! On the way home we stopped in Laufenburg (they just turned 800 years old in June) and discovered a delightful town. A great day all around. See the photos of the hike here, and the photos of Laufenburg here.