Mannlichen, Wengen and Kleine Scheidegg

Another glorious day! Got an early start and walked the 10 minutes down the hill to Grund where we took another 25 minute gondola ride way up the mountain on the opposite side of Grindelwald. From the top,  we had views of the valley towns we just left and the valley on the opposite side where the towns of Wengen and Lauterbrunnen are located. We also had a 360 degree views of all the peaks which they are referring to as " the crown". We stood right in front of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau. We could also see the Schreckhorn, Wetterhorn, Faulhorn where we were yesterday and the entire Schynige Platte. It was amazing to look down into the valley, see Lauterbrunnen and see the waterfalls from so high above. We took the cable car down to Wengen, a quaint alpine village, walked around and had a snack. Back up the cable car which is the only cable car that goes at a very steep incline on one continuous cable without any supports. A bit scary. Once we were back at the top of  Mannlichen, we began our hike on the rim to Kleine Scheidegg. Beautiful views in all directions. The best views of the Eiger. It was right there in front of us. Between the peaks we could see the Sphinx, where we were on Monday. Once we reached our destination, stopped at a cute cafe for barley soup and apple strudel. We decided to keep hiking because it was just so nice. Hiked down to  Alpiglen to catch the train back to town. The wild cranberries are starting to turn red. Fall is in the air.
Tomorrow is our last day here. Time has gone so fast.













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wolfhound Tours- Day 5- Dingle Way, Slea Head, ruins and ring forts

Image
After breakfast, we headed towards the coast. Those looking for a hike were dropped off at the Dingle Way trailhead. There were only three of us. Marty, Emilie and myself. The trail hiked up the mountainside and followed the stone walls. As we got to higher elevation, the views were incredible. We felt sorry for the rest of the group for missing such views. We hiked along with the sheep. We passed a small waterfall, ring forts and many, many stone walls. We could see the beach where we would meet the rest of the group. At the top, we also had views of the Blasket Islands. Our hike ended at Coumeenola Beach. The beach was beautiful with jagged rocks on the edges. We  hiked about 7 miles.                                        Dave gave us a demostration of Hurling- a national Irish game. A bit crazy with a ball and stick. Once agai...
Read more

Durnstein and Melk-Austria

Image
This morning we arrived in the small town of Durnstein. One of the apricot centers of Austria. Everything apricot!!!!!!. Liqueurs, schnapps, lotions, soaps, candies and more. This quaint town has a population of 400. They also are surrounded by vineyards and produce many wines, mostly white. They have the perfect climate for white wine grapes.  Durnstein has many historical sites such as the Augustiner Abbey with the beautiful blue clock tower, the remains of Kuenringer Castle where Richard the Lionhearted stayed after the Crusades and a small town area with shops. We tasted many varieties of apricot liqueurs and other products. We are bringing liqueurs home. Walked back to the ship and we sailed thru the Wachau Valley. Vineyards are terraced up the hillsides. Beautiful churches and castles can be seen from the water. We had a picnic lunch on the sky deck as we cruised. Around 2 pm, we arrived in Melk, Austria. We visited the Benedictine Abbey Melk which is the first Benedicti...
Read more

Heli HIke onto Franz Josef Glacier

Image
Only 7 of our group chose to do the Heli Hike. The rest will go do a hike in the area. We were dropped off at the tour operators and outfitted with a jacket, pants, socks, boots, mittens, crampons and a bag. Everyone was weighed and then placed in the helicopter. We flew up the valley and landed on the glacier. After a safety briefing and putting on our crampons and getting our hiking pole, our guide, Zac had an axe which he used to cut steps into the ice on steeper sections. He showed us an ice cave and asked if we wanted to go through it. Everyone said yes. He tied a rope on each end and one by one we lowered ourselves down and though. It was wet and very slippery and even a bit scary, but fun. After we finished with that, we hiked up towards the large pieces which Zac told us were over 6 stories tall. The sun came out and you could see the blue ice. Incredible! Some areas were starined and streaky with dirt and sediment which gave them black and white...
Read more