First view is cool intro. But you can also pick Slide Show and then pick Index, where you can pick on movie camera symbol to see mpgs - (turn your sound up for the cow bells).
- Sept 8. -
Left from Boston, slept on plane and arrived in Zurich.
- Sept 9. -
Flew from Zurich to Heathrow and Stayed at the Hilton.
- Sept 10 -
Took the underground to Kings Cross station, then the train to Leeds. We rented a car in Leeds and headed out of town as quickly as possible and started a nice drive up to Skipton, where we stayed at the Wooly Sheep Inn and walked the canals and parks of Skipton and had yummy fish and chips at Bizzie Lizzies.
- Sept 11 -
We headed out the next day through the Yorkshire Dales to Windermere in the Lake District. Wandered around Windermere and went for a row on the lake, then stayed at the Royal Oak.
- Sept 12 -
Headed out of the bustling town, aiming for Newcastle - stopping in Penrith to do Laundry and staying in Alston at the cute B and B called Angel Inn, where
we had dinner, a pint and played darts.
- Sept 13 -
Headed out for Newcastle, dropped the car off and bussed to the Newcastle ferry - had a nice dinner on the ferry and slept while the ferry sailed to Amsterdam.
- Sept 14 -
Arrived in Amsterdam to see the enormous modern windmills used to generate electricity. Our first stop in Amsterdam was a hotel broker where we were able to get a room within walking distance to the Train Station. Wandered the Amsterdam streets, eating at a little cafe and visiting the public flower market. Dinner was at an Indian restaurant after which we wandered the streets through the red light district and other interesting areas - canals lit up at night and Mic was lucky enough to get a Grolsch on tap.
- Sept 15 -
Got on an early canal boat tour, then rented bikes and rode all over town, getting lost and getting our bikes back late - but making it to rail station in time for our overnight sleeper train to Switzerland.
- Sept 16 -
Arrived in Bern and transferred to the train to Interlaken. Quickly found a nice hotel within walking distance to the Interlaken West rail station. Settled in for a short while and then headed out for at hike up the Harder Kuhn - we expected to be able to take the rail down after we reached the top, but once getting there found that not only was the rail closed, but the restaurant at the top was also. Water from one of the abundant public fountains gave us enough water to get back down - and we had a welcome dinner on the deck of a comfortable restaurant.
- Sept 17 -
The day was cloudy and rainy, we were planning to stay in when the clouds broke and we headed up to Schynige Platte on the rail - we had purchased regional passes so we would train all over the area easily. On reaching the top of Schynige Platte, we found that what was rain below was snow and fog at the top. We headed down a trail but decided to keep the hike short as we were nervious of getting lost in the snow - when we got back to the rail station, we were happy to find a warm room to wait for the last train down the mountain.
- Sept 18 - Weather was still not the best, we headed for Grindenwald on the train and once there, took the cable car to the "First".
- Sept 19 -
We were happy to see the clouds were going away and decided to head for the "Top of Europe" on the Jungfrau. Heading first to Lauderbrunnen, we transferred at the Eigergletcher to the train that would take us miles through a rock tunnel to the train station in the heart of the Jungfrau mountain. We wandered around the decks there and then hiked on the glacier to a hut where we had refreshments. On the way down from the Jungfrau, we stopped at Kleine Scheidegg to take another hike down to the Wengernalp station.
- Sept 20 -
We railed to the Kleine Scheidegg station and walked the Eiger North Face trail which was still icy in spots and gave beautiful views as did all the trails. After we did laundry and shopping.
- Sept 21 -
We saved the longest trail for last, taking the rail to Grindenwald and the cable cars to the "First" where we started out on a beautiful trail through alpine meadow full of wildflowers and cows with tinkling bells and walked for about 7 hours to the Schynige Platte station along the ridge with beautiful views of the Interlaken valley. Eating summer sausage, cheese and seeded bread.
- Sept 22 -
Headed out early for the train station for home.
It was wonderful and just beautiful and awesome beyond words.
