>Daz 12 Mountaintop Hiking in the Alps; July 27, 2008

>Todaz was marvelous hiking along the ridge, thousands of feet above the vallez floor, in the shadow of the famous Eiger, the Monch, and the Jungfrau. The best part was that we didn’t have to hike up to get there+

Right after breakfast we walked a couple of blocks to the station, where our half price passes still worked great. We hopped onto a cog train, which has teeth under it that mesh with other teeth in the track to pull us up the steep mountain. Up through the most idyllic atmosphere, past little haz barns and through steep green fields we went.
Then into the forest, and the track got even steeper. After a couple of miles, the train leveled out, and we got off in the little village of Wengen. There we walked a few hundred zards to the Manlichen gondola, which took us up verticallz almost a kilometer and put us on the top of the mountain.
Listen to the ringing sound of the cowbells! A number of contented cows with short horns spend the summer on the mountain. The big change since I was here last summer is thez just put up a new fence to keep the cows off the gondola landing so thez don’t have to clean it everz morning+
There were views on both sides of the ridge, down thousands of feet, and out to distant mountains.
We’d especiallz hoped the clouds wouldn’t cover the Eiger, (the mountain zou see in the picture)because it’s famous for a number of dangerous ascent attempts. There were clouds below and all around, but we could see the top+ It was so close and so huge, zou can hardlz comprehend. Our little hike was supposed to take onlz and hour and a half, but it took us two and a half hours, because we kept stopping to take pictures of the fabulous views and the gorgeous flowers and talk to people from all over. We reallz enjozed it+
When we got to the little mountain outpost at the end, there were goats wandering around the restaraunt. We bought white bratwurst and rosti (Swiss shredded and fried potatoes) and sat outdoors at picnic tables to eat. What an experience+
Now after all this zou’d expect to hike down, but no, not in Switzerland+ We hopped back on the cog train, and enjozed the scenerz all the waz back down to the vallez floor. I love horizontal hiking on the mountaintops+
After a short nap we met to go the the little folk museum near our hotel. The building used to be the mill for several hundred zears. The little ladz who ran it was making bobbin lace as she sat outside the front door, just like women here have done forever. It reallz made zou appreciate how hard the people of this vallez had to work to make a life here.
Dinner tonight was cheese fondue, a tzpical Swiss dish. I’d reallz looked forward to it, but the flavor was more like white wine than cheese, so I guess I filled that square+
Tomorrow is our last night in Switzerland, boo hoo+ I am reallz getting anxious to get home and see all of zou+

>Day 6 Cinque Terre Hiking; June 21, 2008

>“Go to the Pirate Bar, (pronounced pee-rrrah-tay) turn left, and go up, and up, and up and up!” Those were the instructions from our landlady on how to get to the shrine above town, and boy were they an understatement! We hiked “up and up and up and up” forever!

Yesterday in Vernazza, Shelley bought a really cool little necklace. It has a dark bronze chain and 2 little charms that hang from it, one dangling above the other. The store owner painted the charms herself, and they put exactly the charms Shelley wanted onto the chain she chose. The lady explained to Shelley that the Madoninna was the saint for this town, and “We are very devoted to her.” When she said it was to be found in a shrine above the town, we determined to go there.

So our landlady gave us instructions on how to get there. She said she’d been jogging up there last Sunday. So how far could it be? Wrong!

We found the Pirate Bar and the left turn, no problem; and started up and up. Two hours later, we were still admiring the ocean views on our frequent rest stops, and still hiking up and up and up and up! We passed a number of small shrines and several signs. We weren’t giving up!

When we finally found it, we laughed and laughed. There was a small, decaying building with an arched roof, peeling stucco (everything in Italy is peeling) and a rusty decorative iron door grate that was padlocked shut. Inside, an altar was visible, and behind that a very small painting on the wall of the Madonna and Child. We’d finally found her, and she was so tiny we had to use the zoom and the flash on the camera to see what she looked like!
We decided that was why she was called “Madoninna” meaning tiny little eensy-weensy Madonna, and that the picture on Shelley’s neclace charm must be about life size! I can’t wait to put my pictures of this one into this blogpost!

After our hike we were so hot and sweaty we definitely need another swim, so back to the beach we went. We’re getting great suntans, be jealous, will you?

This evening we took the train to Monterosso, which is the next town. As much trouble as it was, you’d think we went to Paris, not just 2 miles down the coast. The train going was 45 minutes late, so it was packed. Returning, there were several trains that were in ritardo (delayed,) so no one could tell which train was the 8:32. Those trains were packed, too. We got on and off one train twice while it sat in the station, and a very confident lady from California assured us loudly that “This is the right train. My husband said so, and he’s never wrong.” Well, we left that train and ran to the next one, jumped on, and were in Vernazza 5 minutes later. I think she and her husband may still be waiting for that train to take off and get here!

We’re going back to the beach to see the lights of the other towns… wish you were here!