Switzerland, Part Deux/Zwei/Due

So my uncle Mark decided to visit Europe while he had two nephews there. Unfortunately for those of us in England, he speaks German so well that he didn't want to bother with any countries that speak English, and thus he stayed with Zack instead of us (NOTE: the sarcasm in the last sentence would be apparent if you could hear my tone of voice or if you knew my uncle Mark. I think he just stayed with Zack because Zack has a car).

At any rate, Laura and I went to meet them by flying into Basel, a city on the corner of France, Germany, and Switzerland. After waiting in line for Swiss customs, Zack texted me to come out on the French side instead, so we rapidly shifted countries and got our passports stamped. Then we met Zack and Uncle Mark and drove to Switzerland in about 5 minutes (apparently parking is easier on the French side).

Alp-gazing

We had a similar experience to the last time in the Lauterbrunnen area, driving into what was apparently a beautiful mountain valley but not being able to see mountains until the morning.

My uncle, despite being a bonafide Midwesterner and resident of Nebo, IL, spent many many summers of his life in Colorado, climbing up mountains and rescuing wayward children. So he's always loved mountains, and was very excited to see the Alps. He was thus overjoyed when we stepped out of the chalet where we were staying on the first morning and saw....part of a mountain. It was pretty cloudy.

We decided to hope it wouldn't rain, and went for a hike up the side of the valley. We made it to a
small mountain micro-village that seemed to be closed for the off-season, such that it seemed eerily like an old western ghost town.

It's quiet...a little too quiet.

Going a bit further, we found a mountain stream whose bridge had been taken down, probably to keep travelers from getting hurt by going farther in the winter. Naturally we instead found various ways to jump across the stream, nearly slipping on ice in the process. You just can't contain the exploration instinct.

We climbed up farther, just above the snowline, and had a very brief snowball fight (it didn't get too intense, as we sensed the possibility of slipping, falling, and dying, for which our mothers would never forgive us). But it was extremely beautiful, and only renewed our desire to start a bakery in Colorado. One of these days...

We climbed so high that Zack was beheaded by the troposphere. Or the edge of the camera.

We also visited the lovely mountain town of Grindelwald, though as semi-educated Americans we couldn't really get past the Harry Potter associations.

So that's where he was hiding!

Laura finds the Eldar Wand

The next day we went to Lucerne, which is also a beautiful city set up in the mountains with lakes all around it. I saw the lakes and the beautiful city, but by this time the clouds were obscuring nearly all the mountains. But although I could sense that on a clear summer day, the city would be a different kind of beautiful that I couldn't quite see, the cloudiness added a certain isolated quality that's hard to describe. It was almost like Brigadoon, up in the mountains and separate from everywhere else on Earth.

Jumping on the Creepy Skeleton Bridge

All in all, we didn't have nearly enough time in Lucerne, but we got to walk around the old city walls and the old bridge with creepy paintings of skeletons that represented the black death. Maybe I'll come back there someday and go skiing. Or maybe not - it may seem tautological, but I'm beginning to realize that these places that gain such majesty from their isolation are also very difficult to get to, and are only going to seem more isolated once I'm back in America.

Lucerne (cloudy and cold version): 7.0/10.0