Alps...Swiss Alps

After our quick trip to Dublin, Patrick returned for a week of sightseeing with his dear old Mom.  First stop - the Alps and a trip 3000 meters in the sky to the Schilthorn - sight of filming for the James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."

Our first stop was Interlaken - "the original alpine resort."  A number of elegant old hotels are located on its main street - Bahnhofstrasse - and some not so elegant establishments...

Grand Hotel Victoria

Is this really necessary?

The Jungfrau marathon was coming up the following
weekend...talk about your tough hills!

After a quick walk from one end of town to the other (and from the West train station to the East station)...we got on another train and headed next to Lauterbrunnen which is still in the valley. - Rather than explore this small town, we hurried over to the cable-car station to buy our tickets for our real destination - the Schilthorn!  Getting there requires a 10 minute cable car ride up to Grütschalp, another 10 minute train ride to Mürren, and finally the Schilthornbahn cable car to the 10,000 foot summit!  Simply breathtaking...but pictures are worth a thousand words!

Amazing how small the people on the observation deck look...

In Mürren.

That's what I call a room with a view!

Almost there!

But I brought my Smokey Joe and everything!

Above the clouds

At the Schilthorn Piz Gloria.  The restaurant in the background revolves
for a 360 degree view of the surrounding Alps.

Merchandising at its best!

Winter is coming soon up here...

A little over a month ago, Meghan and her friends hiked all
the way up to the Schilthorn from Mürren in shorts and t-shirts...
would be a little bit different scenario now.

Heading back down into the abyss on the cable car to Grütschalp.

Farmers take their cows up to the Alps for the summer to graze.

Once we were sufficiently chilly, took the Schilthornbahn back down to the nice little town of Mürren and had ourselves some lunch at a restaurant with arguably one of the best views in the world!

Waiting for our fried egg and Rösti lunches!

Nice backdrop!  Just watch out for the edge...

Changing trains in Lauterbrunnen we realized we had missed the impressive Staubbach Falls earlier on our quest to get to the top.  A truly amazing day!!

Staubbach Falls 

Rapids on the train ride back to Zürich that I finally got a good photo of!