The Alps Didn`t Kill Me
Greetings friends, family, and small, furry creatures!
Just spent several days camping in and about Murren. It`s south of Interlaken and crouched up against the Schilthorn. The views of the Eiger and Jungfrau were absolutely perfect. Not a cloud in the sky my entire time in the hills. I did do some hiking and got to one place where, being so mature these days, I turned back, muttering: "if I slip it`ll kill me..." And since I promised Uncle Bob (who is supposedly re-growing his Vietnam Fu Man Chu mustache?) not to do anything fatal I also passed up the paragliding. But NEXT TIME, OH I`M GOING PARAGLIDING!!! The Schilthorn, where I was climbing and turned back, is quasi-famous for Bond geeks--the circular restaurant at the summit is blown up in a Bond flick.
So I am in Zurich right now being well looked after by Vreni--she is a friend of my mother`s Jersey friend Cara--and her friend Hans. Today we three hiked with Vreni`s sister and her husband to the top of Napf, which is near Lucern. At the base of Napf is a site where Holy Mary was spotted and gave a blessing. Close by is a chapel with a story...something about three men playing cards several hundred years back and one of the men always having the worst luck at cards. This sore fellow pointed the tip of his knife at the ceiling and blamed God and Moses for his ill luck. And, as the story goes, three drops of blood dropped from the ceiling onto the table, staining in such a way that one could not remove the marks. Once a year there piece of wood with the marks is marched around. To believers this makes the spot we parked our cars at somewhat of a holy destination. Tour buses unloaded fellow Swiss to see these holy sites.
I`ll take a night train to Paris in a day or two, spend a few days there, hit the D-Day beaches for a day, and then head North to England.
Lisa: Sweden will be great. You can buy anything you need there so pack light. Hope it is nice there. There are some great backpacking locations in that area of the world if you have the gear and the will.
Sean: Awesome to hear about your trip. Using rail to get to Turkey from London will be pricey so look into Eurail pass discounts or maybe plan ultra-cheap flights on euro carriers like RyanAir to cover ground more quickly and for a fraction of the cost. Unless you are doing a loop (which I nearly did on this trip) a cheap flight from Istanbul back to LHR will probably be necessary...
Be back in a few weeks with many, many, many more stories to tell.
Love from here,
ALA
Just spent several days camping in and about Murren. It`s south of Interlaken and crouched up against the Schilthorn. The views of the Eiger and Jungfrau were absolutely perfect. Not a cloud in the sky my entire time in the hills. I did do some hiking and got to one place where, being so mature these days, I turned back, muttering: "if I slip it`ll kill me..." And since I promised Uncle Bob (who is supposedly re-growing his Vietnam Fu Man Chu mustache?) not to do anything fatal I also passed up the paragliding. But NEXT TIME, OH I`M GOING PARAGLIDING!!! The Schilthorn, where I was climbing and turned back, is quasi-famous for Bond geeks--the circular restaurant at the summit is blown up in a Bond flick.
So I am in Zurich right now being well looked after by Vreni--she is a friend of my mother`s Jersey friend Cara--and her friend Hans. Today we three hiked with Vreni`s sister and her husband to the top of Napf, which is near Lucern. At the base of Napf is a site where Holy Mary was spotted and gave a blessing. Close by is a chapel with a story...something about three men playing cards several hundred years back and one of the men always having the worst luck at cards. This sore fellow pointed the tip of his knife at the ceiling and blamed God and Moses for his ill luck. And, as the story goes, three drops of blood dropped from the ceiling onto the table, staining in such a way that one could not remove the marks. Once a year there piece of wood with the marks is marched around. To believers this makes the spot we parked our cars at somewhat of a holy destination. Tour buses unloaded fellow Swiss to see these holy sites.
I`ll take a night train to Paris in a day or two, spend a few days there, hit the D-Day beaches for a day, and then head North to England.
Lisa: Sweden will be great. You can buy anything you need there so pack light. Hope it is nice there. There are some great backpacking locations in that area of the world if you have the gear and the will.
Sean: Awesome to hear about your trip. Using rail to get to Turkey from London will be pricey so look into Eurail pass discounts or maybe plan ultra-cheap flights on euro carriers like RyanAir to cover ground more quickly and for a fraction of the cost. Unless you are doing a loop (which I nearly did on this trip) a cheap flight from Istanbul back to LHR will probably be necessary...
Be back in a few weeks with many, many, many more stories to tell.
Love from here,
ALA