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9 Aug, Rotstockhutte to Gimmelwald

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This morning I awoke to the sound of the cows being taken back to the barn for milking around 6am.  After a typical Swiss breakfast I headed back down the mountain.   The trail was less steep here and there was lots of greenery and vegetation around, which transitioned to evergreen trees once I hit the tree line.  Once I got near the bottom of the valley, the trail followed a roaring mountain stream, flowing with snowmelt and glacier runoff.  I stopped and jumped in for a bit, and it was just as cold as it looked.   Further down I met an 18yo named victor from Montreal who was visiting Europe for the first time, and had just been in Sweden visiting some family he has never met before.  He went all the way up to Oberhornsee, and back down to Stechelberg, and then took the cable car back up to Gimmelwald.  Quite the long day. I got back to Gimmelwald and then went to the pool in Mürren for the rest of the day.  Made a Pizza for dinner at the hostel and tried to catch up on my blog/ photo
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8 Aug, Mürren-Schilthorn-Rotstockhutte

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This morning the weather looked great and we headed out to climb the Schilthorn.   Note: The attached google maps screenshots in the drive are for the path reference only, google maps time estimates are not very accurate. Starting from Mürren we passed through many meadows and dairy farms.  The path was quite steep the whole entire time as it went up a downhill ski route.  It was by far the most majestic and strenuous hike I have ever done.  Gaining over 3000’ in elevation in less than 5 miles, it’s not for the feint of heart.  Up near the top we encountered thick clouds as well as sheep grazing, their bells constantly tinkering as they moved around.  There were still large patches snow about 5’ deep where there wasn’t much sun exposure.  The last section of the trail took us straight up the side of the rocky summit of the Schilthorn and across a narrow ridge, not a place you want to slip and fall. Probably the most impressive part of the hike is the revolving restaurant and cable car
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7 August, Rain Day

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As predicted, the weather was rainy and it looked stormy at higher elevations.  We had planned on hiking up the Schilthorn today, but wanted to wait for a day when we could actually enjoy the view and the weather.  Instead, we went the the pool in Mürren that we have free access to thanks to Mountain Hostel.  Later on we had a traditional dinner at the place next door to our Hostel.  It was good to take a day and relax after going pretty hard since Friday.  Here are some random pics from the day.  Working on uploading more pics to the google drive link mentioned in a previous post.
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6 August, Paris- Gimmelwald, Switzerland

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After being up to at least 1am the night before re-fueling (a lot of the gas stations closed at like 9pm, so I had to backtrack to La Defense for fuel) the rental car and returning it to St. Lazare train station, and then taking the metro and walking back to the hostel, I was ready to get out of the city.  Paris is cool to see and experience, but I get sick of it after 48 hours.  I would much rather spend time in the alps, which is where I am writing this from right now, as I was trying to catch up on sleep on the trains yesterday.   We got up early and headed to Gare de Lyon on the metro for our train to Basel, Switzerland.  After that we transferred to the Swiss train system, SBB, and took a few more trains and busses to Lauterbrunnen, and then took the cog train up the steep mountainside to Wengen.  Wengen is more of a touristy place compared to some of the other villages in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, but it is where my last name originated, so I definitely wanted to spend a little b
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5 August, Normandy

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I didn’t set an alarm since I naturally wake up pretty early, but I guess not sleeping much over the prior few days caught up to me and I woke up at 8, missing our 7:23 train to Normandy.  So we rented a car and headed to Bayeux, where our guided tour left from.  Bayeux is a very quaint medieval town dating back to the first century that is still very intact because it was spared from the bombings of the battle of Normandy.  Our tour started at Longues-sur-Mer, where a few of the German bunkers from the Atlantic Wall are still very intact.  Looking at the twisted rebar and chunks taken out of the concrete from artillery and bombs makes you imagine how insane it would have been to have been inside at 6am on June 6. We then moved on to Omaha Beach, and the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, which is always a moving experience, reminiscent of Ground Zero, being at a place where so many American lives were taken, seeing surviving veterans and families paying respects to their fallen
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4 August, Paris

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We walked around Paris today, stopped at a café for breakfast, a street market, a cathedral at les halles, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and Ladurée for some of the best macaroons in Paris. Notre Dame had a fence around it due to the construction work but we were still able to get a few pictures with it. I had escargot for the first time and they tasted exactly how one would think a snail would taste, like salt and algae.   More photos will be added to the google drive today 
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Photo link, updated daily, maybe

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-bd0XfVjkj0nS6dKGQtw1kMmrEUOacRR
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