Sunday- Back Home. Alan's Reflections

Now I know what it is like to be away from home for a month! It’s a pretty big deal.  The logistics that need to be taken care of before departing for 30 days are significant.   Learning to live where English is rarely spoken, and not being able to watch an American TV show, or read a US newspaper can take some adjustment.  And no, reading news online just isn’t the same.

Travel can be hard these days. Last night we arrived home at about 10PM.  Almost 24 hours before, we had checked out of our hotel in Zurich to begin arduous journey back home.  And yes, we were ready to get back!   The long trip home (sorry no pictures) involved a 9:30AM flight to Frankfurt, Germany, followed by a 9 hour flight to Philadelphia, a sweltering cab ride from the Philly airport to 30^th Street Train Station, a 2 hour train ride to Harrisburg (with enough luggage to support a small army), and lastly a 30 minute Uber ride with some knucklhead who doesn’t know how to clean his minivan!  By the time I hit the sack last night, my eyes were burning- which was my body’s way of saying “go to bed, you moron.”

To say that this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip is an understatement.  I’m just not sure I can imagine a time in the future when we could concoct and survive such a lengthy and complicated multi-nation adventure.  I’m really so gratified that we were able to have the resources and support of friends and family that otherwise would have made this trip impossible.   Thanks to all of you readers who have followed us, and encouraged us to share on this, our first blog.

What did I learn?  Well, I’m appreciating that in some ways I need to better understand my limitations, and in other ways I need to realize that it’s good to push through some of those limitations.  For example, renting a car in a strange country gives you lots of freedom, but it comes at the cost of high anxiety (seems to increase with each year that I get older).  A bit too much stress.  I think in the future, I will schedule trips with tour groups, where most of the planning is taken care of by professionals! 

In other ways, I have learned from our biking and hiking excursions that many of the physical limitations I thought I had, were mostly in my head.  I was amazed to see the number of Europeans who were doing grueling bike rides in the areas where we were- and who were older than us!   This was very inspiring, and something that will definitely motivate me.

Chris mentioned in an earlier post about the “rhythm of life” in our little French village.  This is a theme that I keep coming back to in my head.  I’ve learned from this trip to appreciate all the different rhythms of life that one can experience. The key is to keep an open mind, and let yourself become part of your surroundings- to become immersed in the rhythms rather than fighting them.

Each segment of our trip involved a different rhythm that we needed to adjust to.  During the bike tour, the rhythm consisted of packing and unpacking every two days in a different place, and finding our way to new villages- on our own in many cases.  When we settled into our apartment, the rhythm of life revolved around hiking, attending village festivals, learning to speak better French, getting to know our village neighbors, and shopping at the local markets.  Lastly, our time in the Alps was a new rhythm entirely- with crappy breakfasts, long hikes during the day, and sleepless nights.  The sleepless nights part grew old quickly! Most importantly, it seems to me that it’s good for the soul to be able to go outside your comfort zone and experience new ways to live life.

Lastly, a note about the many people in France who we met.  Don’t believe those who say that the French dislike Americans. Nothing could be further from the truth.  In the area of France where we stayed, the people still totally appreciate what our country did for them in World War II.  A large percentage of French adults and children wear T-shirts and hats with American themes printed on them, as if they want to appear to be from the U.S.  

Do some French people dislike Americans? Yes.

What I observed was that the French are a totally diverse group of people, just like those in America.  Some are super, super nice and generous.  Others are asses! Stereotypes do not apply.  But for an accident of where they were born, they are exactly like us.  

In summary, we had a great time on this Alsace Adventure, but man does it feel good to be home in our own bed!

Thursday, August 4th- Hike to Chilchbalm

Walter’s assistant, Tim, treated us to a nice breakfast in the early morning, complete with videos, and Google Earth instructions on where the best hikes were in the area.  We chose a hike based on Tim’s recommendation, and it turned out to be one of the best, most scenic treks that we have ever taken together.  Maybe even better than some of our hikes in the Rockies! 

The first half of our hike to Chilchbalm:

Two lonely backpacks in paradise:

Chris on the trail:

Shirtless old man wandering along a river:

Street sign marking the trails:

The trail narrows and goes through the meadow shortly before Chilchbalm:

The hike took us from Gimmelwald down a trail that followed a gushing white water mountain stream, and terminated in a bowl (named Chilchbalm) surrounded by huge mountains with a half dozen waterfalls.  The hike was about 3 hours total.

The end of the trail- at Chilchbalm:

Rock painted to show arrival at Chilchbalm, 1,631 meters elevation:

The cairn Alan built:

 Here are a few short videos that add sound to the beauty of the area:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUJQj0x_rJ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpWgTeYaqBI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZrp8ir95ro

In the afternoon, we took a gondola ride up to Murren, where we enjoyed a coffee and milkshake at the Bellevue Hotel terrace restaurant, and soaked in all the scenery and ambience of the mountains that we could. After all, it was our last full day here in the Alps. Hopefully the pictures will capture the beauty.

Gondola station at Gimmelwald:

We ended our day with pizza from the Hostel down the lane.  Met a nice young man from Alaska who was taking 5 days to hike the Alps before he returned home, and an older lady from Ohio who was also staying at the Hostel.  Our uphill walk back to "Walter's" was strenuous as we treated ourselves to a rum and coke at the Hostel.  Probably not a good idea with the steep walk back.  We made one small stop on the hike uphill (there happened to be a bench, thank goodness) and enjoyed our last view of this magnificent setting.  It's raining here now-which will make it easier to leave, but I doubt we will ever find anything close to this in magnificence and beauty, even in America.  Feeling blessed for the experience, but ready for home now.

Wednesday, August 3rd- The Alps Kicked Our Ass

Wednesday morning we left our miniscule Alpenblick room, hoping to find bigger and better accommodations in the high country.  Our goal was to get to the village of Gimmelwald, which requires a gondola to access. It is not possible to get there by car!

Driving up the Lauterbrunen valley to the Stechelberg gondola station:

Click on the link for our short video of this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps9j8oQyQik

Inside the gondola station- our ride up to Gimmelwald:

Our gondola arriving:

Gimmelwald has been described by many people as “heaven on Earth,” because of its unimaginable and indescribable up-close views of the Alps.  Also, it is a really special place because of its remoteness and relative lack of tourists.

Our arrival at Gimmelwald:

Paragliders flying near our hotel:

The closest village that you can drive to is Stechelberg, just down the valley from Lauterbrunen.  At Stechelberg, you take your suitcases, and board a large gondola car, which shuttles you up the mountain to the Gimmelwald stop. From the gondola station, it is a 15 minute walk up a steep road to the Mittaghorn Hotel, owned by a 93 year old gentleman named Walter. 

To say that the accommodations at the Mittaghorn are rough is not an exaggeration.  For 120 Swiss Francs per night, we were given Room #3, which to our delight was provisioned with a small shower. The only catch was, you had only 5 minutes of hot water per person, per night!

The 5 minute hot water timer:

Another inconvenience was the lack of an in-room toilet. No problem though; you simply had to walk to the far end of the squeaky hall, and enter the dimly lit communal toilette.  There, you could lock the door, and take care of business, but still with the chance of a knock or someone trying to enter. One of us handled the communal toilet better than the other- that’s all I’m going to say.

Our home for two nights:

We arrived at Walter’s place at about 10 in the morning, and quickly got settled in. Then we went about the discovery of the nearby mountainside, and adjusting to yet another new rhythm of life.  No keys necessary here. You just come and go on an honor system.  The building is sufficient, but in Chris’ opinion, could use a woman’s touch and some renovations. The pictures will allow you to judge accordingly.  Admittedly, it is a bit rough, but the room is plenty big, at least.

Our first excursion was to the 10,000 summit of the Schilthorn, where a very cool revolving restaurant awaited us.  In fact, this facility was used for a scene in the 1969 James Bond 007 film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”  This cinematic connection was played up to the max, to the point of excess cheesiness!  The altitude was exacting its toll on us, and we could barely climb a flight of steps.  Would have been nice to have been acclimated before hiking around at 10,000 feet.

Atop "Piz Gloria" on the Schilthorn:

On the way down from Schilthorn, we stopped at the Birg station, and took a “thrill walk” on a brand new skywalk that is bolted on the side of the mountain, featuring a glass floor in one spot. The experience was breathtaking.

The "Thrill Walk" attached to the cliff:

Check out this short video we made on the thrill walk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX5W7CG3feQ

The rest of the day was spent hiking and exploring the nearby village of Murren, walking about 7 miles. 

A neat house in Murren, with a great collection of cow bells:

View from our Murren hike: 

Chris soaking it in:

Pig pen on the mountain:

Train to take us back from our hike:

We sat right next to the train's engineer- fantastic view:

Our first night at Walter’s neither of us slept very well, which was a bummer. Wish you could have seen us getting showers with the timer.  Seriously, if you go over your limit, ice cold water.  Chris chose to skip the hair wash for tonight.

Tuesday August 2nd- South to Switzerland and the Alps

Today was a BIG day.  We packed all of our bags, closed out our apartment in France, and set out on a two hour journey South into Switzerland- in search of the village of Eriswil.  This is the village where the earliest records of Alan’s ancestors (the Wirths) are known to exist.  Alan’s earliest known ancestor is Claus Wirth, who was born sometime in the 1500’s and lived in Eriswil.  Claus’ great grandson (Johan Ulrich Wirth, Sr.) moved his family to the Alsace in 1698.   The son of Johan Ulrich Wirth, Sr. was Alan’s ancestor who immigrated to America in 1748.

Eriswil:

Eriswil bus station:

Eriswil farmhouse and barn: 

Eriswil was a joy to discover, and seemed to be a rather prosperous little village, complete with its own protestant church, and school.  The topography was similar to Pennsylvania, with rolling hills, and lots of dairy farms. In fact, Eriswil is located near the Emmental Valley, where the famous Emmentaler cheese originated from.

Eriswil village center, with water trough. Protestant church in background:

Eriswil village convenience store:

Eriswil Elementary School:

Creek flows under house in Eriswil:

Photos of Protestant Church in Eriswil where ancestors of Alan's worshipped:

 After having a horrendous experience in Eriswil’s only “Italian” restaurant, we got back in the car and set a course for Interlaken, where we had booked a room in a small family owned hotel- the Alpenblick, in Wilderswil, just outside of Interlaken.  Our hotel room was a surprise-not in a good way. It dated back to-well, hard to say-old and was small-lucky to be 10 x 10 with a corner layout. We couldn't even open a suitcase.  

Alpenblick Hotel- cute on the outside, cramped inside:

After seeing our accommodations, we decided to immediately take a bus into Interlaken for the day.   As it turned out, this hub for hikers wasn't our "cup of tea."  Interlaken was crowded like a big city and didn't compare at all to the pictures we had seen on google images.  We were disappointed, but kept a good attitude and did enjoy seeing the masses of tandem paragliders floating down from the sky, just barely missing the tall buildings.  

River in Interlaken:

Paraglider landing in Interlaken park:

We spent most of our afternoon watching them and walking along a beautiful river that connected the two lakes. Morning came and after a quick breakfast, we checked out, looking forward to our last leg of the journey, Gimmewald, Switzerland.