Luzern and Interlaken

Next stop, Luzern. This is the famous Kapelbrucke which crosses the Reuss River.

This lion carved into a stone in town has the inscription "Helvetiorum fidei ac virtuis" or "To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss". It is dedicated to the Swiss mercenaries who in the service of Louis XVI of France, were killed during the French Revolution.

In Northern Europe, instead of domes, it's steeples with clock faces on them that indicates you've found a church. Here's the main church of Luzern.

After an afternoon in Luzern, we trekked to Interlaken, about an hour and a half away. Our hotel was way at the top of a mountain in the town of Beatenberg. This was the sunset view.






At dinner, we were treated to this impromptu concert. It was great, but it inspired my father to purchase CD's of the same genre which we listened to repeatedly in the car the rest of the trip.

The highlight of any visit to Interlaken is a ride up the tram to Jungfraujoch, a tourist/tram station located at the "Top of Europe". It's located between two mountains and is 11,332 feet above sea level.

From Interlaken, first stop Grindelwald.

From here we took the tram to Kleine Scheidigg and along the way, we passed by the famous north face of the Eiger.

Alas, the sun of the lower part of the mountain was not what we found at the top. Here's the view from Jungfraujoch.

One cool thing is the Eispalace.

This sign was totally meant for me!

I think this is a funny juxtaposition.

But then, what was this. There was a restaurant in the complex called Bollywood and tourists from the Indian subcontinent were EVERYWHERE. Turns out because it's so dangerous to film Bollywood movies in Kashmir, they film in Switzerland. Therefore, the Indians want to see the scenery and flock to this part of the world. The Swiss are simply taking the economic opportunity and running with it.

We finished off the loop by coming down on the Wengen side. I know of Wengen (and a lot of Alpine locations in Europe) from watching downhill ski racing on television.

Wengen sits on a ridge above the amazingly beautiful Lauterbrunnen Valley.

Throughout Switzerland, it seems like every sheer rock face has a waterfall coming off of it. The Lauterbrunnen Valley had what seemed like 5 or 6 total coming off both sides of the valley.

This is the Switzerland we picture in our minds. It's not fantasy, it truly exists!