Glacier Meltdown

Switzerland is an absolutely beautiful country. After a number of days there, I was excited to spend another at high altitudes admiring the beauty of the landscape. After arriving to the top of the cable car ride at the Aletsch glacier, I was enjoying the snowy scenery and happy to walk around for variation in the view of this icy peak.

When we began the day, I expected cold temperatures, and I expected some hiking: I was ok with this. Our journey at the top (9600ft at Eggishorn peak) was full of interesting viewpoints and lookouts. However, we could see a higher view point that could be hiked, and I'd already stated that I would be avoiding that trail.

So Jimmy told me that he would like to hike "down" around the other side of the peak and see what we could find that way. (Ok, hiking downward is always easy, and we could see along the icy glacier in the direction we were headed. No problem. I could do this one and skip the other.)

So we make our way along this "downward" trail. We can see the peaks of the glacier the whole way and the much lower valley from which we started the cable car on the other side. But just as we reach the bottom of this "downward" trail, Jimmy announces that his plan is to hike UP the mountain that now appeared in front of us. Umm..  change of plans? "Well Jimmy, you said we were going to hike DOWN this side, then go back to flat ground so YOU can hike up to the other viewpoint. YOU hiking UP while I sit warm with a coffee." His response is somewhere along the lines of "but this trail looks really cool and now I want to do it."

So what now? I am frustrated that I have to hike back up to the start alone if I don't attempt this trail, and I am truly not interested in either.

This "trail" that Jimmy claims he is hiking should really be considered more rock climbing than hiking. I mean, no joke, this "trail" is a pile of rocks with paint on some of the stones to mark the way. That is, not always easily visible paint lines signaling which rocks wont send you crashing 9,000 feet down this mountain. Let me also note that the people we passed made note of our tennis shoes.... everyone else was prepared with legitimate hiking boots. (Should have been a sign.)

So I end up on all fours climbing up these rocks. And slowly. We are getting higher and higher, and the pile of rocks is showing the distance of 10,000ish feet down to the bottom of the valley more clearly with each step. I didn't think I had a fear of heights, but something about this journey sure induced the feeling of fear.

I joked in the previous Cinque Terre post about how that hike was worth "all the sweat and tears"... but also noted that the joke was that it really only produced sweat. Well, this hike traded the sweat for the real tears. Somehow between guessing stable rocks for each next step in my tennis shoes while being passed by badass 4 year old Swiss children (yes.. really) I was reduced to tears.

The view was absolutely incredible, I have to give it that. I'm not sure who cries in one of the most beautiful places you can imagine, but the rock faces that we were climbing and the insane height that we were at without ANY kind of barrier... let's be real, I don't know how any sane person wouldn't be a little scared.

I am proud of making it halfway up that cliff. Again, the thing was sheer rocks and I am adamant that it should NOT have been labeled a hiking trail! Rock climbing is more accurate. But I had a good audio book, and with a double rock barrier I sat waiting for Jimmy to return from the highest peak. Seriously... who wants to climb rock faces at more than 9,000ft anyway??

I will say that the trail was awesome for the view - but attempting to climb it seriously sucked. Another reason why Switzerland is awesome? The people can "hike" things easily that the rest of the world wouldn't want to touch.

Take me back to the flat land for a warm cappuccino, ASAP! And yes, this is what I did while Jimmy still climbed the (much more reasonable) trail that I had originally decided to sit out on.

Confoederatio Helvetica AKA Switzerland

Every country has an internet code assigned to their country.  The United States uses .us, Austria uses .at, Australia uses .au, Canada is .ca, Brazil is .br, you get the idea.  Switzerland, however, uses .ch for their internet code.  CH derives from Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin name for Switzerland.  Why the hell does Switzerland use a Latin form in their country code?  Simple answer.  They are a bunch of bad asses.  The western part near France speaks French, the southern bordering Italy speaks Italian, and the rest (about 65%) speak German.  Oh, and the majority speak English too.  Switzerland remains neutral to pretty much every conflict in the world.  So neutral, that even Nazi Germany didn't invade.  Remember, Switzerland borders Germany.  Other reasons that Switzerland is bad ass

1)  Switzerland is rich.  #2 in GDP per capita.  A country with population similar to North Carolina is the 2nd richest by some standards.  Hmmm, sounds nice.   

2)  Excellent pay and low unemployment.

3)  Nice watches.  I mean, who doesn't like a nice watch. 

4)  Low taxes for the lower and middle classes.  Make good money and don't lose it all.  Sounds great.

5) 6 weeks of vacation at your job plus the good money.  Work less, have more money, and have more vacation.   

6) Swiss Army knives.

7) Excellent public transportation.  About 20 percent of the people don't own cars.  Zurich and Geneva are the biggest cities in Switzerland and are similar to Charlotte and Raleigh in size.  If you don't have a car in North Carolina, it's probably not by choice.

8) No open container laws.  Buy a cold beer at 7-Eleven and crack it open on the street.  

9)  Absolutely beautiful landscape.  There might be individual spots that rival it, but Switzerland as a country is as beautiful as it gets.  Grassy mountains, glaciers, huge lakes from the snow run-off, beautiful rolling hills, waterfalls everywhere, what more can you ask for? 

10) Awesome hiking, great winter sports and a laid back culture.   

 It must the perfect place to travel, right?  Well it pretty much is, but prepare to unleash your wallet if you want to travel here.  A chicken restaurant in Lucerne.  2 plates of chicken with sides, an appetizer, two glasses of wine.  70 euros.  Almost 80 dollars.... for chicken.  A cable car ride up one side of Mount Pilatus (mountain outside of Lucerne) and then a train down the other side.... 2 people, 128 euros.  145 bucks!  Ouch.  Could you do it cheaper?  Certainly.  3 hour hikes instead of cable cars, no drinking, no eating out, no gambling- come on man, where's the fun in that! 

A time-line of our week in Switzerland.   

Saturday Afternoon- Fly from Rome to Basel.  Our flight was delayed about 4 hours because someone near the runway in Rome was burning something on their land and the smoke limited the visibility.  "Come on, what really happened?"  Seriously, someone stopped planes from taking off from the busiest airport in Italy because they were burning stuff on their land nearby.

Saturday Evening- Rental car from Basel Airport and a 2 hour drive to Lucerne.  Basel is in Switzerland but on the border with France and within 5 minutes from Germany.  We planned to drive straight to Lucerne (in Central Switzerland) but got turned around and ended up in France for a few minutes.   Not everyday you accidentally end up in France.

Sunday-  Awesome breakfast buffet, full walking day around Lucerne, expensive chicken dinner, and and an unsuccessful attempt at winning money from Lucerne's casino.  Not only is it expensive to visit, but they also take your money.

Monday-  Hiking around Mount Pilatus and expensive cable cars.  Nonetheless, beautiful.  We finished the night at a local burger and Kebab take-away place.  We had arrived late on Saturday and went there, seeing as it was the only place open nearby.  So good, in fact, that we came back on our last night.  We got to talking to the guy who ran the place.  He was from Syria, and he ended up leaving because of all the instability in the country.  In his words, "I used to be a teacher in Syria, now I'm serving you guys kebabs."  He was shaking his head but smiling just a little bit while saying it.  

Tuesday- All day driving through the Swiss mountains and hitting some of the best passes in the country and plenty of waterfalls.  We drove up Furka Pass where the chase scene from Goldfinger (James Bond) was filmed.  

Wednesday-  Aletsch Glacier, the largest glacier in Europe.  We took a gondola from the parking area to the glacier to enjoy the views and hike in the mountains. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site and near the gondola station there was a UNESCO marked hiking trail on the map.  I've been to a lot of World Heritage sites before but have never seen a specifically marked UNESCO trail.  I don't know what this trail looks like, but this is a must do for me.  It took me a little bit to convince Kaysee but she joined me.... for about 1/3 of the hike.  In our next post, Kaysee will explain why this ended badly for her. 

Thursday-  7 miles of hiking near Grindelwald.  We drove to Lauterbrunnen that evening and took a cable car to the small town of Murren, where there are no cars.  Lauterbrunnen sits in the bottom of a huge valley and Murren sits at the top, with great views no matter where you are.  

Friday- A couple hour drive to Zurich to drop the car and then a train onward to Austria.  

Rome..... "Hello, Something?"

Rome seems to be the ultimate, Love it or Hate it cities.  Big city? Yes.  Tourist hotspot?  For sure. Awesome city to visit? Oh yea.  The history in the city is 2nd to none.  Home to arguably to world’s most dominant/influential civilization of all time, well, depending on where you stand on the US.

There is so much to see in Rome, but I will leave that to a Google search of “Top Things to do in Rome.”  That being said, the Colosseum in person is something you will never forget.  Massive, in the middle of the city, lays an arena built almost 2,000 years still mostly in tact.  During the rule of the Roman Empire, it was home to festivals, gatherings, circuses, and the famous gladiatorial battles.  This place could seat close to 100,000 people.  From what I gathered, the gladiators were either forced in- POWs and criminals; or allowed in- average guys off the street trying to make a name for themselves.  Win a battle as a prisoner and live to fight another day..... Win one as an average person, and have a chance to become a hero. A trip to Rome isn’t complete without a trip here.

Ok, story time! Walking around the outside of the Colosseum, there are all kinds of people walking around trying to sell you things- bottled water, the sticky toys you throw at the ground, the mini helicopters you shoot into the air, and NEW to the 2015 collection….. SELFIE STICKS!!! Just a year ago I was there and selfie stick stock hadn’t shot up yet.  The guys selling them were, to the best of my knowledge, Bangladeshi guys. They would walk around and in their native accent and broken English say, “Hello, something?”  These guys roamed around in packs, grabbing the name, “The Selfie Stick Mob." Technically you aren’t allowed to sell random goods on the Colosseum grounds, but that didn’t stop these guys in the least bit.  However, the cops would put up an ill-fated attempt to stop them.   

The Colosseum is down in a little bit of a crater, so there are hills and steps leading from the street down to the area outside of the arena.  Situated near the entrance to the Colosseum were a couple cops, just as a precaution.  The Selfie Stick Mob would run around selling bottled water in the crater, all the while trying to avoid these cops from interring with their business.  As we were leaving from our visit, we stopped in the shade for a snack and some water.  As we were standing there minding our own business, we see a cop try and apprehend one of the Bangladeshi guys for selling bottled water.  When I say, "try and apprehend," that was as far as the cops got.  I’ve seen some crazy stuff in my life, but never have I ever seen someone toy with the police.  That shit doesn't fly in the US, man.

The officer would take a couple quick steps after the BG and the guy would just run through the crowd and towards the hill.  After realizing the BG was faster, the cop stopped his pursuit and walked back towards his post.  The Bangladeshi guy stood from a distance watching until the cop got about 30 feet away.  The BG would then walk back down and continue business while keeping an eye on the cop.  Cop returns, BG runs away.  This process went on 3 or 4 times before the cop just gave up.  Hell, I think he might have been embarrassed, there were hundreds of people in the area witnessing these shenanigans.  We stood around for a few more minutes, even seeing 2 other guys getting somewhat chased by the cops for selling water.

In case you were wondering, the cops couldn't catch them either.  It just didn’t even seem fair, I felt bad for the cops.  Here was an average 5'11 cop trying to catch a 5’3, 135 pound guy from Bangladesh.  It was like a kid trying to catch a squirrel, a 350 pound lineman trying to catch Russell Wilson, or trying to catch your 35 pound border collie when it ran away.  It ain't happenin.  Looking back, I’m not sure why we left, maybe Kaysee was tired of it? I could have watched it all day. Someone should pitch this as a tv show, because I’m all in on “Cops Can’t Catch the Selfie Stick Mob."