reciting the airships

the problem with traveling is that as soon as you begin you immediately begin compiling the list of things you’d do differently. today. i took the jungfraubahn train from interlaken to the tiny mountain ville of grindelwald. although only 35 minutes away, grindelwald is a fairly stark departure from interlaken and i can say with certainty that my next trip here will involve camping at the sites near the foot of the alps in grindelwald.

interlaken is a serene setting for the best of us to behave impulsively. despite being set in pure serenity, everyone here is chasing after frenetic activities (myself included). skydiving, paragliding, hang gliding, canyoning (you name it). it’s a place to express the most adventures and add elements in our personas.

grindelwald is like brian eno’s music for airports. it demands patience and invites you to explore every little corner very very quietly. i woke up early this morning and hopped on the train after a hearty breakfast provided free of charge from the hostel. from the grindelwald train stop, i took a long, uphill hike the pfingstegg. it’s possible to take a funicular to this viewing dock, but that seemed a waste of money. i stopped frequently along the forested walk way to take pictures of the small town as it continued to grow tinier and tinier with the ascent.

after passing the forested region, i continued up hiking trail 23 which leads to the lower grindelwald glacier. those of you that know of my icelandic adventure will remember my fondness for glacial valleys. the hike from the top of pfingstegg to the glacier took another two and half hours, but was well worth it. i met some very peasant hikers along the way and i have to say it’s impressive the number of different ways people will say hello to you in a place like switzerland. there’s a restaurant at the top of the hike that overlooks the glacial valley and it was nice to see so many parents bringing their very young children along with them for the hike. the swing set at the top of the hike was probably a nice bonus – nothing like swinging 6,000 feet above sea level…overlooking a glacier.

the hike down was quick, though hardly painless. anyone who’s done any sort of hiking knows that going down is fast and easy, but complete murder on your knees. still, it’s the kind of pain that’s always memorable and, afterall, i’ll do anything for a  glacier.

a very plesant mountain goat opted to hike part of the trail back down into the village with me. he caught me off-guard at first, because he was standing in my way on the very narrow trail. so as not to anger him, i passed on trying to take his photo, and eventually mustered the courage to try and walk by. he was nice enough to step out of my way and then accompanied me down the hill for a few hundred meters, before deciding to run off into the wild. this was almost as lovely a pay-off as the sights from the top of the hike.

my plans for tomorrow are uncertain, but only because the hiking trails in this region are so numerous that i can’t quite decide which to explore. either way, more pictures and what not coming. stay tuned. check out the flickr for way more photos.

ooxx aa