Monday, June 28, 2010

Discovering (re-discovering) the Alps


The sun has come out in Switzerland and we have been taking advantage of it!

Below is Bargis, an hour hike away from Flims

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Spring flowers cover the alps…

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Frauenschuhe (Women’s shoes) a wild orchid in the forest around Flims.

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Falera – a beautiful church where Anita’s brother was married…

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Below is the view from the church in Falera…

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The view from Anita’s summer cabin in the mountains…

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Flimserstein and Flims. Anita’s house is really small on the bottom left.

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Chur

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Anita’s good friend Max flew out from LA and we had a blast seeing the Alps and Northern Italy…

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Rare flower called “Narzisse” only found in a few regions of Switzerland. One of the regions is close to Flims.

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Juf – the highest, in terms of elevation, populated village in Europe. Habitants roughly 19.

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Anemonen flowers (Tal’s favorite)

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Behind us in the picture below, one can see Roman tracks carved into the rock from when they crossed over the Alps…

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Lake Como in Italy…

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The streets of Italy along Lake Como were beautiful….

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The sun came out half way through the day and we drove through the cities with Anita’s Italian music playing…

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Locarno, Switzerland at the Lago Maggiore…

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Valle Verzasca in southern Switzerland – the last time Anita was here was in 1979.

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The dam leading into Valle Verzasca – where Golden Eye was filmed. Tal definitely wants to jump!

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The Glacier Express

We took a tourist train through the alps that was really worth the cost.  It has panoramic views as well as an audio guide that was very informative.

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Tal had to take this shot…

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We crossed Switzerland on “The Slowest Express Train in the World” and this was our first glimpse of the Matterhorn.

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On the same day we took the train up to the Gornergrat, where we had one of the most amazing views of the alps. We can’t say it enough…Switzerland is incredibly beautiful.

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On top of the Gornergrat with the Matterhorn in the background.

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The beautiful and majestic Matterhorn.

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Monte Rosa and the Dufourpeak along with their glaciers on the left. The Dufourpeak is the highest mountain in Switzerland.

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The next day we took the train to Bern. On the way we stopped in Montreux on Lake Geneva.

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Bern, the capital of Switzerland…the river Aare runs around it. It’s clean and one can get in and float around the city like those lazy river attractions at water resorts….

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A bear is the symbol of the Canton of Bern and they keep a family of bears near the above river.  Everyone in Switzerland is excited because the bear family recently gave birth to two new bear cubs (seen below)…

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We got to visit the temple in Bern.  The church members from Verona were there so we got to speak a lot of Italian….

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Anita and I were really to find a string of 4 days with sunshine to see this beautiful country… And to our joy, the full moon also came out!

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12 comments:

  1. I really really like these pictures because they are really really cool and I like that they have a lot of water pictures and there are a lot of pictures that don't have you in them. The train is really cool in the Alps. I want to see you soon. That's all. - From your nephew Charlie (age 4)

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  2. Fabulous pictures! I totally agree with Charlie except I also LOVE the pictures you ARE in! You both look radiant! Can't wait to see you in just a few days!

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  3. WOW. Amazing. I am so happy for you. ISN'T EUROPE Great. WOW what mountains.
    I so LOVE LOVE the photos and esp. the one taken from the rocks with the church in the middle of the perspective so cool. That should be BIG. LOVE it.
    LOVE U guys. You are the best!!!!

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  4. majestic and belittling. we gotta get over here and do some hiking and camping.

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  5. Hmmm? Don't you think you are a little biast Anita? No, I agree with you Switzerland is amazing! Your photos make me ache for Europe. Unfortunately, we will not be going over this year until September and then just to Italy. We will be there for two weeks. The photos are beautiful and really you were blessed to have so many days of sunshine in a row.

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  6. Beautiful. Makes me long for Europe. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Would you believe that I got on line right after looking at this and started looking at tickets to CH? I can't believe I missed your call. Call again. Miss you.

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  8. Thank you for posting these. What beautiful photos!

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  9. Anita! I just found your blog through your hubby's sister blogs. I read her blog. Small world! It's Kelly (Garrison). You lived with my family! Congrats on getting married, I think I remember my mom telling me that! I will have to send her this link to your blog! So fun to see you. :) Love, Kelly
    kellycscott@hotmail.com
    my blog is private, so I will have to send you and invite with your e mail.

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  10. hi,
    i found your blog through your sister-in-laws blog and have loved all of your beautiful photos. thanks so much for sharing!
    i hope you don't mind me asking a question & i understand if you don't have time to reply.
    every year my family does a back 2 school "scholarly feast" where we study a country, eat their food, etc. last year we did india & went to little india here in LA, bought them saris, & did all sorts of fun things.

    my daughter picked switzerland this year & i am having the hardest time coming up with neat things for us to do. my library even has no children's books on switzerland. i love to make this a special event every year & do "all out", but i'm a little lost as to what we can do to really pretend that we are swiss :)

    since you are the only person i (kind of) know that is from switzerland, i was really hoping you could give me some ideas. any thoughts on things you played as a kid, foods to eat, clothes to wear, etc. anything would be wonderful!

    thanks you so so much, i'm sorry to post such a long thing, i hope you don't mind.
    this is a little late...but congrats on your wedding, seems like you had the ultimate honeymoon!
    thanks, courtney nielson
    mrs.nielson@gmail.com

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  11. you have got to be kidding me. i knew you guys were surrounded by beauty but this really puts a frame around it. these are pure beauty. how in the world did i miss this post. keep them coming!

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  12. awesome! i heard anita is pregnant! congrats!

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