Mom and Dad's Europe Extravaganza, Part 6...

Ok, I know I promised I would be posting every day, and I know some of you have been waiting a very long time for hang-gliding photos! I just got out of the mode, to the extent, in fact, that I forgot the camera on our trip to Paris last week. I didn't take a single photo... I am so behind with all I want to post, though, that there will be plenty to keep this blog occupied for awhile, Paris or no Paris.

And so, on with my parents' European Extravanza! After a failed hang-gliding appempt in the morning (air currents were unpredictable), we headed up the canyon from Interlaken to find some sleepy little Swiss villages high up in the Alps. We found the perfect place, and a whole lot more...

We visited Trummelbach Falls, a waterfall enclosed within a mountain, that drains glacial water from nearby Alpine peaks. The falls is divided into 10 chutes (smaller waterfalls that make up one big waterfall) as it makes its way down the mountain. We came during the spring runoff (where virtually every ledge in the Alps that was capable of having water run-off of it, indeed had water running for its life over the edge), and so Trummelbach was all the more spectacular. The water shot through the crevices of the mountain with deafening ferocity. When we came out of the caves, all of us were soaked to the hilt with ancient (and freezing!!) glacial water.

Mark set the record for absorbing the most water, as you can see by how close he is standing to this section of the falls.

A view from an opening in the caves near the waterfall.

So, one of the funnest things about the Alps is that many tiny villages and high peaks are all linked by gondola. So, we got on board, and let ourselves be hoisted up to Schilthorn peak. This was our view.

It's amazing to me that such a view could be had without major physical exertion (it took us three days of hiking to reach views like this in the Himalayas)! While I absolutely loved experiencing the peaks in this way, I vowed to myself that someday I'd be back to do it on my own two feet.

We were gazing at this spectacular view, when suddenly a tiny trickle of what we thought was water (another spring waterfall) turned into an avalanche! Incredible! We watched it for a few seconds before the sound reached us, and the sound kept booming for awhile after the snow-shower stopped.

And...quite amazingly, there's a restaurant at the top of Schilthorn, with surprisingly good and relatively inexpensive food! The restaurant revolves, and so, if you take your time eating, you get a 360 degree panorama with your lunch. Quite a bargain!

The drink menu...

And at last we made it to the sleepy little Alpine village we were looking for. We got off the gondola in Murren, and then hiked down to Gimmelwald, both tiny communities, with their primay access being the gondola. It was lightly raining when we arrived, which only added to the beauty.

Green hills with a spectacular snow-capped backdrop in every direction, the peaks hidden in the clouds. As we were walking down this road, a resident was practicing his swiss horn, so we listened as the tones echoed on the cliffs and as the wildflowers danced in the rain.

Waterfalls and wildflowers...