Hiking in Brauwald with Kirsten and Co.

Early in September, Kirsten (a friend from high school), her husband Ross, and their mothers (Iris and Loraine) came to Switzerland. They first traveled around for about a week, and then spent a day or two in Switzerland before I joined them for the last week of their trip. They got really lucky, and the weather was perfect the day that they had in Switzerland, so we went hiking in one of my all-time favorite locations: Braunwald.

It's possible that this is the place that started it all: three years ago (almost exactly to the date, in fact!), on Friday, September 3, 2010, during my first week in Switzerland, my boss Kris had me skip work on a perfectly sunny Friday to go for a hike in Braunwald. I had been gradually falling in love with Switzerland, but this sealed the deal. I'm pretty sure that was the day that I decided to move to Switzerland!

Anyways, on Friday, September 6, 2013 we went hiking in Brauwald on an (almost) perfectly sunny day.

We started out in the valley and took a sihlbahn up the mountain to Braunwald. From there, we took a gondola up as far as we could, so that we were surrounded by the mountains. I love getting so high up that you feel like you are in a fishbowl of mountains.

From there, we enjoyed the views and watched some paragliders swoop around above us before heading down the mountain.

The first part of the walk way relatively flat, right under the eaves of the mountain above us. Then we headed down through a rock field that had some really cool rock formations.

Because of time, we had decided to hike halfway down the mountain and then take the gondola the rest of the way down. But when we got to the gondola, it was broken! Eventually, a gator-type vehicle arrived, and Kirsten and Ross and I climbed into the pickup bed part of the vehicle (letting the older people have the real seats, since we're just such nice young people) and were whisked down the mountain to meet Iris and Loraine, who hadn't done the walk with us. It was quite a ride, made more amusing by a random old guy who had served us a drink earlier in the day who chattered away at us in Swiss German almost the whole ride. Not only can I not really understand Swiss German so well, but my comprehension is definitely not so good over the roar of a gator rushing down the mountain. There was a lot of smiling and nodding that happened.

We stayed in Braunwald and had beautiful dinner outside, overlooking the mountains as the sun started to set. I just love Switzerland!

In Braunwald!

Braunwald, take II.

Last fall, the first hike that I took in the Alps was in Braunwald, and it still ranks as one of the more beautiful hikes on which I have been. (The background of my blog features a picture taken on this hike.) I even went back to the area a few weeks later for a second hike. It really is just gob-smackingly beautiful. It also helps that this area is quite close to Zürich, which means that you can even sleep in a little and still have a nice hike.

On Saturday the weather was absolutely perfect to take a hike (70-ish and totally sunny), so I decided to head back to Braunwald to take a different hike- the Panoramaweg. This hike was definitely not short on panorama, either.

The day was totally perfect. Not too hot, a little breeze coming up the valley, and what the weather services likes to call "abundant sunshine." Maybe a little too abundant, because I definitely got a little toasty, despite applying copious amounts of sunscreen.

Strangely enough, I also ran into one of my colleagues and her husband, who were hiking the same trail but in the opposite direction. It's a small world over here in Switzerland...

One of my favorite things is to stop on the trail to just listen and smell. I could hear the clanging of cowbells across the valley, the buzz of bees in all of the alpine flowers and the whisper of the breeze in the pine trees. The smell of pine wafted up from the forests and the sweet smell of the flowers and grass was really heavenly.

 
Yup. I think I like it here.