Lauterbrunnen Valley

Another free day today, this time in the Lauterbrunnen valley of Switzerland, where back in 1969, a James Bond movie was filmed (In Her Majesty's Secret Service).  I will have to make a point of seeing it again when I get home since I have seen the scenic backdrops that were used.  They are spectacular, by the way.  The first 2 photos today are from my walk through the valley: there are spectacular waterfalls everywhere you look and the Alps are breathtaking.

I started my day off at 7:30 am, hoofing it to the gondola station about 15 minutes from my hotel.  I made the 2nd ride of the day, arriving at Schilthorn, elevation 9700 feet, at about 8:30 am, beating the clouds by about a half hour.  By 9:00 there wasn't much to see, except for the 007 stuff,which was cool, and by 10:15 or so I headed back down the mountain.  There were 4 separate gondola rides each way and on the way down I stopped off at all the stations to take different angles of the mountains.  Once at the bottom, I caught a bus into Lauterbrunnen where I had lunch followed by chocolate cake and hot chocolate and bought a new Swiss Army knife (with a green handle--the only place you can get them is here in Switzerland, and I had the handle of mine engraved with my name).

Afterwards I headed back to my hotel on foot, a walk of about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Arriving back here, hot sweaty and tired I rinsed off in the shower and took a welcome nap.  A wonderful dinner followed along with some drinks with the members of our group.  Hub (our driver) also had some Belgian beer he shared with a few of
us, so that was my nightcap.

Incidentally, the three peaks you see in the picture above are Eiger (ogre), Munch (monk), and Jongfrau (young maiden).  According to folklore, the monk is guarding the young maiden from the ogre.  Anyway, that's all for tonight.  Gutten nacht.