Grindelwald

Our home base at the Hotel Derby just steps from the train station (literally, you walk around the train and into the hotel foyer), gave us beautiful, unobscured views of the Eiger mountain and valley from our room. Our first day was spent hiking from the town center to First, a four and half mile hike gaining over 4,000 feet of elevation at a nearly steady 20% grade. Most folks take the gondolas up and arrive in 30 minutes but they miss the interaction with the dairy cows, the farmers tending to them, the smell of cow pasture...

Our second hike to Pfingstegg started from the town center through the beautiful Swiss chalets and up through varying terrain for two miles and 1,500 feet of elevation gain (starting at about 3,000 feet). The only hike without a panorama view, the solitude of being alone without even animals, and the variety of terrain on this mountain hike are what made this so worthwhile. The trip down during sunset was through the regular hill path, but with a steady 20% grade- hiking poles a necessity to absorb the shock to the legs going downhill.

On the last day here we got to enjoy a local tradition of a cow 'beauty' contest. In the early morning the cows were lead down from the hills to the town center (cow bell = alarm clock) where they were judged, the best awarded a very large cow bell and all given floral crowns (très chic).

Bonus: cheap beer, crystal clear blue water of the Thunersee, cow selfies