After landing in Zurich, we took the train to Lucerne, arriving early in the evening.  The moon was just setting, and the lights of the city were reflected on the river.

Lucerne is known for its covered bridges.  This one has wooden frescoes every few feet, describing the history of the city.

The next day we took the train via Interlaken to the village of Grindelwald at the base of the Eiger.  This is the view of the Eiger, at sunrise, taken from our hotel room.

This is the village of Grindelwald, as seen from our first day's hike below the north face of the Eiger.  The snow-covered mountain is the Wetterhorn.

We began our hike from Kleine Schiedegg, below the Jungfrau.  The three mountains Eiger, Monche, and Jungfrau translate to Ogre, Monk, and Maiden.

The intense blue color of these wildflowers demanded that we take their picture!

The first day's walk took us below the Eigerwand, the steepest and highest rock face in the Alps.  The red line shows the approximate route for the challenging climb.

The hamlet of Kleine Scheidegg, seen from our hike.  The next day we hiked the trail indicated in red.  We particularly like the fact that the trails are marked in hours, not miles.

This goat gave a new meaning to the concept of a kid playing in a sandbox.

On Wednesday night, the Grindelwald locals present an evening of folklore.  This group of yodelers is made up of butchers, train conductors, and hotel receptionists, among others.  Note the Japanese translator at left - there are lots of Japanese tourists here.

These Alpenhorns are amazing - loud and capable of making many notes just by the blowing technique.  After these fellows played, they asked for volunteers from the audience to try, and the volunteers did very well!

Play an accordion - go to jail.

In the tiny, auto-free village of Murren we walked past chalets like this.  Almost every building has window-boxes with flowers.

These are the local electric trains.  The ones that climb the mountains run on cogs that prevent slipping on the steep grades.

From Murren, we looked across the valley to the village on Wengen.  We took the trains over to Wengen, then a ski-lift up to the ridge, and walked back to Kleine Schiedegg.