Switzerland!

To celebrate last Monday's bank holiday, we took a weekend trip and went hiking in the Swiss Alps.  I was initially hesitant about this plan because I suspected that I was not, in fact, a hiker.  Let's just say that this trip pretty well confirmed those suspicions!  On the way up, I was convinced I wouldn't make it, but I was glad I did so that I could see views like this:

We stayed overnight in a cabin (hut) on the mountain.  I was treated to a full Swiss experience-a dinner of raclette (melted cheese that you mix with various sides-potatoes, gherkins, pearl onions & tomatoes).  The hut owner (an older Swiss-German guy) seemed to take a shine to me (despite the language barrier!) and made sure my portions were ample. 

I enjoyed the second day of hiking much more-on the way down. We took a different route down and I loved walking through the valley, seeing the awesomeness of the Alps towering above me. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to adequately capture it, but here's my attempt:

This is part of the village of Fiesch, where we started & ended our hike:

We decided to drive to Bettmeralp, where we could take the gondolas (cable cars) to get near Aletsch Glacier, the longest glacier in Europe.

The Aletsch Glacier:

The view from Bettmeralp.  The Matterhorn is the thin, squarish peak near the middle.