More Scenes From Around Switzerland

As I noted before, in posts from Sept. 16-17th, Switzerland is much more than the Alps, which I do admit are its main calling card and visitor draw. But there is so much more there that even a million images can't capture it all- though I hope the few posted here make a start - for those interested.

One of the first places we visited was the remarkable Rhinefall in NE Switzerland, as shown in this photo with a tourist boat coming within view:

The Rhinefall in NE Switzerland near the German border.

The Rhinefall is near the Bodensee, also called "Lake Konstanz" or Lake Constance, and not far from the Swiss border with Germany. Indeed, the German city of Konstanz was our next stop and the photo below shows yours truly with the town profile in the background - taken from the roof of our hotel restaurant. (Before hitting Konstanz we drove through Schaffhausen which was accidentally bombed by the Allies - the only Swiss locale- during WWII).

At Konstanz, Germany with the city skyline in the background.

Amazingly, we drove from Switzerland right across the German border without having to show any passports or ID. In fact, as our guide Rolf informed us - and which was abundantly evident - the passport control building was vacant today - a Sunday.

After our treks across NE Switzerland including Appenzell and St. Gallen, we eventually ended up in the Jungfrau region and the Wengen area - where we stayed for 11 days. The scene below shows the area taken from a hill leading to our hotel:

Scene near Wengen where we stayed for 11 days.

The hotel is shown here, as we approach it along a steep hill, after returning from a hike in the Lautebrunnen Valley:

Our hotel in Wengen, Our room was on the 1st floor at the extreme right end.


Speaking of Lautebrunnen, one of the foremost sights there is the Trimmelbach Falls which is shown below, again with yours truly in the foreground:

The Trimmelbach Falls in Lautebrunnen. We hiked there one Sunday.

Of course, a big part, perhaps the biggest, of going to Switzerland, is making long hikes. One of our most intense and enjoyable was a hike from Mannlichen down to Kleine Scheidegg which lasted over two hours.  About midway through the hike I am shown below:

On the trail (a 'white-red-white'  or difficult designation) headed to Kleine Scheidegg

Yep, you can really, really get exhausted on these long hikes, but the views of the mountain backgrounds along the way provides a strong incentive to keep on keeping on!