Jungfrau

Last Saturday, as soon as we arrived in Lauterbrunnen we headed straight for the top of Jungfrau.  Jungfrau is one of the main mountains in the Berner Oberland region.  Once we reached the top, we ate the genuine Swiss lunch that we packed with us.

In the background is the largest glacier in Europe, around 11 miles long and a lot more mountains.  Jungfrau is a great big pile of rock that overlooks the valley that we stayed in.  You can see in the next pictures the valley floor and the TOPS of the clouds.

If you know me(Eric) at all, then you know that I was freaking out on the observation tower as we were on a small peak that was 100 feet above the ridge and the ridge was 10000 feet above the valley floor.  Slight case of acrophobia plus Jungfrau equals me being nervous the whole dang time.  The next picture is a case of the observation tower from the glacier side.  See, its really tall!

We then decided that it would be a good idea to take a "45 minute" "easy walk" up to a hut that basically acts as a base for adventure sports people.  I use quotes for several reasons:
1.  It wasn't 45 minutes
2.  It wasn't easy

The reasons for the difficulty can be summed up in another list:
1.  There was lots of snow on the ground and Melissa was wearing shoes with little tread
2.  We were at 14000 feet.  This lead to us being light-headed and tired the whole way up.
3.  It was uphill the whole way.

In summary, we walked uphill, in centuries worth of snow, basically barefoot.  This turned  out to be a not-so-fantastic idea.  We got to the hut and collapsed on the table.  On the way back, with a little bit of rest, we were able to enjoy the surroundings thoroughly.

Next blog post: best day of hiking ever!

Berner Oberland Teaser

Ok, so it's getting late here and I want to say sooooo much about the perfect weekend that we just had in Berner Oberland region.  However, I (Eric) took approximately a bajillion pictures and I need to edit them down and just pic the best few to post.  But for now here are a few pictures to satisfy your unquenchable curiosity :)

The first two pictures are from the train ride to Lauterbrunnen (where we stayed).  The last picture is on the way up to Jungfrau (tall mountain).

Out Thursday Evening

Ok, sorry there haven't been any posts in a few days, but Melissa and I spontaneously took a weekend trip to the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland.  The area is pretty much the quintessential Swiss Alps region.  We were pretty excited because the weather was forecast to be perfect.

So let me say a few things about last Thursday evening before moving on.  We went on a bike ride down to Lake Lucerne just so I (Eric) could get out of the apartment.  There is a small group of sheep on one of the hillsides leading down to the lake and they love to run up to you and beg for food.  (Literally run, Melissa and I both started backing away from the fence they were running with such fervor.) 

The next picture is a view across the lake to an authentic (of course) Swiss town and authentic (of course) Swiss mountain:)

Lastly, one of my favorite deserts is called Linzertorte.  It's a pastry made with an almond dough and the filling is basically a raspberry jam.  So, think almond cookie with the jam from a jelly doughnut.  Yeah, pretty much heaven on a plate.

Melissa's first day at work

This is Melissa speaking, since Eric didn't want to take dictation about my first day of work at EAWAG.

It was a good day, and I'm very tired. The people are extremely friendly, which was surprising to me since everybody told me that the Swiss are reserved.  My new bosses Johny and Michi (short for Michael) are so effusive that they could be Italian if they had different accents; they are great.  Johny is actually Dr. Alfred Wuest, a world-class scientist and physicist in the area of surface water bodies.  Michi is the technician for his research group, which means he is brilliant and knows how to use/fix just about any equipment used for water research. 

I met many, many people today with all sorts of accents (including American), and it will be a challenge tomorrow to remember names.  I've only been here 1 day and I'm already a member of a biking team for the national Swiss Bike to Work Day event, and of a "cooking group" - 5 people who take turns cooking lunch for the other 4, which will be interesting since the grocery stores most decidedly do NOT have English subtitles on anything.  Any easy suggestions for stovetop cooking for 5?

Everybody kept apologizing for my desk being in the library, but it's awesome - my desk is enormous, I have a computer and a friendly IT guy next door, and a huge window overlooking a vineyard.  Really.  Across the road is the lake and a beach, where apparently everyone goes swimming (!) in the summer over their lunch breaks.  Also, there is an espresso machine in the cafeteria.  Life is good, even if I do still feel very self-conscious about communicating with people and plunging into large groups of strangers. 

Everybody technically speaks English, but it's still not super easy most of the time - Switzerland has 3 languages (German, French, & Italian) and none of them is English, so conversation is still stilted with most people.  Actually, though, the least friendly people I met today were two Americans, so I'll work on getting better at understanding people's accents & idioms.

I don't have any pictures yet, other than the one they took of me and e-mailed to EVERYBODY in a Welcome to EAWAG, Melissa! message.  These people are hardcore about welcoming.

I feel a little underwater as far as my research - I have a lot to learn, fast.  But I also have a regulated schedule and nice environment to read papers.  Johny kept telling me today to ask people questions, but I don't even know what questions to ask yet.  I suppose I'll get there - Johny gave me two textbooks and about 10 papers today to read, so my work is cut out for me.  The resources this institute has at its disposal are awesome, so I need to take as much advantage as I can of their excellent libraries and abundant experimental equipment.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the bike ride to/from work.  It's seriously breathtaking, along the shore of Lake Lucerne the whole way with Mt. Pilatus on the other side.  I'll post pictures sometime soon, I promise.  OK goodnight, I am tired - post your questions about anything you want to see/hear about.

first day = jet lag

So, we are VERY VERY tired. Melissa an I went to bed in Florida about 36 hours ago and basically haven't slept any of that time. Ok, so maybe I (Eric) have gotten 5 hours of sleep and Melissa got 7, but that's not a whole lot for a couple of bums that usually sleep 10 hours a night.

There has definately been a bit of culture shock since we arrived in Lucern. For instance, did you know that not everyone speaks english? Also, the signs are in German. This was most evident when Melissa and I went to the grocery store. We didn't even check out correctly so I'm pretty sure that the cashier was ticked at us. Then, as we went to exit, there was a door marked with a green handle and a picture of a stick figure turning the handle and walking out the door. Apparently, green handles are there to identify emergency exits. So the alarm went off, the harried cashier had to call her manager to shut off the alarm, the locals were swearing under their breaths about the idiots that opened the door, and we swore never to go to that grocery store ever again.

We will share more photos about the town of Horw (the town that we're actually staying in) in the days to come, but we're dead tired and pretty much just want to crash. In the mean time, the mountain in the pictures is Mount Pilatus and we can see it outside of our window:) Other scenery is random Swiss countryside photos from the train.

Final Preparations

During our final weekend in the US, we were in Lecanto visiting my parents. During this time, we needed to get a few last-minute things done. These things included teaching our dog, Mundo, to swim and getting our hair done.

All Packed Up

Well, we've pretty much finished cleaning the apartment and packing our stuff. As you can see from the pictures, our suitcases are full to the brim. It is astounding how much of our lives can be condensed into a suitcase and a backpack, kind of depressing really...

Melissa and I are both getting really excited. In less than a week, we will be in Luzern trying to get over the jet-lag. Also, In just about two days, we'll be in sunny Florida hanging out with the Stewart clan :)