Switzerland. EXACTLY how you expect it to be. Perfectly prim, punctual and peaceful. We stayed in the village of Murren in the Bernese Oberland region, perched 1/2 a mile straight above the valley below. Straight down. This place was almost unbelievable in it’s beauty. I read after we returned that The Lauterbrunnen valley was the model for J. R. R. Tolkien’s sketches and watercolours of the fictitious valley of Rivendell in Lord of the Rings.  Everything here is so fresh smelling and the waterfalls are just beautiful. We even took a drink from the stream, ridiculously fresh and minerally tasting. mmmmm. We decided to just head on down the hike into Lauterbrunnen valley, and head down, and down, and down and down and down until our feet say NO more down but we have to because we can’t go back up.  We hiked part way up the other side towards Wengen and stopped in a farmers pasture for our lunch. One of the most wonderful things about this area is the constant ringing of the bells that the cows and sheep all wear around their necks – it’s really like living in Heidi. Next we took another gondola up to Gimmelwald – THE most charming village ever to be created, it’s almost like it wasn’t even real, just a movie set. We met a sweet couple who invited us to share their patio view at their bed and breakfast so we sat and chatted with them for a few hours before expolring the rest of the town. Saw the cutest baby jumping goats, got shocked by the electric fence, and headed back to Murren for diner at a Rick Steves recommended place  – so cute and of course expensive and fattening,  just very cozy and dated and wonderful. If ever in Switzerland, I highly recommend a day visit here, and if you’re big into hiking, a few days. It’s just magical…

And thus ends our pictorial journey through our visit to Europe 2011. Planning on taking a year off from European travels in 2012 and stay stateside to see some of the beauty here in the States – though if someone wanted us back there for another wedding I wouldn’t object to strongly 🙂 Christy and I, both being only children and both a WEE bit headstrong, had our doubts about how we’d get along as travel buddies, but it went off without a hitch and the hubbies may get left at home to hold down the fort more often!