Grindelwald

Sorry for the picture overload! I couldn't help it—it was too pretty and David takes good pictures :).

On the fourth of July (a Wednesday), we took a train to Interlaken and then drove rental cars through the mountains to Grindelwald. Getting there from Salzburg took us through four countries in just a few hours (Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland), which I loved. If there's anything more gorgeous than a train ride through the Alps, it was being in Grindelwald itself, which I think is probably the most lovely place I've ever been. Breathtaking, really (not in the Seinfeldian sense). Being there felt like being inside one of those wintermint gums with the gel center, which metaphor I cannot explain, but it was refreshing. All that mountain air, you know.

I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves:

Very serious on the train.

Views from the drive.

 Our first glimpse of Grindelwald.

 Street stand selling hunks of melted cheese. Because Switzerland is the greatest.

We spent that night admiring the views and eating delicious gnocchi.

The view from our hotel room's balcony.

On day two, we got up early to go paragliding before it rained. Turns out, paragliding is about the funnest thing in the world. It's like doing only the cool part of skydiving, plus no plane, plus you get to run off a mountain and get lifted into the air. Plus, if you're me, you get to do it all with a cool Swiss guy named Bennie. Points all around.

Phil rode the gondola up with us and snapped some pictures of the view:

 We got to fly over a waterfall and see critters running through the trees.

 View from the gondola.

Eiger.

After paragliding, we headed down to the train station to ride up to Jungfrau, the world's highest train station with the world's greatest views—except when we got to the top, where it was too foggy to see much of anything. The ride alone was worth it, though, and I got to feel like a real Idaho girl because I was wearing shorts and a windbreaker in a blizzard. By "real Idaho girl", I mean tough, not poorly dressed.

 At the top.

Another shorts-wearer!

The station at Jungfrau was basically a big tourist complex filled mostly with gift shops, but also a store that sold really expensive watches and things. Which, whatever, but if you're standing on a nearly 14,000 ft. peak, why would you be watch shopping? 

Our favorite part of the tourism was the ice caves—not just caves with ice in them, but caves carved out of solid ice, complete with lots of sculptures, like a little frozen zoo.

Sea lion face.

More views from the train ride:

The next day, we drove over to Trummelbach, a series of glacier waterfalls that have carved paths through the inside of a mountain. We climbed through tunnels in the mountain to get a look.

Afterward, we hung out in Interlaken for a bit, trying to find a mission bag for Katie, then headed back to Grindelwald for a fondue dinner. Switzerland really knows how to do cheese.

A few more pictures because David's very talented: