Switzerland

I’ve been saving this one because Switzerland is my favorite place on Earth, which means I have a lot to talk about! As I believe I’ve established time and time again, I love mountains, and there are very few mountain ranges in the world that can top the grandeur and majesty of the Alps. When my family traveled to Switzerland, our destination was Wengen, which sits at the top of a mountain overlooking the Lauterbrunnen Valley. In order to make it to such an elevation, we had to leave our tour bus in the valley below and take a cog railway up the steep climb to the top. I wish I could paint a more vivid picture in my head of the view from the cog railway station in Wengen overlooking the valley, because I could have spent hours gazing across the valley at the distant mountains shrouded by fog and the white streaks on their sides that were rivers and waterfalls. I took many pictures while we were there, but a picture doesn’t even come close to capturing the beauty and scale of the mountains. While we were in Wengen, we were so high up that our hotel room windows would become periodically enveloped by clouds, reducing visibility to almost zero while the cloud passed through the town. We joked about reaching out of the window to touch the clouds, wondering how many people could use that claim to fame! As if the view from Wengen wasn’t enough, we took another train up to the highest point in Europe, Jungfraujoch. Although much of the train ride occurred inside a tunnel, there were stops along the way at viewing areas that offered stunning looks at snowy mountain vistas. When we made it to the top of Europe, it was unfortunately quite cloudy, and we were unable to see the incredible view that can be seen from the observing desk. While the views may have been a little disappointing, the observatory had other exhibits to enjoy. Underneath the main building is a series of ice tunnels with ice sculptures inside them. The ice stays preserved perfectly due to the colder temperatures, allowing people to walk around without ruining the tunnels. Back down at ground level, we explored the impressive and powerful Trümmelbach Falls, guarded from its wild spray by ponchos and raincoats. The water of Trümmelbach Falls has carved its way through the inside of a mountain over the ages, and the result is a wild and turbulent multi-level underground waterfall that is deafening as it pounds across the rocks and sends spray flying back onto the observer platforms. If I were to choose another place in the world to live, it would be in the Swiss Alps. As a lover of mountains, I can never get enough of the views that the Alps have to offer, and I would travel there again and again in a heartbeat.