BOX 154: Switzerland again.

This was our view from a train that started in the valley below and wound its way up toward the glacier of the Jungfrau Mountain in central Switzerland. I think we switched trains to a narrower gauge railway as we ascended, but the views were stunning during the whole ride. This was my second visit to Switzerland thanks to the invitation of my Zuricher friend Heinz. It was the first leg of a 1984 trip that would continue on to Northern Italy, Southern France and England.

In the weeks preceding the trip I visited my family in Cleveland. My mother had moved to a townhouse in the suburb of Brecksville, and her back patio is where the following pictures were taken of my new nephew, Ellen's son, Jay:

I flew from Cleveland to Zurich to meet up with Heinz. I didn't take any photos of Zurich itself this time (for those, see BOXES 88-89 from a decade earlier), but my slide boxes

offer a record of some of the excursions from the city we took. I don't remember where or why I took this photo of a fountain (or horse-watering trough), but it does show the beautiful weather we had during my whole stay (in early July, I think). I can, however, identify the next photos, taken when we drove north to the Rhine River and the twin towns of Feuerthalen and Schaffhausen, on opposite banks of the river. First you see Feuerthalen from the other side of the Rhine, with its fortress called the Munot to the left.

We visited the Munot, with its imposing foundations. I'll include one photo that's out of focus but gives a view from the inside:

The view looking down on the Rhine from the fortress is especially attractive:

Not far from this location, in the town of Oberstammheim, is a handsome building dating from the 1680s. It's currently a "guest house" Zum Hirschen (At the Stag's).

But I can't tell you where I took this photo of a country church:

It was possibly part of the excursion we took to the Emmental (between Bern and Luzern but a little south). At one point we stopped to look at a farmhouse that was actually a house and barn combined: the barn was the second floor of the lodging, entered from the slope of the hill where the farm was located. The owner noticed Heinz taking photos of the exterior, and graciously invited us inside to see the house (with some furnishings dating back to the 18th Century, if I'm remembering correctly; the rooms were spare and handsome, with a not-too-unpleasant farmyard aroma), and around up to the barn as well. I didn't take any interior photos, but I do have these of the exterior:

Somewhere else in the Emmental I took a couple of photos of a very noteworthy country house:

One road took us over a covered bridge. The barn to the right has the distinctive Emmental roof:

We stayed overnight at a historic hotel far up the narrowing valley of the River Emme: the Kemmeriboden-Bad Hotel.

The hotel's restaurant was and (I see from the Internet) still is famous for its meringue dessert:

I'm not even a fan of meringue, but this was quite memorable, with the crunchy meringue topped by locally-sourced whipped cream and maybe vanilla ice cream in the middle. At one point we took a hike up the valley, where I took this photo of Heinz, possibly at a point where the trail ended:

The cliffs above the valley were striking, as you see in the next photos:

After leaving the Emmental we drove toward the Jungfrau for our train(s) up to the glacier. I'll let the following pictures taken from the car and train speak for themselves:

We may have changed trains at the base of the Eiger, with its famous sheer cliff face and historic hotel, where I took the next photo:

Next, the train took us into a snowy region (on a warm day in July):

The train went through a tunnel before letting us out near the platforms for viewing the glacier. Here is the train we'd ridden:

I took quite a few photos of the awesome spectacle of the glacier. Here is my first sight of it:

In the next shots we're looking down at people not far from a vast crevice, then out at the glacier and at the surrounding heights:

Here is Heinz gesturing, and a shot of me looking down:

I took several more photos from the platform:

On the way back to the train we passed a waterfall of melting glacier water:

And here we are back in the valley:

At one point we had a glimpse of the moon above the mountains (sorry the focus is too soft):

The last photo I have of my '84 Swiss visit is of a narrow valley, maybe taken from Heinz's car when we went over a bridge, but I couldn't really say:

From Zurich I took a train to Milan, where the plan was to meet my friend Max on the steps of the famous Cathedral. I'll report on Milan and other Italian places in my next post.