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Jungfraujoch
Today, we visited Jungfraujoch, the “Top of Europe,” and the main event of this trip. After breakfast at the Belvedere, we headed out to take the train down to Grindelwald Terminal and caught the Eiger Express up to Eigergletcher. From there, we took the train up to Jungfraujoch. We checked out the beautiful scenery from the Sphinx Terrace and went outside to hike in the snow to Mönchsjochhütte on the southeast side of Mönch. After returning to Jungfraujoch, we visited the Glacier Plateau at the base of Jungfrau before heading back down to Grindelwald to end the day.
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Grindelwald First
After a nice breakfast at the Hotel Belvedere, we walked over to the Grindelwald First gondola and took it up to First. From there, we checked out the scenery from the First View platform and then did the First Cliff Walk. Next, we hiked over to the Bachalpsee, a pair of alpine lakes. From there, we returned to First and took the gondola back down to Grindelwald where we had dinner and ended our day.
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Grindelwald via Interlaken
We woke up early and checked out of the Marriott to begin our trip to Grindelwald. We didn’t have an exact plan as we weren’t sure about the weather conditions. It looked pretty cloudy and unpleasant on the Grindelwald webcams. The weather seemed better around Interlaken so we decided to take the funicular up to Harder Kulm. It was quite nice! We had lunch by the train station afterwards and then took the next train to Grindelwald. Once there, we took the Eiger Express up to Eigergletscher, which was experiencing light snow. We walked around a bit and then took the train down to Lauterbrunnen. We walked around town briefly before returning to Grindelwald by train to end the day.
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Geneva to Yvoire and Nyon on Lac Léman
After an excellent breakfast at the Marriott, we took the tram to Geneva and walked around where the Rhône starts on the western end of Lac Léman. We then caught the next CGN paddle steamer, the Simplon, to Yvoire, France. We had lunch in the small town and walked around a bit before catching a different CGN boat to Nyon, on the northern Swiss side of the Léman. We walked around town for awhile before heading back to Geneva by train to end the day.
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Annecy
After landing at GVA, we checked into the Marriott, dropped off our bags, and headed to Annecy in France. We walked through the Vieille Ville (Old City) and had lunch. Afterwards, we walked through the Jardins de l’Europe before doing the 1.5 hour Grand Lake Cruise of Lac d’Annecy with Compagnie des Bateaux d’Annecy. The weather was getting worse on our way back to town. After disembarking, we returned to the train station to return to Geneva and to end the day.
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Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapple #2 Harvested
We decided to harvest our 2nd Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapple today. Unfortunately, it wasn’t ripe and may not have ripened even if we left it on for longer, though we don’t know for sure.
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From the Trocadero to the Pont Alexandre III
Our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until the late afternoon. So, we had a bit of extra time in the morning. We started out at the Trocadéro by the Eiffel Tower and then took the RER over to the Pont Alexandre III. We walked around the area a bit before heading to a Boulangerie for an early lunch to end our trip.
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Château de Versailles
We headed out in the morning to Versailles on the RER. The Château de Versailles is huge. We were easily able to spend the entire day there without seeing everything. We toured the interior of the main palace as well as two smaller buildings at the Estate of Trianon. We also walked through the extensive gardens behind the palace.
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Vincennes and the Pantheon
We headed out in the morning to see the Château de Vincennes, at the eastern end of Metro line 1. After touring the chapel and castle keep, we had a quick lunch before heading back into Paris to visit the Panthéon. We then went to a nearby crêperie for an early dinner. We ended the day with a visit to Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, the largest department store in Europe.
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The Louvre and Three Historic Churches
We headed out in the morning to visit the Louvre, probably the most famous museum in the world and home of the Mona Lisa. After spending the morning there, we had lunch at a boulangerie and visited Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, a nearby historic church. We continued on to Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest church in Paris. We visited a third church, Saint-Eustache, a church we saw on our first day in Paris. We ended our day with dinner in a restaurant next to the church.
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Here and there but not quite everywhere!