Côte d'Azur / French Riviera Birthday Trip!

We've been in Nice for the last few days celebrating my Golden Birthday - Dave had never heard of it, so maybe it is a Chicago thing.  A Golden Birthday is the birthday you turn the age of your birth day - in my case, I turned 27 on August 27th.  

One huge advantage to living here is the (very) inexpensive travel on easyjet, which has a hub in Geneva.  We definitely take advantage of this and I believe our tickets to Nice were about 70 USD round trip.  Dave and I spent a long weekend SCUBA diving, eating seafood, drinking rosé and sunning on the beach.  It was wonderful.  The Mediterranean is gorgeous, and much warmer in August than in June, when we went to a different part of the French Riviera (Cassis) for Dave's birthday.   This is the beach in Nice!  It is rocky, not sandy so you have to make sure you lay your towel on non-pointy rocks.  Or, rent a beach chair for the day.  The weather there is fabulous, and the SCUBA diving was beautiful.  Dave is the best husband and gave me the most amazing birthday ever! 

The North Face of the Eiger

A few months back Kat and I saw a Hans Steiner photography exhibit at the Musée Élysée in Lausanne.  Some of the images that most captured my imagination were of the first ascent of the North face of the Eiger, a mountain peak in the Berner Oberland, in 1938.  After that we saw a video of a crazy Swiss man speed climbing the same route - with no ropes! Long story short I was excited to see the Eiger, and especially the North face.  It did not disappoint.  The Monch is beautiful, and the Jungfrau is massive, but my favorite was the Eiger.  It is a jagged diamond looming thousands of vertical feet above fields full of grazing cows.  The gentle ringing of the cowbells contrasts the severity of the rock face.  We didn't attempt the climb, on which climbers die nearly every year, and opted instead for a long rambling hike along the face of the three peaks.  The views were spectacular, like this one, with the Eiger on the left and the Monch on the right.

A surprise party and more Berner Oberland!

My post is a bit late tonight because I have awesome friends!  Every week a few of us have a wine and dinner night where we get together, eat, and taste yummy wines.  Today, I read a bit about the Loire since Sarah was planning on talking about Muscadet.  However, I had a huge shock when D and I walked into their apartment and a bunch of our friends jumped out!  Sarah and Dave had planned a surprise party for my birthday!  Dave said I looked terrified and then very happy.  I promptly burst into tears because apparently that is what I do when I am happy.  Everyone brought delicious food and Sarah made red velvet cupcakes, my absolute favorite!  I am very blessed to have such fabulous, fantastic friends.  The 27th of August is my actual birthday, and this year, my golden birthday.  So, Dave and I are flying down to Nice on Saturday for our last SCUBA dives of the summer.  If this is how my late twenties is going to be, I'm (surprisingly) excited to see what this year has in store for me! 


And now onto more photo(s) of the beautiful Berner Oberland region...


We hiked from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg and had some amazing views on the way.  In the middle of the hike, our path opened up to an open field area with benches and springy grass to sit.  We had a picnic with great views of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. 

Our group at the most picturesque picnic spot in Switzerland.  

Requisite kissy photo, puke if you must.  :) 

When we made it just about to Kleine Scheidegg, we saw the first hint of civilization again - a restaurant that served cold beer for the guys and ice cream and 7 up for the girls.  It was a welcome treat!  

La vache meugle

A little while (and by a little while I mean last year) I wrote about the Desalpes festival where the cows parade down the mountain wearing giant flower headdresses and huge cow bells.  This is what the cows do right before they get paraded through town.  In the summer, cows go on vacation to the top of the Jura and the Alps to eat sweet Alpen grass.  These high elevation stables are called 'alps' - for instance, we hiked to Bigenalp.  The cows stay up in the alps for about 100 days and farmers hire people to care for and milk the cows, and of course make the cheese.  Each alp also has pigs.   The cheesemaking leaves gross leftovers which could damage the ecosystem.   The pigs eat the gross leftovers of the cheesemaking process.  


According to the locals + guidebooks, the cows really do have legal rights in Switzerland (for instance in the winter they have to be taken out for exercise a certain number of times per week).  It's really wonderful to see these big animals roaming about.  Plus they are really cute and make delicious cheese.  


We took a cable car from Wegner to Mannlichen and when we got out one of the first things we heard were cow bells.  We walked out of the lift station and there were cows roaming amongst a beautiful backdrop.  It was really amazing how far the cowbell sound travels.  We now understand why cow bells are a necessity - cows can get very lost in the vast valley and the sound really carries!  

Yes this place is real

Lauterbrunnen valley is ridiculously gorgeous.   Looking back at the photos, I had a hard time choosing which one to use.  We took a train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and then a cog railway to the town where this photo was taken - Wengen.  This town famously has no cars and one must ride the railway to get up there.  I assume locals are allowed cars but didn't see a single one while we were there.  The ride up to Wengen was amazing and picturesque and this view was worth every franc.  We were crammed in like cattle, but in Switzerland cows have rights too...but more on that later.  


On the left is the Jungfrau and on the right is the village of Lauterbrunnen and Staubbach Falls (300 m tall).  

Switzerland is gorgeous.

Um, I see my last post was on 5 February...oops.  I think my issue is the amount of time it takes to write a post and get the photos, resize them, etc.   Instead I've decided to post a photo a day.  So my next few posts will be from a trip we took yesterday to the Berner Oberland.

  
We traveled 3 and a half hours and we took trams, about 12 trains, a cog railway, and a gondola.  This place is ridiculously amazing.  We hiked from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg then to Bigenalp and down to Wengenalp.  It was absolutely stunning.  

Sarah and I are excited to see the Monch (on the left) and the Jungfrau (on the right).  This is the beginning of our hike to Bigenalp.  We had a great day of hiking and picnicking with amazing views.