Hiking Lite

I call it Hiking Lite because you take a funicular halfway up. You can take your backpack, your stroller, your grandpa in a wheelchair, or whatever else you can think of,...

Because this paved road runs all the way across to where you catch a gondola to go down.  You think you're really somewhere remote until you almost get run over by a resident farmer (or restaurant employee) in a Volkswagen. 

These road signs for hikers are all over Switzerland, with distances given in hours. For example, that peak might be three hours. The peaks are the Seven Sisters and they all have names and trails. 

We went the other way, because my Swiss friend said to go east. She had a stroller and we did not. You can see where alpine meadow changes to Alpine Forest. It seems like the trail might disappear. 

We stopped on a crumbly farm wall to eat. 

This is not a frisbee but rather a six pack of ready-made hard-boiled eggs.  They are always decorated to distinguish them from raw eggs. You buy a tube of mustard to go with it that comes in the same kind of metal tube as foot cream.  I have to say the tube packaging is very handy for picnics. 

That is Tristan gazing up at the spectacularly tall pine tree. 

I wanted a picture of the cheerful yellow flower and awning, but what really strikes me is how beefy my husband is. My Spanish friend joked that one of Troy's arms is bigger than her husband's leg. 

     At the bottom, after the ride down on the chairlift, your ticket includes a bus ride back to the carpark. This is my kind of hiking, Hiking Lite.