GORGEOUS SWISS ALPS

Murren and Schilthorn

Another day in Switzerland we took a train to Lauterbrenner to pick up a delightful hiking trail to Murren. It was a cool cloudy day so about half way we stopped at a new restaurant for a famous hot Swiss chocolate.

Murren is a quaint little village at an altitude of 5390-feet and situated at the edge of a cliff with a sheer 600-meter drop-off. Monks founded Murren in 1133. Between 1849-1914 the Grand Hotel operated a horse-drawn railway transport system and it was the only way in or out of town.  The village remains car-free today. Murren means many fountains. We passed many of the 72 waterfalls in the area including one that was 1170-feet high.

We were dubious about the weather as we approached the cable car station. Would it be misty and fogged in at 10,000 feet?  The station had a TV monitor which relayed pictures from cameras at the top of Schilthorn. The TV indicated it was clear, so we hurried to get our tickets for the cable ride up. At 8783-feet we  changed cars at a platform station for the rest of the upward ride.

When we broke through the clouds we feasted on breathtaking views of the Alps. At the top we could see 200 peaks!. It was so clear! We walked around the 360-degree viewing platform, took pictures and couldn't stop exclaiming about the amazing beauty that lay before our eyes. My windbreaker jacket was all I needed as it really was not very cold on top.

Eventually we found our way to Piz Gloria, the revolving restaurant, for lunch. The James Bond movie In her Secret Service was filmed here in the late 1960s. The restaurant was built in in 1967.

We had a good meal at a surprisingly reasonable price. We by-passed the gift shop and simply absorbed the incredible beauty before us. Just as we were ready to catch the cable car down to Murren clouds started to roll in and when we reached the bottom the TV showed the entire area completely fogged in. How lucky could we be!

A LESS POPULAR PART OF COPENHAGEN

Copenhagen's University District and Latin Quarter

          At the end of my Danish biking trip we spent a couple of delightful days in its capital, Copenhagen. As we headed toward  the university during a walking tour of the city  the guide told us, “In 1801 Denmark had the second largest navy in the world and Lord Nelson wanted it. Denmark said, ‘No’, so in 1807 he returned to bomb the church and much of the city including the university and library. The old university buildings that survived date back to the 1400s.”

            The Latin Quarter, an area near the university is where priests and professors once lived. It is so named for the Latin scholars, not the Latin people. Today many of these 1600s buildings are used as college dorms . Most are built as a square with a small driveway on one side leading into a center courtyard.

King Christian IV built a large round tower in the Latin Quarter. One can walk to the observatory at the top for a magnificent view of the city. Gold letters on the side in Latin, Hebrew, and Danish translate to: ‘lead the crown into wisdom and justice’.

Our walking tour ended at the Amelienborg Palace where there is a large bronze equestrian statue of King Fredrik in the center of the courtyard. The statue took 22 years to make and a year and a half to put in place. It also cost three times that of the palace and took 23 days to bronze!

The guide continued, “This palace was built in 1748 by order of the king, originally for four wealthy and influential businessmen. The architect made the exterior of all four buildings the same; however, the interior of each has been individualized. After the previous palace burned, a little arm twisting took place, and the whole compound was given to the royal family.

"The royal family has occupied the palace since the 1700s.      Queen Margrethe lives in the mansion on the right and the prince occupies the adjoining one. The Queen Mother lives in the next one and the fourth is used for important official occasions.”

The palace square is large enough to hold 35-40,000 people. We were fortunate enough to be winding down our city tour at the palace just minutes before the changing of the guard. It was a pretty impressive ceremony. I was lucky enough to watch the changing of the guard a second time on another trip to Denmark.