Winter is coming to an end, but there is still lots of snow up in the higher mountains. This weekend we spent in Melchsee-Frutt, a mountain resort village at 1920 m above sea level in the Swiss Alps, still covered by 3-4 meters of snow. Technically the Winter season closed this weekend, but it is still ‘Winter Wonderland’ up there. The lakes are covered by snow and ice, and it is beautiful to stroll around in this wonderland. Enjoy!
Melchsee-Frutt
The ‘All Saints Day’ (Nov 1st) is a public holiday for some parts of Switzerland. And because I’m lucky to live in that part and because it could have been one of the last days with excellent hiking conditions, I wanted to hike a trail which has been on my bucket list for a very long time: the ‘Gratwanderweg’ (ridge hike) on the Stoos.
Ridge Walk
It is the time of the year where trees lose their leaves and mushrooms grow on the ground.
Mushrooms
Lucerne Määs
Spent too much time today in the office, leaving it late at night. It is the time of the Lucerne ‘Määs’, captured that picture with reflections on the water. Time to get home and to get some sleep….
Happy Lunaparking 🙂
Title says everything 😉
Sunrise in Lucerne
Picture from this morning at 6:45am. Getting back to work after spending a hiking week in the Dolomites with two more posts to go. Going to work has its own beauty.
Happy Swaning 🙂
This time we were hiking around the Rothenflue: a wonderful area close by the Grosser Mythen, with stunning views.
Gleitschirm über Talkessel von Schwyz
This hike has been on my ‘must-hike’ list since last summer, and when I saw Urška writing about recently, it got definitely on my top list of things. The Oeschinen Lake (German: Oeschinensee) is a beautiful lake in the Bernese Overland, Switzerland, east of Kandersteg, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site:
Oeschinensee view from Heuberg
So we prepared a hiking trip the day before. The weather forecast said “mostly sunny”. Only to find out that the weather was not that great in the morning. Yes, true: Technically the sun is shining, at least above the clouds:
Mostly Sunny? A good day for a hiking tour!
Commuting to work can be boring. I’m gifted that I can use the Swiss train system, and I wrote about the “10 Reasons Why I Love my Train Commute“.
Train at Immensee Station
Brendon asked if I need more reasons. I don’t. But there are indeed three more reasons I can share from my work commute today: Three lakes in three minutes. First Lake Lucerne on the right side, then Lake Zug on the left and finally Lake Lauerz on the right. Enjoy the ride:
Happy Commuting 🙂
I have been busy with too many things, so I apologize: no techy blog post this weekend. But what I can share is a unique wonder of nature encountered during a bike trip today at the end of the Klöntalsee:
Trees growing on a tree (click to enlarge)
I love to commute by train, and I use three different Swiss train companies for my daily work commute to the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences in Horw, near Lucerne. Returning this evening, I enjoyed a beautiful view to the snow-covered mountains from my home destination. I’m lucky, and this is yet another reason why I love my commute:
View from Train Station
Amazing to see what a few sunny and warm days can do in nature:
Spring Awakening
Happy Springing 🙂
Coming out of a project meeting Friday evening, the following wisdom came to my mind:
“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.” – Anonymous
Maybe you remember my recent post “Schwanau on Ice” with walking on the frozen Lake Lauerz? I mentioned in that post that there are natural gas bubbles caught under the ice. There is a long (and dangerous!) tradition to burn that gas. That this is really dangerous shows this a short video going viral on ‘WhatsApp’ today:
Methane Gas Explosion (Source: http://www.20min.ch)
During cold winters the Lake Lauerz gets covered with ice. And if it is cold enough for a few weeks it gets enough ice to have it completely covered more than 15 cm of ice. That’s the time of the year to enjoy a walk or to play ice hokey:
Schwanau mit Mythen
Winter is tough in Switzerland. What could be better than to escape the ground fog and go up the sunny side?
View from Obhäg (Click to enlarge)
View from the Obhäg towards the central Switzerland Alps.
Happy Escaping 🙂
Cold and humid air are forming beautiful sculptures these days. The image shows the leaves of a Japanese Umbrella-Pine (Sciadopitys):
Frosted Sciadopitys Leaves
Happy Frosting 🙂
A benefit getting up early on a Sunday morning is the chance to watch a beautiful sunrise:
Red Morning
Happy Sunday 🙂
A sunrise which reminds me that nature creates the most beautiful pictures:
Mythen Sunrise
Scene created by the Föhn wind moving clouds over the Swiss Alps, and the sun rising behind the Mythen mountains.
Happy Sunrising 🙂
