Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

♦ April 16, 2013 ♦ Leave a comment

Day three was one of our longest driving days of the tour. We left Paris about 9:30am to begin the long drive to Engelberg, Switzerland. We crossed the Swiss border late that afternoon, driving through some scenic country side including snow covered mountains before driving up the mountains and arriving in Engelberg at 7:30. Our accommodation was the Ski Lodge, Engelberg which was a cozy little hotel spread over two buildings. Our room was quite spacious and we also had a balcony which was strangely located off our bathroom. The hotel also had a restaurant and a bar, so after putting our luggage in our rooms, we headed downstairs for a dinner of some typical Swiss food including cheese fondue.

For our full day in Switzerland we had several options of how we could spend our day. Some people started their day off going skydiving which was definitely not for me. Others decided to catch the train into the nearby town of Lucern or just wander around Engleberg. The rest of us (including some of the people who went skydiving) decided to head up Mt Titlis for a day in the snow.

After breakfast we rugged up in our layers of clothing (thermals included) and set off from the hotel for a short walk to the base of Mt Titlis where we caught a cable car and two gondolas (including a revolving gondola!) up the mountain. As it was my first time seeing snow I was rather excited and the views from the gondolas were amazing. But the view was even more spectacular once we reached the top to the mountain and were completely surrounded by snow-capped mountains. The temperature at the top of the mountain was only 2 degrees but the sun was shining and we were rugged up so it wasn’t too bad. Jess and I wandered around taking photos of the breathtaking scenery and played around in the snow for a while – something neither of us had ever done. Jess tried making snowballs although the snow kept getting stuck to her gloves which was funny.

After playing outside for a while, we headed back inside and down into the glacier cave. The entire cave is 150m but parts of the cave were under renovations when we were there. The air temp inside is maintained at -1 to -1.5 degrees celcius constantly to ensure the ice doesn’t melt. Along with the ice walls, there are also a few ice sculptures in the cave including a ‘brick’ wall and a dog’s head.

We headed back inside and bought a drink and a couple of souvenirs before catching the rotating gondola down to the next station. There we sat down and had some food while watching some people skiing. After a little while we headed down to the next station and wandered around there for a little bit before I decided to make a snowman. It was harder than I thought it would be but I managed to make a mini snowman. After I’d finished and took a couple of photos with him, I relocated him to the top of a snow pile beside a building.

We then decided to head back down the mountain back to Engelberg. Instead of catching the cable car to the bottom of the mountain, we caught a gondola back down. Unlike the other gondolas we’d caught that day which would fit many people, with most people standing up, this one was smaller with two bench seats opposite each other. Once we got down the bottom of the mountain, we decided to head back to the hotel first to change before heading out to find some food. We headed to the local supermarket to buy a late lunch as well some Swiss chocolate before wandering around town for a little while. We then headed back to the hotel and relaxed in our room until dinner, which was outside tonight with more traditional Swiss food.

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