Pinarello, a Waterfall, and the Swiss Alps

After we left Venice, we drove north through Italy in search of the Pinarello factory, a bike manufacturer that makes the pinnacle of racing cycles. Rob really wanted to see the place and maybe even sit on some bikes. Before we went to the store, we stopped in for a cappuccino.

It's the first place on the trip we saw snow!

Well, we found the store! But it was closed...

Then we drove through the town Bergamo on the outskirts of Milan and se stopped there for lunch.

My lunch! A cheese and veggie sub, accompanied by a bottled water.

On our way up through Italy and into Switzerland, we saw this several times:

This is called rime ice, and it's what happens when fog freezes on trees. You can see the exact height on the mountain where the fog settled and then froze.
After navigating Leigh (our driver for this leg of the trip) around the winding roads and hairpin turns of the Swiss Alps, I saw this up ahead, signaling that we had reached our hostel for the night!

This beautiful waterfall was a stone's throw away from our hostel (see below).

This is the view from the hostel: a short shopping street with all the winter gear a skier, snowboarder, or adventurist would need for having a wonderful time in these beautiful mountains.

Once we got settled in, we went out in search of food which wasn't too hard to find. The building had an ibex at the front of it!

The decor was VERY lodge-like and was very authentic to the area.

I ordered a tomato soup which came with a thick bread, a creamy foam, and chives.

I also ordered my favorite hot beverage, hot chocolate. In Switzerland, their versions are called Ovalmaltine and Caotina. Ovalmaltine, which is what I got tonight is a very mild chocolate-y milk drink made with very hot milk and the fine chocolate drink powder in the packet. The powder dissolved quickly, I gave it a stir, and then drank it like a European: with two hands. :-)

And then it was morning! This was the first time we saw snow actually falling! It was a very pleasant way to wake up at the hostel. This is the last stop for a few of the trains that travel in the region. Where we stayed is a resort and residential town where local and international travelers come to ski in the winter or hike in warm weather.

In the morning, two of us travelers went to the local co-op to buy some food for us to make breakfast. We had full reign of the kitchen so we made eggs, bacon, bread and cheese plate, and veggies.

I made hard-cooked eggs for myself:

Another beautiful view:

We went for a little walk after breakfast and I saw this in one of the outerwear store. It reminded me of a cute Pinterest idea: feathers and a tiny snip of feather boa, and voila! Wings!

We saw this type of tree, a knobby sycamore all over Europe. Read this one writer's account of why the trees look this way.

This fountain was right outside one of the shops.

The waterfall in the daylight. Very "Land-Before-Time"y.

Hello from the Grindelwald!

Rob making a snowball

Driving to the Jungfrau region:

This is the section of the Alps range where the movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was filmed.

We bought lift tickets for 75 Swiss Francs and got on the next cable car up the mountain which was filled with skiiers, BASE jumpers and families on vacation.

A sign in one of the transfer cable car stations. So excited!

View from the cable car (VIDEO)

Another video

One more!

It was 1 degree! (Celsius)

As we went up the mountainside, I watched the altimeter swing around the dial.

View from the 4th stop - the top of the Schilthorn!

A panoramic view (VIDEO)

This is the Eiger

Rob and Leigh, bundled up

Some more views from the top of the Schilthorn mountain:

Hey! It's James Bond! #bondselfie

The obligatory jumping pics:

This is the rotating restaurant (Piz Gloria) on top of the Schilthorn:

We took our free, self-guided tour of the James Bond museum. Inside was an interactive exhibit with props from the movie. Below, Christine (right) and Andrew (hiding in the corner on the left) pose with finger "guns." :-)

This was a touch-screen table - by touching or moving one of the images, a movie or document opened that gave you more information about that prop or photo.

This is the villain's emblem:

Stuck my face in a photo from the movie!

Bobsled "ride"!

VIDEO: Bobsled ride

The rotation restaurant at Piz Gloria:

VIDEO: The speed of the rotating restaurant:

Watch the Battle at Piz Gloria scene from the movie! They had this and the chase scene at the end of the movie on loop in the waiting area for the cable car.

This is the food I had at the restaurant:

Apple strudel (apfel streudel) with vanilla sauce and Caotina, Swiss hot chocolate.

This is the women's bathroom! If you look carefully, you can see that the mirror is actually a screen. When you turn on the faucet, bullet holes or an image of James Bond pop up on the screen!

This is the view of Piz Gloria from the lookout point:

VIDEO: the walk to the lookout point:

Light-headed selfie!

This is the Eiger from the second-highest lookout point on the mountain. This shot is taken through a telescope calibrated with each mountain's name and altitude. Cool, huh?