Small and White, Clean and Bright...

I spent a very rainy Sunday going through photos from last summer.  Dad and I hiked at Schynige Platte and at the end of the hike (or the beginning, depending on which way to decide to go first) is an astounding Alpine garden.  They have Alpine flowers from all various altitudes and care for them so that they thrive despite being "out of their element".  While in the Berner Oberland we managed to spy some Edelweiss, which is a very elusive flower.  We mostly saw it in flower boxes outside some restaurants, but this photo is taken in the garden.  Here is the link to the garden, too.

http://www.alpengarten.ch/homeenglish

The sign relates to other flowers near the Edelweiss. 

Blossoms of snow...

Yes, it really is that blue!

More photos of scenic Switzerland... These photos were all taken from an ICN train - IC stands for "Inter City" (which means FAST) and the N must stand for "tilt" because that is what it does. The regular IC trains do not tilt around curves but the ICN trains do lean into curves. Not quite like a motorcycle (there was no scraping of knee pads) but the effect was quite noticeable. Hang on to your drinks!


The train ride was beautiful but when we got to Lake Lucerne we all gasped. So blue! I assume this is due to glaciers, because the last time I saw water that blue was when I flew in a little Cessna 172 over Whistler, British Columbia, to see the glaciers in those parts. Glacier Lake Blue I called the color then, and it is stupendous.

Enjoy!