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Domodossola and the Sacro Monte Calvario
We decided to spend our last full day in Switzerland in Italy! The easiest city to reach is Domodossola, partly thanks to a relatively early EuroCity Trenitalia train that makes minimal stops on the way. We headed up to the Sacro Monte Calvario, a UNESCO World Heritage site, along the Via Crucis. Afterwards, we had Italian food for lunch, walked around Domodossola a bit, and headed back to Montreux.
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The Two Castles of Sion
We headed out today to see the two castles perched on hills above Sion. The Château de Tourbillon sits atop one while the Basilique de Valère sits atop the other. It ended up raining the entire time we were there but we still made it to both!
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Cheese and a Castle in Gruyères
We headed out in the morning to Gruyères, home of Switzerland’s Gruyère cheese. As the forecast was calling for rain in the afternoon, we first headed to the castle atop a small hill near the small town. After exploring the castle and having lunch in a nearby restaurant, we returned to town to check out the Gruyère cheese museum and shop.
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Geneva
Although we’ve been to Geneva before, we haven’t really done much in the actual city. So today, after landing, we headed to the historic old town area to take a walk around. We visited the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre at the top of the hill and eventually ended up at the Patek Philippe Museum to the west.
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Fall Foliage at Catoctin Mountain Park
When we last visited Catoctin Mountain Park, it seemed that peak fall colors would probably occur in a week. So, we headed out there again today. The best colors seemed to be at medium elevations and particularly on the eastern side of the park.
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Local Fall Foliage
We took a look at some of the local fall colors today. We saw some good colors here and there, though overall it isn’t as far along as what we saw yesterday at Catoctin Mountain Park.
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Meadowlark Botanical Gardens and Catoctin Mountain Park
We started out this morning by heading out to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Virginia, arriving a bit after they opened for the day. We saw the full variety of fall colors, including many species that had completely dropped their leaves already and others that were still completely green. After having lunch nearby at Mama Chang and dessert at Matcha Cafe Maiko in Centreville, we briefly stopped by the Leesburg Premium Outlets on our way to Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland. We saw a variety of colors there as well, though it wasn’t quite at peak fall colors yet.
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Downhill Hiking From Eigergletscher and Männlichen
We started out our last day in Grindelwald with the usual breakfast at Hotel Belvedere. After checking out, we went to Eigergletscher to begin the Jungfrau Eiger Walk, hiking down to Kleine Scheidegg and stopping by the artificial Fallbodensee on the way. Afterwards, we took the train to Wengen to catch the aerial tram up to Männlichen. We then followed the Panorama Trail down to Kleine Scheidegg. We had a late lunch at the Grindelwaldblick and then caught the next train back to Grindelwald. From there, we returned to Geneva by train, transferring at Interlaken and Bern.
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Schilthorn
We decided to head over to the Schilthorn today, a mountain peak in the Lauterbrunnen area. It was a long journey involving a gondola, four aerial trams, and two trains. Once we finally arrived, we enjoyed the view from Piz Gloria at the top. After spending some time there, we went down to the midpoint, Birg. We did the Thrill Walk and enjoyed the scenery before making the journey back down to Lauterbrunnen and returned to Grindelwald by train.
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Jungfraujoch
Today, we visited Jungfraujoch, the “Top of Europe,” and the main event of this trip. After breakfast at the Belvedere, we headed out to take the train down to Grindelwald Terminal and caught the Eiger Express up to Eigergletcher. From there, we took the train up to Jungfraujoch. We checked out the beautiful scenery from the Sphinx Terrace and went outside to hike in the snow to Mönchsjochhütte on the southeast side of Mönch. After returning to Jungfraujoch, we visited the Glacier Plateau at the base of Jungfrau before heading back down to Grindelwald to end the day.
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Here and there but not quite everywhere!