As I mentioned before, I spent a few days in the Swiss Alps last week, updating myself on some of the subject matter I occasionally deal with in my translation work. On Wednesday, the sky was quite cloudy (see above, a view from my hotel room at Hotel Europe -- lovely place, warmly recommended).I attended an international convention on alpine research, an annual event. In previous years it was held in faraway places and during times when I was gallivanting all over Scotland, but this year it was held in Engelberg, only a little over two hours by train from Berne. No excuse not to attend, then. It was well worth it, even though some of the presentations were a tad over my non-scientific head.
I met some lovely people, as you do... I hope some of you are happy to see my photo souvenirs. :)
On Thursday morning I woke at dawn, just in time to catch the rising sun tinting the peaks pink:
Fifteen minutes later, the shadows had slid almost half-way down the rocky flanks. I was surprised to find how little snow there already is. I mean, this is still only April -- global warming, climate change becoming sorely evident! Next picture: the valley bathed in sunlight, just before I went down to breakfast at seven.
Looking south from the hotel at midday on Thursday:
Looking south-east towards the Engelhörner beyond the footpath along the Engelberger Aa, the friendly little stream that -- in times of flood -- becomes a formidable adversary. More on that in my next post.
Next: approaching Titlis. On Thursday, we had the great privilege of a trip up to Titlis (3,020 m asl) for late-afternoon cocktails followed by dinner. Excellent evening, great views approaching by cable car and cable car and cable car and ...
... and some views from the top:
The crag centre right holds a huge boulder that seems to sit quite loosely atop it. One of the geologists along for the trip told me it might not be there a thousand years from now. Well, maybe we'll all be back to check, who knows?
Looking NNE from Titlis -- hazy horizon beyond the Lucerne/Obwalden peaks.
The setting sun and the incoming clouds created some soft contours as I looked once more out on the other side, SSW.
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