June 11, 2023 - Andermatt

 Today was an Andermatt day - we never left the area although we were outside for a lot of the day.  We got going early and went to a 9:00 am church service at the Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church.  It was fairly well attended and was a basic Catholic mass, in German.

We had coffee and met Max Hagenbucher, his wife and mother-in-law.  They were sitting right behind us and he struck up a conversation in English.  His wife spoke some English and the mother-in-law spoke German, Italian and French, but not English.  She was a hoot, getting frustrated by not being able to get the waitress's attention, but she was a sweetheart, very friendly, smiling and on top of her game.

Max is a semi-retired helicopter pilot who spent 4 years in New Hampshire.  He mostly flew helicopters for construction projects, but also flew 2 years for a Swiss emergency evacuation service.  When I mentioned that we had watched a TV show on Netflix about that he said that was his station.  He gave me 2 business cards, one for his commercial work and one for personal trips for hire.  You can check out the commercial company he is still working at www.centralheli.ch 

In mid-afternoon we literally walked across the street for a hike in the mountains.  We are not big hikers, but as you can see, the path was mostly paved - not too strenuous.  Although, we did get passed by a man pushing a stroller with his newborn baby in it.  Like I said, we are not big hikers, but it felt great to get out on a beautiful day in the Alps.

Incredible scenery during the hike

The sign says cows get the right of way

It's almost like the entire landscape is manicured, but it seems to grow that way maintained by grazing cattle, with some limited mowing

Street sign on a hiking trail

Of course, the wild flowers were in-bloom

Our hiking path

Sooz took this picture of a posting on the side of a barn. I guess they raise yak in Switzerland.

Picture by Sooz while walking, not riding on the back of a motorcycle

At the beginning of our hike/walk