BLUMEN CARPETS

ALL THAT MOISTURE is fodder to the flowers. When the sun came out on July 31, we took the smooth new Sunneggabahn underground funicular (more on that another day), which tunnels up inside the mountain and lifts you more than 2000 feet in about 4 minutes. Then we switched to a gondola to lift us quickly up to Blauherd, where the best flowers grow. And the vantage points abound.

Flowered carpets everywhere



I've always been a fan of the millefleurs type of tapestries and carpets, and am forever seeking them among the rocks. 



We spent some time trying to capture the colors, but cameras cannot give the closeup and the panorama at the same time as well as the human eye/brain can do. Immense drifts of yellow flowers surrounded us, but defied our efforts to capture them on film. It was easier to home in on some of the colored quilts shown here.

Seriously seeking edelweiss

Thanks to some helpful botanical posters the Tourist Office has posted along the route, we've learned that edelweiss grow naturally among the violet Alpine asters,  and have learned to search carefully in those patches.  Sure enough, we soon found a trio of the "noble whites" dancing among the asters. 

All this and the Matterhorn, too!

Meanwhile, we discovered a bigger stand of about half a dozen edelweiss near a rock, with the Matterhorn enticingly positioned (about four miles) in the background. Jack's favorite quest is the "meadow flowers with Matterhorn" motif, and this occasion was no exception. 

I couldn't resist taking a photo of the photographer. (Can you spot the stand of edelweiss just to the right and slightly below the brown rocks?)

But sometimes it's tough to get low enough to make the flowers "pop" above the horizon.  In this shot, the edelweiss is taller than the other plants in front of the brown rocks, but it's still elusive.  The Matterhorn, more than 7.5 miles away, is hard to miss. The green grass, by the way, is very unusual for this time of year. By now it's usually brown.

Finding the Blau in Blauherd

As we wound down the mountain road, we were startled by a last blast of purple gentian, shown alongside the road, then in closeup detail. In the road shot, note the immense glacial bowl at the end of the road; it's called the Wellenkuppe, and it's actually more than 5 miles away, across the valley.

The gentians change color as the light comes and goes....

It's hard to call it a day when you're wandering through such Alpine glory.