I have recently visted Europe and spent a month in Switzerland and was immeresed in the world of JRR Tolkien and what were some of his inspirations to write Lord of the Rings. In 1911 Tolkien as a 19 year old toured around Switzerland where the landscape and curlture helped inspire many of the aspects of The Lord of the Rings. Their journey while in Switzerland traveled up to Wengen and down again to Grindelwald, passing the Kleine Scheidegg (a mountain pass), always beneath the mighty, glacial mountain range of Eiger, Mönch ("monk") and Jungfrau ("maiden/virgin"). The panorama is absolutely breath-taking even for people who have travelled the whole world. Tolkien, who was only 19 years old when he saw - and experienced - the high mountains for the first time was simply overwhelmed by the sight of those four-thousanders. No wonder that the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau occur in his great novel. That is they are mirrored in the mountain range, and more precisely the three peaks, of the Misty Mountains, which are part of the Dwarven realm Khazad-dûm: Caradhras (Redhorn), Celebdil (Silvertine) and Fanuidhol (Cloudyhead).