Switzerland = Beautiful!

This is probably my second favorite country so far, with Italy still in first I think :) We spent two nights in Bern, which for being the capitol city, it's pretty laid back and there's not as much to do at night, we found out...and the concert we wanted to go to ended up being 20 SF...which is like 20 dollars, and that's a little too expensive...so we sat outside of the church and tried to listen instead :) Our full day in Bern we woke up and had a huge breakfast (it was all free!), then had to sit for a bit and let our food digest :), but then we used the free bike rental from the hostel, and biked around the city. We walked around the market, selling fruit, veggies, meat, and of course, cheese :) They have to many types of cheese here, but we've been sticking to Swiss because we know we like it, and it's the cheapest :) We went to the bear pits, where they have two grizzly bears, bern means bear, and is the city's mascot. Then we biked to the Parliament building to get a free tour, and it was closed. Too bad. So we biked to the city's free swimming pool which is right on the edge of the river that runs through the city, and laid for awhile in the sun (we had forgotten to bring our suits with us, whoops), and watched the rafters come down the river...I put my feet in for a little bit, and it is freezing...straight from the mountains. We made our way up to the city Rose garden, which was very pretty, then back to the hotel to make some spaghetti for dinner. When we found out the concert cost money, we walked to the grovery store, and got a small strawberry cake to split instead :) We all had a relaxing night of reading in our room before heading to bed.

The train ride yesterday from Bern to Grindelwald was so pretty...that's when we started getting into the mountains. And once we went through Interlocken, we started seeing Paragliders all over the place...I'd love to do that, but don't want to take all day tomorrow doing it, that would cut into my hiking time :) We had a small moment of panic on the train from Interlocken to Grindelwald, because the train actually splits and one half goes to Grindelwald, and the other half goes to Lauderbrünnen, and we were on the wrong half leaving Interlocken! So at the next stop, we had to jump off really fast and run to the other part of the train...very exciting :) We got into Grindelwald, which is the picture perfect mountain village, the mountains rise up all around it, everywhere you turn there's beautiful scenery, the view is unbelievable....although, I wonder how many buildings would be left if you removed all the hotels...because I swear, that's the whole town. We're staying at the Downtown lodge, which feels like a day camp, and our room has bunk beds, Katie says it feels like we're at summer camp :) But free breakfast, close to the train station, and free entrance to the public pool! And it has a kitchen, so that saves us a bunch of money. We relaxed in the sun yesterday afternoon while waiting for our room to get cleaned (we all got burnt, whoops), then walked to the grocery store and picked up some lasagna and salad for dinner (ice cream for desert :), ate dinner, played some cards, and then went into town at 8 for the street festival, that we conveniently came on the right day for! They close off the main street to cars every Wednesday night during the monthes of June and July, and there are food vendors all over the place, and bands, and traditional music and dance. So we walked around for awhile...there was a band from Florida...Mom said that it was funny that we came all the way to Switzerland to hear an American band :) But then we got to sit for awhile and listen to a family accordian band (loved it!), and then a group of people yodeling (my favorite), and then a band came out, followed by a small band accompanied by a group of dancers all in traditional clothing...that was fun, we had front row seats for it :) It was fun to watch all of the little kids dance around in front of everyone, not even noticing that they're the center of attention...oh, to be a kid again...I felt like dancing :)

This morning we got up and hiked to the Upper Gridelwald Glacier, which was up up up...then once we got to the base, we found out that we had to pay 6SF to climb the last like, 200 meters...well, we didn't bring any money, and we weren't going to pay that much anyway, so we reversed, and hiked the valley on the opposite side, and ended up hiking higher up than we would have been had we gone up the glacier...and it was FREE! :) Very pretty view of the valley. On the way, we saw a giant slug, cows with bells, a dead mole, a HUGE spider (that crawled on Katie's arm, then mom's leg, which she then smooshed...eew), the biggest anthill ever just TEEMING with thousands of them, and even small strawberries we could eat, like the ones we find when we're mountain biking in Wisconson. So all in all, a fun morning :)

We got back, ate the rest of the ice cream we got last night (we deserved it, that was a lot of uphill hiking :), and now we're on our way to the pool to relax a bit and swim. We're in the Jungfrau region, and the mountain near us is the highest point in Europe! And it was on this mountain range that the first ever cable car was built (that one is now retired, since it was built in 1908 :). You can take a train up to the highest point...for 134SF...yeah, I think I'll save that money and say that I saw the highest point in Europe...from the valley below :)

Well, I'm off to the pool! Hope everyone is having a good week! We are going to try to be at the final stage of the tour in Paris on the 27th, so look for us along the route if you're watching the race :)

Smile!
Love Sarah, Katie, and Phyllis