Day 3 of our trip we woke up a bit later then we had thought we would (The sleeping pills really worked!) We were running a bit late but we managed to eat breakfast at the B&B and get all packed up with 7 minutes to get to the train (about a 5 minute walk to the station). We were walking quickly with our luggage and I turned to Mike and said, "Wow! We did it." He pulled his hand from his pocket and said "except that I have the hotel's key." OPPS! So I walked the last 2 minutes of the walk with both suitcases as Mike RAN back to the hotel to give them our key. He made it onto the train with a whole 30 seconds to spare.
Our first train stop of the day was in Bern. Bern was an old Medieval town too. But it is a big city now. Not nearly as quaint as Murten. But it had a really cool cathedral that we saw. Actually the cathedral wasn't all that but over the entrance, it had a pretty ornate carving. It was of heaven and hell. Well, actually, it was a bunch of Saints being dragged to hell. This photo is of Mike's favorite part. If you click on the photo, it should bring it up bigger. Look at what the devil is doing to the third saint from the right on on the front row(It is just barely to the left of the middle metal arrow)...
It is a city on Lake Geneva. I grabbed a French bread pizza at the train station and we went to the bus stop. We took a 10 minute bus ride to Chateau de Chillion. It was a castle right on lake Geneva. Mike's favorite part was the Latrines. First of all, funny that there are two next to each other. It reminds me of the Whiting Homestead out house. Anyway, there are these two holes in this wooden bench. When you look down them, it is just a long drop into the water. Don't want to swim in that water! From Bern, we took the train to Montreax. We sat and enjoyed the view of the lake for a bit too long. Well, actually the bus was a 2 minutes early so we saw it driving away. GRRR!!! The bus system is not quite as perfectly timed as the trains. So Mike decided that we needed to jog back to the station. Ok, picture me at 5 1/2 months pregnant running down the street to catch the train. Needless to say, we made it to the next of 10 bus stops and waited there for the bus. The running thing was not going to be faster. We arrived at the station with 3 minutes to get our bags out of the locker and find the track that our train was on. Once again, we made it with about 30 seconds to spare. (Luckily the train we were departing on was on the track where the lockers were.) We jumped on board the golden pass railroad.
This train was very fancy. It had wood panneling and cloth seats. We felt like we were traveling in major luxury. This train took us on one of the most scenic train rides in the world. This train took us from Montreax to Interlaken. From Interlaken, we took a bus to the base of a Gondola (more like a big enclosed ski lift then a boat in Venice.) This Gondola took us up to our haven for the next two days. This little town was called Gimmelwald.
Gimmelwald is where Heidi's Grandfather would live. It was the cutest little village (if you could call it that.) It is one little winding street long. There are no restaurants in town. The youth hostle serves pizza and fondue so that is where we headed for dinner. Pizza again! We stayed at a little B&B where we met many friends. The first was Esther. She was the B&B owner. She was very accommodating and helpful.
After being shown our room, we met the other tenants. They were all sitting at the dining room table. First we met Peggy and Jim. They were a couple from Colorado. Then there was Melissa and her husband. They had quite a story. She is from Australia and he was from Denmark. They were living in the states for a while but they decided to move to Australia. But before moving to Australia, they decided to take a year off and see the world. We stayed up talking until about 11:30pm.
Day 4 of our trip, we woke up early and went up to Schilthorn. Schilthorn is the top of a mountain at 9748 ft. You take 3 gondolas to get up there. This is where one of the 007 movies were filmed. It had amazing views from up there. We took our breakfast (granola bars and homemade yogurt from Esther's, and hot chocolate from the bar up at Schilthorn.) and sat on a bench overlooking the Alps. It was incredible. We were on the first tram so there was hardly anyone else there with us. During breakfast, we didn't see another soul. Once more people started to arrive, we went inside and sat at a table by the window and played Hand and Foot. I kicked Mike's butt 3 rounds in a row! Then we went outside to watch a Paraglider take off. Man that looked fun! So fun, that on the way down, we decided to try it for ourselves.
When we got back to the B&B, Esther made the arrangements for us. Originally I wasn't going to do it being 5 1/2 months pregnant and all but they all looked so peaceful. So after asking the company if it was ok, I decided to join Mike.
Wow! What an incredible experience. We met our partners (it was a tandem ride) at the top of this little rolling hill on the edge of a cliff. They set up and gave us a little 5 minute spill on what to do. "When I say 3, you are going to walk very fast. Then I will say run and run as fast as you can. But if I don't like the way the parachute is going up, then I will tell you to stop. It is very important that you stop when I say or I will just tumble over you." Oh great! Tumble over me and right off this cliff! Anyway, the chute went up just fine and off we went. For more photos and videos, see our group page on
snapfish.
After this event, we took a little walk down the street of Gimmelwald. We found a little spot with grass overlooking a waterfall. We laid down a blanket and read our scriptures there and took a little nap. It was a very peaceful spot. You could hear the cow bells ringing in the distance along with the sound of the water from the waterfall.
We went for dinner at the Hostle and had the Cheese Fondue. I forgot to ask for no wine so it was a bit sharp! But it was still a fun experience to have Fondue in Switzerland! After our fondue, we went back to the B&B to play Hand and Foot with Peggy and Jim. Peggy kicked both of our butts! It was another late night talking to the B&B tenants. But it was our last night in our little haven of Gimmelwald.
This post is for Tiffany. She has been begging me to post of the kids. So Tiff here are some photos from Trunk or Treat last Thursday night. Tara was Dorthy and Connor was the Scarecrow. Or at least he was supposed to be the scarecrow. I got the flannel shirt on him and I got the overalls on him but he wanted nothing to do with the face paint, hat or Straw coming out of his overalls. I got one photo of him with the straw in the front. But that lasted all of a few seconds. As soon as he would see the straw, he would say "no mommy" and pull it out and throw it.
