Bernese Oberland

This is just going to be a quick blog because I am tired tonight.

We are almost becoming experts in this train travel stuff...seem to pretty much get where we want pretty efficiently. When we left Bern we took the train to Interlaken and rented some lockers to store our luggage then we back tracked on the train to Thun and saw the castle there. It was beautiful and very interesting, though it was really pretty hot and humid. We then took the boat back to Interlaken. The boat trip was fantastic! They go from little village to little village and kind of zig zag across the lake in a couple places so it takes a couple hours to get back. We went by 3 more castles and could have gotten off and on to check them out, but we were all enjoying the cool breeze on the lake and so just looked at them from a distance.

It is kind of interesting because all along the lake are parks and beaches and people are out sunbathing in droves and people are diving off the boat docks and just climb up on the dock and wait until we pass. Would be nice if we had the same type of stuff at home...but, suppose all our lake front property is pretty much privately owned. But, it sure would add to our enjoyment of our lakes.

We then ate dinner in Interlaken - after spending too much time and money in souviner shops. We ate at a place near the station - the food was good, but even better when I asked for a "Coke Light" with my glass filled half-way up with ice the woman said she would bring it to me in a mug because it holds the ice better....she was right....after a sweltering day I was finally able to quench my thirst. The waiter who took our food order said we must be from American when I asked for another coke with ice - so he brought Tami's beer with ice in it, too.

We then took the train up to Lauterbrunnan....the trip was beautiful...everywhere we looked we were exclaiming about what we saw. It was only about a half an hour trip - even though they say it is the middle of nowhere. We get here in a rainstorm and had to haul our luggage up to the street and then down to the end of town. Took longer than we expected - it seemns they tell us everything is "5 minutes away" - and we were pretty drenched by the time we got here.

This is a neat old hotel and you really can't imagine the view - everywhere you look is breathtaking. I think 90% of the guests are Americans, so that seems a little weird. It is a cute little town - lots of small hotels, restaurants and a few shops. There is a church right outside and the bells ring all day long. The sound ofd the waterfalls are always in the background. You hear birds singing and cowbells ringing. They really do have the big old fashioned bells on the cows, which is pretty cool. Tami saw some being hearded today and went to take pictures as they were being hearded the old fashioned way and as she was stooped down trying to get a picture one of the cows came up and licked her. I think she kind of felt like she had stepped into a Heidi movie or something!

The Hugulet's took a train up to Murren and then walked down to Gimmelwald today. The walk is a wildflower trail. They said it was gorgeous. though steeper than they expected in some places. They then took the train up to Wengen for dinner. Lauterbrunnen is in a valley with Grimmelwald on one mountainside and Wengen on the other.

The rest of us took the trip to the Schilthorn. You take a cable cars most of the way up. It was pretty incrediblwe. The wind made it a little weird at times. At the top is a look-out and revolving restaurant (where an earlly James Bond was filmed). The clouds really weren't too bad even though our hotel receptionist thought it might be a waste of money. We could see Eiger and the Jungfrau as well as hundreds of other peaks, of course. It is at about 10,000 feet. We ate a good meal in the restaurant and then went down and shopped around Murren for a bit. Then Mom, Aunt Tym, and Aunt Judi stopped for dessert and the four of us went back down to Lauterbrunnan and went up the other side to Wengen so we could take the walk down. We were told it was steep, but we expected it to be steep followed by less steep. That wasn't the case! It was steep the whole way down and of course we are not big hikers so were not wearing great shoes and about halfway down our feet or knees (depending on which of us you asked) were aching. Then it started to rain off and on. And this route happens to not have many places to sit and reat your feet or knees so we kind regretted our decision! We did make it down fine, of course. It really was a beautiful walk, but when you see the railroad track getting up the mountain is a cogwheel railway you know it is a pretty steep grade. Not sure what it is, but we went 1600 feet in 4 kilometers. All told we went up 8000 feet today, then back down 8000 - up 1600, back down 1600...seems like a lot of up and down...and my knees feel every foot of it...even those I didnt walk! We saw beautiful scenery, gorgeous flowers, and cows with the big bells on our walk....also saw a lot of snails.

I guess while we were gone Mom and Aunt Judi thought they had lost Aunt Tym for a while! Mom said she was pretty scared - Aunt Tym wasn't lost...she had seen the Hugulet family in the laundromat...so it was pretty funny - when they all found each other.

Aunt Tym and Aunt Judi have been messing with eachother with a candy mouse since the first day. Don't know if either has actually scared the other, but they are having fun...and we are all enjoying it too...at least so far.

That's it for tonight...will try to add some pictures tomorrow...Im sure there is more I should have shared, but I'm too tired to remember it all. One more day here in Lauterbrunnan then we are off to Heidiland! Part of that train trip is along the Glacier Express so it should be great.