Lauterbrunnen/Interlaken/Grindelwald/Bern, Switzerland
July 30 - Aug 2, 2007

We arrived at the airport still earlier than my parents’ flight was arriving, so we cleaned out the Volvo and packed the van up with the stuff that we would need for a week driving around Switzerland. We picked up my parents, dropped the Volvo off at the airport Zurich Ibis and then drove to our apartment that we had rented in Lauterbrunnen, about 15KM south of Interlaken in the Bernese Oberland. It is not a very long drive and very scenic as you hit Interlaken and Lake Brienz (the Eastern Lake of Interlaken, which means “between the lakes”, which are Brienz on the East and Thun on the West). Heather didn’t see much as she suddenly got a terrible headache and just had to endure with her head in her lap until we made it to Lauterbrunnen. Our apartment was great. It had 2 bedrooms and a kitchen for my family and my parents and then my Aunt and Uncle stayed across the street in the hotel, so everyone was pretty comfortable. The Horner Pub/Hotel/Apartments are very comfortable and relatively inexpensive. The Richards family stayed here a few months ago and recommended it. The lodging is just a 5 minute walk from Staubach falls and we have an excellent view of the falls. The restaurant has a grill going across the street so we ordered some steak, bratwurst, and chicken before going to bed.
We woke up early and Aaron took the girls for a walk around Lauterbrunnen to look for a bakery while I got ready for the day. Around 9:30 or so we all piled in the van and drove the short distance to Stechelberg to ride the cable car up to the top of the Shilthorn. We actually had to take four different cable cars to make it to the top. One of the stops was in the town of Murren. This is a “no car” town which we wish we would have taken some time to explore. We also passed through Gimmelwald (not to be confused with Grindelwald) and Birg before arriving to the top. It was amazing to see the houses and farms all the way up the mountain side. We could only imagine what it must be like in the winter for the occupants of those houses. I imagine that they would all be completely under snow, but I guess they work something out so they don’t have to hibernate all winter. Once we got to the top of the Shilthorn we couldn’t believe the view. It is almost 3000 meters high, and is the location where they filmed the 1969 James Bond movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. We spent an hour or so on the terrace, taking in the view from all sides, then took the cable cars down to the bottom and returned back to the apartment for a quick lunch. After lunch we drove to Grindelwald. We drove through the fabulous little town to an area where there are hiking trails and a path to the glacier. Aaron and his parents had also been to some ice caves there a number or years ago. We were hoping to see those again, but we found out they had melted 7 years ago. So Joe and Penny took the girls for a little stroll while Aaron and I climbed up the mountain to the glacier. There were stairs that had been built on the mountain to take climbers up, and we scaled all 840 of them! And when we got to the top we discovered that most of the glacier had melted too! It was a beautiful view and we were glad we went up. We’ve decided we have to do these things while we still can… we aren’t getting any younger! And it was nice that we had someone to watch Katie and Ashley, because there was no way we would have brought them up the narrow and incredibly steep staircases! From there we took a stroll through the town of Grindelwald while Penny and Joanne watched the girls at the park. Then we drove back to the apartment and Aaron made us a fabulous spaghetti dinner with garlic meat sauce and garlic bread. Then we called it a day and the girls watched movies until they fell asleep. We stayed up and talked with Penny and Joe until 11:30 then turned in.
We woke up earlier the next morning, so I decided to go out for a run. Aaron went with me and we ran along a path past the waterfall and past some absolutely beautiful Swiss Chalet homes, cows and gardens. I could have run along there for hours, but I knew we had another big day planned, so we turned back. We also saw a cute playground we wanted to bring the girls back to later.
After we all ate breakfast and got ready for the day, we headed out to Bern, the capital city of Switzerland. We first went and saw the Temple in Zollikhofen, a suburb of Bern and walked around its grounds for a bit. It is a beautiful temple and the first to be built in Europe (dedicated 1955). The Angel Moroni was added in 2005 in connection with the Temple’s 50th anniversary.
We discovered that it was Swiss Day, which explained the extreme pride of the Swiss in their flag, as we saw Swiss flags everywhere we went! It was a little disappointing that there were so many things closed for the holiday, including grocery stores (where we need to go and buy bread for the sandwiches we were supposed to have for lunch with all the turkey and cheese we had in our cooler). But we really enjoyed Bern and walked through the town center, over the bridge, and saw the Bern Bears. Aaron went into a little restaurant that was opened and asked to buy some bread, and they agreed, so our lunch was saved. After waiting almost an hour for Joe to go and get the car to pick us up (he had trouble getting back to us with many of the streets blocked off for the holiday), we started to head out of town. We pulled over to make our sandwiches and we ate in and around the car. Then we drove to another little town, Kandersteg. It was about 20 kilometers from Interlaken, so not too far out of our way. Kandersteg is a gorgeous alpine town, which is the starting point for a lot of great hiking paths. There was a huge scouting event going on, with the street filled with scouts walking everywhere. Before we left town we were sure to stop for some delicious ice cream, and some apricot jelly filled donuts that were made and filled at an outdoor stand. They tasted really, really good. We discovered while we were in Kandersteg that there is a take off point for a car bearing train that runs through the mountain. And since it went to where we needed to go the next day, we made plans to return there. We got home from our day in Bern and Kandersteg around 5:30, and while everyone else took a rest, Aaron and I took the girls on a hike up to the waterfall. There is a path that leads behind the falls, which the girls loved. It was a nice little hike, and since there was a couple up there when we got there (we ruined their nice romantic moment) there was someone there to take a picture of our family. When we came back down we decided to take the girls to the playground that we had seen while we were on our run earlier that morning. The girls have been so incredibly well behaved, I think it’s only fair to give them a few minutes to run around and play when there is a good opportunity. They went on the swings, slides, merry-go-round, and had a great time. I had just told them we had to leave in 2 minutes. They decided they wanted to go on the big slide again. It was this very cool (and VERY fast) slide that went through a tunnel underground and came out at a lower part of the park. I thought I saw Katie go in head first, so I yelled to the girls a couple of times, “Feet first!!” I waited by they bottom of the side and Katie came shooting out, followed my Ashley, who was turned head first, on her back, and landed right on her head. She started to cry, and would have been fine after a minute or two, had she not been wearing bows in her hair with metal clips. The metal clip was pushed right into her head when she fell on it, and her head started to GUSH blood. I probably could have taken a cup of it in my hands. We took off her shirt and applied pressure while Aaron carried her home (We have attached the video of her slide!). Fortunately Ashley isn’t one to really dwell on her injuries, and was in fairly good spirits. She noticed some blood on her finger and told Aaron that her ow-ey was on her finger and she needed a band-aid. Katie and I ran ahead to get Penny and Joe ready for Aaron to come back. Unfortunately we had to wake them up from a little nap, but by the time Aaron got back, the bleeding had stopped. We could see the cut was about 1/8” and didn’t need stitches or anything. Aaron put her in the shower with him and they washed the blood off of both of them… and she was fine. Thank goodness!! So we had a late dinner of pizza and the very yummy bratwursts from the Horner Pub across the street. Since it was Swiss Day there was a big parade that came through town at 9:00, and we got a front row seat right outside of our apartment. The girls and Aaron went to bed, but at around 10:00 there was a big fireworks show that Joe and Penny and I enjoyed. We just sat in our pajamas on a bench outside our apartment and watched the show right next to the waterfall. With every firework that boomed, it echoed even louder against the mountains… it was a loud show! It was a very eventful day, one that ended with a bang as well!