Adventures in Europe; Day 6

 Running, Randomness, and Wine

Day six was a little bit random.  We were fully exhausted from the the previous day of hiking, so I let Drew sleep in while I went for a little run.

 

 

Holy Cloudiness.

It was the cloudiest day ever.  The clouds were so low that they covered the mountains.  They looked more like large hills than mountains.  But it was still beautiful.

 

 

Cloudy, beautiful Switzerland.

I arrived back at our B&B and quickly showered so we could hit the breakfast buffet.  Both Drew & I were so in love with our bed & breakfast.  We talked to the owner every morning and every evening.  She even blessed me before we went skydiving.  My favorite part was the breakfast buffet though!  She said it was a traditional Swiss breakfast.  It was lots of cheese and bread.  So... yeah, I was happy.

The buffet.

The buffet also had some fruit and meats, so Drew was able to eat too.


Things Drew Ate.

I stuck with the bread & cheese.  Seriously, I ate a lot of cheese that weekend.  Also, Nutella packets?  Do we have those in the states?!?  Seriously genius.

Happiness right there.

The best part of breakfast was the coffee.  It was the absolute best coffee either of us ever had.  The owner would grind the beans right before she brewed the coffee.  She'd bring it out in a little tiny pot with another little tiny pot of steamed milk for me.  We couldn't get over how good it was.

Best Coffee Ever!

The rest of the day was spent exploring the town of Interlaken.  I studied abroad in a little Spanish town called Ronda, and Interlaken reminded me so much of that town!  We be-bopped around town doing a little shopping, exploring all things Swiss, and tasting all the chocolate we I could.

So cloudy... Where's our mountain?!?

I wasn't really excited about the whole Swiss Army Knife thing, until I saw the ridiculous selection available.  Why wouldn't I want portable silverware?!?

Fantastic Invention.

We thought it was really fun to go into McDonald's on our trip and see what was offered in the different countries.  Switzerland had Toblerone McFlurries!  How do we get those?!?

Bagel Burgers?

It was a pretty uneventful day.  But we had fun.  Don't we always?

I love Switzerland.

If you're wondering, yes I am wearing the same outfit as the day before.  Thank you for noticing.

We ended our last day in Switzerland with two (!) bottles of wine and more chocolate.  We had a very early train to Paris the next morning, so that second bottle of wine probably wasn't a good idea.  But it led to some pretty funny conversations between the two of us.  Have I mentioned how much I love Drew?  He's the best.

My main man... with too much wine.

Saying goodbye to our view.  Too bad we can't actually see the mountains through the rain and clouds.

We love you Switzerland!

 

Lessons Learned:

1. Swiss breakfast is good breakfast.

2. McFlurries are loved the world over.

3. One bottle of wine is probably enough... especially if you have an early train.

Adventures in Europe: Day 5

Fondue, Cow Kissing, and Waterfalls

 

Day 5 was our first full day in Switzerland.  After getting a good night's sleep, we set out for a day of hiking.  This still required a good deal of travel, but it wasn't the stressful kind like the day before. 

 

We took a short train ride to a town called Lauderbrunnen (I might have made that up) where we caught a gondola ride up the mountain.

 

Views from the gondola.

More gondola.

And even more gondola views.

After our gondola ride we had the option of taking a "vintage" train up or hiking it ourselves.  We opted for hiking. 

Goodbye vintage train!

I am so so glad we hiked.  The walk up the mountain was maybe my favorite part of our entire trip.  We were basically alone on a trail with the most amazing views I've ever experienced.  It was so much fun.

Drew & a mountain.

I'll warn you, most of this post is pictures of us on a mountain.  Feel free to just scroll to the bottom if you like. :)

Drew on a bridge.

Drew on a mountain.

Jamie on a mountain.

Do you see what I'm talking about?  Not a whole lot of story here.  But seriously, one of the best days ever.

Drew & a stream.

Every now and then we would pass other people hiking down the mountain.  We would awkwardly ask them to take our picture.  Most of them didn't speak English, so we would hold up the camera and say, "photo?"  I cannot express to you how awkward I am when I can't communicate with words.

Photo?

When we finally reached our destination; a town called Murren, we stopped for some eats at a hotel.  All of the restaurants in Switzerland are in hotels. 

What should we order???

Remember how I told you everything is super expensive in Switzerland?  Well, I wasn't lying.  We ordered water and the waitress asked if we wanted bottled or tap.  We said tap would be fine and she brought out a pitcher of tap water and charged us 5 Swiss Franks for it. 

Most expensive water ever.

I decided that being on top of a mountain called for cheese.  I ordered fondue.  Obviously Drew couldn't eat it, so I went at it alone.

Cheese & Bread.  All for me!

Drew's fitness plate. :)

I love cheese!

After lunch we took some pics of the mountains.  I just can't explain how beautiful it was.  The pictures don't even do it justice.

Up in the clouds.

Next we started our hike to a little town called Gimmelwald.  The mountain was littered with the most adorable little farms... and cows!

This cow pleases me very much.

I kept telling the cows that they were the luckiest cows in the world.  I started to explain what American Factory Farming is, but I didn't want to scare them.

Happy Cows!

More pictures.

Occassionally we got a little bit goofy.  Hey, we're alone in the mountains.  What else are we going to do?

Jumping over a mountain!

Smiles.

Photo Bomb.

Dorks.

We think we're hilarious.

We reached Gimmelwald and it was so freakin' quaint.  Just the cutest little mountain town you'll ever see.

How quaint is this?

More happy cows.

There was a shop called the Honest Shop that sold little antiques and handmade things.  All the prices were marked and if you wanted something you just put your money in an envelope marked with what you bought and left it in a slotted box.  I can't imagine anyone could be dishonest in a town this quaint.

Sign in the Honesty Shop.

Also, apparently our president enjoys Gimmelwald as well.  He showers and drinks there.

Hey Barack!

Next up was a cable car down the rest of the mountain.  I was sad to leave the mountains.

Goodbye mountains.

To get home we had to hike through a valley, full of more beautiful views, waterfalls, and more cows.

Our hike home.

Catwalk.

Waterfalls.

I'm a dork.

More happy cows!

I ♥ this cow.

I really liked this friendly cow.  Kait said she thought maybe I had a blog post in mind when taking these pictures; Top 10 reasons not to eat meat.  But come on, after seeing this sweet girl, do you really need 9 more reasons?

Swiss kissing.

And then we found sheep and I almost lost my mind!  I did not tell them about factory farming.  I let them enjoy their happy little lives.

Happy sheep!

We're going!

We randomly saw railings leading up to a waterfall and decided we definitely needed to check it out.

Tunnel into the mountain.

Stairs up the mountain.

I'm under a waterfall!

Drew's under a waterfall!

Now we're both under a waterfall.

View from behind the waterfall.

Tunnel under the waterfall.

And... I guess that's it.  After descending the waterfall we made it back to Lauderbrunnen to catch the train back to Interlaken where we luckily found a place to buy wine and chocolate.  We spent the evening sitting in our room next to the door to the balcony because it started pouring.  But we enjoyed our wine and chocolate all the same. 

This day will seriously live on as one of my favorite days ever.  I had so much fun with Drew, and the mountains were the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. 

Lessons Learned:
1.  The Swiss Alps are the most beautiful place on Earth.  No contest.
2.  Swiss cows are happy and friendly.
3.  Barack Obama showers in the Alps.