grindelwald day 1 & 2

grindelwald

yesterday we made the trek from the beach to the alps.  talk about a contrast.  when we got off the train and walked through town in our T-shirts and shorts we definitely got some looks.  this is a cute little town... touristy, which is cool, and talk about some views. we have a balcony which overlooks the mountains. this is a place where i just cant capture the view on camera... so beautiful and big that a picture can't do it justice.

yesterday we spent some time getting familiar with the city. we stopped into a couple of places to have a drink and munch on some cheese. one of the bartenders said it is about 10 degrees cooler now than it normally is at this time of the year.  we aren't freezing by any stretch of the imagination. but it gets chilly when the sun goes behind a cloud and at night.  no more flip flops and shorts.  we had dinner at a cute place down the street from our hotel. we thought burgers sounded good... after all that fish and pasta in Italy we were really craving something different.  

today was full of hiking.  we took a train up, up, and up to a stop where we had some coffee outside while looking at an incredible view.  then we started our hike down the mountain. we brought a picnic which was fun.   after hiking for a good 2 and a half hours we made it to a little town where we got on a gondola (like a large ski lift). we went all the way down the rest of the way to our little town.   sounds simple but it was a days worth of adventure.  

tonight maybe fondue?

p.s.  the culture here is a lot like in Germany... good thing I didn't forget those vocabulary words!



josh:  I think there might be some old saying about you finding something interesting about your wife on your honeymoon that you didn't know or something?    well I've found it out about Amy... she likes to hike a hell of a lot more than i ever thought she did!  number of times spent hiking in America in six years:0.  number of times hiking in Europe in two weeks: 3 and counting... and we haven't even been on the cute little paths that you skip down.   the tourists here come to hike... hard core hiking boots, jackets, and everyone has the hiking poles.  (hot brand not in America: Mammut. has a mammoth as the symbol if I spelled it wrong.)   im guessing its a lot like Colorado in the summer?  we did encounter some snow at the top of the hill we lifted to... crazy to think it is just now melting and will be snowing again soon.

we have also noticed that the Swiss are super proud of their banking here.  money is larger than any money  I've ever seen, they have more credit card machines than the rest of Europe and all offer to convert the charge to US dollars.  (of course with a 3 percent charge for doing so in small print...they are the best bankers in the world)  I talked to Amy and  we think we are just going to have our checks from Lakota direct deposited into a new Swiss bank account we set up while we are here.  with all this defaulting talk we wantour money to be safe.  

we have clung to the BBC network for our news... we just watch it stream to have something in English on the tv.  lots of interest in American poltics.  John boehner has been mentioned along with Harry Reid... not sure we give that time to other countries leaders.

if you want to look up the route we took today. here it is: grindelwald to kleine scheidegg... hike down to wengen.  lift up to mannlichen... lift down to grindelwald.   never know how bored everyone might be at work.... I know I like to take a little vacation from the grind when I get a chance.

be back in less than a week...