Hallo friends and family! We write to you following our 2-day stay in Interlaken, Switzerland. Switzerland was a little slice of Heaven for us. Since Prague, we were feeling a bit exhausted and decided to slow down the pace of our trip a little bit. Trying to see everything that could possibly be seen was getting to be too much. The small town of Interlaken was just our speed.
On Tuesday, we rented a scooter and scooted a little ways up Jungfrau mountain, where we saw incredible green down-slopes, adorable mountain villages, mountain waterfalls, and lots of fog. It was rainy and cold, but we had such an amazing time! We stopped to wander around a bit in Lauterbrunnen, a small village in the valley of Jungfrau mountain, and visited the town church which was small and sweet and heartwarmingly beautiful. After that, we scooted back down the mountain and headed over to Brienz lake to hike around. It was the cleanest, greenest lake we'd ever seen!
That evening, we dropped off our scooter and went to the Chalet, a restaurant where we read there was going to be "yodeling and alphorn blowing every Tuesday night". We had dinner, Rugenbräu (the local brew), and a most pleasant evening. We met folks from New Brunswick, Canada, and from my homeland (Milwaukee/Mequon/West Bend, Wisconsin). Even more fun than that was talking with the lovely bartender, Rada, and the two inspiring accordionists/alphorn players/yodelers who were performing. They were a man and woman duo, aged mid 60s, dressed in traditional Swiss folk costumes. The man played the alphorn brilliantly and the woman yodeled such that we felt like our hearts cracked wide open. This was a musical experience that affected both of us emotionally and even physically. Thayer and I agreed that her yodeling was one of the most beautiful sounds we had ever heard.
Rada, the bartender, was so delighted that Thayer spoke German that she spoke with us frequently throughout the night, and even called on Thayer to translate between her and other English-speaking customers. She invited us back the next night, so we returned Wednesday for dinner, more Rugenbräu and more conversation with Rada. She asked that we send her a photo from our wedding next May, and wished us lots of love, happiness, and health.
On Wednesday before dinner, we took a train back up to Lauterbrunnen to see Trümmelbachfälle, which are ten glacier waterfalls INSIDE Jungfrau mountain. It was a very unique experience: taking an elevator up the inside of a mountain, and getting to walk around and see waterfalls crashing and carving out their paths in the mountain.
On the 50 minute walk from Trümmelbachfälle back to the train, we came upon a small flock of sheep with bells on in the far corner of a small field. Thayer said, "Baaaa!" and a couple of them looked up from their grazing to see who was talking to them. Thayer repeated his call, and one by one they all started walking over to us. Soon, we had about ten sheep within arms reach. At first we didn't know whether to feel threatened or befriended, but came to realize the sheep were friendly, and probably interested in these new, odd-looking sheep who spoke their language.
This time we had a fine hostel experience at the Happy Inn Lodge. The beds were a bit springy but the company was respectful and friendly. The lodge is right on top of a happening bar, and the reception desk IS the bar, which was interesting. The bartender took a moment between delivering drinks to give us our room key when we checked in.
We are definitely interested in returning to Switzerland someday. And you really can't beat the chocolate.
We'll write again soon!
Much love,
Hayley and Thayer
**Memorable Trip Quote**
Hayley: It's so beautiful here!
Thayer: Yes, pretty! [Singing] Pretty pretty pretty PRETTY!
Hayley: There's a lady behind us so you might want to curb the crazy.
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