Interlaken (can you see the vineyard on the left?)
A few weeks ago Mark needed to go to Switzerland for business and made arrangements for me to go with him. My mom came and watched the kids (and our new baby) and we spent a week in Switzerland. Although it was about 40 degrees and rainy most of the time we were there, it was beautiful. We weren't quite sure if our GPS was set to avoid all highways but it took us only on back roads. In the end we were grateful for that because we got to travel through the beautiful mountains there. We spent time in Interlaken, Lucern and Zurich. Interlaken has a beautiful green lake that is a product of a melted glacier. It is so pretty. We actually stayed outside the main city in a town called Wilderswil. Our twin bed room (cozy!) looked out onto the Jungfrau mountain which is a huge mountain behind two smaller mountains in front. Unfortunately we could only see the two smaller mountains because Jungfrau mountain was in a cloud. At one point there was a tiny break in the clouds and we could tell there was a very large mountain behind the two smaller ones.
The Hiltbrandt Home
We spent the days shopping and sight seeing. One day we went into the town of Wimmis and found the home that Mark's great, great, great grandfather built. We met the woman who lives there now, who happens to be the great granddaughter of the man who bought the home from his great, great grandfather. Isn't that GREAT! It was fun to see and feel a sense of family history.
On Sunday we went to a small branch (small congregation for the LDS church) for church. We watched a portion of General Conference (a semi-annual conference conducted by the leaders of the church). Mark watched it in German and I watched it in English. It was nice. It made me grateful for the many members of the church around me.
Bern
That day we traveled to Bern and saw some sites there. Right in the center of the city they have an area where they have live bears that were fun to watch. We walked the main street and window shopped at some neat little shops and walked through an old church.
Bern Temple
We then went to Zollikfen, just outside Bern, where there is a temple. It was beautiful. Mark's mom served a mission here so it was fun to see the area.
Near Emmentaler Cheese factory
Emmentaler Swiss Cheese
We continued on our travels and stopped in the Emmental region where they make Emmentaler Swiss cheese. We got to see the whole process then we got to taste it when we were done. It was really good.
Lucern
We arrived in Lucern that night a stayed in a very different hotel. The room we were given was painted completely black. The ceiling had a huge picture of a scene from a movie on it. (A little bit questionable for my taste.) We couldn't stand the completely black room so the next night we asked to change rooms. This room was kind-of a teal color with another movie scene on the ceiling. The amenities were nice but if we ever go back we'll pick a different hotel.
Mark work the next two days so I was on my own until he got back in the evening. I spent Monday walking around the older, cobblestone streets of Lucern shopping. I found some neat little stores and some delicious chocolatiers. Every day I bought more chocolate, planning to bring some home to North Carolina and every day we ate it all! OINK! It was sooooo good! Kurmann's was the place to go in Lucern.
Zurich
On Tuesday I took the train to Zurich and spent the day shopping there. The train was very fast and convenient. When I got off the train I needed to use the restroom and found that I needed to pay to use it. I decided to wait and found a department store that had a restroom that was free. First time I've ever seen that! Zurich had lots of neat sights and I enjoyed walking around that old city and doing a little bit of shopping. The worst part was wanting to talk to someone throughout the day and not being able to. I understand a fair amount of German but found myself asking every store clerk I needed to talk to if they spoke English. Luckily, almost everyone speaks more English than I speak German.
I could add about 100 more pictures but the things that we saw the most of were:
Cows with huge bells around their necks (some were much bigger than this one)
Home after home after home with beautiful flowers under their windows and in their gardens
Beautiful green rolling hills and white mountains
And LOTS of chocolate! These were some of our favorites!
I'm so grateful to my mother for her willingness to come and watch our children and hold down the fort while we were gone. Thanks Mom! And thanks Dad for letting her come!
Love you both!
