Debbie and Thurston Part Two: Switzerland

*This post is about my mom and nephew's trip to Germany. The following is their account of what we did and how they felt.*

Thurston's thoughts are written in red. 

Tuesday 7/1 Left for Switzerland. Our first stop was the Rheinfall, just past the Switzerland/Germany border, which was beautiful.  We didn’t pay to actually go right to the falls but what we saw was really neat.

Then off to Beata and Walti’s so they could show us the way to their Swiss Chalet where we would be staying. 

*Click Here to read about who Walti and Beata are and how we know them*

The road up the mountain, to the chalet, was very, very, very narrow and windy.  To top it off people in Europe drive super fast, plus bike riders and walkers are all over the place.

The view is spectacular.  Our Chalet is awesome.  Several steps just to get up to it since we park in a garage on the road.

Walti & Beata were very nice to let us stay in their house. I absolutely loved the ping pong table and the view. The TV I had to get use to because it was all in Swiss German which was very interesting.   

Wednesday 7/2 Walti took us to the Aare Gorge in Haslital, a large valley in the central alps. We had no idea what it was or what to expect. So we pay and head out the back way only to see walkways that are built on the edge of this mountain.  We had so much scary-fun but it was breathtaking.  Thurston was having fun too. It even had caves we went through. Walti waited for us on the other side then he took Josh to go back and get their car. Walti was amazing…ever so patient.
The Gorge was a beautiful place and I loved the view. The walkway was very very scary because I almost fell off. The caves were full of water so every 2 steps a drip of water would land on you.

We then went to a mirror maze and museum in Luzern. 

The mirror maze was freaking me out. I had to stay close to Alethea because I started to panic. Saw Thurston at what looked like the end but, no he, was somewhere else, hahaha.  He enjoyed this so much he went through again.
The mirror maze had us all fooled. I kept running into the mirrors which hurt a little bit but turned out to be a great time for all of us.

                Fun tricks with the mirrors, had us all laughing. 

Thursday 7/3 Mt Pilatus here we come (7,000 ft high).  My Grandma Guenther use to walk up this when she was younger.  Can’t even imagine it.  We, however, took the gondola ride up which I was fearing. It was fine except just once when it shot us out of the station into clouds and dipped down – Yikes.  We had our packed lunch up there and enjoyed the view.  Walked around and took it all in.

 

 Before we left a man was standing on the mountain with his alphorn.  After awhile he played it-what an experience to hear that echo in the mountains.  He was a really nice man.
This guy was outstanding. His music was so so beautiful. 

After being up there we went to the toboggan run.  Everyone but Alethea and I went on it.  Thurston had fun and he went very fast. Joslyn was next going very slow with Josh & Kyla coming up the back.  Josh kept telling Joslyn to hurry up!
There are ups and downs to the toboggan run upside its really fun downside there are no seat belts so therefore I fell off and hit my head on the metal and got a scrape.

Oh and this was day 3 out of 4 that we ate sacked lunches – PB&J’s oh my!!!!  It is too expensive to eat out in Switzerland so we made due. I forgot to tell Alethea in time that if we picnic its suppose to be fried chicken, right mom and dad?

That evening we went back to Beata and Walti’s for dinner of corn on the cob, cole slaw, ribs and sausage.  Yes I ate all of it and it was very good.  Thurston had an Uncrustable, corn on the cob and chips.

Beata then brought out the best ever ice cream bars – triple chocolate.  Yum YumYum.

We got to hear so many great stories from them and really enjoyed the story of how Walti and Beata met. You can still see the love they have for each other. I showed them pictures of my grandma from the 1970’s when she, my parents and Aunt visited.  There also was one picture of my grandma with her old boyfriend Sepp (Walti’s grandpa).  Reminising was so much fun.  We talked about when Walti’s dad and mom, Sepp and Martle, came to Washington in their camper. I was in high school so I took my girlfriend Rhonda Hahner (Prentiss) along to Nebraska for our family reunion. We had so much fun. 

At one point Walti disappeared for about ½ hour. When he showed up again he said he was in the hammock with Kyla and she was singing to him. Walti enjoys the kids so much.

We started talking about how I hadn’t seen any cows, heard the bells but no cows up close. Walti laughed because in Switzerland they have cows up high in the mountains right now. There is even a farm down below our Chalet but I never saw any cows. 

He decided we needed to go “cow hunting” because we could hear the bells behind their house. 

We walked a ways and came to a house with cows and Walti asked them if we could go see them. Naturally the Swiss got a kick out of this – silly Americans! So the farmer shut the electric fence off and up this hill we went. There were so many dips that I had a real hard time walking.

Walti came to my rescue and took my arm and helped me up the rest of the way. Walti had to help me go down the hill too.  What a gentleman he was/is.

Now I saw my Swiss cows with the bells on – so amazing – I loved it.

After spending time with the cows we walked to the end of the road and looked over out on the water. On the way back we passed where the farmer was and sure enough the cows had all come down the hill now…go figure!!! 

Back at their place, we sat and watched the sunset behind Mt. Pilatus.

  

Friday 7/4 Leaving our nice Swiss Chalet and headed into Hergiswil to see Sepp’s place (grandma’s old boyfriend).  Found his house which is still in the family, took some pictures and what a memory – my grandma had come there to see Zepp after many years (this was the 1972 trip with my parents and aunt).

Next stop is Monkey Mountain near Bodensee. We got to go inside a huge enclosed area where the monkeys roam around. We got a handful of popcorn and could only feed them if they sat on the wooden rails. Couldn’t feed the mothers with babies. We had to extend our arms and give them only one or two pieces plus hide the rest behind our backs. Couldn’t take in backpacks because they are very smart and might attack us, thinking we had more food. It was so much fun and they took the popcorn from our hands so gently.  What a great experience. They also had deer in another open enclosure.
I really enjoyed feeding the monkeys they grabbed the popcorn so gently.