Well, as sad as it was to leave Switzerland this morning. the tour must go on. We packed up last night so we could sleep in as late as possible this morning which was until 7am. If you recall, I wrapped up last nights blog around 3am. You’re welcome.

Our awesome driver Ben had the bus ready and waiting right on time. He rocks. We all loaded up, Kevin and I nearly last to get on and our same seats were availalble, so we each had 2 seats to ourselves across the isle from one another. Score.

The drive out of Switzerland is just breathtaking. I really do love it there and can not wait to go back! We have a lot of ground to cover on this tour, but the bus rides are really great. Along the way Colleen either tells us about our destination and it’s history, throws in a language lesson so we’re not so lost upon arrivl, or if we’re really lucky she’ll tell some jokes or play destination-appropriate music for us. She MUST be the best tour guide Rick Steves has…I can’t imagine any better! We stop at least 1 time every 2 hours for a 20 minute break which really helps break up the time. Or, on special days like today, we pop into another country for a liesurely 3 hour lunch! Yep. Today we had lunch on an island in Germany!!! We didn’t know we’d be going to Germany on this trip, but Colleen had a little surprise for us. On our way to Austria we headed to a little Bovarian island on Lake Constance. I’ve never just “popped into a country for lunch” before! Ben dropped us off on the outskirt of the island and Colleen lead us through the adorable town to the other side so we’d be able to find our way around by ourselves.

Kevin and I cruised the main part of the island one time before settling on a hotel cafe overlooking the marina for lunch. The weather today was perfect again! The sun was shining and it was at least 72* out, maybe warmer. We had delicious salads and I had pasta with tomato sauce and Kevin was brave and ordered the sausage. Probably not the best choice (it was grey and weird looking…weird because we’re American’s, not because it wasn’t’ cooked right) and it came with pretzels and mustard. An odd lunch, but it did the trick. Afterwards we headed to the lighthouse where we climbed the ricketey old wooden stairs to the top for an amazing view of the lake and the island. Who knew Germany would be so darn cute?!? For your reading pleasure I won’t leave out the fact that Kevin whacked his head HARD on the tiny door at the top of the lighthouse and that I totally lost my feet on the way down and slid down about 9 stairs before I thankfully stopped myself just in time to NOT wipeout the elderly couple in front of me! There. You’re welcome.

Our three hours flew by and we were back on the bus in a flash. Austria or bust! Again, the drive was beautiful. Everything is so green and gorgeous and the sun is shining so bright! Switzerland to Austria with a surprise in between!

Austria looks a lot like California actually, like the Sierra’s with much larger mountains and a bit more green grass, and waaaaaaaaaaaay cuter houses!

We checked into our room, it is really easy, Colleen tells us our room number when we are on the bus and then we simply walk in, get the right key from our friendly hotel staff which always greets us, and away we go to our room! Today we’re on the 4th floor overlooking the mountains. Life is good.

We took quick showers and headed down to dinner at 7. Dinner was in the hotel restaurant tonight and was delicious. The starter soup was a cream soup made out of the green part of the garlic that grows above ground! Who knew that you could cook with that? I’ve got to get my hands on some when I get home! Plus there was a salad bar (yay!) and a vegetarian dinner option. Happy day, happy day!

We sat with two of the six Canadians, Ben the bus dirver and Colleen tonight. It was great dinner company and after we were finished eating about 12 people from our tour headed over to the hotel bar to continue the night. Oh what a night! The Canadians are hilllllarious. There are six of them, three couples, all traveling together. Gloria is the loudest of them all, and I mean LOUD. And she has the accent, she kills me! Tonight I asked her husband Daryl how long they’d been married, 32 years! Then I asked him how he’d met her. He replied instantly with a totally straight face “She was a hooker.”. HAHA!  There were some local guys in the bar that bought Colleen, Cathy, Susan and I a round of Grappa. A horrible liquor that will put hair on your chest. Ick. I sipped it to be polite, but Cathy (who is 60!) put me to shame and downed it in one gulp. Crap! We went over and chatted with the guys to be nice, even took a group photo. They seemend nice enough, but I’m not sure if it just because I’m an American, but they may have been a bit too friendly! I tink Edward was disappointed that Kevin was my husband. Ha.

We had many beers at the bar, Kevin talked crap with the Canadians and I’m fairly certain that tomorrow is now a competiton between American and Canada, losers buy winners drinks all night tomorrow night. What are we competing at you ask? THE LUGE! Yep! That is right. Tomorrow we shall luge after we spend the day at a castle! But not just any castle. This is the castle that Walt Disney based Sleeping Beauty’s castle on! AWESOME! Back to the luge, Colleen was going over the plan at dinner with our entire gruop and when she got to the luge portion of her speech she mentioned that it is safe and fun and that you can break but that youd don’t want to break too much otherwise you go too slowly and there is no fun in that! Well, then she said that “bigger people” might have more momentum and may need to break more, and as she said this her eyes went right to Kevin. It was hillllllllllarious. I know it probably isn’t funny to read it, but if you were there, you’d be laughing too! We give her a lot of crap! He told her he didn’t appreciate being called fat and that he’d like to see a complaint form for Rick Steves!

Back to the bar. We had a great time. Colleen hung out with us all night and it was great to see her having a good time too. Some more locals roped us into conversation and I’m pretty sure I gave my e-mail address to a guy that is planning a trip to SF in December and wants me to help him out. Again, am I just too American or is that creepy? Hmm. Guess I’ll find out in December!

Today was a great day! Oh, a highlight, we’re finally in a country where a LARGE beer costs LESS THAN THREE EUROS! Europe, we have arrived! There was talk of hopping on a train up to Munich tomorrow night to catch the tail end of Octoberfest, but there aren’t trains that would be able to get us back to Reutte in time to catch the bus to Venice on Monday morning, bummer, eh?! I think had we worked on Ben just a bit more we could have talked him into driving us up there…but he didn’t want to have to drive the bus back AFTER drinking a crap load of beer! Can’t blame him I guess!

Not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but the cows here are totally adorable! They say happy cows come from California, well, they lie! These are happy cows! They roam around these huge pastures, eating their grass and hanging out with their cow friends looking totally content. I love it!

Okay, I’m exhausted (totally sore from yesterday’s miles of downhill hiking) and need to get some sleep so we can kick Canada’s ass at the luge tomorrow!

Goodnight from Austria!

On her way to the store she encountered another cow parade. It seams they move the cows up and down the mountains at different times of the year. We have now been greeted by cow parades twice in 2 days. Pretty cool.

The hike started with a gondola ride up the mountain side. This wasn’t the type of gondola you see in Disneyland or in Tahoe but a 10ft wide by 20ft long hanging box. We piled our group of 25 on and headed up the mountain. Nic was a little scared but she held on for dear life and made it to the top just fine. I distracted her by telling her to take pictures, like shaking something shiny in front of her or taking candy from a baby, it worked very well.

Once at the top of the gondola the majority of the group hiked uphill to Murren, Nicole and her band of rebels opted for the train, I opted for hiking. Nicole did bring up a good argument though: “why hike UPHILL when there is a train taking me to the same place along the same path?” Since this was only leg 1 of 3 for the entire day I understood but still wanted to use my legs, a day of being sick had given me serious cabin fever.

How best to describe a hike in the Alps? Well first off it was AMAZING (you’re welcome Joe, you can now imitate me on our blog). Our hotel is in the base of what appears to be a glacier cut valley. The hike started about 2000 ft above our hotel, an elevation of of 4600 ft. Looking out to the side we could see peaks of the three major mountains in the area, the valley itself, gondola tracks, villages, cows, more cows and para-gliders.  The pictures do it much more justice than I can hope to type out; however, even pictures don’t do this magnificent valley the justice it so rightly deserves.

Our first top was in Murren; a really quaint little village above the town where our hotel is. By quaint I also mean small. There was 1 grocery store that closes from 12-2 for lunch, 1 cafe, some ski shops, a gondola lift and houses. That’s it. It was about 100 yards long but still very cool. The houses are all a little rickety and slanted, obviously built by hand with a plumb or level. Some of the doors were barely 5 ft tall and most of the wood looked weathered and unfinished. NOTHING like we see in mountain towns at home.

One funny thing about these hillsides are the cows. There are a ton of them and they all have bells on. The more milk they produce, the bigger the bell. It’s like their medal or award for having efficient udders. So, as you hike along the hillside you hear a constant chime of cow bells. Since they are all different sizes it sounds like a large wind chime quietly dinging throughout the hills. We walked for over 2 hours today and we could hear cow bells for over half of it. Pretty funny to hear these soft dings coming from herds of cattle simply grazing throughout the hills.

We all bought food at the grocery in Murren, where Nicole and her rebels were patiently waiting, and headed down the hill to another small village to eat. This paved path wound around houses, cows, a small school  house and a chicken coup. The community seems to nestle 10 or so houses together in a given area and then the rest move down the hill. Over a course of a 60 minute walk we traveled through about 3 of these little villages. I know they aren’t villages per say but what else do you call 10 small houses stuck together with cows on a hill side?

After our 60 minute downhill hike we had lunch time. One thing this group likes is food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, no one cares everyone just wants to have good food. Lunch was great, we had purchased some pull-apart style bread which Nic tasted and renamed “pretzel bread”, water (I tried to buy still water, turned out to be sparkling water, second time we’ve done this), 2 apples (gala), peanuts and some gummies. The group sat out on picnic benches outside a youth hostel that overlooked the valley. This had to be one of the most breathtaking picnic spots on earth. The mountains surrounded us from all sides, the views were unbelievable, it was 75 and sunny and we could even see a glacier. We were entertained by paragliders floating through the sky and spinning themselves in circles. I ate a small bit of bread, a lil cheese, some apple juice and 1 apple. Nic had her bread, cheese, peanuts and a shredded veggies with mustard (which she bummed off of Colleen) on a piece of the pretzel bread. I still didn’t have my complete appetite so after I ate I opted for a nap in the sun on one of the unused picnic benches.

Our next stop? A gondola back down part of the mountain. I hope we can get the video uploaded tonight. Nic, who is already slightly nervous, gave me a look of shear terror after Colleen told us “everyone, move to the front on this one because it tips forward and and goes weeeeeeee over the edge”. I told Nic she would have a great opportunity for pictures; she reluctantly agreed. This gondola ride was a blast. Just as Colleen had advertised as you go over the first support and head down hill the gondola tips slightly and you rock back and forth. The huge windows give you a great view of the valley floor as you make a speedy, yet swingy, decent down.

Once we had our feet safely on the valley floor we all headed out for Trummelbach Fals (TF). These falls are the largest falls in Europe that are inside a mountain and still accessible. The walk over was absolutely gorgeous. There is a beautiful blue/grey river running through the valley that you walk along. This isn’t a grey that seems dirty but a clean and cold grey of water that is completely pure. I assume it was very cold as it is all snow melt fed from the mountains above. The walk took us along the river and through another little village on the valley floor. More cows, more flowers and more houses. Everything here is so quaint and beautiful.

So, anyway, we make it to the entrance to TF and what do we see? A placard describing the 60 minute cave elevator you have to take to the top. Nicole, once again, is not happy. This has been a day of gondolas and now an elevator inside a mountain. I, am stoked. How cool is this going to be, a huge hole dug out of a mountain that they stuck an elevator with glass sides in. Sounds good to me, let’s go. The ride was uneventful, very cool, but nothing scary. Nic took a video, should be on flickr later.

The elevator dropped us off at the 6th of 10 fall lookout points. These falls are like nothing we’ve ever seen. They have carved tubes and tunnels into the rocks. They don’t fall too far, I think the largest was probably 50 ft, but there are so many twists and turns and holes that it really creates a mountain like we’ve never seen. Think of a water park slide, only natural, with 10 drops built in all surrounded by a mountain. That’s about what we saw. One of the coolest things was that at the higher points you could see the valley and opposite side mountains out of the cracks and holes in the waterfall mountain.

Our trip to TF ended with 300 stairs down and a quick, but windy, bus ride back to our hotel. Nic and I opted for a little shopping before coming back to our hotel to rest up. We made dinner reservations for 7:30, bought internet access (you’re welcome) and headed back to relax, upload pictures and write. Dinner started at 7:30 and was very good, I had a small garden salad followed by chicken with ham and risotto while nic had mushroom soup followed by a huge salad of fresh veggies. Switzerland is much friendlier to the vegetarian than France was. All in all our day in Switzerland was very very nice. Both of us want to come back sometime in the future. We even think the family would love it here, hiking, mountains, gondolas, tons of site seeing, it’s like a Howe/Heuer dream, only without the botanical gardens. Goodness how I hate botanical gardens.

Goodnight everyone, I hope 3 blogs in 1 day is enough to keep you satisified.

Flickr pics

The bus ride started out fine. I was hopped up on Immodium and Pepto, nervous about making it through a bus ride I drug myself into a middle seat near the “emergency” bathroom.

2 hours later we made it to the first stop without any issues. We took an hour break, I drank a can of apple juice outside while Nic had lunch inside. I couldn’t stand the smell of food so I just waited patiently.

Back on the bus and into the Alps. This is where the bus ride takes a turn. I sat up front so I could see the road and not get car sick. What happened? I got car sick. Ever tried to get sick in a bus bathroom? Needless to say it is not easy or fun. I sat on the floor of the bus for a while, my head in my hands wondering if anyone heard me get sick in the bathroom. We made it to our next stop and I simply stumbled off of the bus and laid down in some grass. I didn’t even try to go to the bathroom, I new the Immudiom was working and simply needed to lay down.

Back on the bus and off deeper into Switzerland we go. By now I have nothing in my system so I try to relax and just ride this bus ride out. We make it to our hotel and perform a “precision drop”. A drop where Ben pulls slightly off the road, we all pile out, he pulls our bags out of the bus and we move on as quickly as possible.

On a side note, during the bus ride, Colleen asked us if we wanted a room with a view of a water fall or a room with a balcony. We chose the balcony ad are glad we did. The view is amazing, the mountains are so awesome here. Colleen really did get us a great room; she is so nice.

On a side note, everyone has been exceptionally nice to me today. Mike and Rita bought me a PowerAde, George, who is a doctor, told me what to do, Colleen checked on me at every stop, Jeannie came over to ask me how I was and to pat me on the knee, Gary gave me Immodium and even Ben offered some headache medicine for me. What an amazing group of people.

Tomorrow we hike in the alps. Until then, goodnight.

Flickr Pics (coming soon)