Switzerland Day Four - Day Off

Poor Christian is sick. He was up all last night with "a dry neck". At first I thought he was just dehydrated but it soon became clear that he had a sore throat and as the night slowly wore on he became stuffy and had a hard time breathing. He came in to sleep with us (and on the crack between the two beds) and even after he finally fell asleep I still woke up often listening to his breathing.

I don't know how late or how often we woke up but we were exhausted and slept in very late today. We spent the last of the morning on a slow breakfast and some serious relaxing. We taught Grandma to play Pit and I was able to do quite a bit of reading. Eventually though we had to leave the house so we decided to head down to Interlaken to find a boat to rent.

There were lots of Swans wandering around the lakes

Interlaken is very close by, right at the opening to our valley, but our journey there was full of mistakes. Interlaken is, as the name implies, a town set between two lakes. The rental boats are on Brienzersee but because of a misunderstanding, I took us to Thunersee. It turned out to be a happy accident though because there is a park near Thunersee with a castle ruin. After a little more trouble with the roads we finally found our way into the park and took the short walk to the ruin.

Excited to see the castle

The castle tower

Christian exploring the outside

Part of the ruin

The castle was amazing!! There was one tower still standing which we could walk into. The only light was from the small windows but new stairs were built along the edge so we could walk up to the top. Through the windows and from the top we could see the fallen walls of the old castle although we were not able to walk in the rest of it. 

At the castle entrance

Christian heading into the tower

Will inside the tower

Climbing to the top

Admiring the ruins

The view from the top of the tower was beautiful! I love castle ruins and I was thrilled with this one. It was so much fun to climb up there! Jon was a little nervous but he came up anyway. After we came down Will, Christian, and I walked around the outside of the castle and tried to avoid stepping on the giant slugs.

Christian and Will on the stairs to the top

James at the top of the tower

Jon and will at the top of the tower

There was a tree growing at the top

Zombie Christian

James climbing down

Will peering over the battlements

The unexpected adventure took away all our frustrations with our fruitless wanderings and with new hope we headed into Interlaken with the intention of finding a pharmacy our way to the other lake. We found the pharmacy and bought some medicine for Christian but alas we never made it to Brienzersee. It was getting late and after sitting for a while in traffic we decided to find some dinner.

On top of the castle tower

James on the stairs

Christian running across a bridge

Jon's picture of Grandma

It didn't take us long to find a nice restaurant in downtown Interlaken. Although Christian was bitterly disappointed that we didn't go to McDonalds. Our meal was excellent and I had a mouth watering piece of steak. My only complaint is that it took the waiter a very very long time to bring us our check. They are so quick with everything else but all the restaurants take a long time with the check. I might appreciate that if we had only adults but with kids I'm ready to leave as soon as we are all done eating!

Dinner

After dinner we headed home and there was just enough light (so we thought) for one more adventure. Behind our house is a huge waterfall, Staubbach Falls, which is the most well known waterfall in the whole valley. There is a path going up to the bottom of it which we decided to climb tonight. As we were discussing the climb Camille was concerned about the cliff and said, "I think it is only for hikers, you probably need special shoes". Christian immediately pipped up with "I have special shoes. They light up!"

Staubbach Falls

The path to the falls

Lauterbrunnen

It was dusk by the time we arrived at the path up but we decided to go up anyway. First there was a steep winding stair which led to a long tunnel. The tunnel ended in another stair cut into the cliff face, this one was wet from a smaller waterfall that was pouring down on us. It was a short walk up the rocky steps but they were wet and it was dark so we went slowly. The path ended at a dead end right behind the Staubbach Falls and overlooking Lauterburnnen. It was now very dark at this point so we didn't get any pictures but we will have to come up again in the daytime. Luckily between the lights on the falls and James' flashlight we were able to get down safely and with no problems.

Running through the tunnel

Our house

After the waterfall we went back home for ice cream and then bed. The kids have gone down very well tonight and I am praying that they will stay asleep! 

Goodnight!