Road Trip with Nana Calder

We took a nice trip to the Interlaken region of Switzerland. We left Wednesday morning and returned home early Monday morning (so Curt could work Monday). A five-night vacation was really needed for Curt. JPMorgan keeps him working too much.

Wednesday:

Having brunch at Balzac, our favorite place for hot chocolate. It is in Morges (between Geneva and Lausanne)--definitely worth the trip! My favorite so far is the Cuban 70% cacao.

We arrived at our little airbnb.com place. We stayed in the basement apartment of a couple. It had a big kitchen, living room, bathroom, washer/dryer, private entrance, etc. A GREAT find. it is located in Aeschi at the foot of Mount Niessen.

We played TONS of games and also watched a show on iTunes called "Suits." It was on USA-Meridee introduced it to us. We are fans.

Thursday:

This is what we saw when we woke up. Literally. I got out of bed and got the camera and took this photo out the window. So heavenly!

We then hit the road and drove to Latterbrunen, a small town in the Swiss Alps.

Staubbach falls (looking a little dry) in Latterbrunen, the base of Mürren

From Latterbrunen we took a gondola (tram) from Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp then this train to Mürren. They had a special door so we could get June's stroller in.

We were in Mürren before the season and the streets were empty. Basically everything was closed, but hey, we avoided crowds. There aren't really any cars there and the streets were full of snow. Good thing our stroller is 'all terrain.'

Some famous mountains in the alps. You can see from left to right: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau.

A better view of Eiger and Mönch. The moon with the wind-blown snow made a gorgeous view to enjoy.

Friday, Saturday & Sunday:

We spent the time visiting towns around Thunersee and Brienzersee (the two lakes in the region). We went to Interlaken, Bern, Brienze and Oberhafen.

Brienze is famous for wood carving--a great place for nativity sets and cuckoo clocks if you have several thousand francs to burn through.

Bern was neat to visit with Meridee--especially because we drove to Zollikofen where the Swiss Temple is. Her mother (Grandma Maw) actually attended the dedication in 1955.

The Town Hall (Rathaus) in Bern with the Saint Peter & Paul church in the background.

View from Oberhafen of Thunersee. We love Switzerland!!!

View of "our" mountain Niessen from Oberhafen

The cute castle in Oberhafen (being renovated, of course)

And we can't forget this gem of John Deere. Curt insisted we take the photo for Glen. He truly appreciates his John Deere.