Walk in Lauterbrunnen

Blog by E!

Aareschlucht

After going to the Ballenberg museum on Saturday we went to Aareschlucht where there is a path through the Aare river gorge. Some parts of the path are carved out of the cliffs on the side. Most of it is a wooden platform hanging off the side of the cliff. I usually don't like bridges, but this was okay. Even in the spots where it was so low or narrow that I had to contort the stroller. 

We went all the way to the end of the gorge. There were lots of stairs at the end, but E was able to carry the stroller over those parts.

There really isn't much to say about a walk along a gorge other than that this one had a very good variety of scenery, width, water violence, and light. We went from west to east, thinking it might be best in terms of not shooting photos toward the sun. I don't think that made any difference since we were in a gorge, but I did like that we were walking opposite the flow of the river, which is prettier to me.

Between the train station and the gorge was this bridge which was completely wrapped in knitting.

Ballenberg

On Saturday we all went to the Ballenberg open air museum (us, E's parents, and E's sister P and brother-in-law D).  It is like Skansen in Stockholm. Original buildings from all over Switzerland are used to show the traditional lifestyle and crafts. There are lots of gardens and farm animals. One of the coolest thing about the museum is that it is organized geographically. There are sections for the Bernese Alps, Jura, central Switzerland, Ticino, etc. I really liked that because the differences within the country are surprisingly large and it is nice to see that all in one place. 

We saw lots of demonstrations including cheese making, wood carving (S's favorite!), and pottery. There was a bakery, a long building for rope making, it just went on and on. We are considering going back. 

L might be the world's biggest Peppa Pig fan (unfortunately). She was super excited to see the pigs and started yelling, "This is Mama pig *snort*! And this is Daddy pig *snort*!

Finally Felsenegg

Post by R!

On Wednesdays S and I only have half days at school. So we decided to meet our grandparents at Zurich Hauptbahnhof and bring them up to Uetliberg to finally do the Uetliberg-Felsenegg planet walk. 

St Gallen

On Monday, the littles and I went with Grandma and Grandpa to St Gallen to see the cathedral and library of the UNESCO listed abbey. Photos were allowed in the church, but not the library. T was happy to spend time in the church. He and I had a contest to see who could count more flying naked babies. The prize was a carrot. T was awesome in there - on his own he decided to hold L's hand and help keep her quiet. The library itself was beautiful and it also displayed many books inlaid with gold and precious stones. The littles weren't interested, though, even when Grandma showed them a real Egyptian mummy. So I took them outside while Grandma and Grandpa looked around. I ended up getting them each a slice of cake at a little cafe in the courtyard. It undid the good of the carrot, but it was nice to sit and relax with them. When Grandma and Grandpa came back down it turned out that we were the ones to keep them waiting while we finished cakes, applied sunscreen, and changed L. Finally we were able to move on and went through a cute part of old town to another church - St Laurenzen - recommended by the tourist office, though we would have noticed its colorful roof anyway.