Enchantment of Eastern Europe

Gary and I agreed that after being up early and ready for breakfast every morning for the last week, he could sleep in today!!

Thankfully one of my outlet converters will fit into the recessed outlets in this apartment, but then we looked in all the drawers and found one provided by Therese! This place was a really great find.

The Aare is the longest river in Switzerland. It flows from the Aare Glacier, through Interlaken, Thun, and Bern, until it dumps out into the Rhine River. A channel from the river runs past our accommodation.

Everywhere we go, we see something different. In this case, it’s the stopper for the sink!

I’d like to start with a funny story. Gary suddenly saw something in the neighbouring lawn. It was really big and moving slowly – what could it be? Maybe a turtle, I said without seeing it? Gary was pretty freaked out about what it could possibly be, maybe going toward the river! In fairness to Gary, he didn’t have his glasses on and had not yet had a cup of coffee. Can you tell what it is?

As we were having breakfast, we were looking at the material about the Interlaken visitor’s card that Therese provided. It listed a golf course and Gary thought ball markers from Switzerland would be a neat gift for his golf buddies, so we hatched a plan to take the bus out there. Unfortunately, the golf club had nothing in the way of ball markers or souvenir golf balls, so our trip was wasted. But it was fun to take local transport and it cost us nothing.

We took the bus back into Interlaken and followed Rick Steves’ little walk through town. The Metropole Hotel is 18 stories tall and the tallest building in town. If it is a clear day, he suggests taking the elevator to the top and having a beverage on the outdoor terrace with commanding views of the Jungfrau region. Not today, unfortunately.

Hotels like the Victoria Jungfrau date back to the late 19th century when Interlaken was THE top alpine resort.

We walked into the courtyard in front of the Casino Kursaal, where gnomes ring the toadstools at the top of the hour. Unfortunately when we walked back to it, we were a minute late for the performance!

There was a sign saying we were near Schloss Interlaken so we went in search of the castle. We found two churches, a pretty cemetery, and a very friendly young man walking his beautiful cocker spaniel.

I’m not sure of his name – Remy, maybe – but we know his dog’s name is Emil. We had a great discussion with him about his mandatory military service, how he works in the used watches department for the big jewelry store and the climate in Interlaken. He pointed out the apartment building where he lives and how there are palm trees, fig trees and a pine from South America! All because we just can’t pass by an adorable dog!!

We walked by a McDonald’s and couldn’t resist visiting it for lunch! At that point I noticed my shoes, socks and feet were soaked so we decided to walk back to our apartment.

We stopped at the Coop across the street and bought things to make our own dinner. I want to go for fondue, raclette and rosti, but we were wet and starting to feel cold. Gary was happy to find the French Open on the tv and I was happy to find a hair dryer to try to dry out my shoes.

It’s called POV and it was my view the whole time we walked around today. Thank goodness Therese lent us umbrellas!

Despite “taking it easy” we logged about 9000 steps today over 6+ kms!