Blogs from Grindelwald, South-West, Switzerland, Europe

April 7-9 This weekend seemed almost like a how-much-of-Switzerland-can-you-see-in-three-days whirlwind. Saturday Anna, Julia, Carolyn and I spent the day in Lucerne, wandering the town, climbing the old town wall, crossing the old covered bridges, and exploring the many churches. Since it was the day before Easter every single one of the churches we went into was having rehearsals so we got several amazing free organ and choir concerts. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but the acoustics in these old churches are absolutely amazing! In the evening we cooked our own feast of pesto pasta, frizzled spinach with feta, and a strawberry-spinach salad with stroppe waffles to top it off. Then we proceeded to spend the cold rainy night playing all sorts of card games in the hostel lobby. Sunday morning we attended Easter Mass ... read more

Grindelwald, the famous village in the swiss mountains is just a 1 hour drive away from our home. Well, it is indeed a very touristic place, nevertheless we love to spend some time there as the landscape is amazing and there are still places where you can escape from the crowds. With this blog we would like to give other travellers tips where to go and what to do in this area. 1. If you want to go hiking or mountainbiking - that is the perfect place to be. There are a lot of great hikes in amazing surroundings. Even though it is very touristic, the trails around the First are easy and you have an amazing view. The Bachalpsee is a great spot to relax in this scenery. Very recommended is a 4-6 hours walk ... read more

We spent this morning getting food, doing washing and bringing this Blog site up to date since we did not access to wifi internet while away in France. We have both chosen where we want to have our last two days in Switzerland with our favourite spots. Lindsay chose First and a walk to the Bacalpsee. We knew it was going to be teeming with tourists but we are tourists too so today we did the touristy thing. First is fantastic for it's views directly at the mountains across the Grindelwald valley. The journey up in the chairlift is the best that we have experienced in this country. It is idyllic. You look out over the valley with it's farms and town, but below as you journey up are the cows and their bells, goats, families ... read more

Yesterday was a domestic day so not worth recording. Today we took the chairlift to First. The glaciers and mountains around were clear but topped with cloud. The trip up to First is one that you can never tire of. It is magnificent and one of the reasons we come to Switzerland. We took a route that we haven't done before. This was down the cliff face below First then across an Alp, past waterfalls and tthen onto the restaurant and hotel called Waldspitz. Amazingly, the Grindelwald Bus has a service up here. We sat on the side of the road down with a view over Grindelwald and had our picnic lunch. The temperature at First had been 8 degrees and although it warmed a little on the way down it was still quite cold. The ... read more

Yesterday was an easy day - cleaning the house, doing washing, getting groceries down in the village, picking red currants and walking down from Itramen on the other side of the valley. Just a slow idle down the hill after getting the bus up. We then called at the Grindelwald Museum which is well worth a visit. It covers the history and life of the village, the glacier status, mountaineering and guiding, industry in the valley and a wonderful exhibition of black and white photography of the mountains. The clarity was amazing. In the evening the currants were cooked and strained ready to make red currant jelly the next day. Today was supposed to rain so we got organised for a trip to Thun. Then on checking the weather reports, the rain was going to arrive ... read more

An early start to the day with a text from Brendan in the middle of the night (wanting to Skype) followed by a rooster crowing before dawn. What the heck, I may as well get up and check in with our son. I spent the next 2 hours checking email, Skyping, checking "Stuff" and doing the blog. We wanted to know the situation with the Christchurch Earthquake and B's house at New Brighton. It is uninhabitable now which means no tenants to pay the mortgage. A very bad situation for a single wage family. Today is the start of the next stage of the Tour de Suisse in Grindelwald so we headed down at 10am for the entertainment. There were plenty of "give aways" - hats, bags, drinks, key rings, pens, soft toys mascots and much ... read more