Cheese, mountains, and a big time!

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Well, the Switzerland trip was fantastic! We made it to Luzern for a night, then headed to Interlaken for a night, then Lauterbrunnen for two nights, then finally to Bern for a night in the capital! Switzerland is a beautiful, friendly, great country.
In Luzern we saw all the town- per Rick Steves walking tour of course. Luzern is beautiful. The old bridges all have a series of paintings on them. And the river runs right through town. We were there when it was warm and sunny so everyone was sitting out by the river. We had a great dinner that night- yuum... cream.
The next day we headed off for Interlaken! The highlight of this town for me was definitely the paragliding. It was amazing. The town was really foggy in the morning so they drove us up above the fog level. I could see all of the mountains and it was actually sunny up there. And we just ran down the mountain and the chute picked us right up and we floated, went through the fog level, and popped out to where we could see the entire town of Interlaken right on the water. It was an incredible experience just floating above the town. Now I want to go skydiving!
After Interlaken we headed to Lauterbrunnen for two nights. I told mom and dad we were probably the only family not in ski gear. But it was a cute little town. We had some delicious Swiss food both nights we were there.
Our second day in Lauterbrunnen we rode a cable car up the mountain and trained over to this tiny town called Murren. It was crazy. There were people skiing everywhere- literally right through the streets! And these old women would hop on a sled for their transportation means! It was so cool. A bunch of people would walk out of their hotels and just get right on skis. It was slightly terrifying for us non-skiiers because we were a bit afraid they would plow us down!
Well, the highlight of the afternoon came when we went to Gimmelwald. We actually "hiked" down this path to the town. This is a tiny, tiny town with about one road, one store, a B&B, and a woman selling cheese out of a cheese shed. The people who sell things don't even stay in their stores. To buy the cheese we actually had to ring the doorbell to this woman's house and she opened the window to talk to us. It was awesome! And she took us to her cheese shed and there just wheels and wheels of delicious Swiss Alpkase (Alp cheese). We loved it. We ended up having a picnic outside because it was beautiful and sunny and warm. WE were looking at the mountains and were just immersed in the Swiss Alps. It was great.
The next day we headed out of the mountains for a bit of the city- Bern. Bern is a beautiful city: it is actually a UNESCO world-heritage city and I could see why. It is on the river so we walked around the whole city and saw the sights. We enjoyed a coffee (horrendously overpriced) in a park overlooking the river and just enjoyed the city. And a bit of shopping was necessary too, being in a big city. But the whole feel of Bern was very relaxed and laid back. There were several people walking around in suits and such, but they were also just enjoying the beautiful weather. We enjoyed one last great Swiss meal full of cheese and cream and headed back to Germany the next day.
It was really a great trip and we had a BIG time. Having mom and dad here was great too. Switzerland really is just beautiful and I'm so glad we got out of the cities and got into the mountains. It made the trip!

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