Going Back to Gimmelwald

All,

Well, we had a wonderful, albeit quick stop in the Alps at the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald, Switzerland. We arrived on Saturday afternoon around three and then were there about 24 hours or so. In that time though, we were able to get some good hiking done, and just relax after the craziness that was the Oktoberfest. We started getting the most of our railpasses right after Oktoberfest as we caught trains to Zurich, and then to Bern, and then to Interlaken and then took the Mountain tram up to Gimmelwald. If you are a regular reader of my blogs, you will remember that I was there last year, and although it may seem a bit redundant to return, i don't think anyone would ever tire of those views, and I certainly did not, and Chris rather enjoyed them as well.

We got there at like 3 on saturday, and through a nice gentleman at the hostel, found out that the grocery store up in Murren, which is the only one within walking distance closed at 4, and that it would be closed on Sunday. So, we immediately ran out the door and started hauling it up to Murren, and boy was it rough, a couple heart attacks were nearly averted and we stumbled into the COOP store at around 350, we browsed, and i picked up some pesto, some penne noodles, and some emmenthaler cheese which i have been obsessed with this summer. I made that for dinner and chris delved into a skillet of Rosti at a cafe in Murren which I had been raving about since last fall. We just hung out at the hostel that night, and felt like the old guys who went to bed while everyone else was swapping travel stories and whatnot over beers and music.

Sunday, we got up early, were booted out of the hostel at 9:30 in the morning, and setout for hours upon hours of hiking. We actually hiked down to Lauterbrunnen and walked along the river observing lots of cool waterfalls, cows, goats and other alpine features. We were running late for our night train out of Zurich, so we took the tram back up the mountain, and then headed right back down to catch an overnight train from Zurich to Prague. After much stress and trepidation, we found seats, and remained on the train the entire way, and actually had to switch trains in Linz, Austria, and then take a bus to České Budějovice, and then finally a train to Prague.

I will be updating about prague in the next blog, so hope all well, and we will be home soon, assuming there is still a country to come home to, right?

scott

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