Swiss Bliss

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Penny found true love in Switzerland .... the evergreen hills and alpine meadows, the snow-capped mountains, crystal blue lakes, the scary great cows with giant bells, and she didn't even taste the world famous chocolate! (Serious diet time after the Great Italian Cheese-fest). Dave did though, and boy did he do it in style. Ten blocks of the milky brown Swiss Bliss plus a 1kg bag of Swiss Chocolate Muesli. Yum!

We shacked up in a rather large barn called 'The Funny Farm' out the back of a pricey Interlaken resort. You'd think the name would've tipped us off, but it wasn't until 2am on night #1 that we realised we'd stumbled into Europe's most vivacious party hostel. We natterred like grumpy grandparents over the Guinness tent out our bedroom window with happy hour from 10pm. We grumbled over the pool bar pumping that loud techno noise the youth of today call 'music' and we turned up our noses at the beer bongs in the Alpine Adventure hut next door. We are getting old!

Grindelwald touted visions of perfect hiking opportunities through gorgeous mountain scenery. Unfortunately the weather got the better of us. We ended up dragging our sorry sleepless bodies up 4 hours of 45 degree muddy mountain trails with visibility reduce to 10 metres ahead. A touch of magic occured near the top as a symphony of cowbells jingled through the mist to our ears' delight. This is Switzerland! Especially when you hit 2°C at the base of Jungfraujoch dressed in shorts.

As luck would have it, our departure date coincided with a 27°C sunshiney day. We caught the Glacier Express through the world's most amazing scenery, glued to the window like eager 5-year-olds for 3 hours straight before arriving in Ilanz, a cute little village deep in the Swiss mountains. We were here for one purpose only .... a day of serious relaxation in Therme Vals, a stunning spa resort designed by architect Peter Zumthor to maximise views of the surrounding alps. We emerged 4 hours later, walking, talking prunes, after weaving through cavern-like pools connected via cool stone tunnels. Each and every pool embodied a particular theme and temperature. From the perfume pool 33°C with floating petals (Dave's favourite), to the echoing cathedral pool at 35°C, the fire cave at 42°C, onto the body-shock 14°C plunge pool followed by recovery in the outdoor pool amidst snowcapped mountains.

We love Switzerland.... and we'll definitely be back!

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Comments

[Rosanne]

Those Cows!
Dave, You are such a laugh...I sat at my desk at work and everyone was wondering what I was laughing at! That clip of the cow bells. Well my day just does not compare to those cows and their bells. Rosanne