A big day today. We were up early at 6am to get a taxi to take us to Bussalp to watch cheese being made. We had done this 10 years ago but it is always good to see things done the old way. In this case, the way it had been done for 400years. Our guide was not a man who had actually done the job except as a child, but he had had a life of being involved in climbing, mountaineering and running the Jungfrau hotel. He could speak five languages so was more than good for the job. He was also 80, like Fritz the last person who took us. The taxi took us up to Bussalp which is a road that branches off Terrasenweg (where we stay) and heads off way up to ... read more

The day started with a couple of delays. We got down to the town and had forgotten our Visitors Pass so back we went as we wanted to book tickets to the Cheese Making on Thursday morning. We then drove to Lauterbrunnen and Karilyn left the camera in the car so Neil went back. We then walked up the valley in beautiful sunny, warm weather to the Trummelbach Falls. There seems to be an over abundance of Muslims everywhere who block the tracks and don't move to let people through. Maybe it's the large populations they have that they just don't care. The men wear what they want and the women are either completely covered in chadors with only eyes showing (even then sun glasses) or they are rugged up in trousers, coats and scarves then ... read more

Sadly, we farewelled Gersau this morning, just as the weather seemed to be coming right. We had been so lucky to have such a lovely house to stay in for the week and to get to know the area better. Before leaving, we had a talk to Gertrud who was able to answer a few questions for us and confirm that Gersau had been a republic for 400 years and were very proud of the fact. The family name Camemzind continuously cropped up in the cemetery because Gersau had been isolated in the past so they all likely married relatives from time to time. It is so good to have such generous friends in Switzerland. We had a good clean up of the house and left around 10am for Grindelwald. The journey took us back around ... read more

The day started with food on the agenda. Gertrud had recommended the local cheese pie and we had seen a scintillating variety of cheeses at a shop down in Gersau. These were bought for tonight's dinner. We headed off from Gersau in the car this morning to do the rather long way around to Alpnachstadt where the Pilatus Bahn leaves from. To tour from Gersau, we went to Brunnen, then to Flueulen at the end of the lake and back towards Lucern on the far side of the lake. Much of the journey is in tunnels, one of which was over 9km long. It is certainly not the way to sight see because on autobahns you see very little except the baffles along the road sides. The weather is looking much better but still not warm ... read more

We 4 got the bus to Vitznau at 9.09am and the boat from there to the Lido boat station where we visited the Transport Museum to watch a 3D film on IMAX at the facility. There are a range of 3D films to watch but we had to take what was available at the time we were there. We opted not to visit the museum which is a large interactive facility but we had visited it a few years before with Marianne and Fritz. The 3D file was on the Flight of the Butterflies. It covered the story of a scientist from Toronto who traced the lives of Monarch Butterflies from Texas, north to Canada and then their flight path south. They have 3 generations before migrating south, but where did they go to? They were ... read more