Arrival in Berlin

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Okay....so it's been a few days since the last update. We've been to places with no internet access in Germany and in Switzerland internet was 5 swiss francs for 15 minutes and since we only had 12 francs left for supper...no updates. It turns out that Switzerland is very expensive. 12 francs gets you 2 small cheeseburgers and 6 nuggets at a Mcdonalds in Bern...and just about nothing anywhere else.

So on September 12th we took the trains from Rothenberg to Hohenschwangau which is the land of King Ludwig and his fairy tale castles. We toured both the castles there and stayed in a place with a view of the castle from the balcony. This town was super touristy during the day when swarms of buses pull in but everything shuts down around 6:00. The town looks just like Lake Louise with a walking path around the glacial lake and a canoe rental shop.

Next we spent a VERY long day of a bus then 5 trains then another bus then a tram to lift us up into the Swiss Alps. Unfortunately it was dark by the time we got to the lift so we couldn't see any of the Alps until the morning. However, after riding the tram back down the mountain and seeing the heights that we were at, Lee-Anne was a little happier to have ridden it in the dark....we were up very high!

On Friday, the rain came out in Switzerland so we spent the day hiking in the rain. They have restaurants set up in the farms along the path so you can pick up some homemade soup at 7000 feet (7 francs a bowl is a good deal here). We hiked an "easy 2 hour path" in about 4 hours and saw some water falls and lots of cows! It's cheese making time here.

On Saturday the sun came back out so we took a lift up the Schilthorn mountain where we had a glorious view of the Jungfrau and we had some hot chocolate in a revolving restaurant which is the site of the 007 film "On her majesty's secret service." Revolving in a restaurant is a little weird and we had a little trouble standing up straight after that! hahaha It was cold at the top of the mountain..about 0 degrees but don't worry Grandma...I've got my toque!

We took a train into Bern in the afternoon and walked around their town square for a bit. We spent our last francs at the McDonalds (I know, I know...but there was no where else that we could afford!) and got on a train to Basel where we picked up a night train to Berlin. Right now we are in the Dunkin Donuts across from the Main Berlin station which has super cheap internet and the first big coffee that Phil has seen since getting to Europe. The night train went pretty smoothly despite all the horror stories you hear of theft on the train. The couchettes are a little small. They are probably 6 foot x 2 foot and just enough space to crawl in before another one is on top of you.

Today and tomorrow we are going to be taking in Berlin...the Bauhaus museum, Checkpoint Charlie, and the remains of the wall. Sorry no pictures again...hooking up the camera is not allowed most places...don't worry though. There are plenty of photos to see when we get home. We love reading any comments that you put on here. It's the easiest way to let us know that somebody out there is reading these things! Bye for now!

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