Blogs from Grindelwald, South-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 5

We are in the best hostel in the world right now, with a couple of the coolest people we've met so far, in the most beautiful country that we've seen yet. The town is actually called Lauderbrunnen (it wasn't listed, so the blog says Grindelwald--which is somewhat nearby). It is located at the floor of a valley in an area called the Berner Oberland, surrounded by roaring waterfalls and the daunting Swiss Alps. It's quiet, apart from the cowbells that we can hear jingling 24/7, and the air is fresh. There are little glacier-water creeks all over the place. I can't imagine a better place for us "country-bumpkins" to relax for a few days. To make the experience even better, our hostel is AMAZING. It's a tiny family-owned place that is run by a sweetheart, named ... read more

so early friday we get up, have breakfast, pack our stuff and say our goodbyes to our new friends, richard and aurin from denmark, and joana from slovakia who was the front desk lady for the lake lodge hostle. take the bus into interlaken and get a train to lauterbrunnen. amazing train ride ....beautiful views alongside the river and beside the mountians....beautiful. get into lauterbrunnen and walk the bikes up the hill at the trainstation to the bike path....awesome..right by a huge waterfall...so high it turns to mist..then condenses on the side of the mountain and then makes the roaring river.....bike along nicley by beautiful paths and meadows full of happy goats with bells on munching happily. beautiful, green, amazing..what else to say? the pictures can only convey a feeling of the size and green we ... read more

I’m a bit behind on the blogging as we have been pretty flat out since our day relaxing in the rain near Zermatt! The rain did continue as we made our way towards the Jungfrau area. Luckily it did stop in the afternoon - which is just as well, as we spent nearly and hour and a half trying to find a camp ground! Since we were planning on spending a few days here we decided to hunt for a really nice pitch. The first camp was really expensive and the pitch was in the overflow carpark overlooking the chemical loo point. The second camp was huge - and very, very busy. The first thing we saw was a massive Contiki bus in the parking lot so we fled! Similarly, the third campground was geared towards ... read more

It is kind of a strange day today. There is no cheese to be made anymore and no cows to milk! Yesterday was the big Alp Upwart (probably spelt that wrong) which is the traditional leading of the cows down the mountain back to their village farms. It was really an amazing event. The cows were dressed up with fancy bells and flowers and even me and Jan had to dress up. Then all the farmers, us, and the cows made the 5 km walk of so back to the village where we had to say goodbye. I was quite ready to be finished with the milking and work but saying my goodbyes to all the farmers is actually kinda sad for me. Some farmers have been giving me gifts to bring back home and bonuses ... read more

So it’s been a little bit since I’ve added anything and quite an amount of cheese has been made in the meantime so I figured it was about time I wrote something more down. A lot has happened in the past week or so, especially since my parents were out here for a visit. That was definitely a great thing. I got some good company for a while plus in showing them around I got a chance to see some more of the area other than this small part that I’m always working on. A few farmers were kind enough to milk for me a couple of the afternoons which gave me a chance to go some places with my parents. Also things have slowed down here some since school has started again here in switzerland ... read more