We were all really excited to go to Switzerland, though I think Dan and I were the most excited. Thanks to Mom serving her mission in Switzerland 35 years ago, Dan and I were willing to brave one of the most expensive countries in Europe. Our flight landed in Basel-Mulhouse (which interestingly enough actually is in France) and then we headed to our hostel. After getting the hostel stuff situated we were ready to explore and started riding trams to downtown. It wasn't too hard to see Basel. We got off the tram in old town and just followed the river line. The houses are so cute, they paint their buildings really fun and the roofs have colored tiles. It was SO CUTE! My favorite would have to be the red building.
The next day at Church mom met a few people she knew from her mission and had fun. I was amazed how friendly people were. They all were asking me if I was moving there and seemed so disappointed that I wasn't. I thought to myself, Heck, I could live here! Maggie didn't come to church, still sick. Then we went to get Maggie and walked around some more. It was so fun. One of my favorite parts had to be riding in this boat thing across the river. It was attached to a cable and the current carried it across to the other side.
Yes they really do build houses like that!
The next day at Church mom met a few people she knew from her mission and had fun. I was amazed how friendly people were. They all were asking me if I was moving there and seemed so disappointed that I wasn't. I thought to myself, Heck, I could live here! Maggie didn't come to church, still sick. Then we went to get Maggie and walked around some more. It was so fun. One of my favorite parts had to be riding in this boat thing across the river. It was attached to a cable and the current carried it across to the other side.
Yes they really do build houses like that!
Dan showing off his hot soaked self after starting our hike.
But what I was the ABSOLUTE most excited for was the Alps. We headed to Interlaken bright and early Monday. When we arrived it was lightly raining, just little drips. We got to the hostel and Dan and I felt the urgency to hike immediately. Really we left early so we could have the whole day in Interlaken, cause we had to head to Luzern the next day around noon. For some reason, maybe because it was raining, no one else wanted to go hiking so we left Vinson with the grandparents. We hiked to the starting point of our hike and got to see all of the cute pensions and hotels. They were by far the coolest buildings in Interlaken. By the time we got there we were soaked. The light rain had gotten stronger and it was cold. I was willing to get a cold to hike in the Alps. We probably couldn't the next day.
Dan was the smarter one though, and he was colder than me so we decided to go to Grindelwald. A cute town higher up in the Alps. We felt a little bad not taking Dan's family with us but we were already wet and tired and didn't want to hike back to get them. So we took off. The train ride was absolutely incredible. Dan and I must have been fun to watch jumping from one row to another to get the best view and taking pictures like crazy. I was appalled that one guy was actually sleeping and another one was reading a newspaper. How could they when that was out the window! It was cloudier than I would have hoped for, but still gorgeous.
A picture of us from the train.
But what I was the ABSOLUTE most excited for was the Alps. We headed to Interlaken bright and early Monday. When we arrived it was lightly raining, just little drips. We got to the hostel and Dan and I felt the urgency to hike immediately. Really we left early so we could have the whole day in Interlaken, cause we had to head to Luzern the next day around noon. For some reason, maybe because it was raining, no one else wanted to go hiking so we left Vinson with the grandparents. We hiked to the starting point of our hike and got to see all of the cute pensions and hotels. They were by far the coolest buildings in Interlaken. By the time we got there we were soaked. The light rain had gotten stronger and it was cold. I was willing to get a cold to hike in the Alps. We probably couldn't the next day.
Dan was the smarter one though, and he was colder than me so we decided to go to Grindelwald. A cute town higher up in the Alps. We felt a little bad not taking Dan's family with us but we were already wet and tired and didn't want to hike back to get them. So we took off. The train ride was absolutely incredible. Dan and I must have been fun to watch jumping from one row to another to get the best view and taking pictures like crazy. I was appalled that one guy was actually sleeping and another one was reading a newspaper. How could they when that was out the window! It was cloudier than I would have hoped for, but still gorgeous.
A picture of us from the train. 
Me eating a yummy roll and Swiss cheese. Yum!
It was like the really pretty of American Fork Canyon with the greenery of Oregon! Even without the Alps peaking over the closer mountains Dan and I were goggle eyed. We looked at the tourist shops and bought bread and Swiss cheese for lunch. SO GOOD! We ate that most of the trip, sometimes for lunch and for dinner. After seeing the same things which were twice the cost of a decent tourist shop we decided to hike. No joke the cheapest T-shirt was 30 dollars! Then we went for a really pretty hike. It wasn't really what I would have imagined when thinking of hiking in the alps. Most of the time we were on a road and the destination was a hotel (there used to be an ice cave, which was what we wanted to see but global warming made it disappear.) As soon as we were almost in view of the hotel it started pouring so Dan and I ran to an ice cream stand for cover. For some reason no one was buying ice cream in this weather, I know weird JK. The girl running the stand shut it down and offered to give us a ride back to Grindelwald. We were delighted and accepted the offer. We had 20 more minutes to wander and then took the train back to Interlaken and paid a little extra to get dropped off at the closer stop.
It was like the really pretty of American Fork Canyon with the greenery of Oregon! Even without the Alps peaking over the closer mountains Dan and I were goggle eyed. We looked at the tourist shops and bought bread and Swiss cheese for lunch. SO GOOD! We ate that most of the trip, sometimes for lunch and for dinner. After seeing the same things which were twice the cost of a decent tourist shop we decided to hike. No joke the cheapest T-shirt was 30 dollars! Then we went for a really pretty hike. It wasn't really what I would have imagined when thinking of hiking in the alps. Most of the time we were on a road and the destination was a hotel (there used to be an ice cave, which was what we wanted to see but global warming made it disappear.) As soon as we were almost in view of the hotel it started pouring so Dan and I ran to an ice cream stand for cover. For some reason no one was buying ice cream in this weather, I know weird JK. The girl running the stand shut it down and offered to give us a ride back to Grindelwald. We were delighted and accepted the offer. We had 20 more minutes to wander and then took the train back to Interlaken and paid a little extra to get dropped off at the closer stop.
To be continued:
