We left Florence on July 19, 2000 after a wonderful stay in Italy. We were sad to leave this beautiful and welcoming country. The bus picked us up at our hotel and transported us to the train station very early. We had brought food to help us get through the munchies. That helped. We arrived in Milan and had to change trains. During our wait for the other train to take us onto Frutigen, the girls found the McDonalds! Ah! Some familiar food!!! I found the latte bar! YEA! We boarded the train again, for our long journey. Just as we were preparing to cross the Italian border, the Italian police walked through the train, checking passports. We were busy playing cards and laughing about stories we were telling. Of course we had identical shirts on. The train ride was very peaceful and relaxing. Traveling through the Swiss Alps was absolutely breathtaking! The pictures we see, whether on TV or in print, don't do them justice! They are huge! They were capped with snow and very rugged. The miraculous wonder created by God was awesome. Part of the distance, we traveled through tunnels through the mountains. WOW! And then we would emerge the other side, seeing the beauty of the area.

Our train trip came to a close. We arrived in Frutigen and got off the train and made our way to the office. We were to have tickets for our continuing bus journey to Oey. We found out we did not have bus reservations. With a little conversation with these German-speaking Swiss people, we finally obtained the necessary tickets.

The one-hour bus journey was exciting! We knew we were very close to the fulfillment of our dream over these last 14 months. The bus struggled to climb the mountain roads. The mountains were beautiful!! The bus stopped on the road, and Our Chalet staff met us. What a welcome site! We had paid extra to have our luggage driven up the mountain. WHAT A GOOD DECISION THAT WAS! As the staff made sure we had all arrived, we started our journey up the mountain. The website (http://www.ourchalet.ch/gotooc.html) tells you it is a strenuous uphill walk of about 20 minutes. Yes, it is strenuous. No, we didn't make it in 20 minutes, EVER!!!!!!!!! You can't see Our Chalet from the road - or at least I couldn't! When they tell you it is a hike up the mountain, that is no lie! The adults hiking up the mountain took many "Kodak moments" (excuses for stopping) while the girls hiked up without any problem. Along the way, the beautiful flowers along the roadside were different from what we have in the Midwest. There was bluebells. I hoped I would be able to see some Edelweiss. Quiet waterfalls were along the roadside. The mountainsides were dotted with Swiss chalets. As we continued our journey, we were able to see close-up the darling Swiss chalets with the typical Swiss painting on the side. The buildings themselves were unpainted. This country appears to be pollution free. The road was narrow and wound frequently.

We FINALLY arrived at the top of the mountain! When you sing this treasured song, and the song says, "High up, high on the mountain, we founded Our Chalet," it is truly on the top of a mountain. What a thrill it was to see this BEAUTIFUL mountaintop Girl Scout and Girl Guide facility! Situated in the Swiss Alps, Our Chalet, one of four world centers belonging to WAGGGS, offers a chance for Guides and Scouts from all parts of the world to come together to experience international friendship. It was awe-inspiring as we topped the last curve of the seemingly long journey to the top of the mountain. For so many years, we have seen pictures of this beautiful building, where we are told friendships blossom. Now, we will touch it...and Our Chalet will touch us.

We were greeted by a couple of other staff members in the parking lot of Our Chalet. It is a very small parking area, which joins the flag poll, the main building, Spycher, Squirrel House, the staff house, and the shop. We all had reservations in Spycher - four girls in each of two rooms, 2 girls in one room, and the adults in a room for two. We entered the beautiful Spycher Building, found the staircase, and proceeded to help each other carry our heavy luggage up to the second floor (afterall, we had packed for sea level to mountaintop). The rooms were bright, clean, and the bed looked great. This was a different climate from where we had come. Being in the mountains was much cooler than the heat of Italy. We tried to turn the heat on in the room, only to find it had been turned off for the summer months. We quickly adapted.

Other facilities included:

• The Main House and Spycher have all accommodations provided.
• Squirrel House is a small house that accommodates up to 10 people.
• Campsite can accommodate up to 25 people. What a beautiful area to tent camp! Also included is a Camp House that has cooking facilities.
• Baby Chalet looks similar to the main building, except only 4 people can stay there. DARLING!

We changed into our uniforms for dinner. But first, all the guests met for the opening flag ceremony in the parking lot. How meaningful this was that we were Girl Scouts and Girl Guides from around the world, and celebrating our arrival at this World Association of Girl Guide and Girl Scouts World Center. WOW! We went into the main building and entered the dining hall. The dining hall is a moderate sized room, where 100 people eat family style. Everyone is divided into patrols to divide the work that must continue during our stay. Each patrol is named after a mountain. I was in the Bonderspitz Patrol.

The first night, we had veal and gravy, pasta, salad, and pudding. We were all very hungry! After we cleared the tables, we played a couple of get-acquainted games. We used the first letter of our first name to select a word that would describe ourselves. I was "joyful Judy". Another game was played identifying the month and day you were born, without talking. Lots of shuffling.

The staff were the "stars" of an Introduction to Our Chalet Skit. The basis of the skit was "If I was a staffer at Our Chalet...". It included tips and hints for a successful and enjoyable experience, as well as introducing staff. They also talked about the napkins - we were assigned napkins for the duration of our stay. We could wash them if we wanted, or not. However, putting your name on the table where you wanted to sit would hold your spot. The staff during the session we attended were:

The girls were allowed to leave the dining hall and socialize, while the adults remained to hear the plan and requirements for our 10-day stay. Part of the instruction included the schedule, the options we had to choose from, the facilities, shop hours, and payment instructions.

We joined the other guests in the dining hall at our assigned table (by our patrol name). After singing grace, we had juice and coffee, bread and jam, and cereal. We were instructed to pack our lunches for our hike. The lunch consisted of two hard brown bread peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and/or processed meat/cheese sandwich, apple, and Swiss chocolate. Our Chalet only gets peanut butter from groups that bring it. We kept peanut butter in our room for our group, in the event they didn't get enough protein at a meal, which we had heard was a problem. We were correct. We Americans eat much more protein than the people in Switzerland.

We gathered in the parking lot for our hike to the woodcarver - Robert Trummer-Ryf outside Adelboden. The path we followed was well trodden. We had fun walking along the trail. We walked down through fields first and then up a narrow road to arrive at the woodcarvers house. This little house, built into the side of a mountain with a significant cliff as his front yard, is a very small building. And to think, this is where the family lives as well. WOW! We were in for a treat! Our Chalet staff had notified him of our arrival prior to coming. This was wonderful! He had lots of carvings on the walls and in amongst the plants in the garden. The woodcarver was carving when we arrived. He makes lots of Girl Scout/Girl Guide carvings for these frequent visitors. It was obvious he was accustomed to these visitors. It was great fun to see all he had, including some typical Swiss games. I had a list of people I wanted to buy the "famous" trefoil pins (approximately $4 each). I gave the typed list to the owner and as I shopped, he wood burned the names into each pin. I also purchased neck slides from him. We said good-bye to the woodcarver, his wife, and their son and moved on to our next destination hiking through the Swiss Alps.

Our next stop was the Cholerenschluct Gorge - a narrow gorge. We had no idea what we were in for! We climbed the hundreds of steps (seemed like) into this God-created wonder. It was stunning. The thunder of the water flowing beneath us was breathtaking. We were hoping the rails we were walking along were hold us secure. They did. We continued to climb higher and higher to the waterfalls. BEAUTIFUL! So cool! The water is so pure!

We stopped for lunch by a creek. The creek was wide and exceedingly cold! The glacier water was just an indication to us of things yet to come! It was real cold! We found it most relaxing to enjoy our packed lunches by this beautiful creek. Switzerland is very clean. Of course we carried our trash out.

We started our hiking to the town of Adelboden. This is a very small town that has a busy main street full of specialty shops. FUN! It was great to see these different little businesses and wonder how they survive.

We ended our day arriving back to Our Chalet about 5:30, just in time to get cleaned up for dinner. We were exhausted after our busy day hiking the Swiss Alps. What a memory! It was such a treat to be able to hike through these beautiful mountains!

At dinner, we had fried fish, potatoes, grilled tomatoes, and apricot pizza. Afterwards, we played a game on getting to know Our Chalet and Switzerland and saw a cute skit. The girls were all starting to socialize. We also enjoyed a trip to Our Chalet shop. It was fun to see all the items they had in there, but the most popular, I believe was the Lindt chocolate bars. YUM!

Evenings at Our Chalet are fascinating times of sharing and swapping ideas amongst different countries, your Guiding and Scouting experience, lifestyles, "God and the world."

Day 3 - Thursday:
We started our day with a hearty breakfast of juice and coffee, hard brown bread, musili, and yogurt. We were instructed that we could mix the flavorless yogurt and some sugar with the musili. That wasn't too good. The yogurt is made at Our Chalet. If you walk through the room where they hang laundry, you will find the huge vats of yogurt processing. Anyway, after breakfast we packed our lunches for the day, of two sandwiches, an orange, and Swiss chocolate.

Today's trip was along the Lake of Thun and Brienz. We boarded a bus for our ride to the Lake of Thun. It was relaxing to hike along the river edge and along the cliffs. In Thun, we saw lots of buildings - some were labeled that they were from the 1500's and they were leaning. The buildings had beautiful flower boxes on the windows. The waterfalls were beautiful! We stopped for lunch at a great spot with great benches/fire pit/ and a great view of the Lake of Thun. We hiked to a boat station and proceeded to hike up to a hotel. Many took the 1906 short funicular railway (tram that transports and cannot turn around). The hike was very hard, but the waterfalls were incredible and very tall!!!! I was glad I took the hike, even though I needed the bathroom in the worst way. After we got ice cream at the hotel and used their beautiful bathrooms, we decided to pay the 4.5 Swiss francs (~$3) and ride the funicular down. That was great fun and very relaxing! (I did miss seeing the waterfalls again.)

Giessbach Waterfall in Brienzersee / Funicular Railway Huge amounts of water rage through the wildly romantic Giessbach Valley and fall over 500m and 14 waterfalls to spill into the green-blue waters of the Lake of Brienz. A spectacular natural wonder just 15 minutes by boat and 10 minutes by car away from Brienz. The scenic terraces of the Grand Hotel Giessbach offer fabulous views of the waterfalls.

We met at the boat house we originally met, and board a boat for Brienz. It was a very peaceful boat ride - calm, peaceful and incredibly beautiful scenery. There were very tall mountains and beautiful waterfalls all around us.

We walked to the woodcrafter factory. Outside was a huge bear (over 6' tall) that anyone could try their hand at carving with the provided tools. It was very hard to carve. We first went into a room that had beautiful clocks and doll houses. Incredible talents. Great works! We saw people coming on tour. Expensive stuff in the shops. I bought a couple of very small cuckoo clocks for friends back home (15 SF~$10).

Brienz School of Woodcarving (http://usa.myswitzerland.com/en/navpage_results_top5.cfm?item=Art_and_Culture) - First proposals for the Brienz School of Woodcarving were voiced by Christian Fischer in 1816. In its heyday about 1000 people in the region were involved in the woodcarving profession. The Brienz School of Woodcarving was opened in 1884. In 1927 the canton of Berne took over the school which had hitherto been run privately. It has been a cantonal technical college ever since and is furthermore the only school in Switzerland to offer a full-time training course in woodcarving. An exhibition room forms an integral part of the school. Pieces belonging to the foundation for collecting and exhibiting woodcarvings", work from the collection owned by the Bernese foundation for applied art as well as work produced by students at the school are exhibited there and there is also a display documenting the training undergone by woodcarvers.

We briefly walked around the town and did some quick shopping. I was excited to have found the "bird" sewing scissors I have heard so much about. They were a great price. We road the bus for about an hour back to Our Chalet. It was a nice and peaceful ride. The bus couldn't take us all the way up to Our Chalet, but very close. We still had a short hike.

For dinner tonight, we had meatloaf, noodles and potatoes with sauce, salad with corn, and applesauce. That evening, my job was to wash and dry dishes and put them away with my patrol.

During the evening, we went to Adelboden for Swiss Folklore at the picturesque village church built in 1433. That was GREAT fun!!! We couldn't understand most of what was said, but it was great fun! It was a packed church fellowship hall. One segment of the show was a performance by Swiss wrestlers. The girls came alive - especially with the "cute" one! The yodlers were so much fun - it was fun to hear Swiss yodels! They served milk out of the same cups to anyone who wanted to come forward. Great singing by men and women. The men had WONDERFUL voices!

We walked up part of the mountain again. My hips and knees hurt. TMJ was setting in with the hard bread. I won't be eating the crust of the bread.

Breakfast looked more typical to Americans today - cereal & milk, coffee & juice, and bread. My job today was the mess hall set up and clean up.

This morning was a little easier than previous mornings. We didn't have to be in the parking lot until 10:50. Nice! We were instructed to take our swim suits if we planned to take a "dip" in the Alpine Lake. I wore mine.

Our trip today was to Oeschenensee Lake - a beautiful lake set to a backdrop of sheer rock cliffs and surrounded by towering mountains. We were bused to the parking area and staff purchased the necessary tickets. Those girls who were planning on going on the overnight night in a couple of days were required to hike up the mountain. Seven of our girls hiked up the mountain, which had lots of switchbacks. It took them 2 1/2 hours to hike up and 1 hour plus to hike down. The rest of us took the chair lifts up the mountain. It was a beautiful view! When we arrived at the top of this mountain, we pulled up our hiking shoes and hiked to Oeschenensee Lake. It was further than we thought! Upon approaching the turquoise colored water Lake, it was surrounded by three different mountain ranges. What a picture! Cows were sunbathing with their cow bells on the "beach" as they ate grass. HUGE cows! Too funny!

One of the requirements for Our Chalet Challenge Patch was to take a dip in an Alpine Lake. (The Our Chalet Challenge Patch program was a great opportunity to discover those smaller things about Our Chalet, as well about the visitors.) I was the first of our group to do this. Wanted to get it over with. The water was SO cold! The water is barely above freezing! Glacier water! There were lots of rocks on the bottom of the Lake. Painfully sharp and uneven - I didn't wear shoes or flip-flops into the lake. But submerging in the lake was incredibly invigorating! I had lots cheering me on. In order to fulfill this requirement, I had to submerge. I finally made a conscious decision to "just do it" and get it over with. I was thrilled when I did it and got out!!! Time to celebrate with lunch and, what else, ice cream!

We walked back to the chair lift taking lots of "Kodak moments". HA! We continued to look for Edelweiss but were unsuccessful. I did pick some of the wild flowers. Before I left the lake, Laura complained about blisters on her feet. I gave her my socks to cushion her heels, as she was hiking, in hopes of qualifying for the overnight hike. I ended up with blisters from the walk, but the extra socks did help Laura.

While at the top, we rode on a tram/go-cart ride. This was GREAT fun!!! Pressing the bar forward to go faster, or pulling them towards you to slow down or stop controlled the go-carts. I was behind Becky and bumped her at the end. We laughed so much!! Lots of fun!

We rode the bus back after a great day. Lots of great experiences and much to chat about.

Tonight we had meatloaf for dinner, mixed vegetables, French fries, and icky applesauce made with yogurt. At bedtime, we were serenaded by the beautiful voice of a girl from Connecticut.

Day 5 - Saturday:
Today breakfast consisted of oatmeal and yogurt, hard brown bread, and coffee and juice. Today I have no chores. YEA!

Our trip today was to Adelboden. We asked about going to Frutigen, we were told there was no shopping there and nothing to see. So, decided to go swimming and shopping in Adelboden.

We hiked up to Adelboden. Seems to be getting easier. Hips didn't hurt. We took a chair lift up the mountain to a restaurant on top of the mountain. I had macaroni salad for 13.50 SF (~$9). EXPENSIVE! Not very good. Nothing special. The waitress didn't speak English, we didn't speak German, so we pointed to something that another customer had ordered and said we wanted that. BEAUTIFUL VIEW! The parasailers were taking off very close to us. Lots of paragliders in the sky. I was painfully aware of what Safety Wise said at that moment about paragliding. It looked like so much fun! We saw the snow/avalanche fences - they were within touching distance.

We took the chair lift back down the mountain to begin our shopping in Adelboden. As we walked to "Main Street" we were treated with seeing the end of a Swiss wedding. The bride was in a blue dress with an apron, and the groom was in a dark green suit. Guests were wearing jeans, knickers, loiderhoisen (suspenders), velvet, and a little bit of everything. The guests were given balloons to release at the end. The couple left in a horse drawn carriage. The guests were transported by bus (decorated with flowers on the front) to probably the reception.

As we were walking the streets of Adelboden, we decided to go find the swimming pool the girls were swimming. They reported back that they saw lots of other girls from Our Chalet going swimming.

The hotel that burned sidetracked us. Hotel Nevada Palace. It must have been a bad fire or explosion. Couldn't have been more than six months ago. Area wasn't cleaned up. Furniture was still outside and didn't show signs of being weathered.

We returned to Our Chalet to begin our evening activities. Before dinner, we had our pinning ceremony in the parking lot in front of the flag pole. We all dressed in our green Our Chalet shirts for this. Evvy and Sarah Jane were in charge First of all, we went around and pinned the person to our left. We told a story of what was great about this person on the trip. I told Sarah Jane how special and helpful she has been, especially in France. Sarah Kaiser told me she wouldn't forget the bathroom scene in France or the story time at nights in Florence. Evvy read a story that resembled us and included ice cream, of all things. I think our group has eaten their weight in ice cream on this trip! Sarah Jane read a story about the Blue Ribbon Ceremony. She passed the blue ribbons to the right. I passed to Sarah Kaiser and told her she has made a difference with her conflict resolution skills. Sarah Jane had me and I don't remember what she said. We closed with singing Linger.

After dinner, we had craft night. We painted a bulletin board with country stamps. Becky and I found the craft closet. We had fun exploring! I found soap stone and started carving a broach.

For breakfast, we had bread and juice and coffee. I had no chores today. YEA! I learned a lesson today - don't be the last to pack lunches! They ran out of peanut butter and didn't pull anymore out. This is a lesson to never be late in line to make lunches. YUCK! Fortunately, we had peanut butter in our room and I finished making my sandwich at noon. When we are ready to leave, after we are through with it, we will give the balance of the peanut butter to Our Chalet.

The morning started out raining and I hoped the girls would be okay. Becky and I sang the girls goodbye with "The hills are alive" as they walked down the hill. We were in the upstairs bathroom of Spycher. Too funny! I'm sure they were embarrassed!! :-) Oh well. It was wonderful we had the freedom to not join them on the trip and stay behind and have a relaxing day.

I took a leisurely shower today. We later walked a short distance and picked wild flowers. We found some coasters in the craft closet and used them as flower presses. We looked pretty ridiculous sitting along the road side pressing the flowers with toilet paper between coasters! It started to sprinkle. We walked up to Baby Chalet and the tent camping area. Couldn't see in the windows very much. Took some pictures. Walked back to Chalet in the rain with our toilet paper presses.

When we got to our room, we finished the flower pressing. Couldn't find Edelweiss. Then later on in the evening we found out all the wild flowers are protected. We shouldn't have picked them!

Took a much needed nap in the afternoon. So great! Laura brought a bar of soap and stuck it under my nose while I was sleeping. Too funny!

Before dinner, we had our uniform picture with the group on the steps of the west side of Our Chalet. IT was great! The Canadians took the pictures with all 12 cameras. Then it was their turn and we took their picture. Then the "raspberries" and "blueberries" mixed (Canadians and Americans). The girls have gotten along so well with the Canadians. We have too.

After dinner, the girls had a birthday party (surprise!) for Mackenzie. She thought they had forgotten her 16th birthday. Party room was filled with balloons and smelled like latex. HA!

Loved my day! Very relaxing! Worked on packing stuff and eliminating stuff not need to take back. I also spent time talking to the staff about how things can be improved. They asked that we submit our suggestions. They were open to our suggestions.

For dinner we had pork goulash, instant mashed potatoes, carrots and banana yogurt.

The evening program was a free night!

Again, we had musili and yogurt, bread/butter/jam, and coffee & juice for breakfast. Today my chore is to clean sinks and sweep bathrooms.

Today was a rainy day. It was a very relaxing day. We started with a meeting with the girls after breakfast. We talked about: 1) completing a page in the Our Chalet scrapbook located in the library; 2) packing this morning; 3) continue to have tolerance with each other; 4) day visitors will be coming; 5) 150 SF was reported missing (Marie); 6) no more than 2 at a dinner table from our group - mix with others; 7) get your overnight gear together if you are going on the night hike; and 8) discussing another trip to Adelboden (Sarah Kaiser).

I went for a relaxing walk with Laura and took pictures. Nice. Had a great chat.

Today was the International Fair. Was great fun! Each country/state had a table and activities to do at most. Got passport stamped at each station. Then swapped almost all of my swaps away. A real treat was the Japanese day visitors (29). Such nice people. A real treat! Somehow although we don't speak the same language, we seemed to have so much in common. They all had their WAGGGS pins on. So fun!

Tonight the girls go on their overnight hike. Sarah Jane is sick and won't go. Marie isn't going due to a cold. Just Sarah Kaiser, Katherine Dye, Mackenzie Smith, and Lauren. Mackenzie and Katherine didn't bring the right clothes, so were borrowing from everyone. I hope they stay warm!

Today, breakfast was toast, coffee, and juice. Our packed lunch sandwich options were either tuna or jam. I took jam and put peanut butter on it.

Because the overnighters were gone, my chore for today was mess hall. There were only 34 of us left behind. We divided up the breakfast tables to do chores.

Today's trip was to Thun (pronounced "tune"). Our guides were Laura and Luba from Belarus. The bus trip took about an hour. Clouds hung over the mountains. It was strange to see the tops of the mountains and yet see clouds midway down. The view was just beautiful! We entered Frutigen. Saw no stores to shop. Saw the mountain the girls hiked up for their overnight and sunrise hike. - Elsicorn. We drove onto Thun. Town is built up more. More houses side by side and not as spread out.

We were dropped off at one of the castles and had time to explore the town. Our first objective was to find dollars - a bank or ATM. So, we went into two banks. They didn't take Visa. Went to an ATM. Worked. Later we found an ATM machine on every corner. Incredible! We found a wonderful pastry shop! Got an "omelet" pastry filled with whipped cream. Yum! Continued to explore the town. Went back to the castle to meet the others after many pictures.

Went to see the St. Beatus - Hohlen caves. Beautiful limestone caves. The cave masters have vivid imaginations to come up with objects that stalactite and stalagmite and rock formations look like. While there are no animals in the cave, there was a stone bear and croc. Growth of the stalactites and stalagmites is 1 kilometer per year. What we saw was part of millions of years of formations. One formation - Koh-i-noor was named such after the largest diamond in the world. Temperature in the cave is a constant at 10-15 degrees Centigrade. When we got to the end of the developed part of the cave, there was a sign that said we had traveled 2,987 feet from entrance and had gone 287 feet up. Seems like in Europe everything goes up, up, up! Saw some mocked up cave homes. Saw a pool of water that had a brilliant red stalagmite in it - caused by iron deposits. It was great to explore the cave and cool off. The limestone formations were incredible.

Before we left the bus to walk up, up, up to the caves, our guides told us we must slide down the slide in the picnic area - an old fable. Anyway, I did it. Got stuck on the way down with my Teva's. The residents/onlookers were laughing.

We joined up with our bus (after a very quick lunch break) and journeyed to our next stop - Schloss Oberhofen Castle, situated on the shores of Lake Thun and built in 1186, where we explore the interior of this beautiful medieval castle and its grounds.. This was great! Beautiful flower gardens!! The castle had 16-19th century furnishings. Self-guided tour. Nothing in English. I went all the way to the top to the "Turkish Smoking Room." Looked like a harem room. Not a very crowded place. Saw where the gate was to let the ships in. There was an armory room. The room with the baby bed was adorable. I did notice the beds are very small!! To think of two people sleeping on them is unreal. The chapel was very plain but had a side room with al the special things used for a ceremony. Saw a room - dreadful room - where they used as a gallows. Ick! Small windows and little light. Had a neck chain and those wood things you put your arms and/or legs in. The kitchen was dark, dank, and awful! The armory room had many spears, armor outfits, and shields. I touched one of the shields and immediately wondered how it got its marks on it.

We only had an hour at the castle, but this seemed to be plenty. We met on the boat dock for a 1 1/2 hour boat cruise in the vintage steamer "Blümlisalp." The boat takes us to Spiez, where our bus will be waiting to take us back to Adelboden.

Boat ride was great! Water was calm - not like earlier this morning as we drove past. I sat in the front so I could see everything. Saw a beach with lots of people. Nice! There saw a naked 4 or 5 year old boy. WOW! Closest thing we will get to a nude beach, I'm sure.

Back home to Our Chalet. The bus was SO quiet! Nice!

For dinner tonight, we had roast beef (or something like that) spinach casserole and tator tots.

In the evening, eight out of 10 of the girls entered our room at various times for basically no reason. Just wanted to veg. So funny!

This was a free evening. Some Americans came to visit for their 20 year reunion of being here. Young and old - really cool! Gave foot massages to Sarah Kaiser and Marie. Have diarrhea. Most of us do. UGH!

Today, sickness has struck our group. Four of our girls have fevers with what we have called "Black Tongue Fever" - Mackenzie (101°); Emily (103°); Sarah Jane (99.6°); and Katherine (101°). So sorry this has happened to them. Sorry the girls will miss out on so much. Hope it doesn't spread anymore.

This is our last day here. I'm ready to go home. I miss my family and my comfortable American ways. Seven days here would have been plenty. It's great and nice. The scenery is spectacular. The mountains are so tall. After a point, trees no longer grow on the mountains. I wonder what this looks like in winter. Don't want to come to see, but just wonder.

The patrol system here works only as well as the members want to contribute. We have a problem with so many not helpin. Makes it stressful for those of us who do our chores.

For breakfast this morning, we had hard brown bread, juice and coffee, and corn flakes and milk.

We took the bus trip to Grindelwald. Thought I was going to throw up with all the curvy roads. YUCK! The fumes from the bus were awful. The guides were great and pointed out lots of sites as we went along. Becky and I were interested in buying chocolate - so we had one goal! HA

Our trip today was to Grindelwald. Our guide was Mary Kate and Sophie. They told us that the road between Adelboden and Frutigen was built in 1888 and was just 4m wide (about 13 feet). The first car arrived in 1914 and the road widened in 1954. The buildings in Frutigen are all made of stone because the village burnt down twice (30 years apart). Now no new wooden buildings are allowed.

Niesen has a funicular railway going up it. The gradient at times is 68% and there are 11,674 steps alongside making it the longest flight of stairs in the world, but they are only used now for maintenance and the race. The first man to win was a Welshman and did it in just a few seconds over 1 hour, much to his disappointment.

Reichenbach had many old chalets and guest house. The dates were pointed out on the chalets.

ON the way to Grindelwald, we passed through Aeschi. This is the place Helen Storrow wanted to build Our Chalet (this is the "Peace for the Soul" place!!).

Interlaken is between the Lakes of Thun and Brienz, which is a popular tourist town because of the location between the lakes and proximity to the Hungfrau Region. Interlaken first inhabitants were at the monastery in 1130. It was pulled down but remains can be seen in the park. 300 years of tourism. Above Interlaken is Beattenburg - the longest village in Europe.

We saw the face in the mountain on Hardimannli.

Grindelwald is nestled in the middle of Switzerland, French speaking side of Switzerland. Grindelwald Valley has easy access to skiing and hiking areas and at the foot of the mighty Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau and Wetterhorn.. This is the only resort in the region to be accessible by car - others you need to take trains and gondolas. Located at the base of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. This was another place they considered building Ou Chalet (but the chalet they found smelled like old cheese!). Jungfrau is the 4th highest mountain in Europe at 4158 m, 13,642 feet.

We saw the Mannlichen gondola which is the longest in Europe.

We arrived at Grindelwald. Nice little town. We were given one hour to shop. Becky and I made a beeline for the grocery stores. Nothing we wanted at the first one. Onto the Co-op. Found it. Now we couldn't read the labels. Fortunately we found someone that spoke English. With chocolate in hand, we had what we came for and continued shopping. We came across the Heidi Museum. Real cute! Free.

We left Grindelwald for the ice caves. The ascent to the glacier bar leads over a rather adventurous wooden staircase that winds its way up the rock with over 890 steps. A 15 minute walk form the Hotel Wetterhorn takes one to the beginning to the climb. We were told it takes about 20-30 minutes to climb the 890 steps. I didn't want to go up the 890 steps. I was ready to relax. Dena and Laura from our group stayed with me. They also didn't want to go. We had a nice lunch in the Hotel Weterhorn restaurant, supplemented with our bag lunches. Then we went for ice cream. The view is beautiful - love the mountains! Snow on top. So pretty. Air is clear.

Anyway, the ones that went loved it. The hut we saw to the left above the glacier was a gondola station from 1908 to 1914. There was an original gondola at the end of the car park. Cost to go up was 4SF. As the girls entered the Lauterbrunnen Valley, they saw the valley's U-shape (created by glacier). The river into the valley splits at the road's T junction. The river is the Black Lutschinen and the White Lutschinen and that is why the valley is called Lutschinental. People white water raft on the river in the summer. Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald were named a long time ago because the farmers of Interlaken were sent out to find new pastures for their cows. They came upon this valley and reported back that it had Lauter Brunner - meaning "many troughs" (watering places), Grinel Wald - "evil forest".

Our next stop was the Trummelbach Falls - 10 illuminated glacier waterfalls inside a mountain made accessible in 1911. The first and second waterfalls were accessible in 1886. Trummelbach Falls is a fascinating place where a stream of water has cut its way through the hard rock, creating deep crevices and caves, only a few feet wide. A man-made series of tunnels lets visitors access the caves, and see the torrents of water cascading through the confined space. Trummelbach Falls is located on the floor of the Lauterbrunnen Valley, between Lauterbrunnen and Stechelberg. Ten glacier-waterfalls inside the mountain made accessible by tunnel-lift and illuminated. The Trummelbach alone drains the mighty glacier defiles of Eiger (13,025 feet), Monk (13,448 feet) and Jungfrau (13,642 feet) and carries 20,200 tons of boulder detritus per year. Its drainage area is 24 square km (9.25 square miles); half of it covered by snow and glaciers. Up to 20,000 liters of water by second. The only glacier-waterfalls in Europe inside the mountain and still accessible. It is the only glacier-waterfalls inside the mountain and still accessible. It's a worthy excursion on a rainy or cloudy day. Elevator takes us up into the mountain. From there you can walk up further to see the top 4-5 falls, and then take the stairs all the way down (can't take elevator down!). What power and force water has! WOW! Cost to go into the Falls was 9.50SF each. Before you see the waterfall, you hear it---a muffled growl, coming from somewhere in the mountain ahead of you. You walk up the pathway, alongside a brook lined with trees, dappled with light and shade. You think to yourself, Heyl--here's the water from the waterfall, but where is the fall? That watery growl persists, but as you round the bend, there's nothing to be seen, except a high steel door set into the base of the mountain. It's a cool, exhilarating, deafening experience; you come away with the roar of the falls ringing in your ears, the smell of water on stone in your nostrils and gleaming beads of mountain water in your hair.

The trip back to Our Chalet was quite alive with chatty girls. Nice.

When we got back, Susan Dye was there. The girls helped get her packed up and they left. Dena's family was also there. Nice to see them.

Dinner was turkey kabobs, rice, salad, and ice cream with maple syrup (strange, but good).

After the dinner was the campfire! Campfire was so much fun! While it was raining outside, the staff improvised and lit the fire in the dining hall. Skits and songs. Also a Gold Award presentation. Really special. Charlotte Hoyle's group called up all First Class, Curved Bar, and Gold Award Recipients to induct this girl into this special group. Also, the Our Chalet Challenge patches were awarded. I got mine!! Mary Kate decided to do a skit. Asked for volunteers, but said the had already been decided. Becky and I were two of the four volunteers. We held the ends of a pole. Different staff came in and asked for different candy (i.e. Smarties, Hershey Kiss, flavored powder, etc.). Mary Kate would say no they were out. The last person she told them all she had were these sucks on a stick. HA HA HA Fun!! The girls laughed!

Becky and I had been invited to Baby Chalet to see Dena's family. So cute! They treated us to Neuenswander cheese, Scout cookies, and Earl Grey tea. It was so nice to be served! The dishes were Trefoil dishes. Told stories of the trip.

We went back to our room and finished packing.

It was sad to leave. I'd gotten to know the staff and "play" with them. So much fun. Emily and Mackenzie road with the entire luggage to Frutigen, while we road the bus. Took 2 buses to get us to the train station. Emily and Mackenzie had sorted out our entire luggage so we had no trouble picking it out. So helpful!!

Got on the train with our entire luggage. Whew! We are traveling heavy!! Now we're going to Zurich. One more time to pull baggage off the train and that's it!!

The trip has had its hitches, but has been great! Don't know if I'd take a group again though.

The train ride was short compared to some we had taken - only 2 hours. The Connecticut group was also in our car. It was a fun and quick trip.

Our driver found us at the train station and we walked what seemed to be miles to the bus. It didn't help that all our suitcases were very heavy.

We arrived at the Hotel Poly in a very round about manner. Again, our group is split into two buildings. I'm in the building with 2 double rooms and Becky has 2 triple rooms. Rooms are very nice! I'm rooming with Laura and Marie and Evvy are together. Our room faces the street and the traffic is ... loud. Oh well, I' think I'm tired enough to not notice - I hope. Tomorrow will be a very exciting day - going home.

We decided to go out and see what we can find. The girls wanted to eat at the Crazy Cow Restaurant. Too funny! We walked and walked. We realized we didn't know where we were going. So this woman came along. I asked her "English?" She said "yes". We asked her how to get there and she volunteered to take us. As we walked, she talked about other places we shouldn't miss. We ate smi-American food at the Crazy Cow. I had a chicken salad that was great! There were cow things everywhere. Food was served in strange containers - French fries in galvanized buckets, bread in a shoe, hamburger in a garden cart. Too cute! There was also a metal cow outside.

We left the restaurant and Luba decided we needed to see Zurich. She was GREAT! We saw:

1. Zurich River that flows into Lake Zurich with swans
2. We rode the Funicular Polybahn (http://mikeaz.free.fr/suisse/polybahn01.htm) - On the top of the Zürichberg hill is the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETHZ) the Polytechnic School also called "Poly". In 1889 a short funicular railway was built between the Limmat river and the Polytechnic school. Between 1887 and 1897 it was operated with a water ballast counterweight. In 1976, the funicular was bought by the UBS-SBG bank and in 1990 it was completely renovated with two new cabins but with the same old look. It remains a real icon of Zürich.
3. The richest street in Europe - Zurich's famous shopping street - Bahnhofstrasse - with all the beautiful shops (and expensive) and beautiful people (some very old). Saw one old lady wearing thong underwear
4. Went to the fanciest candy store - Sprungli on Parade Platz. Walked through it. WOW! Such incredible artwork!!
5. Found out Independence Day is August 1. We'll miss this one too. Decorations are going up and shops are decorating.
6. Saw Rolex store - pricey watches.
7. Stopped on the spot where 30% of the world's gold is housed.
8. Saw the largest clock in Europe on St. Peter's Church.
9. Went to Lake Zurich - saw swans.
10. Went to store where Lindt chocolate is cheaper. Bought lots!
11. Walked through gay neighborhood.
12. Luba (which means love) pointed out the red light district. The girls wanted to know why we weren't staying there. HA!

The next morning, our bus met us in front of the hotel. We loaded our luggage and journeyed to the airport. Our dream had come true and our trip was almost complete. At the airport, everyone was checked in and we were instructed on where to go next. From that process through going through Customs in the United States of America, eight out of the 12 of us were stopped for checks. WOW! And we were in uniform!!

Upon arriving in Newark, we sat on the tarmac for 4 hours without food or water. There was a problem in the air, so we were held along with many other planes.

We finally arrived in Kansas City, just four hours later. We were thrilled to see the United States and our families! Great trip!