Our Trip Blog

The Events of Saturday, July 23, 2011

            As the end of our trip approaches, it is sometimes tempting to focus more on what we will do when we get home than what we are doing now. The end is in sight, but we are trying hard not to let the last few days go to waste. But excitement was in the air as we prepared this morning for our last driving day.

            Since we only had a short drive of two and a half hours today, we enjoyed a leisurely morning. Our entire packing-up process, usually completed within an hour, stretched to fill two and a half hours. Finally, at 11:00, we bid farewell to our hostess, Christine, and drove away from Faulensee. The first part of the route we traveled was, thanks to our trips around the Berner Oberland region, fairly familiar. Driving past the same lakes, towns, hills, and valleys, we longed for something new. Once we reached the town of Interkirche, the scenery changed dramatically. Our route from Faulensee to the town of Visp took us northeast for a while, over several passes, and then back southwest to our destination. Why couldn’t we just go straight south for 25 miles? There’s a huge natural barrier called the Alps. Although trains zip right under the highest peaks, the fastest route by car is around.

            Even though we weren’t heading through the highest peaks, our drive involved quite a bit of elevation change. We were headed over the peaks, or at least through the passes. Winding roads took us up to the top of passes, and then led us back down the other side. After crossing a valley, we were up again…then down some more. Surprisingly, we passed bikers pedaling uphill very slowly. We must have passed at least 20 over the course of our journey. It looked to us like biking was their way of enjoying the mountains, and climbing a pass might be like a hiker summiting a peak. Nonetheless, pedaling up these slopes must be a very exhausting hobby!

            Although the weather was a bit rainy, the views from the tops of the passes were incredible. Once, we drove through incredibly thick fog to the top of a pass, where the fog instantly disappeared. The views of the mountain valleys, with little villages nestled on the slopes, were incredible. At times, the scenery was so gorgeous that, near the point of a hairpin turn, we would see several cars parked onto the grass so a passenger could hop out and take photos.

            The roads were incredibly curvy (so curvy that, at one point, Dad turned on his ticker to pull a hairpin turn) and not good for reading. So we spent most of the time looking at the scenery or laughing at the other crazy drivers. Dad loves zooming up and down these slopes and turning the hairpins at high speeds in his “sports van”. However, some drivers, especially Italians, weren’t as confident in their driving skills as Dad. So we passed three Italian cars that were, in our opinion, going a bit too slow. Ironically, Italian drivers were typically the fastest and worst drivers we’ve encountered in Europe!

            As we headed down toward the town of Fiesch, we saw another incredible athlete heading up the slope we had just descended. He wore a helmet, knee and elbow pads, and was propelling himself with ski poles. On his feet were two-foot-long mini-skis with inline skate wheels. This must be his brutal summer training for cross-country skiing in the winter. It looked really tough to ski up a pass! We were a bit worried about how he would control his descent‼ The Swiss are definitely more fit and active than the average American!

            A couple miles past Fiesch, we pulled over near a rushing river for a picnic lunch. We sat on the rocks near our car, enjoying our delicious food and the warm sunshine. During our meal, however, clouds blew in and it started to drizzle. We all took shelter in the car. Mom and I sat on the tailgate, under the raised hatch so we could still enjoy the pleasant view and the river. After finishing our meal and trying to throw some rocks across the river, we climbed back in the car and headed on towards Bürchen.

            About an hour later, we were heading from Visp, up another pass, to Bürchen. Our lodging here, an apartment in a chalet, was a bit hard to find. The instructions from our host were a bit vague, but we eventually found Chalet Moosalpe. Our friendly hostess greeted us, showed us the apartment, and gave Mom and Dad all the information they will need. Since we had to park on the street above the chalet, hauling the luggage down two flights of twisting and turning stairs, built into the hillside, was quite a task. Luckily, since we will have no food or extraneous boxes and bags, it won’t be quite as hard when we leave.

            This chalet, overlooking a gorgeous mountain valley, is much nicer than our apartment in Faulensee. In the main room is a dining nook (this must be a Swiss, German, and Austrian specialty), a small kitchen, a couch (which turns into a bed for me), and a desk. Nearby are two other rooms: one with a double bed for Mom and Dad, and one with a single bed and a bunk for the girls. In this house, there are no high thresholds or low ceiling or beams to worry about, and we have plenty of space. Once we were all settled, Mom and Dad headed out to get some groceries. While they were gone, we kids worked on our photos and schoolwork.

            After Mom and Dad returned from their speedy shopping adventure (they arrived at 4:45 and were surprised to find the store closing at 5), we started dinner preparations. Dinner consisted of pasta (now our staple in Switzerland), sauce flavored with mushrooms and garlic, and green beans. Although simple, the meal was incredibly delicious. Dessert was a real treat: Swiss chocolate. Yesterday in Interlaken, Dad found a huge bag of chocolate bars. Today, we chose sections of milk, dark, and hazelnut chocolate. All in all, we each enjoyed the equivalent of half a bar. Satisfied from the meal, we returned to our relaxing activities. After we watched a Rick Steves video on Switzerland, we unsuccessfully searched for a weather report on TV. The weather in Switzerland, according to our hostess, has been a really strange mix of wind, rain, clouds and sun, all changing several times daily. Mom wants good weather for the hikes she has planned, and wants to do our inside activities on the day with the worst weather. Unable to find the information necessary to make these decisions, she just picked an activity and hoped for the best. The rest of the evening was spent reading, studying and preparing for tomorrow’s adventures until bedtime.