A Day in Swizerland

So today was a pretty great day.  We got to sleep in today (8am), and went and had breakfast.  After we were ready we called a Swiss relative and he said that my mom and I should take the train down to Wilderswil and he would meet us there.  His name is Kaspar and he is my grandpa Hank's cousin.  So we walked up to the Grindelwald train station, bought tickets, bought some postcards, and then boarded the train.  Unfortunately, but hilariously, when we were trying to get off the train at Wilderswil, the door would not open (or so my mother says), so we ran to the next compartment because and thought maybe that door would open but my mom was pushing and it was very resistant.  So finally when the train was pulling away from the station she pushed the door open and jumped off and then I had to push the door open and jump off a moving train and it was all very funny but she was freaking out.  In the mean time, the train came to an emergency stop because of us.  We wouldn't have needed to be so forceful but we were meeting Kaspar at the train station at 10:50 and we had no cell phone to call and tell him that, "opps we missed getting off at Wilderswil because we could not get the train door open".   So anyways, Kaspar began our day by taking us our Wilderswil, the town that my great-grandmother grew up in.  It is located down the mountain from Grindelwald, but up from Intrerlaken.

So here is a picture of the home that my grandmother Marcella lived in until she was married: (in the rain)

We stopped for lunch at this area:

So when Kaspar picked us up from the train station, we had no idea what we were going to do that day. But once we got into the car he said that it was not worth it to try to go up any mountains on a day like that (rainy and cloudy), so we should go to this museum.  After a delicious but heavy lunch he dropped us off at the Ballenberg "swiss open air museum".  This was not a typical museum though.  It was composed of over 50 houses and structures that dated back through the many centuries of Swiss architecture.  Within each house there was traditional swiss furniture and many of the houses were decorated according to a given theme or occupation.  So each of the houses would education the visitors on a given topic including: traditions swiss costume, herbal medicine, cheese production, pottery, hat making, silk production, farming, bee keeping...  But each house was fully furnished according to the income level, status, and occupation of the individuals who would have owned the house.

So here is an example of a house that had a level dedicated to just sledding and skiing.  In one room there was the different sled and ski designs, and in the next room there was an "exibit" of different era's ski clothes.

So here is me in front of some sunflowers and in front of a house included in the museum.  As you can see, it is very spread out.  We spent three hours there, and were were only able to see about half of the sites.

Here is a picture of the biggest ox I have ever seen.

This is my favorite thing.  Inside a room, there were the different kinds of beehives, from latest (in a tree trunk) to the most modern (the box kind).  The picture below is the hive that forms within a hollowed out tree trunk. If you look at the picture closely, you can see the bees because there is a mirror shining on the hive, so that it will reflect up and safely show you what is going on.  From the hive, there was an enclosed passage way so that the bees could move from inside to outside without being bothered or bothering the visitors.  Okay, sorry that was horrible writing but I'm trying to get to bed.

A pretty view from our walk around the museum:

A church that was also part of the museum:

My mom on the outskirts of the museum:

Kaspar picked us up at 5 and drove up us to this beautiful hotel.  Not only did it overlook this waterfall, it overlooked a gorgeous lake.

After we had tea in a cute little fishing town, Kaspar drove up back to Wilderwil where we had dinner with his sister and him.  From there he dropped us back off at the train-station.  By 8 pm it had finally cleared up and we could see the snow-capped mountains at last.