Thankfully, we were able to sleep for a bit on the plane, it was about an hour and a half flight to Basel. It was a pretty weird airport, once we landed, you were able to choose if you wanted to leave via the Swiss border or the French border.
We left on the Swiss border, so we had to stop at an ATM and pull out Swiss Francs. (Which by the way is a super expensive country!)
The four of us took a bus into the city to get to the train station where we bought our Swiss passes (they are tickets that will allow you to ride the train pretty much anywhere in Switzerland, but they cost a pretty penny.) And stowed our luggage so that we could walk around the city and have some lunch. Basel is the city that my Grandma Bethley grew up in and we thought it would be a good idea to see were she spent a good portion of her life.
This was a beautiful cathedral that we walked pass on our way to find some lunch.
We took off in search of food and ended up at a little restaurant/cafe. MH thought that she would put her German speaking skills to the test and ordered us some water. This turned out to be a good idea, until it ended up being that she ordered us mineral water that cost about $7 a bottle. On top of that, each meal was about $25, so our total was over $100 for lunch! It was a great start to a vacation!
This was the most expensive fish and chips I had ever had!
Afterwards, we walked around the city getting a feel for the architecture and culture. We walked to the river that we had ridden over on the train and it was beautiful!
I loved the look of all the houses, it felt like I was in a movie!
After walking to the river, we had to rush to make the train. Since there were 4 of us, we decided to take up 2 compartments to spread out since it was a bit of a train ride. Once we arrived in Bern, we checked into the hotel that we were staying at (it was more like a hostel that adults and families could stay in) after that, we took the book that my dad used to plan our trip and went on a self guided walking tour.
Bern (pronounces Bearn) is the capital of Switzerland. It was named after the first animal that was found on a hunting expedition, which was a bear. The city actually keeps bears in a little zoo in the center of the city, unfortunately, they weren't out while we were there.
Bern is full of many different types of fountains. It is actually sometimes referred to as the city of fountains. There are over 100 of them of all shapes, sizes and ages. (In fact, dad, JH and I made a game of counting them as we passed by) Now I'm not really sure why there are so many fountains, but it was pretty cool to see. The city of Bern has a bulge in the river, just like London, and its super hilly. So walking around was pretty tiring after a while.
Bern also has a cool clock. (Why is it that so many cities have famous clocks?)
Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to pick up Megan and to find some dinner. We couldn't find anything that we really wanted, so we went to a grocery store nearby and got some food to eat, including chocolate bars! We then tucked in for the night because we were exhausted from traveling. (Let me also say that dad read a lovely story from his strange fishing book that he was determined to read to us every night)
The next morning (June 2), we packed our bags, had breakfast and then checked out of the hotel. Thankfully they were very kind to let us leave our luggage while we left to go to the Temple which was only a 15 minute train ride from where we were staying.
I really wish we could have gone in and do baptisms, but we didn't have much time on this trip. Maybe next time!
It was time to leave the Bern area and move on to more beautiful locations!
We picked up our luggage and headed back to the train station. This time we had to transfer several times and even take a tiny train of 4 carriages to the next town we were staying at (Zermatt). Most of the time on the train was spent sleeping (MH), watching videos (JH), looking at the sights (dad) and reading (me) (although I did look spend about half of the time reading AND looking at the sights.)
It looks like a picture you would only see in a National Geographic magazine and I couldn't believe I was there!
We finally arrived at our destination around 2:30 in the afternoon and rushed to check into our tiny little hotel close to the mountain. We had a beautiful view of the Matterhorn from our attic window.
Our main reason for being there was to see the mountain up close. So we ran back to a different train station that would chug us up the mountain! This was also a small train, but it was packed with people from all over the place.
The view was AMAZING!!!
As much as I HATE snow, it didn't bother me too much and it wasn't too cold either.
Thank goodness that it was cloudy, or it would have been super bright. I don't know if I can really describe the beauty that was surrounding me that day. I was just grateful to share it with my family!
After spending a couple of hours up on the mountain, we headed back down because we were starving and the shop on the mountain had already closed. So we piled back in the train and scrounged for food in our bags that we were carrying. Once we arrived back in Zermatt, we headed to dinner for fondue, which we loved! Our server was a guy who spoke seven different languages and was learning his eighth! HOLY COW.
We walked around the city for a little bit, there was a little cemetery that we passed to and from the hotel. The city also had a small river cutting through it, it was a lovely picture! We then headed back to the hotel and called mom to check in with her and show her our amazing view.
