The Farming Village of Gimmelwald

Finally! A really good night's sleep. Thank you Tylenol PM. 

Dave was up and about early so he went for a walk - checking out two constructions sites, one of which had someone yelling at him to get out of the way. The engineering in the mountains is amazing. All the water used in the homes/for animals comes from the mountains. No need for any filtration system. The gondolas have a compartment under them to bring up all sorts of things: food for the stores, furniture, etc. Really large items are brought in by helicopter. Dave saw building supplies arriving by helicopter this morning.

There's a couple staying at the B&B from South Africa. They're thinking of moving to Australia. There's a father and daughter, from Slovakia, who were here for a skiing festival that ended on Sunday - the last winter fling for the town. Techinally, the winter season ended this past weekend with many of the stores, hotels etc. not opening for the summer season until mid May. It used to be that winter was the busiest time, but now it's the summer.

After breaky, we walked down to the next village - Gimmelwald. Note the word "down." It took about 30 minutes to walk down and just over an hour to walk back up. It's so steep there were switchbacks on the path! The adorable farming town is about 1,000 years old. You can buy cheese, jerky, and smoked sausage right on the farms. At about 1:30, we were very hungry so bought some sausage which was very good - even with the large, white clumps of fat in it.

Everywhere we've gone so far is super clean and tidy.  This is true even on the farms. The manure is stacked in perfect cubes. The cows stay in the barn in the winter and are taken up to the high meadows in mid June. They wear the huge bells around their necks on the way up and again on the way down in late September - just before the first snow. Winters here are very bitter. While they're in the high meadows, they wear much smaller bells so the cow herders know where they are.  

There was a QR code that allowed us to take a walking tour of the town with lots of interesting commentary along the way. We stopped at the tiniest shop I've ever been in. It was about the size of our bathroom. Everything was either handmade by the woman who lived there or from products in the village/from the farms. The man who lived in the house came out to chat and we learned some interesting things from him. The gardens around the house were beautiful. A lovely jar of jam was purchased for us to enjoy later.

The weather was perfect for most of the day. It was about 50 with sun on and off.  It started to rain on our way back to Murren - which gave us a chance to wear our new rain coats. We got back to Murren about 3 pm. Breakfast was many hours ago so we looked for a place to eat but decided to go to the grocery store to get a pastry and go out for supper. We bought our fifth type of Swiss chocolate and it's been the best one so far. Dave bought a drink which turned out to be the whey left over from making cheese. It sounds awful but it actually tastes really good - an apple flavor. 

We hung out in our room for awhile - trying to find our next place to stay. We're off to Lichtenstein tomorrow. It's the smallest country in Europe, the sixth smallest country in the world, and made famous in the Heath Ledger movie - A Knight's Tale. After searching unsuccessfully for about 90 minutes, we decide to find a place when we get there. Living on the edge!

Supper was at the Edelweiss Hotel. (So far the food hasn't been anything special.) A short walk in the rain and then back to the room for the night. Here's hoping we sleep well again!

One thing I learned today: Rick Steeves has stayed in this B&B, wrote about it in his Switzerland book, and Denise (the B&B owner) knows him quite well.

One new thing I experienced today: Muesli. I thought it was oatmeal. My only option was to make it with hot water - not how I like my oatmeal. Turns out you mix it with yogurt. I added some raisins and sugar and was able to get it down but I won't be having that again.

Most powerful moment of the day: Once again, it's the mountains. Specifically, the view from the path to Gimmelwald of several mountains - snow covered at the top - the valley below with a creek of mountain water, the farms and animals on the lush, green foothills. Words and pictures can't capture the beauty.

One pleasurable experience: Coming upon on babbling brook with marsh marigolds blooming by it. So nice!!