The Handley Home: Switzerland Day 3

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Switzerland Day 3

Day 3- Definitely a day we will remember forever! We started with another wonderful Swiss breakfast. By that I mean fresh bread, homemade cheese, Ovomaltine Chocolate Spread, jam, muesli, Nesquik cereal, yogurt, orange juice and OF COURSE, wonderful coffee. Now that is the way to start your day!

After lunch we picked up Ronja, Marianne's 5 year old niece and headed to Thun, about 20 minutes away. The first thing we did was to stop for some drinks and chocolate. Then we admired the beautiful covered bridges and watched people jump off the bridges into the crystal clear water. We bought tickets for a boat ride, and while we waited for the boat, the kids fed the ducks. Odd ducks- some had yellow eyes (zombie ducks), and there was a mother duck there with her baby, and she wouldn't let the zombie ducks have any of the bread. Not your ordinary mallards!

We rode the boat up a few stops and found a little sandbox playground- it had a little treehouse and a box of sandtoys for the kids. Marianne and I went to find some lunch- bread, chips and tiny yogurts- a new favorite of Matias. He had abot 7 little cartons of it today, and his favorite is apricot. Then we took the boat back and wandered over the bridges and dam in Thun. After a bit we found an ice cream shop, so we stopped for a treat...it was a very hot day.

At 6:30, we drove to the tiny airport (aka field) in Thun and met a pilot named Daniel, who Marianne had arranged to take us up in a 4 seat airplane. He was a very nice guy- a friend of a friend of Marianne's. After logging our flight plan, we (bravely, with thoughts of wills and life insurance dancing in our heads) boarded the little plane and took off from the grass runway. The trip really defies description- beautiful, grand, breathtaking, amazing. We saw lots of places- Gstaad, the three peaks of Eicher, Munch and Jungfrau, valleys, rivers, lakes so clear you could see the bottom, mountain passes, glaciers and even a rainbow. Daniel was a great tour guide, which made the flight even more fun. We will never forget the experience. That said, it was also good to get our feet back on the ground and hug our kids (poor Matias somehow had the idea that we were leaving him in Switzerland and flying back to the States, so he was a tad upset and VERY glad when we landed). After that, we returned Ronja home for a snacky dinner and bed. What a day!