Our anniversary in Gimmelwald, Switzerland!

I can't imagine a better spot to celebrate our 4 year anniversary then Gimmelwald (W's are pronounced with the 'v' sound). It is WITHOUT A DOUBT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE I HAVE EVER BEEN, EVER!; to experience this with the love of my life is truly amazing and I feel very fortunate.  I have taken some pics as well as video, but haven't been able to figure out how to add videos to the blog. 

Getting here was not the easiest thing, but we made it, and to anyone who is thinking about traveling to Europe, Gimmelwald is an ABSOLUTE MUST!!!!  We arrived on Thursday afternoon after taking a train from Bern to Interlaken, then a train from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, a bus from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg, and then the tram from Stechelberg up to Gimmelwald; the journey was stunning!

We are staying in the Mountain Hostel which overlooks INCREDIBLE views of huge mountains right outside our door, seriously, right outside the door.  Our Hostel is great and only cost $26 Swiss Francs per night per person, which is very reasonable. Switzerland on the whole is expensive, the current exchange rate is $.97 US cents to 1 CHF (Swiss Franc) so were not getting much value for our dollar.  To put things in perspective, a McDonald's Big Mac was $11.90 CHF. We sleep upstairs in a room with about 14 other beds (but not necessarily 14 other people, although last night it was about full). There is a community kitchen with everything you need to prepare you food if you would like, but you do have to clean up after yourself (Bur) and choose the right time to cook. Showers cost 1 CHF for 5 minutes, but it's really plenty of time considering you move a little faster when you're 'on the clock'.  Community tables are in the lounge for everyone to use for eating, drinking beer, playing games, or talking about past and future travels (many great connections can be made as well as valuable information learned).

Cathy and I were eager to check things out so we decided to head to Murren, the small town (but bigger than Gimmelwald) up the path. [Side note-hiking distances are posted in times and not miles, which I thought was interesting] Murren was stated on the sign (everything is extremely well marked) as a 50 minute hike, but we made it in 20. Up we went to this great little town where we went to the local CO-OP for some groceries.  Thinking prices would be sky-high, we were pleased to find them very reasonable (50cl bottled Lager beers (about 20 oz) were only .86 cents!  We bought some veggies, pasta, wine, beer, and other items (of course Swiss chocolate) for the time we would be here.  We made a tasty dinner and had good conversations with the other travelers who are here (most in their 20's).  Sleeping was a little difficult until it was 'quiet time' (midnight) as the '20 somethings' stayed up to play drinking games and tool around on the piano-oh joy.  Even after 'quiet time' started we had to deal with 'The Snorer', damn that guy was loud, but we finally made it to sleep.

Today we were hoping to go for a monster hike that was sure to be an all day event (up to the Schilthorn where the James Bond movie was filmed- 2970 meters at the top, Gimmelwald sits at 1363 meters, but it's straight up to anywhere you hike), but we woke up to a cloud-filled and rainy day. Throughout the day the clouds/mist would move in and out and the views would take our breath away, along with the incredible waterfalls across the valley.  It has been raining on and off the WHOLE day. 

During a break from the rain we ventured up to the 'Cheese/Egg lady' just minutes up the path. We went into her small cheese house where the fresh cheese was aging on the shelves and she gave us both a little sample, OMG it was so good! Along with the cheese, we bought fresh eggs that were layed yesterday! So, for lunch it was fried eggs, aged cheese and a fresh baguette, Y U M yum!

Tomorrow is our last day here and we hope to wake up to sunny skies (or at least not raining) so we can do a great hike. We really want to see the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau, which up to this point has been covered in clouds; come on sun!