GRINDELWALD FIRST, LAUNDRY, AND A DINNER WITH A COWBELL PARADE!

Another sunny day in Grindelwald—it doesn’t get much better than that!  The views out our windows were great!  We had the train station (which either shut down at night or was VERY quiet) out our front window and the foothills of the soaring mountains out our side window!  It was wonderful to wake up to!

We enjoyed our first included breakfast and it was excellent, to say the least!  The restaurant had a Swiss chalet vibe and had (something none of us had ever seen before) its’ very own butter machine!  

The butter came out ready to spread and (I’m told) it was delicious!

Jan, John and I decided to head up yet another mountain in an adventure called Grindelwald First.  Joe decided to stay back for the day.  We walked through the village to the gondola.  Needless to say, Grindelwald is a dog friendly and people friendly place!  (Was this not a great idea?)

We arrived at the gondola, purchased our tickets, headed straight up the mountain (with two stops along the way), and enjoyed the magnificent views!

There were several adventures you could participate in while up on the mountain.  We saw the First Mountain Carts and the First Trottibikes being ridden down the paths, 

We saw the First Glider, (fly like an eagle), which we all agreed looked amazing!

The three of us accomplished our very own First—we made it to the top of the mountain!

We saw cows grazing way up high on a cliff (please don’t fall, cows),

and got in line to do the First Cliff Walk.  

First Cliff Walk was absolutely AMAZING!  (Sorry for the picture overload, but the three of us wanted to remember every single step of it!!

Here we were, the Three (very proud of ourselves) Musketeers!  

We enjoyed a brewski and a tiny bowl of soup, just so that we could sit at the First Mountain Restaurant and watch the paragliders do their thing!

All the adventures that were offered at the top had long lines and wait times of 60-90-and 120 minutes (😳) or we would have tried them all!  We decided we’d just have to save them for the next time we’re in Grindelwald!  We jumped into a gondola to head back down the mountain and find Joe!  Some of the sights along our walk were so fun to see!

We joined up with Joe and had a really good (and really late) lunch at the restaurant in our hotel.

Scho and I decided to get some laundry done in the basement of a nearby hotel.

And afterwards, John and I opted to go down the street to Hotel Central Wolter, a lovely cafe for a light dinner.  The view from our table was pretty darn good!

All of a sudden we heard a loud clanking, looked up, and saw these men and women dressed in their Swiss attire gathering in the parking lot. Three women led the group of men who were holding onto the largest cowbells we’d ever seen.  They paraded past clanging those cow bells, making a noise we will never forget!  Perhaps they were practicing for the cow marches that happen in September and October in Grindelwald?  Who knows?  But it was certainly fun to be sitting right in front of them!

We watched the sun set and light up the mountain,

and spotted Scho and Joe, who had decided to wait for a later dinner.

Another great day in Switzerland!  We have been so lucky thus far with the weather!  Our fingers are crossed that our trip continues to have sunny days!  Good night all!  We miss you, Mary and Steve!