Something scary.

While in Switzerland, Traveller went paragliding!!
T paraglided from Schiltgrat-Stechelberg which was right near where she was staying in Murren. T had to take a ski-lift up to Schiltgrat which was 2150m above sea level! Traveller is a wee bit scared of heights, and hadn't even been on a ski-lift before, however, she decided to simply grin and bear it!
The most terrifying part (after the ski-lift!) is the running. You have to run 20 metres towards the edge of a hill and hope for the best. The paraglide is supposed to lift you up once you reach the edge. Husband went first and everything went according to plan. As soon as he was flying, my paragliding instructor yelled, '3-2-1' and we were off! However, because we had received a lot of snow the night before, the top of the mountain was covered in powder. This slowed us down and caused T to lose her shoe! T kept running, not wanting to ruin the experience, but then a few steps later, she completely face planted! Her whole head was under snow just before the edge of the hill!
T's instructor helped her up and we made our way to the running point again. Believe it or not, Traveller actually felt good by this stage. It seemed she lost all of her fear after the face-planting and was ready to run!
'3-2-1' and we ran again, and this time had the most stunningly beautiful {and cold} flight over Murren and down to Stechelberg. It took 20 minutes.
It was one of the best experiences of T's life so far and she really wants to go again {perhaps somewhere warm this time}!

T hearts Murren.

If you could only choose a few places to go in your life, Murren would have to be close to the top of the list.
It is magical.
Waking up to see the alps right outside our window in the morning was absolutely breathtaking.
We spent three lovely days in Murren, which is situated near Interlaken in the Jungfrau region. We had to take a cable-car and a funicular to reach the top. Traveller is a little scared of heights and must admit that she was glad their first trip up the mountain was at night!
During our stay, we spent most of our time in the outdoors. We tobogganed, ice-skated, hiked and ate a plethora of Swiss delights.
Traveller and husband didn't want to leave. We do, however, feel so lucky to have experienced this beautiful part of the world. You must go!

Fun in the Capital.

Traveller and hubbie's first day in beautiful Switzerland was spent in the country's capital: Bern. 'I have never heard of Bern,' you might say, and so did we.We thought that the capital was Zurich, or perhaps even Geneva. We were pleasantly surpised to find that this beautiful city was the nation's capital.
Husband loved Bern.
He even went so far as to say that he thought it was as beautiful, or more beautiful than Paris!

T was lucky enough to meet up with some friends from her Rotary Exchange year in Oregon. (from 10 years ago!) Stefan and Yuvia both live in The Netherlands but they were in Switzerland to spend Christmas with Yuvia's parents. They were lovely hosts and showed us the most beautiful parts of the city.

We also had a delicious, traditional swiss meal. T had alpler macaroni (a sort of macaroni and cheese, with potato, fried onions and apple sauce) and fell in love with it! So delicious! And husband had a dish where the bread was soaked in wine, and then covered with meat, cheese and mushrooms. Yum!
In fact, it was the first of many meals they experienced which had cheese as one of the main components. T and hubs are full of swiss cheese. And there's no better way to be!

Another Swiss reality which they learned on their first day is that the trains are incomparable! They are clean, frequent and always on time.For those of you in London, you know how much we appreciated this.
Next stop: Murren!