Bern

We have now been home for a week and I'm starting to get myself together. That includes trying to sort out the photos and collect them from everyone who took them. Today I thought I'd post some pictures of Bern ( it can also be spelt Berne). 

We visited Bern on Wednesday 28th August, travelling by train. Swiss trains are great, they run to time and they believe that if you have paid for a ticket you should have a seat. As there was 14 of us travelling they reserved seats for us.

We decided to visit the bears first. the walk from the train station took us down cobbled streets, past fountains and beautiful old buildings.

This square was in front of the cathedral and we stopped to take photos. I loved the patterns the cobbles created. 

When we arrived at the bears they were a little restive but we found out this was because the keepers were putting their food around their enclosure. They were eager to be out and hunting their food.

This one made short work of a couple of chickens.

Just out of shot at the bottom of this picture there is a large pond that runs the length of the enclosure.

The enclosure was almost down to the river. Here there was a walkway  so you could see the bears whilst they swam. We sat by the river to eat our lunch. Across the river from us was this really cute and tiny house.

After lunch we walked back to the Cathedral admiring the frieze on the wall of this building.

Hannah and Emily admired this carved boat in one of the shop windows. You can see the reflection of their scarves in the glass.

The cathedral was closed when we got back to it so we decided to split into small groups and visit the shops. The girls all went off in one group.  I took some more pictures of the buildings.

and the shop signs,

and the little alleyways.

You've probably spotted how clean and neat everything is.

Before we met up with the girls again we went back to the Cathedral. They had been holding a police ceremony there. We think it was their passing out parade and as luck would have it the ceremony finished as we arrived there. So we were able to have a quick look round.

This is the main entrance to the Cathedral and here are pictures of the central doorway.

Lucy took some photos in the Cathedral but I haven't downloaded them yet.The police paraded to the town hall after leaving the Cathedral.

Just under the eaves are shields from the area.

There was just time to snap some of the fountains as we made our way back to meet the girls for the train journey back to Kandersteg.

I will post some more pictures soon to show you how high the girls hiked to get to the cheesery.

Owl

Waterfalls and Big Lakes

Today we headed off to Trummelbach and Interlaken to view the internal mountain waterfalls and the beautiful blue lakes that surround what is supposedly the most expensive city in Switzerland (even beating those prices in Zurich!). The girls were really excited to see something as naturally strange as inside waterfalls and were blown away by what they were greeted by ... as well as the perfect sunshine that has continued to make our holiday full of picturesque views and sun cream.

The girls were really good with the slightly scary lift up to the 6th fall were the experience begins as well as with the extra height and steep wet steps that are involved in the climb to the very top. All were blown away by the noise and spray given off by the falls and were full of questions on how the falls were discovered, changed the shape of the rocks and made accessible to the public ... WARNING! the pictures below really don't give justice to what the girls experienced! 

Remember not to look down too quickly! 

MAD! 

Everything's illuminated which creates awesome colours. 

Wouldn't want to fall in from here! 

Some of our time was spent watching paragliders coming into land in the sun in Interlaken ... yup by 'our time' we mean the lazy leaders. 

Even though we had perfect sun you can just see the snow on the Jung Frau (White Bride).

We'll post some more tomorrow evening but for now that's Willow and Owl signing off to feed some sleep guides up with hot chocolate before an early night and a trip to see the bears in Bern. 

Owl and Willow

The first few days.

I'm sorry we haven't posted a post before but google decided that the attempts to log in were illegal and locked the account. So lets catch up.

The journey here on Tuesday seemed to go on for ages. Emily was dropped at arrivals rather than departures but we eventually met up with her and we negotiated the departures system without too many problems

We loved the airport at Zurich and the station was right next door.

Quote of the day (and possibly the camp) goes to Cleo who on seeing a mountain from the train window said 'Oh look a big rock'

The weather in Kandersteg has been very hot and sunny so far. It didn't take long to put our tents up on Tuesday evening and then we had the opening ceremony.

We started changing our programme from day 1. Last time we came we didn't get to do the summer toboggan run because it was raining so we moved this to Wednesday. We walked along the river into Kandersteg. The scenery is beautiful.

To get to the toboggan run we had to go up the mountain by gondola. Here's the view back down the mountain.

Yes that is snow on the mountains.

The girls enjoyed several goes on the toboggan run. Willow and Emma were total adrenaline junkies enjoying the whole run without using the brakes (if possible).

We then walked on to the lake where te girls enjoyed a slushy drink and we all had a paddle. Annabelle and Owl fell in and got completely wet. Not a problem for Annabelle as she was wearing her swimsuit but Owl was fully clothed.

Photos of the lake are on another camera so will follow later. Walking back down the very steep route to Kandersteg we met a group of cows.

The benches on the way down were very welcome.

If you're thinking that the girls were tired at the end of our day of activities then think again. After stopping long enough to enjoy dinner they got themselves ready and walked back into Kandersteg for the International disco. The younger girls went back to camp early but the older group stayed until the end at 12.15 when we walked them back to our camp. 

We're going to post this and start writing about the next day as the internet is incredibly slow and very unreliable. We are having a huge amount of fun and will keep you updated.. 

Owl and Willow

Packing up the kit

Next Tuesday (20th August) we head of to Switzerland for our two week camp. Thank goodness the flight isn't until 9.40 a.m. This last weekend was very busy with packing up the camping kit, collecting the personal kit and finally delivering both to the collection point at BAA Logistics Centre at Colnbrook.

I thought you might like to see some photos from previous trips to get you into the mood for the trip.

I will see you all on Tuesday outside Terminal 5 - at the drop off point. If you haven't filled in a first aid / remedies list for me please email and I'll send you one.

Don't forget your passport or EHIC card

Owl and Willow.