Today, Aug 2, is my brother, B's, birthday. Instead of being home to celebrate and/or give him a singing telegram phonecall, we are ready to take our optional excursion up the Jungfrau - the highest peak in Europe. Candace tells us that it'll be cold up there so we all bundle up with a ton of layers, tanktops, tshirts, longsleeve shirt, light fleece, and rainjacket. I even use my sarong as a scarf. We catch the cog railway in Lauterbrunnen and begin our 1.5 hour ascent. As we get farther and farther up the temperature does indeed begin to plummet and we are all grateful for the extra layers not necessary down below.
We travel through Alpine meadows amidst the sound of chiming bells, cowbells that is. The meadows are littered with cows out to pasture, each one with a large bell fastened around its neck. The meadows are beautiful with all sort of small wildflowers. The views are amazing as well. Eventually the train enters a tunnel into the mountains and we continue on in semi-darkness until we reach our destination perched at the top of the mountain.
We emerge into glaring sunlight bouncing off the glacial snows and marvel at the fact that its the middle of summer and we are surrounded by a winter vista. We spend some time sledding, wander through an "ice castle", take tons of photos from above the clouds, and send postcards from the top of Europe. A truly lovely way to spend the day. After descending on the train we went through town where S&S bought Swiss Army Knives - apparently you can only get them in green in Switzerland. Then back to the camp where we had a dinner of fondue, pork chops, divine potatoes, and veggies.
Day 6 - Its Leaning...
Another day of much driving - we are on the way to Italy. In the afternoon we end up in Pisa to see the leaning tower. The stop will last about a half hour so its run off the bus, run through the bathrooms, and run to take a few pictures of the tower. SJ takes the quintessential tourist photo of herself "holding up" the tower. Back to the bus and we continue on to Florence, or Firenze, as it seems to be called here.
We are staying in a camping village where we are staying in metal cabins. Not too bad, but certainly not the kind of camping I am used to out amongst the trees. In addition to the tents, campers, and cabins, there are several restaurants, a pool, dance hall, bars, and more. Truly a city unto itself.
Day 7 - Florence then to Roma, no Firenze, no Roma...are we going the right way?
We begin the day with a walking tour of Florence which is interesting, but most of the details slip before I have a chance to write them down. The center of the city is very beautiful with old buildings and statues throughout. We see the Medici palace and a copy of the David statue. Because its a Monday all of the Museums are closed, not that we really have enough time to explore any. The Duomo in Florence is the most ornate thing I've ever seen in my life. Impressive, but almost like marble threw up all over the structure. (Sorry for those of you who love this type of decoration, its just not my cup of tea).
A quick lunch followed up by more piling back onto the bus to move on towards Rome. We are scheduled to have an evening walking tour of the city. After a while we get off the highway, turn around and head back toward Firenze (Florence), then we get off again and go back towards Roma....after a good deal of circling we end up in a parking lot near Rome's airport. Our driver is lost and out of driving hours. Wonderful. Needless to say, we miss the walking tour and after some cell phone discussions acquire directions to the campsite. This turns out to be the last straw directions wise and we'll receive a new driver for the rest of the tour...one who manages to not get lost a single time.
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