Next Stop, Switzerland!

We're heading to Switzerland tomorrow AM...it's 11:15 PM here, and our cab arrives at 4:00 AM to take us to a cheap RyanAir flight an hour from here. I'm packed - mostly - but still trying to get in my hours and tie up loose ends with work. I have to work 1/2 day tomorrow too, so I should probably just go to bed. After tomorrow, I'm off for 5 1/2 days. I'm also working a half day a week from Monday after we fly in around 3pm....see 3pm here is only 9am in Austin, so lots of time, if not energy, to get some work in. I am conserving vacation days like nobody's business! I was tempted to work a few hours each day next week, just to save another day or so, but I decided not thinking about work AT ALL would be really really good.

So, our plan is to arrive in Milan (b/c there are no cheap flights to Switzerland)...train up to Lugano for a day, then get on the Bernina Express, which is supposed to be the best scenic Alps train in Switzerland. That will take pretty much all day Saturday.

Sunday we'll be in Lucern...there's even a congregation we can visit there, so that fit really well with our plans.

Monday we'll head to a Rick Steve's recommended town called Gimmelwald. It's a tiny (really tiny) village in the Berner Oberland (alps). It's halfway up the mountain, no roads, and you have to take a cable car to get there! We'll stay there for 2 days...cable car up to the top of that mountain one day and hike down some, if the weather's good. Then rent bikes and head down from our village to the valley on day 2, again, weather permitting. (Notice that I'm planning all of our physical activities to be heading downhill!) We're not in shape to hike the Alps uphill...in fact, I'm a little nervous about downhill, based on some things I've read, but we'll see.

Wednesday, we'll make our way back to Interlaken and hop on another scenic train over to Montreux on Lake Geneva. We'll stay there through Friday. We have lots of things lined up during this stay, including a trip on the "Chocolate Train" to Gruyere (where they make the cheese).

Then, on Friday afternoon, we'll start making our way on the train to Vernazza (Cinque Terre)!! :) We debated a lot about whether we should go back...in fact we've agreed to play this part by ear. If we can't get enough of Switzerland, we'll stay....but I really love Vernazza, and I hope we end up going there. It's so neat to revisit a familiar place. It's easier, and I think I'll be ready for that at that point!

Our flight home is through Genoa on Monday 10/25.

It's going to be so fun!!! I'll try to post updates as we go along.