Milan and Adelboden
It is amazing how much can change in Europe in just a hundred or so kilometres. We spent our last 2 days in Milan exploring the wonderful Cathedral, seeing The Last Supper (it was a lot bigger than we thought it would be), and catching up on some emails. Milan was a lot busier and more business like than Vicenza, and reminded us a lot of Melbourne - lots of people in beautiful clothes, driving Vespas and smart cars and everthing was super busy during the "business lunch hour" and then very quiet.
Italy has been a land of stereotypes and contrasts for us. The road rules seem to be guidelines only and in fact we thought that the max speed limit was the min speed limit until we asked someone, as no one was going below it - and they are truly crazy drivers - and yet you aren't allowed to wear board shorts in the pool if you ar a woman. Italians really do talk with their hands and LOVE their food. Venice really is romantic (and insanely difficult for wheelchairs - but worth it). The Italian's really are very family and community oriented, and welcomed us into their community very warmly - even for our short time there. After seeing the beautiful glass in Murano (Venice) and frescoes in Milan, we understand the architecture and interior design of many Italian Australian's that we know - it seems a little over the top back home, but makes perfect sense when you see how sucess is measured in Italy.
We left Milan and drove through the Alps to Our Chalet in Adelboden, Switzerland. We literally boarded a train in our car in Italy and came through the mountains into another world. The houses look like those on the Alpine chocolate boxes, the people all speak German (just as we were starting to get by with our limited Italian), and everything is not quite, but almost, double the price (and in Swiss Francs as Switzerland doesn't use Euro's).
Our Chalet has been wonderful - the Baby Chalet that we have been staying in is our own tiny little chalet, complete with a small kitchen, dining area, VERY steep stairs up to the girls sleeping area and beautiful little shutters that we can close to keep out the light in the morning. The weather has been changing rapidly as well - 2 days ago it was 30c and yet today it is raining here and snowing a few hundred metres on the cliff face above the chalet, and this morning there was a layer of fresh snow on the mountain tops around us.
On Thursday we went to the Jungfrau - we drove to Lauterbrunnen, and caught 2 cog trains up the mountains, which were a lot of fun, to the Jungfraujoch 3571m. It was a crystal clear day, which meant we had great views all the way to Italy, and got to share it with 4996 other people. We walked out on to the glacier and made a snowman (complete with an Aussie hat) ane enjoyed playing in the snow. We found that being up that high gave us all a headache, so whilst we really enjoyed our time up on top of europe (as it is promoted), we were glad to come back down the mountain as well.
There are a few Australians working at Our Chalet, and they enjoy talking to some people from back home. Amazingly working here went to school with Nikki's brother Steve, and her Mum was Nikki's District Guide Commissioner when she was a guide, as well as being Nikki's sister Belinda's Guide leader. We were amazed at how much she could remember about the family. She came and had afternoon tea in Baby Chalet, and we talked about all our shared history. After she left, she actually rang Nikki's Mum to tell her she had spoken to us, even though it was quite late back home (sorry Mum, we didn't know she was going to do that).
We were lucky enough to be able to take part in a campfire with the girls who are here on the summer program. It was so much fun and we got to learn some new songs As one of the campfire leaders was Australian, we got to join in some old faviourites as well.
After a day of so much busyiness, we decided yesterday would be a laze around and take it easy day, which was just as well as it was belting down with rain. We aren't sure what we will do for our next few days in Switzerland. We won't have internet access until we get to Paris on the 21st, so we will fill you in on our continuing adventures then.
Auf Wiedersehen
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