SwissMinns

Sunday, October 15th, 2017 Today we drove to Lucern. We got a little earlier start today as we didn't want to end up in the dark again. We found out that we are both a little sore today from our hike yesterday, so we ended up doing less hiking and more site seeing today. We took a cogwheel train up to Pilatus Mountain. This is the world's steepest cogwheel railway. (48% grade) The name Pilatus may be named from a medieval legend that said dragons with healing powers lived in the mountain. On a clear day the mountain offers a panoramic view of 73 Alpine Peaks. Summer of course offers lots of hiking, winter skiing. The view from the top was amazing. So glad we didn't hike it today. Mark was there this summer. He didn't hike up but he did hike down it. Took him over 3 hours to hike down, and of course with those sore toes again from the steep decline. We may hike it one day but we would have to allow at least 6 hours to go up. We saw lots of hikers hiking i...

Saturday, October 14th, 2017 Today we went hiking in the Alps. We drove to the town of Grindelwald. (Mark got his car from 3M on Friday) Grindelwald is a village in the  Bernese Alps, in the Jungfrau region. They have skiing in the winter and lots of hiking in the summer months.  We took a gondola up to First. This area allows you a great view of the Eiger North Face. We did the First cliff walk. We walked to the suspension bridge for a great overlook of the Alps. After doing the First Cliff Walk we began our hike. It was a perfect day for a hike, warm and sunny. We hiked to Bachaplsee, which was a nice and easy hike. This area had two beautiful lakes. Then the hike became a little more challenging. We hiked about a total of 6 hours. When we got back to our car it was dark. We were both really tired but the scenery was totally worth it. I think the walk down the mountain was maybe the most changeling believe it or not, because is was such ...

Wednesday, October 11th, 2017 Today we had an appointment with a city of Muri, an interview for new immigrants  Like an old fashioned welcome wagon. She wanted to make sure we had an understanding of some of the rules and regulations. For example , you have to pay a tax on listening to the radio or watching your t.v’s. Doesn’t matter if you don’t have one or if you have many, everyone pays the same. They also asked us what religion we were. (no separation of church and state here) They would collect a tax from you again based on your answer. She also gave us a coupon to get some nuclear power plant accident medicine. Yikes! Since Zurich has a nuclear power plant ( we are within 50 miles of the plant)  we can get this medicine for free. Okay... thank you?! My first thought is that how will we know when that happens? We don’t speak or read German! Will someone come knocking on our door to nicely tell us to take them? Do people carry them around with them? Yes, I know of the ...

Monday, October 9th, 2017 Welcome to our Swiss blog. A little history of what has happened prior to this move. Mark was offered a 18 month project opportunity in Europe, obviously we took the opportunity as we are here. This occurred in May. Mark spent most of the summer in France and Switzerland working. Meanwhile the moving process was off to a very slow start. He was waiting for official job approval, a work permit and then our Visa’s. Finally in October we are here. We left Minneapolis on October 7th  (Saturday) and arrived the 8th (Sunday). Our flight was from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Zurich. From Zurich a train to Bern.  At  the Bern train station we took a cab to the hotel.  We spent our first night in the city of Bern. I got a walking tour from Mark. For dinner we had some awesome pizza and pasta. On Monday, the 9th, we were met by a lady from Packimpex, 3M’s relocation service here in Switzerland. She took us to check into the Departme...

Tuesday- October 10th, 2017 Today Mark went to work and I was totally on my own. As a challenge to myself I was determined to use the Tram by myself and head to Gurten Mountain. I had to change Tram's in Bern at the train station but it really is pretty easy to figure out. (Maybe I should claim it is difficult to figure out?) Gurten is only 860 meters above sea level so I walked up the trail instead of taking the Tram up the mountain. I didn't have a map so I was hoping I wouldn't get lost on my solo hike today. The scenery was beautiful. On top of the mountain they have a couple of restaurants, a playground and miniature railway for children. Also a toboggan run and lots of picnic areas. There were many trail options going down so I figured as long as I was going down hill and towards town I couldn't get too lost. Every cow that we have seen so far has a bell around its neck. Sounds really cool to listen to. I don't know the reason for the bells, or even if there...