Day 13
Monday
June 12, 2000

Switzerland - Day 13, Monday, June 12, 2000

Only one more full day to go and it's not a completely full day since we have to be back at the apartment by 4:30 PM so Erika (our landlady) can take our bags to the train station to check them through to our destination. Carolyn's bag will be checked all the way to Dulles. Our bags will be checked through to Istanbul.

It dawned very overcast today so we were slow getting started. Once up the hill we caught a train to Interlaken West where we got off with the intention of walking to Interlaken Ost (East) while checking a couple of shops. The walk ended up taking a couple of hours. We stopped in a LOT of stores. Carolyn bought a couple more things for folks back home.

By the time we got to Ost it was too late and too cloudy to continue on to Gimmelwald, our original destination for the day, so we decided to take a slow boat back to Spiez. We boarded the boat about 1:00 PM knowing that it would not depart until 1:40 PM.

The boat zigzagged its way across Lake Thun stopping at several little villages before stopping at Spiez at 3:18 PM. After the ten minute walk to the apartment we rested for about an hour then headed up the hill to the bus station right beside the train station.

All of the Untourists in this area met at the bus station. We took the 5:07 PM bus to Aeschi for our farewell dinner. Geri and Carolyn joined some of the group on a 40-minute hike before dinner. I opted out to protect my tender feet. I had had enough hiking for a few days.

For our dinner at the Baumgartnen Hotel Jim ate some very delicious, very tender veal while Geri and Carolyn opted for the cheese fondue. A group of four played Swiss folk music and a lady sang some lovely Swiss songs with some yodeling.

We caught the 8:37 bus back to Spiez, then hiked down the hill to arrive at the apartment about 9:15 PM.