Switzerland!- Day 2 How Great Thou Art!

We thought we would get day 2 of Switzerland off to a good start, so we headed straight to Church ! We attended this branch in Interlaken, which was German speaking, but once again, there was a missionary there who translated for us- what a great service. Once again, we were moved to be able to sing the hymns in German. We were actually able to sing, "How Great Thou Art" which was so appropriate. That was the hymn I was singing all day in my head as I surveyed Switzerland's beauty. This weekend was truly a confirmation of how wondrous God is, how observing His creations can help us to feel closer to Him. The whole experience was like nature's testimony of God. (You'll see what I mean in a minute!)


I was hoping to get a pic of all of us in front of the Church building, but we didn't have time to get everybody posed, so here are some other random people in front of the Church: After church, we drove up to Lauterbrunnen and this is what we saw along the way:

Once we got to Lauterbrunnen, we had to take a train, which was a source of entertainment in and of itself! The kids loved it!

Lookin' out the window: Look how cute they are! Don't you just want to kiss 'em?

Some of the views from the train:

After the train, we rode a cable car up to Mannlichen.

Tori was not really herself this afternoon and I was pretty sure she had a fever, of course my thermomether was back in Germany at our "hotel-house". I wasn't quite sure what was wrong yet, but you can see from her little face that she doesn't feel so hot!

We got to the top, which was the little town of Mannlichen. It is this super cute community with cows roaming everywhere. Here's Isaac:

So, Cows are kind of like Switzerland's "thing". They are the vehicle that help them make their famous cheese and chocolate, so you can buy all kinds of souvenier cows, stuffed, sculpted, shaped into food, etc... everywhere you go. What kind of surprised us was how freely they roamed all over the mountains. We could hear their bells ringing everywhere we went, and see them lounging on hard, rocky cliffs and ledges wherever you turned. The kids were fascinated by how close they were to all the people, and Matt and Steve kept daring Isaac to go touch a cow. This video cracks me up, as we are all acting like the cow is some sort of dangerous wild animal. Listen- at the very beginning, you'll hear Daphne say, "Isaac! Try to milk the cow!"

Matt got a gorgeous panoramic of just one view from where we were:

And off we started on our little jaunt to see the Alps, up close and personal. Not just any alps, but the three tallest peaks, the Eiger, the Monk and the Jungfrau.

Isaac spent most of the time picking wildflowers for Matt and Daphne and me. He was so sweet- every time he found one he hadn't seen before he had to pick it for me.

After a little while on the path, the girls both fell asleep (Yay!- Tori was still not feeling very well and Daphne was edging towards whiney hysteria!)

I had a little trouble controlling the heavy stroller on the steep trail- but I won't share the pic where I look like I'm about to lose the stroller down the hill! Needless to say, after that, Matt decided to take a turn pushing!

Takes. My. Breath. Away.

We finally got to the prime viewing spot for all three peaks. (There was a cloud that kept covering the monk, but we finally got a glimpse of it before we hopped on the train to go back down!)

After going a little further, we found a cow who was just kind of hanging out right there on the trail. The kids couldn't resist petting it:

And of course Matt couldn't resist daring Isaac again. Here he is after being dared to ring the cow's bell:

After our hike, we got down to a grouping of stores, bars and restaurants where we hoped to grab a late lunch. We found that the goats are also really comfortable around humans:

They were just lounging around the gift shops: We picked up some lunch at a little Bratwurst Stand and couldn't find a table,
so we found some steps where we thought we might sit down and have a little picnic. It was at this point that Victoria's condition sort of spiraled downward. As I was carrying the food to our "spot", Tori sort of lost it and up-chucked all over the place. Fortunately, I was able to hold her out and away from us both so that none of it got on either of us, which was such a blessing! We didn't have any extra clothes up there at the top of the Alps, and I really didn't want to ride the train back all smelly!

Then, after holding and coddling Tori while Matt and the kids ate, Matt took Tori so I could eat. But the forces of nature were just set against me having a sit-down meal that day. This little guy decided he wanted some of my lunch , too!

You can tell how thrilled I am by sharing my space! I distracted him with the kids' nearly empty plate and ran away with mine!

We took a little break in front of the gift shop while we waited for the train. We love how proud the Swiss are of their flag. Definitely the only country we've visited that displays their flag more prominently than we do! (Unless you count Texas as a country, and some of us do!):

More views from the train ride back down:

We loved Switzerland! It was so absolutely gorgeous- something beautiful around every corner.

Now you see why How Great Thou Art should be Switzerland's theme song. We also listened to Beautiful Savior in the car on the way out of town- which was fun and seemed more meaningful!

On our way out of town, we stopped at the Bern Temple for a little time on the grounds and some pictures. Surprisingly, the Bern Temple is the 9th temple built since the restoration. I was so shocked to see that it was the ninth out of what is now close to 130 temples dotting the globe. We were really glad we got to see it- the grounds were lovely as usual and we noticed they have a little hotel on the grounds for those who drive long distances to visit the Lord's House. It is such a reminder to be thankful for all the temples right next door to me, and how easy it is for us to visit the temple and serve in that way.

Look at that lovely newly wed couple out front! Okay, I guess we're not really newlyweds anymore, but that is what this little photo shoot reminded us of!

We look pretty much the same, right? I guess Matt's missing some hair and I've added a few inches, but mostly the same. Still completely in awe of the price our Savior paid so that we can be together forever!

Tori got over her sickness after 3 or 4 days of a fever. This, too, was a great blessing as I was not really interested in visiting the medical community here in Germany. I've heard too many bad stories! We are thankful she got back to herself pretty quickly!