If we were done with our travels, I would take the next two weeks to relate our adventures in Romania and Switzerland. But we have more things coming up, so this is going to be a longer post. I’ll give you the highlights first, and then you can read on if you want more details.

Highlights:

• Getting to meet up with family for a trip that we’ve been trying to pull off for quite a while was so satisfying. We met Nathan’s sister, Liz (Guertler), and four other members of her family (husband, Christian, son, Jared, daughter, Sarah, and Sarah’s youngest, Poppy).
  Spending time in Romania with Jared, who just finished up his mission there in April for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a treat. He was a great tour guide and it was great to hear him speaking Romanian!
• Gathering with the Swiss branch of the Müller family never disappoints. We got to do some outings, have some delicious meals together, and just enjoy being on the same continent. We were missing Nathan’s Uncle Kuno, who was at his house in Spain and didn’t feel up to traveling back to Switzerland. We also didn’t get to cross paths this time with cousin Iris and her family as they were on vacation. But the time spent with the rest of the family felt very precious.
• Showing the Guertler/Bauserman clan some of our favorite things about Switzerland. Liz lived and worked in Switzerland in the late 80s and Nathan lived with her for a summer while he was working. She hasn’t been back since, and it was the first time for the rest of the group. Taking them to see beautiful cities, stand atop amazing mountains, and taste all the delicious things that our whole family enjoys was great fun.
• We were worried that our little friend Poppy (15 months old) would have a hard time with all the travel, but not only was she a traveling pro, she was a shining star and made friends wherever she went. Having her along was a bonus.
• The rest of our party had to get home, but Nathan and I stayed on for a few extra days in Switzerland to do some more hiking, soak in the mountain vistas, and smell the herb-scented Alpine air.

The Details:

Romania

We flew from London to Bucharest to meet up with our travel companions (who I will collectively refer to henceforth as “the Guertlers” for simplicity’s sake). They had flown from Salt Lake and from Ohio. We missed them at the airport, so we checked into our accommodation and walked a bit to get a feel for the city and to find some dinner. The Guertlers visited the mission president and some other people that Jared had worked with and had dinner with them.
The next morning, we packed up and headed to church. We had translation for part of the meeting, but honestly it was just fun to hear the beautiful language. We knew we weren’t going to spend much time in the capital city, so we took a couple hours in the afternoon to walk around. Due to the “Children’s Day” holiday. The entrance to the massive parliament building was free, so we decided to walk over and check it out. The building is somewhat controversial, as 5% of Bucharest, including churches, homes, and hospitals had to be demolished to accommodate the structure. It is a symbol of the communist regime and its wasteful extravagance. But the residents decided to keep it after the revolution and use it for cultural purposes and it is the most-visited site in the city. It is truly massive and we only just scratched the surface in the time we had. It was certainly impressive. We drove from Bucharest to our next base, Sibiu, and checked into our AirBnB.
On Monday, we went to explore the charming city of Sighişoara. We walked up the hill to see the old medieval part of town. We then stopped for some lunch (döner kebab, of course) and went back to meet up with another missionary couple and they took us to a beautiful restaurant serving very traditional Romanian food. We tried a lot of pork and cheese dishes and Nathan ordered a very tasty soup. Sibiu was my favorite part of our time in Romania. The old town was lovely and quite charming.
We wanted to see the city of Brasov, so we detoured that way as we journeyed back toward Bucharest. Again, we walked around the city center, but this time we stopped in the famous Black Church. We were lucky to be there in time to hear the organ concert. It was excellent, and Poppy liked it, too! Unfortunately, the lot where we parked was less than ideal and when there was a problem with scanning one of the timed tickets, the attendant was unwilling to help us. We ended up paying the penalty for a “lost ticket”, despite it being obvious that we had the ticket right there. Scam. We continued toward the capital, stopping on the way to see the even more famous Bran Castle. We were in Transylvania, after all. Bran was the seat of Vlad the Impaler, Bram Stoker’s inspiration for Count Dracula. We checked out the castle from the outside. Maybe we were cursed for this, since Nathan got pulled over for speeding shortly after that, but then again he was only issued a warning, so maybe not a curse? We wanted to drive by and see Peleş castle, but we couldn’t find a good place to see it from the road, so we threw in the towel and drove to our final Romanian accommodation. This AirBnB was near the airport and definitely in an area indicative of how the people are living in the city there. It was pretty close quarters and a little less affluent than what we have seen in other parts of Europe.

Switzerland

We finalized our Romanian portion of the trip with a very early morning flight from Bucharest to Zurich. Thankfully, returning rental cars, checking bags, and getting all seven of us onto the plane went without a hitch. We landed in Switzerland ready for a big day. But first, we did one of the best things you can do. We visited a grocery store and had brunch in their cafe there. The food is high quality and fresh and they had all kinds of things that we already love, since our family regularly eats Swiss dishes. We had Bircher müsli and basler leckerli, chäschüechli and good rye bread with mountain cheese. Everyone said it was one of the highlights of the trip! After our feast and picking up some groceries, we drove across the country to Bern. But first things first, we stopped at a cheese factory for a tour. The presentation was really cute and it had Poppy absolutely captivated. We had an appointment at the temple, and visiting there was really moving. We even met a lady who knew Nathan’s grandfather! That evening we visited a friend of Liz from when she lived in Switzerland many years ago. She and her family were so kind and made us a bite to eat that was so yummy! We went back to our hotel near Bern and enjoyed a good night’s sleep in a plush bed.
The capital city of Bern is so charming, we didn’t want to leave the next day without a little stroll. We saw the famous bears, walked up the main street, saw the old Zytglogge (clock) strike the hour, and ducked into the main church, the Berger Munster. And we never miss a chance for a stop at a bäckerei for bread and treats! But we had to run, because we had a date with what the Swiss call the “real mountains” in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. This was one of the most memorable parts of the trip that Nathan and I took with our children in 2006, so we thought the Guertlers would enjoy it, too. We started at Trümmelbach Falls, where the glacier and snowmelt rushes down through the cliffs and cuts a spectacular path through the granite. The Swiss, being all Swissy about things, built a funicular railway that you take up into the mountain and then walk in and around the rushing water. We had to split up into two groups to find accommodations, but both of the places were great. The Guertlers were in a family room at Camping Jungfrau and we were just down the road in the middle of Lauterbrunnen at Hotel Jungfrau. We had a room on the second floor that had a window opening onto the famous Staubbachfall. We listened to the sound of the flowing water all night. I’ll pause here to say that we have had a threat of rain and thunderstorms every day since we arrived in Switzerland. We just made plans day by day and we didn’t let the weather forecast get us down. This strategy worked for our days in Lauterbrunnen. We got up early the next day to catch an earlyish cable car up to Gimmelwald, then a walk to Mürren. It was rainy when we pulled into the parking lot, but by the time we caught our high wire ride, the weather was clearing up. We really enjoyed our walk through the cows and wildflowers. In Mürren, we caught the next cable car to the Schilthorn and the restaurant Piz Gloria, which was a major part of the James Bond movie “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. The views from the top were awesome! You can see the three stunning peaks of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. We rode down to the next station, Birg, where we walked the “Thrill Walk” out beyond the cliff face and on a suspended cable (all very safe and not too scary). Our final cable car took us down the steep incline from Birg to the valley floor, which was actually a thrill. Since we were having good luck with the weather, we decided to try out the train from Lauterbrunnen to Kleine Scheidegg. The ride was very scenic and we got even better views of the three peaks from the other side. What a great day!
Saturday, we drove north to meet up with cousins. We started out with Cousin Maja and her husband Bastian. They had great plans for us at the Bodensee (Lake Konstanz), but our luck ran out with the weather and it was threatening rain. We opted to just drive across the border to Konstanz, Germany and have a walk around town. The traffic was bad at the border, so we parked to walk over the border and the rain let loose! We had a soggy but fun walk into town, hiked up the bell tower of the church, and went back to our cars. We checked into our AirBnB in a little town called Hagenbuch in an apartment over a Thai restaurant. Then we went to dinner prepared by Cousin Simon, his wife Christina, and their son Nikolas. Dinner was outstanding and they were such gracious hosts. Simon was immediately smitten by Poppy and she seemed to love her new friend!
We went to the ward in Frauenfeld on Sunday, enjoying the talks in German and Swiss German, singing hymns in German, and being with the family. Then we got to go to dinner at the home of Cousin Ursi and her husband Philip. We had Thai curry made by Maja and Ursi and I’m sure it was every bit as good (or better than) what the restaurant could turn out. We loved visiting with everyone and seeing Nathan’s Aunt Margrit. We enjoyed seeing the beautiful former monastery where Ursi and Philip’s daughter Fiona lives and works. The gardens were gorgeous. We also got to spend more time visiting Aunt Margrit and Cousin Thomas, which was great.
Monday was the holiday of Pfingsten (Pentecost), so most everyone had the day off. We traveled to Philip and Ursi’s mountain cabin and had another lovely day of family, walking in the mountains, and eating great food. The views of the Säntis and other mountains were breathtaking. Everyone had to return to work on Tuesday, except for Simon. He joined us for a favorite hike of Nathan’s grandfather (Grosspapi), the Seealpsee. It was a great day for a hike and we enjoyed the stop at the top for yogurt and milkshakes (really just flavored milk, but it was fresh)! Then we all stopped at a chocolate factory for a tour and, of course, tastings. It was fun to see the bars being turned out onto the conveyor belts and then packaged up – straight out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! We parted ways with Simon there, which was sad. He lived with Nathan’s family for a year in high school and he is such a fun addition to every adventure. When we planned this trip, Sarah requested a trip to a chocolate factory and a castle. So we stopped at Schloss Kyburg to check the other box on her list. It was a really pretty castle with good exhibits and well-preserved structures and a cute garden. If a hike, a chocolate factory, and a castle weren’t enough for one day, we then headed to the Rheinfall to enjoy the setting sun over the falls. But on our way there, we stopped for dinner and we just happened to be across the street from where Nathan’s dad studied engineering in Winterthur.
For our final day with the Guertler gang, we road tripped down to Luzern because it’s such a pretty city. Unfortunately, for a few days we were contending with that Sahara sand in the air, so visibility could have been better, but it was still a great stop. We took a cruise on the lake and had a lunch of raclette and fondue. Our last stop was to drive through some of the family history sites in Zurich. We saw the apartment building where Nathan’s dad, Max, grew up. We tried to find the place where Liz lived and worked, but things were so different it was hard to determine exactly which buildings we were looking for. Lastly, we climbed the Üetliberg, the mountain that hugs Zurich, and a favorite hike of Max’s.
On Thursday, we helped the Guertlers to the airport, then boogied back down to the alps for a few more days of high-altitude happenings. We’ve been staying in the town of Kandersteg. It’s been less crowded and less touristy than Lauterbrunnen. We hiked to the Öeschininsee (after taking the gondola), which was really pretty. One reason we chose this location was to be in striking distance of Zermatt and the Matterhorn. Every time we have visited Switzerland in the past, we haven’t had enough time to make it that far south or the weather has been uncooperative. But since we could be here a few days and we were flexible, we were hoping we could make it work. Friday seemed like it would be the best bet, so we got up early and got our little car on the transport train (just like when we were traveling through to Italy last spring) and made our way to Zermatt. We took the cog railway, the Gornergrat, up to the top and then walked all the way back down to town. We had the most spectacular views of the Matterhorn all the way down to the valley floor! The weather was just about perfect for views, but it was actually quite hot and we were pretty exposed on the mountain. We had a great time, though, and we were happy to have a cold drink at the end of our 5-hour hike! My toe has continued to heal, but I’m still trying to baby it so that I can continue to hike around and walk through all these amazing cities. We also went for some shorter hikes in the area and we went kayaking from Interlaken on the Thünersee and walked through that town as well.

The End

If you read all of that, you really are dedicated! We have just one more day here and it looks like a rainy one, so it’s possible that our outside adventures may be winding down. We’ll be catching another flight on Tuesday to another spot for a 3-week tour. Leave a comment with your guess for which country you think we’ll visit next.