All the good things come from the Alps

Martin finished the last adventures of Rick and Martin at dinner in Basil. Just to let you know, dinner was fan-fricken-tastic. These Swiss are mean cooks, and every thing from here on in, is all about cheese, chocolate, and Sibylla.

Our tour guide, Irina, had a rigorous schedule set for us. It involved touring the width of the country (approx 20 min by train) visiting four different Swiss cities, eating a mountain of cheese, and a truck load of chocolate, while not letting us pay for a single cent along the way! Here is also a photo of us and Josie sitting in a Swiss cafe having one of their REAL hot chocolates... hmmmmm so nice.


Marty: Here is a very unusual specimen. It is a native Heissweis bird from Switzerland. It moved with such fluid motion, and made incredibly musical tones from it's beak. I was told that this was a male, but as we have never seen one before we have no proof. Anyway, if anyone comes to Switzerland, keep your eyes peeled for this rare bird - usually you follow the flock of japanese tourists!

Rick: Basil put on a beautiful day for us. 25+ degrees, the river rheine in spectacular form, and people everywhere. This is a beautiful city, with so many picture post card typical Swiss buildings and tiny allyways and court yards around every courner. Lunch on the banks of the river rheine on such a fantastic day was definetly a highlight.

Bern (the capital) and the smaller Solothoun were next. Again the buildings were amazing, and its interesting to see the subtle differences in structure and design between each of the cities. Solothoun boasted some impressive churchs, which for me personlly seemed more scary than welcoming. It must have been a strange time, when people built and then worshiped in these places. The churchs have a tincy-wincey bit more 'bling bling' than the ones back at home.

Staying with Irina's parents was a great expereince. They have a beautiful house just out of Solothoun, looking out across a beautiful vista of farm land, forrest and hills. We were welcomed with open arms and a large helping of cheese. We had a traditional Swiss dish named raclette (spelling??). Basically, get really yummy ingredients of your choosing and sit around a grill and melt heaps of delicious swiss cheese all over it..... What could be better than that!? For dessert, of course, chocolate cream, with coffee and more chocolate. Oh yeah.

We also visited some of Irina's good friends. One particular friends family have rebuilt an amazing old oil mill, complete with water powered cogs and gears!! All the dads out there would of loved this one. (I#l try include a photo for you dad).

Next was the more purposefull part of our trip. The goodbyes from us and many many New Zealanders to Sibylla took a bit out of us. I'll leave this part to the more elloquent Marty.