Melissa and Klas's Journey: Nice to Be Back in Switzerland

We had a taste of Switzerland back in June when we visited Zermatt and Montreux. We've spent the last five days in this country again and loved it. People are nice. The mountains are beautiful. Everything is so clean. Transportation is on time. The only downfall is that it is expensive. It's good that we like to hike because it is free.

We visited Zurich, Luzern, Gimmelwald, and Bern. We spent more time in Gimmelwald near Interlaken. There are only 130 inhabitants but probably more cows with their bells. We stayed at a cool guesthouse where we met some nice people from Colorado and Las Vegas - they found the place through one of Rick Steves' travel guide book just like we did.

We hiked for 10.5 hours in one day, taking us to the top of the Schilthorn and back. The facility at the top was featured in the James Bond 007 movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service.' We were exhausted for the following two days.

In Zurich and Bern, we were able to rent bikes for free (courtesy of the Swiss government) so it was fun to ride around the cities.

Now we're in Baden-Baden, Germany, which is a spa town in the Black Forest...it will provide us with the opportunity to hike in the morning and spend the afternoon at the thermal spas...tough life!