We arrived in Zurich and met Grandma and ‘PU’ after Customs. We then traveled to Kandersteg by train after getting our tickets. No first class Swiss Pass this time. While Swiss Passes are nice and incredibly convenient, we learned that in a few areas, when you stay in their hotels, you get special area tickets that allow you to ride area trains, buses, gondolas, boats, and access certain other entertainment venues. This is what we did for our stay in Kandersteg. This was really cool because we saw and did a bunch of things we wouldn’t have otherwise.
Once in Kandersteg, we checked into Hotel Bernerhof. Unfortunately, we were early so our rooms were not ready. No worries – they could hold our luggage and we could take a hike. Of course, we were not wearing hiking gear. Soon the hotel lobby was an explosion of luggage contents as we dug through the bags for bare hiking necessities. Finally, we were ready and the bags were mostly repacked. Off to the gondola! According to the weather reports, we should have been freezing but it was HOT! Side note: We told Erika and Julie not to bring their cold weather clothes because all the future weather was forecast to be hot. Spoiler: this was a bad idea!
As we were riding the gondola, we saw… summer toboggans! None of us had ridden them but why not give it a go? We had free passes. Mom decides to hold cameras and document the experience. The rest of us line up and go. Dad, then Grandma, then Kristin, then PU. One of may have had a car that had an acceleration problem. We had a lot of fun! The pile-up behind of did not feel so jovial.
Now we walk to Oeschinensee. Beautiful walk and a beautiful lake. We ate lunch at the lake then headed down the mountain back to the hotel. At the hotel we attend the tea (with tea and cakes) in the lobby while trying not to fall asleep. To wake up, we head down to Volg (grocery store) to buy dinner groceries. Also, we stop by the drogeria for some epsom, but we didn’t have cash so we headed back to the hotel then back to the drogeria for the epsom and loose local teas. Back at the hotel, we eat dinner on the balcony, watch our daily photos using the projector, and buy tickets for Erika and Julie.