Karlsruhe -> Interlaken -> Grindelwald

In my quest to ski big, I made Jared with entirely too early on Monday and travel with me to Interlaken Switzerland. Arriving in Interlaken we wandered around the town and saw the sights. Interlaken is one of the traditional ski towns of the Swiss Alps, but evidently in recent years it’s become much more touristy. A little higher up at the base of the slopes is the resort town of Grindelwald. It fit my stereotype of a Swiss village, snowed in Chalets, people tramping thorough snowy streets in the shadow of mountains that looked at anytime like the just might fall on you.

There is very little snowmaking in Interlachen, they only have 3 or 4 routes that have the capability for man made snow, so skiing conditions are very much dependant on the weather. The week before we got there, God graced the mountains with 80 cm of snow, All of it powder or as they say in German–Pulver. Jared and I checked our stuff into Lehmann’s Herbrage - a little bed & breakfast in the middle of Grindelwald, and started wandering around the valley. Words fail me.

The extended Charles family has a tradition of writing stories instead of giving gifts for Christmas and several years ago the Christmas story from my uncle Dan talked about his love of german bread and the quest for good bread in America. I grew up on homemade bread and maybe I’m a little picky about my bread. But I was completely blown away by the local COOP grocery store, $2US bought a loaf of the best bread I have ever bought. It was still warm from the oven! Combine that with a block of local cheese and a jar of Nutella and you have a great meal.

I headed to bed early with a full stomach, tucked under a down comforter.