After crossing the border into Switzerland, we continued south and arrived at Interlaken in the evening. The next day was Audrey’s birthday, so after presents and breakfast, we headed to Bern to go to the zoo.
Then we headed into town to have a fondue dinner.
And try out some of Audrey’s birthday presents.
The next morning I went for an early run down to the lake.
And when I got back I had two volunteers for an early coffee and a pastry.
Then we headed back to the apartment to collect the others and head through some spectacular scenery to Gruyères.
We arrived at Maison Cailler, a chocolate factory, where we had booked a tour and chocolate-making lesson for Audrey’s birthday. The tour was great.
As were the multiple taste-tests along the way.
Then we all learned to make and decorate our own chocolate bars.
After the lesson, we headed into the town of Gruyères to the HR Giger Museum. Audrey was the only one who wanted to come with me, so the others headed to the museum cafe. After convincing the woman at the entrance that I was comfortable taking in a seven-year-old, we headed in. The exhibition was great, although some of the artwork required some “delicate” explanations. No photos were allowed in the museum, so I made up for it in the cafe.
The next day we packed up and drove south to Lautenbrunnen.
After renting bikes, we headed off to explore the valley and its 72 waterfalls.
The main attraction was the Trümmelbach Falls, a series of ten waterfalls inside a mountain. They were spectacular.
As we headed back, we ran into base jumpers landing in the field next to us.
Then it was time for another incredible mountain road as we crossed the Alps.
We made it to Lugano for our last night. Going out for dinner, it already felt like we were back in Italy. We headed off after breakfast the next day and after a quick stop at an Autogrill made it back home.
It had been an incredible 63 days and 10,732 kilometres of travel.