Day 46 - Florence to Grindelwald, Switzerland

After a little sleep in, we headed down to the cafe where we had to order our breakfast. The hotel we were staying in didnt provided breakfast in their facilities, instead we were given vouchers to go to the local cafe. We got to choose a hot drink, orange juice, pastry, fruit salad and a sandwich. We werent impressed the day before with the service nor the fruit salad or sandwiches. So instead we chose 2 pastries each. They were filled with custard and were some of the yummiest we have had all trip. We ate one and saved the others for our lunch for later, as we knew we had a long drive ahead of us. We paid for the hotel and took our luggage down into the lobby while we waited for our car to be delivered to us. During that time the owner of the hotel ran down to see us again as she wanted to give us a bottle of Italian wine as a present. Such a nice lady and a nice gesture. Now we have a grand total of 4 bottles to take home with us. Only one is coming home though (Gluwein!) and no we arent going to be drinking the others!
On our drive to Switzerland we passed many trucks. The autostrade was very busy, but we mangaged to get by most of them the further away we got from Florence. It wasnt a very exciting drive, although we did drive passed Milan, the home to famous fashion designers. We didnt have time to stop for any shopping, although it would have been good if we found some factory outlets. Continuing with our drive, the further we headed north west, the pretty the landscape became. The hills were getting bigger and then eventually became mountains with green rolling hills below. We then hit the Swiss border where we had to stop to buy a vignette for driving on their roads. It cost us 40E which will last for a whole year. Looks like we will have to come back!!!!! Its a pity they dont just have tourist ones! Switzerland is already costing us. The roads began to get windier and steeper and down to one lane and the views were getting more amazing! After nearly 8 hours driving we finally made it to our destination- Grindelwald. We werent too sure what it was going to be like-the accommoadation and the town.

The chalet we booked didnt have too many pictures for us to view online, so we werent sure what the standard would be. It was a typical looking Swiss chalet. a bit battered and old looking. We headed up the stairs and found the owner waiting for us inside.  WOW! The chalet is amazing! Low ceilings, wooden interior with a red modern trendy kitchen. We were very happy! It even has 2 bathrooms! The owner was so happy we could understand German as well, as she though her Emglish wasnt great. Once settled, we headed into the town, which was only a five minute walk! It is much bigger than we expected! We thought we would have to drive into Interlaken everyday for a shopping center, but Grindelwald has 2 and lots or hiking and souvenier shops. In winter time, this place becomes a busy ski area and summer a haven for hikers and thrill seekers (base jumpers- crazy people who jump off the side of a cliff and drop until they have to open their parachute). There are alot of other things to do here as well.

We needed to get some Swiss francs before finding somewhere for dinner. So we went to an atm and found this unusual atm where you can change Euro to francs by feeding money notes into it. So we did this as we knew we didnt need alot of Euro left in our pockets. Silly us though didnt realise that when we fed our money in we didnt change it to giving us notes, instead we got rolls of coins! Doh! So then we had the tedious task of feeding it back into the machine and being charged for doing so. Oh well one learns from their mistakes!
We had a lovely dinner! Paul and I had a cheese fondue together and the boys had burritos with salad and rosti (fried potato). It is very expensive here, so it looks like this will be our last restaraunt meal for a while and I will have to remember how to cook!