Interlaken and Emmental

The last few days with my parents were pretty restful compared to our Germany trip :). On Sunday, we went to church. On Monday, we took a boat tour in Zurich because the weather really wasn't nice so that's all we wanted to do. Tuesday, we went to Interlaken. Wednesday was packing up, and on Thursday we had to bid them farewell at the airport.

Here's a photo of our cold, rainy boat ride:

I should also mention that Monday night my parents took car of Carsten while Andy and I went into Zurich for a date night. Andy and I got supper, and ate it by the lake. Then we joined up with Kai and Vanessa for a free trombone choir concert at our church. The trombones were very good (from Texas), but it was a bit loud and long for my taste :). Afterwards, we went out for a drink, and then had to leave earlier than we would have liked to get home a reasonable hour :). It was a great night. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Our day in Interlaken was very nice. It took us a while to drive there, but Dad did great on the mountain roads and Carsten loved the amazing number of tunnels. The weather wasn't terrific, but we didn't get rained on and we even managed to glimpse a mountain :). Mostly we just wandered around Interlaken and went into a few shops. I think my favorite part was when we were eating our lunch on a bench (we picnic a lot :) ) the clouds opened and we got to see a mountain! It was lovely and very unexpected. The day was very relaxed and Carsten got to spend a lot of time running around. Here's some photos of Interlaken:

Interlaken!

We had fun playing :).

I tried a few photos of Carsten. This is the biggest smile I got.

This is an amazing face. 

Interlaken!

Cute.

Mom and Dad in Interlaken!

Beautiful church.

Gorgeous. I bet it's stunning here when it's clear.

We headed out on the road around 2 pm. Carsten was cranky and very hot, but thankfully he took a short nap in the car. We decided to head back via Emmental, where we could get a tour of how they make Emmental cheese (what we think of as Swiss cheese). The road our GPS took us on to get there was a bit dodgy, but Dad did great! Once we got there, Mom and Dad checked out the free video tour of the cheesemaking process and Carsten and I played outside on the playground. The best part of the playground was that it had a 'DIGGER!' that Carsten could sit on. He loved it :). Mom played with Carsten while I learned about cheese, and then we headed out. The GPS doesn't seem to always pick the best route in Switzerland, which was the case again, but we did eventually make it home. Carsten had been warm to the touch (not unusual because it was hot) all afternoon, but we started realizing that he had a rather nasty fever while we were headed home. At home, I tried giving him a bath, but he screamed bloody murder, so my Mom rocked him to sleep, and the next morning when he woke up (he slept ALL NIGHT!), it was gone. She has the touch :). Here's photos of Emmental:

The cheese tour place.

Little hut where they made old fashioned cheese in a huge kettle over a fire. We bought some. It was good :).

Carsten and his digger!

Wednesday was spent packing and getting in some quality play time with Carsten. And then on Thursday, we took the car back to the airport and saw Mom and Dad off. Carsten still says: "Grandpa. Grandma. Airplane!" Which is his way of telling me that they are gone. When we came home from the airport, Carsten got his trucks and said "Grandpa. Play?!" You are missed! Thanks sooooo much for coming Mom and Dad!