Connor running the trains
Ali found a snail in the yard, she was so proud of herself for holding it!
While Connor and Ali were outside playing I packed the food for a picnic lunch. I knew that there was a picnic area with a playground at the caves. Our lunch was pretty simple, stuff for sandwiches, chips, fruit, and chocolate for desert. My dad brought Connor and Ali back up around 11:00 and we left a bit later for the 11:30 train. We took the train to Thun where we switched to a bus. The bus ride was about 40 minutes but it was scenic as we were driving along the lake shore. We arrived at the bus stop for the caves at 12:38, it is really amazing how accurate the bus and train schedules are here!When we arrived I noticed right away how beautiful the setting was. On one side was the lake and then there was a steep incline with a waterfall up to the entrance to the cave. We started making our way up the path, the path was paved but it was pretty steep with switchbacks. My legs were burning by the time we made it to the top! We went to the ticket shop, we had to pay admission here and there is no discount for Swiss Pass, for 2 adults and 2 children it was 54 Francs. The man told us that the next tour would begin in 15 minutes. I suggested that we feed the kids a snack, take the 1:00 tour and then eat after. We did that and it worked just fine.
Connor, Ali, and Grandpa on the way up. Not sure why Ali looks like she's crying.
Pretty Waterfall
The cave enterance is where the white pillars are above the second bridge
Here is my smiling girl. Connor was wearing the hat he got for his birthday from our Swiss landlords
The guided tour was an hour long. According to legend an Irish missionary lived in the cave in the 6th century. The legend says he fought a dragon when he arrived at the cave. There is a small exhibit at the entrance about St. Beatus. Our tour had 30-40 people. The tour guide broke us into two groups, English speaking and German speaking. She had the English speakers come to the front and had the German speakers follow, when we arrived at the stops she'd explain things in English first and then in German. There were a couple of parts where there was an audio part played in German, she'd give us the short version in English before she played them.The caves were interesting, you walk in 1 Km and then walk back the way you came. The caves are limestone with stalagmites and stalactites. The tour was not super informative about cave formation but it was still fun and I think my kids really enjoyed it. No photos are allowed in the cave.
After our tour we headed down to the playground and picnic area. Our picnic was perfect, both kids ate and they were happy. After they ate, they ran off to play on the playground. I'm really starting to wonder if American kids are louder than European kids. I don't think my children are extraordinarily loud, especially compared to other American kids, but they sure seemed like the loudest ones. I checked the bus/train schedule on my phone and saw that we could catch a bus then switch to a train that would get us home by 4:30. It seemed like the best option. We let the kids play for about 15 minutes and then walked the rest of the way down to the bus stop. The steep walk up was just as steep heading down. It was a beautiful walk though.
Our picnic at the park
Ali on the very cool dragon slide
Connor taking a turn
Lake Thun
When we got back to Frutigen my mom had been busy, she had done some wash in the sink, and she'd been for a walk around town. It's amazing how you can wash with a bar of laundry soap and a sink, I've even washed some things that way this trip!We had an early dinner and tried to go to bed early. Tomorrow we'd be visiting a cheese-maker in the mountains and doing some hiking. We needed to be up and going to be on the 8:30 train!
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