Heaven on Earth

The past couple of days can be categorized as a vacation from the vacation. The 26^th of May was considered the longest drive of our lives. We left Paris around nine am and did not arrive t our destination until eight am. We were in a town called Multin (sorry for the misspelling because I was not paying attention to were we actually ended up).  This town was about twenty minutes outside of Bern, Switzerland. Some of us walked through the old town to only find discouragement. The town was pretty, but the food was around 40 franks a plate. Adam, Butters, Sarah, Ashlyn, and I walked down to the waterfront to see if we could find food, but we only found hotel restaurants that charged too much for a simple entrée. After twenty minutes, we walked back to our hotel and found a restaurant that served pizza and hamburgers. After eating, we headed back to the hotel and partied. Ha! The party consisted of everyone waiting in line for the single computer that had the Internet. We also ate all the candies that near the receptionist desk. Ha!

The next morning, we were back on the road. I can speak for all of us when I say that we were all ready to leave the hotel. The hotel had flies everywhere as well as bugs that would crawl through window when it was open. Because the window could not be open, we were suffering. It was boiling in our rooms. The drive to Wengen was not bad. We made two stops on the way. Two business visits actually. We first stopped at a cheese factory. The whole process was fascinating, but it was not appealing. I felt more like a child than at Cadbury World. Towards the end of the audio tour we were given cheese that was six month, eight month, and ten month. I did not enjoy the smell or the taste of any of them. I wish I had never tasted one of them because they had a nasty aftertaste.  Following the cheese factory, we traveled to the opposite side of the valley to a chocolate factory. I forget the name, but I have concluded that it is among the greatest chocolate my taste buds have ever experienced.  The tour was much like of Cadbury except that this tour was more grownup. The company was more mature. We did not receive as many samples during the tour as we did at Cadbury, but when we came to the end, we finished in a sample room. The chocolate lining the tables and we could try around twenty different variations of this chocolate. I loved each of them except for the ones with nuts. Most people stop eating chocolate when they think of milk, but I kept on eating until I really needed a liquid to help with the process. Ha!  Like most tours, we ended up in the store. We found a sign that read six for five. We all thought that it was sic for five franks, but we were all wrong when we found ourselves at the cash register. It was six bars for the price of five. Ha! Great marketing scheme. Ha! I did not regret my choice because that chocolate is delicious especially when you are towards the end of the bar and you feel satisfied. Ha!

Have you ever felt like shouting our your excitement? This is how I felt when we drove through Lauterbrunnen. I felt like I was in Yosemite. What was even more amazing was the fact that we had Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday in this area. I felt like I truly found heaven on earth. The landscape cannot we explained in words or pictures, but I will provide pictures because it will do better justice than my words. If I had Jaclyn with me, she could explain it in words, but I was not given that talent. We were forced to unload the bus and take a train up to Wengen. The only way to access this town is either by foot or train. AS we ascended the mountain, I became more speechless. I was taking pictures, but most of them did not turn out because of the raindrops on the windows. However, when we arrived to the top of the mountain, we had a view that was worth millions of words. My word of choice was flabbergasted. Luckily, our hotel was only a hundred feet from the hotel because I did not want to drag my luggage around this town.

We dropped our luggage and toured the town for the night. We mainly were searching for food, but of course the food that looked good was not in our price range. Most of us ate at a local restaurant that served hamburgers and chicken nuggets. Ha! After dinner, the hotel was kind enough to extend the hours of the spa area. A majority of us spent time in the hot tubs and the steam room. Ha! The steam room was amazing. The scent of the room was of peppermint oil, which feels quiet good when it soaks into your body.

Saturday was among my favorite days this whole trip. There were several activities that we could have done, but we all decided to hike instead of spending money. The hike was beautiful. The views were amazing. I took 140 pictures alone on this hike. I could have taken a lot more, but I did not. I held myself back because I did not want to drop my camera. The landscape was easy to navigate, but once we reached the avalanche guards, the ground became saturated. It had snowed the night before, so it was now mud. We were slipping and stumbling as we crawled up the mountain. We finally reached the top and felt like we accomplished the impossible. Ha! The front group consisted of Sus, Michelle, Adam, Jon, Cortney, Butters, Rogelio, Bristal, Sarah, Ashlyn, Christina, and I. We had such a fun time. The top of the mountain was chilly because we had finally stopped moving.  Food and water tasted like a delectable treat for my worn body. Thirty minutes go by and people feel like they want to head back down the mountain, so we all decided to descend; however, a group picture was necessary. We asked an English couple to take the photo of us.

Sarah and I decided to take the easy way down, so we walked over to the cable car to only learn that it did not open till June 10^th.  Sad day! Ha! On our way down the mountain we had a good conversation about each other’s lives. I love talking to Sarah because she converses well. She also laughs when it is not necessarily funny, but I except the fact that she thought it was funny. Ha! As we reached the outer boundary of Wengen, we ran into Adam, who was reading Catching Fire. We found him on a bench looking out for a field and some cottages. Next to his backpack was a water bottle full of stream water. The water in this area was some of the best water I had tasted this whole trip. Ha! The girls were worried that it would be bad for our body, but so far we have seen no side effect.

The rest of the night was filled with card games as well as piano sing-a-longs. We did spend significant amount of time in the hot tubs because of the current state of our body.

Sunday was special. Because of our location we could not travel to a chapel. We held our own meeting in of the rooms on the first floor. It was a meeting I will never forget. Jon, Janelle, Ashlyn, and I sang Lead, Kindly Light. It was amazing. I felt the spirit so strongly. We also heard from professor Kimball about how it is okay to cry when you are lonely and looking for guidance because people run to your side and assist you. Sometimes we did to express what we are going through because there are people around us that can help us.  The meeting also consisted of a testimony meeting. The spirit was so strong that I could not help myself, so I bore my testimony concerning trials. I used the mountain as my analogy and how I tried to take the easy way down instead of the difficult path.

After the meeting, we all broke off. People were heading to the waterfalls and others were staying at the hotel. I did not want to do either, so I went on a walk by myself. I ended up walking down the mountain to the valley where I was able to walk to some waterfalls as well as see the valley in all of its glory. I loved it. I seriously felt like I was in Yosemite again with my family. I took many pictures because again I cannot describe what I was experiencing. While I was walking around I stumbled upon Rogelio. Ha! It was funny. We spent the rest of the time walking around and talking about the creations surrounding. We talked about many topics, but I cannot remember what they were. After about an hour, we walked back to the trial, but Rogelio took me a different way. On our way though, we run into Lucas our bus driver. We talked with him and learned about his life. He grew up in South Africa and decided one day to move to Holland.

The hike up the mountain was so hard because my legs were exhausted from the previous day’s hike. We made it though. Back at the hotel, we relaxed and played games outside. Sarah and I played a very intense game of chess on the outside. I kept getting annoyed with people telling her what to do. Ha! It was pretty funny, but I felt bad. Some how moved the game into stallment even though I was dominating the game. Ha! It was a great way to end because I did not want to make Sarah my enemy. After the chess game, we went to the hotel restaurant and had dinenr as a group.

The night was much like the previous night. Tonight was a little bit different because Adam was entertaining us with mission stories. Ha! The night did come to an end and when it did, I was thankful because I was tired from the two hikes.