Ibis Bern Expo

... of Gimmelwald. An excerpt from his travel book: <br><br>"The traffic-free village of Gimmelwald hangs nonchalangly on the edge of a cliff high above Lauterbrunnen Valley. This sleepy village has more cow troughs than mailboxes. Many travelers say, 'If Heaven isn't what it's cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald.' Gimmelwald is a community in the rough. Take a walk- you can tour it in 15 minutes. Its two streets are a 700 year ...

... and people were more likely to stop for a chat on the street. And there were more bakery's in Bern than in Geneva. And don't speak French in Bern, and don't speak German in Geneva. <br>Bern also had a lot of weird modern art, which stood out in the city's old architecture. Our favorite piece was these spinning seats that was more like a playground for young adults than art. <br>When we first arrived in Bern we had a break for lunch, so we walked around ...

... and see. The old town is crazy small but I think it's neat to see all the fountains, towers, and cool flags hanging outside. <br><br>History time: The city was founded like 1,000 years ago by some Duke guy and it has a bear for its mascot. I've never heard it before but they have these bear pits with bears in them. So I went to the bear pits and guess what, there were no bears in them. They are building a new pen for them and don't ...

... Gorgeous scenery, an active lifestyle, central location and good transportation network. French, German* and Italian. (*Or so they pretend...) Hello, oval. My name is round peg. I believe if I file myself down with some Schweizerdeutsch practice, you'll a slot for me. ... No, I'm not running to hop on the Swiss bandwagon...yet. I am, however, intrigued by the thought of doing so. Get back with me in a couple months.

... watched the videos and Desiree translated where she could. At the end they actually have a real factory so you can watch it being made. That was probably the best bit of the tour for me! They also had a store and even a restaurant where you ate and drank off their glassware. This is where we had our lunch stop, and i had my first schnitzel of the trip, a nice traditional German meal! After lunch we drove to Lucerne and Desiree and me wandered around the shopping streets for a ...

... with yeast, so like wine has an alcoholic content, but not as high a percentage, and its not as full a flavour, more like a refreshing drink. It uses the grapes that arent fit for making wine, and must be consumed within a small period of time from production. Therefore, its only really available from September to October each year, and im so glad that i got to try it as it was *******n delicious!! Shame i cant get it year round as i would have sent some home to Australia. I ...

... Brown" role in his blue overalls and gumboots! The sights here have been fantastic, and the photos tell more than we can type about the steep hills of the Emmantal, the Alps, and the beautiful cities of Bern and Lucern. Simone has also been very excited to see the "dying lion" in Lucern, and a finally a hedgehog! There are many things that are unique to the Swiss. Every town has a clock tower, which rings its bells at 11am to remind the women to go home ...

... we started in Zurich on Saturday, and even though it was raining we had a great time. It was a relatively small city, but really clean, very EFFICIENT (haha which we have not seen in quite some time.....), and beautiful. We were able to walk around the city by the first half of the day, went along the huuuge shopping street, stopped for a weird drink (that only I had) at a vegetarian caffe, and then went to the Kuntshaus Museum....which was amazing! The Museum had an ...

... of Switzerland still swathed in mist. A train and bus ride later (through the seemingly endless and rather dingy San Bernadino tunnel) we landed just north of Locarno (Villa Maggia to be exact), in the Swiss/Italian Alps where the Schlaf in Stroh outfit was well organised but sterile, so we decided to pitch our canvas home again. Locarno was pleasant enough, but there was no escaping the feeling that this was Italy with the vitality missing. So why not try Italy...?

... Rebecca & Susanna) and from Egypt (Emil, Bassem, Marianna, Peter, Sally & Michael) all boarded planes and headed home. Then came August. August is one of the strangest times in Spain, at least of the times I've experienced. There has been more rain than normal, I'm told, but that's not it... No, the whole city shuts down. It's not a strike this time, just everyone goes on vacation. The little shops all around the city put up signs that say they are closed for the ...