Continuing 'My Story'
In 1987 I was walking past our local Travel Agent where I saw an advertisement, 'Under fifteen year olds fly half price on Singapore Airlines'. Carol was nearly fifteen so when I got home I told Bill we can take the children to see your parents without having to pay full fare for Carol. So at the end of year school holidays (December) we packed our winter clothes and off we flew to the most beautiful country in the world, Switzerland.
These photos are old I have tried to edit them to make them sharper but they are still not very good but good enough to jog our memories of this fabulous trip. We flew via Singapore and Frankfurt to Zurich and then a two hour train trip to Bill's hometown of Thun on the Lake of Thun and at the foot of the Bernese Alps.
Bill used to live in the middle of Thun but his parents had moved to the suburb of Durrenast. We arrived at Thun railway station and then took a Taxi to Durrenast because of our luggage. Normally we took a bus. Bill's parents no longer had a car as they went everywhere on bus and train. The public transport is amazing in Switzerland. After thirty hours of travelling we had finally arrived.
Thun railway station.
Grossmutti and Grossvati lived in this apartment block with an amazing view of the mountains.
The kids called the tallest mountain 'The Tooth Mountain' but it really is 'The Stockhorn'.
The three tallest mountains in the Bernese Alps are the Eiger, the Monk and the Jungfrau seen here in the far background.
The next day it started to snow to the delight of the girls so Jackets on and they ran outside but they weren't there long because it was cold.
We had an amazing invitation from Bill's second cousins, Danielle and Suzanne. They invited us for a skiing holiday in Grindelwald where their parents owned a chalet. These girls had visited us in Australia when they had a holiday there. They had promised to teach the girls to ski. So they did.
We caught the train to Grindelwald and Danielle took us to their chalet.
The first lessons were outside the chalet. Sonya is getting the idea, she was twelve.
Carol picking up speed. She was fourteen.
Danielle and Suzanne said the girls were ready to try the higher slopes. So we caught the train to Kleine Scheidegg.
We passed the North Wall of the Eiger Mountain. The railway continues up to the Jungfraujoch. It goes inside the North Wall in a tunnel.
The skiers get out of the train and ski back down the mountain to Grindelwald. The girls were not quite ready for that yet so they practiced on the easier slopes.
They learnt how to use a T-bar lift.
Then down they came. I was so proud of them learning in a few days.
They were so lucky to have their own private tutors for free.
All too soon we had to return to Thun. Another day we went to visit another one of Bill's second cousins in Unterlangenegg. She had two boys a similar age to the girls.
They had a fun snowball fight but the girls didn't have a chance against the experienced boys.
Another day Bill's father's neighbour offered to take us tobogganing in the foothills where he has a cabin.
We hiked up from Spiez Railway station. It started to snow and it was cold.
We sheltered at the cabin.
The weather cleared and we had fun sledding.
Then we slipped and slid our way down to the station.
When we got home The neighbour and grossvati had a jam session.
Another day we went to the village of Vielbringen to visit another friend of Bill's who he met while producing the Swiss News on Radio 4EB in Brisbane (the multi language radio station). Eddy bought an old cheese storage building and had it moved from up in the mountains, he had it renovated into a cosy chalet.
The girls went outside to build a snowman. When they were halfway finished, Eddy spied them through the window and jumped up and started gabbling excitedly in Swiss German to Bill, who shouted through the door, "Get off that ice it is on the duck pond and it could break!" So they found another site and asked if this was safe and away they went with their building.
We caught the train to Gstaad to explore where all the rich and famous live. It was a freezing cold day.
It was time to say goodbye to Bill's Parents and start the long journey home. We dressed in summer clothes for when we arrive in hot Brisbane. It was always sad saying goodbye. Bill is an only child and the girls their only grandchildren.
We put our jackets on and went off to the station to catch the train to Zurich. The Temperature was dropping. It was getting colder and colder. While we were waiting on the station it was -25°C and we were freezing, the tiny waiting rooms were full. Finally the train came that took us to the airport. While we were waiting for our flight we could see the plane getting sprayed with hot water to avoid the flaps freezing up. I was a tad nervous but all went well. Thirty hours later we were home sweltering in the heat.
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