Schloss (Castle) Thun

Just so you know, this post has a lot of pictures.  Oh wait, all my posts tend to have a lot of pictures.   Hmmm, well anyway I thought this castle that we went and visited on Monday was awesome.  It is the castle we took a picture of on our way home from Titlis.  The castle tower was built in 1186.  In 1322 Eberhard of Kyburg murdered his brother Hartmann in the castle (an interesting tidbit from the pamphlet).  It’s been used as a prison, torture house, prison, etc.  It is now open to the public and houses a museum, which we paid to go see (lucky I had some money in my wallet since Brett left his in the car). I *LOVE* this picture of little page-boy (or maybe squire) Talmage.  It’s so funny. And lovely Lady Hazel. Oh, I just love this, don’t you? Bell with a bell.  Knight’s Hall-a room of magnificent proportions, with an ancient chimney-piece.  We read that the beams in the ceiling were dyed red with oxen blood, though they are now blackened from soot. Going up the spiral staircase. The museum had a bunch of period toys, including a whole bunch of dolhouse rooms like this one.  Pretty cool. This is the traditional Swiss costume.  My friend Melinda wore this type of dress in a school play and she said it took so long to get on.  The black gloves and the black thing she’s wearing in her hair (which you can’t really see) are all part.      Then we went up into the turrets, from which there is a magnificent view over the whole surrounding district.  (I took that straight from the pamphlet.  :) )  Unfortunately, I either get the exposure right for seeing the town, or seeing the mountains, but not both.  Seen by the eye, it is much awesomer.

Here are Jethro, Hazel, Talmage and Daddy in the other turret.         

Can you see all the locks on this door?  People locked in were definitely locked in.  Hazel asked who besides Rapunzel were locked in up there.        This was part of a picture painted on the ceiling of a little gazebo. Kami, this picture is for you.  I promise if you come visit me, we will go to this store together.

 The end.

Day 2- Gurten and Bern

So on Saturday we hiked up the Gurten- a smallish mountain very close to our house.  We spied some small houses.       

When we got to the top there was a tower, and we climbed that too.

This is Bern. These are the Alps.  The tower had a nice view, though it was just a little overcast.

  At the top there is a restaurant and a big playground, a little track for some kiddie cars, and this ball ummm, thingee.  Talmage got a kick out of it.  The kids had a ton of fun and ran around while the parents sat and rested (after all, we had carried most of the kids up the mountain).  On the way home, Brett tried carrying Ethne in creative ways.Eventually she fell asleep like this.  It’s very funny because I have a picture of Jethro being asleep in this same position when he was the same age on a trail in Colorado.

We went home and had some Rösti and bratwursts.  Mmmmm.  Then we drove to the Old City in Bern, and walked around.  We saw these guys playing chess.

We climbed to the top of the Muenster (very good workout that day).  I like this picture –thanks Ben!     I think this picture is cool too – again from Ben.  (p.s. it was awesome to have another person with a camera so that I’m actually in some of the pictures!  THANKS!)  Then we continued walking through the city, finding cool things to take pictures of.  Here’s your virtual tour.    We went to the Barengraben and saw this cuddly guy and also the mama and her two cubs.

    The atomic clock.      We were there on the hour and saw this dude strike the bell. Then we went to the favorite fountain—the Kindlifresserbrunnen, or "Fountain of the Eater of Little Children."  So we put all the kids in front of him.  :)

  Check him out. Jethro’s cool with it.  Peace.

And that was that night.  I’ll sneak in the following day too.  Here we are watching conference. We went to one session at the stake center next to the temple.  I took this  picture for Ben and Allison.  Don’t they look so fantastic?  Smashing, I say.Ben loved our view.  What can I say?  It is great. And our little next-door farm.It was Allison’s birthday so we had some cake and we sang and she got to blow out a match.  (Remind me to buy candles before Brett’s birthday.  Actually, Brett won’t care.  Remind me to buy candles before Hazel’s birthday.)        The kiddos.  :)I must say that I wish we had had one more day.  There just wasn’t enough time!  Ben and Allison were the most perfect guests ever—they appreciated everything—even when we got home so late the first day that I just served leftovers of beans on bread instead of cooking anything.  What a great hostess—here’s your cheapo meal.  The kids got along great and I had such a wonderful time getting to know Ben and Allison.  Perhaps we’ll see them again before they cross the ocean!