Wednesday, May 18 - to France and back

Wedneday, May 18, 2011
Well here we are at Kandersteg International Scout Centre in Kandersteg, Switzerland. More on that later.
We started our day off with rolls and juice that we’d bought at the store, since breakfast wasn’t included in our hotel rate. Cleaned up, packed up, checked out. I conducted the check out completely in my limited French – c’est bon! Then a quick trip to the souvenir store across the street so Steve could buy a shotglass. Saw lots and lots of stuffed St. Bernard dogs – was tempting but we knew we didn’t have room. Sorry, Max, we didn’t buy you a new girlfriend!
We made the tough call to not go ahead into Italy. I should say Steve made the call, I was ok either way even though the car rental agreement said we couldn’t go. The overland pass was still closed for winter, and the tunnel would have brought us out in Italy. Five miles away and a no go. Oh well. We backtracked up the same road we’d come down on and, once back in Martigny, headed west for the Col de Forclaz and France. Ultimate goal Chamonix. More beautiful scenery – breathtaking to see God’s creation here. Stopped several times for scenic views and picture ops – and I could tell my mind was NOT on caching as I’d forget to check if there was a cache at each stop until it was time to move on.
We stopped at the French border and were waved through once more, just like at the Swiss border yesterday. Continued on, the road was noticeably rougher but still fine. Stopped for a view and discovered a nature center there. Saw lots of some kind of mountain goat or bighorn sheep, many of them were eating something (lichen?)off the side of the building. Found the toilettes while we were there – and our first encounter with the dreaded hole in the floor with two foot pads. Had heard about these two years ago but never came across one. Surprise! Steve couldn’t get over how different they were. Of course, he’s having lots of trouble with ANYTHING that is different so it is what it is. He is feeling a bit better but still not adjusting well to European ways and prices. He kvetches about the price of food, then complains that we’ve just been eating sandwiches and cheese and stuff like that. Hmmm, can’t have it both ways now, can we?
Back to our day. We arrived in the Chamonix area, drove around a bit, then parked and did a little souvenir shopping. We checked out the train that would go up to a nearby glacier but Steve decided that 25 Euros apiece was too much so we just walked around a bit more. Did have some terrific views of Mont Blanc. Then headed back toward Switzerland – but not before I did collect on my country promise and found one cache in France. Ok, so I found some on my last trip so it wasn’t a new country. But I’ll take whatever opportunity I can get.
Returned to Martigny where we decided to stop for some groceries and gas before proceeding on. Had trouble finding parking, but finally figured out the underground parking for both stores we stopped at. The second store only gave you a half hour free (so we figured out later) so we tried to get out and couldn’t. Returned to the store and not knowing the language well did help as they just (I think) felt sorry for the dumb foreigner and gave me a “get out of the parking free” card.
Then headed toward Thun, going north. Again, the nuvi didn’t want to route us on the autobahn. Thanks to my Aunt Martha’s email that I read earlier tonight, I figured out why. On an trip last month, we wanted to avoid tolls so enabled that. Well, the Swiss autobahn is a toll road, so the nuvi didn’t want us on it thanks to what WE had told it!
Decided to check out Kandersteg International Scout Centre to see if they had any space available for one night. We were fortunate that they did – and are spending the night in the Africa Room in the main chalet. Thought Steve was going to get upset when he saw where we were headed – he is not a fan of Africa and Africans as anyone who knows him realizes. It’s full of all kinds of interesting African items, including a kudu horn (significant in Wood Badge courses.) I took the time to walk around the grounds after we settled in, took some pictures, and can’t wait for the morning when we can visit the store and get a scouting souvenir of this wonderful place. There are scouters here from all over the world. Would have loved to go downstairs and hang out with some of them but Steve was just too tired to do anything so opted not to. I do have some council patches that I could trade with others if I have the opportunity.
Tomorrow we head for Stechelberg, in the Lauterbrunnen valley. We will probably be there early, as it’s about a two hour max trip from where we are. We will be staying there two nights, leaving Saturday. This is our trip to the Schilthorn, where we will see the Alps close up. There are other neat things to see in the area, like a waterfall inside a mountain. Hoping the weather cooperates – we did have some off and on sprinkles this afternoon. The best thing will be less driving, more looking – and staying in one place more than a night. Know it was probably not the best idea but we had to make the most of our time so we could spend time with Scott, too.