Switzerland 2018: Day 11

Today was our less active, more touristy day.  We actually drove the rental car around to get to places instead of walking or taking public transit. 

We drove to Thun which is about 50 minutes away from where we are staying.  We checked out the castle and wandered through the old town a little bit.  We grabbed some lunch near the river at an Italian place.  It was nice patio dining although the sun was a little intense and our umbrella was not quite in the right spot so Jeff and I kept doing silly leans to try and keep from cooking in the sun.  Wren and Flynt got the good spots.

We did a little more wandering around Thun.  There is a covered bridge in the river that has some flood gates to regulate the flow of water.  They were originally built in 1724. They were partially open when we were there which created a wave in the water that some guys were surfing.  We had planned on doing more but with our late start and slow lunch, it was time to move on. 

We had a really quick stop at Schloss Oberhofen which is a beautiful castle right on lake Thun before heading to the St. Beatus Caves.  The cave that is open to visitors extends a full kilometer underground.  The cave follows the course of an underground river for about half of the walk and is still and quiet in other sections.  The underground water flow is not that strong but it has a splashing course and with the echo it was a little bit loud for Wren.  She has recently decided she only likes loud noises if she is making them.  The caves were well lit and quite pretty.  There were placards with information to read along the route and a museum at the end.  Wren had a pretty good grip on me and was actually moving rather quickly for her(I think she was a little scared) so I was unable to take any pictures inside the caves.  It was also pretty chilly in there. 

 We had hot cocoa at the café at the entrance.  We didn’t make it to the museum but we did play at the playground on our way out.  The play structure looked like a castle and the slide looked like a dragon.  The building outside of the caves is really lovely and it looks over lake Thun.  The caves get their name from a monk that supposedly slayed the dragon who lived in those caves a long time ago (the time frame seems to vary based on the reference point and since I didn’t go to the museum…).

We ended the day with more pumpkin soup.  This time Wren had a bowl too.  Poor Flynt had nap timing issues today.  He kept falling asleep right before we needed to move him in or out of the car so by dinner he was a cranky boy.  We all just ate soup (even Wren, she asked for it and really liked it) and shared some french-fries (also Wren’s request) and got out of there before Flynt got any louder. 

Time to enjoy a little quiet before tomorrow!