Sleeping in Straw

The next morning we left Rob Larkin and Nick Vu at the bus station and headed up the valley further into Gimmelwald. We had to take a bus to Schelteberg or something like that and then a cable car up over the trees to Gimmelwald. I'm going to go ahead and make a conservative estimate here, and say the population of Gimmelwald is 50 people, 14 cows, 30 chicken, and a black cat.

The cable car - mountain transport

Our first stop was Esther's Guest House. Casey had contacted Esther about staying there based on the recommendation of her friend, Michelle. Esther didn't have any room in the inn, but said there was room in the straw. Sound familiar? When we got to reception, she took our 24 francs each and said, "The barn is 80 meters that way on the right." "Internet around here?" "No. Murren." There was nothing else.

Home Sweet Hay

Our first real welcome was the smell as we approached the barn. It was basically terrible. There was a chicken coop at the edge of the yard; within it the Schlaf im Stroh! sign that let us know we were home. As we got closer the smell got worse, till we were running for dear life to get into the stinky barn. Later we determined the cause: a grate in the sidewalk revealed a sludge pit of cow poo. Apparently it washes into this pit from within the barn, and then wafts up like a welcome mat. I saw a sign in the kitchen this morning when I washed the dishes that said to conserve water because the excess runs off into the pit, causing it to rise. Oh boy.

The barn was thankfully sans cows, which had just been taken out four weeks prior. We looked around, saw piles of blankets, and found our stall. We knew it was ours because they had taken the time to pin a thin piece of paper with "Casey Hammond, 4 persons" pinned on it. We took some time to shake out some blankets and make our bed. There was no heat, so we piled on lots of thick blankets and determined we would cuddle. The only light switch was outside the barn, so whoever came in last would have to make a blind run for their section of straw.

You can't see the big sign that says, "Please shake out and fold the blankets before you leave."

Our little stall

We also noticed a couple of signs that informed us that straw sleepers were NOT to use the facilities of Esther's guest house. We kept making jokes about going up there after rolling in the straw and trying to blend in. Would they recognize us as Straw People?

Just an example

Did I mention there was nothing really to do in the barn? And since it smelled, we carefully tucked away our clothes to prevent them smelling, and headed out for a walk. We quickly made it to the end of town. At this point that should probably not shock you. We bought a ticket on the next cable car upward to Murren, where we heard we could find internet.

Sweet Murren

We walked the town, which was bigger and a little prettier than Gimmelwald, I thought, but busier. We found lunch on a terrace and had some of the best food in Switzerland yet. I had a huge, fantastic club sandwich and Adam and Casey tried these hash brown things. We got sunburned: I have raccoon eyes and a Rudolph nose. Boo.

We walked back down to Gimmelwald and promptly realized we didn't have much to do. So we stopped in at Mountain Hostel, which we'd not heard great things about, just to see what it was like. It was awesome, warm, with a nice deck and the smell of awesome pizza floating from inside. It was almost painful to realize we were paying more per person to sleep in a barn. We stayed for awhile, then went to change as it was getting colder. We tried to make our barn stop as short as possible and then went back to the hostel. We ordered pizza and played a game of hearts with a guy we met, John. He told us he was quite the hearts shark. I beat him resoundingly.

Casey, the Shark. Actually, she often accidently shows us her hand. Every time we play cards one of us starts humming Kenny Rogers: "You've got to know when to hold 'em..."

We stayed at Mountain Hostel till about as late as we could, and even used their free internet. Remember the lady at our hostel saying no internet in town? Riiiight. Or across the street at the hospitable warm place for free. When we finally got back to the straw we realized we had a lot more neighbors. Someone had left their laundry out to dry right near the poop grate, which I thought was just a terrible idea. We made our way to our stall and then to the bathroom using Adam's head lamp. When we got back to snuggle in Casey got a fit of the giggles. The dad in the stall next to us stopped snoring long enough to shush her. I think I am destined to sleep with a snorer till I get to London.

The sleep was surprisingly sweet in the straw. I was cozy, warm, and comfortable. The 7:30 wakeup with breakfast's arrival wasn't the best. But the breakfast they provided was sufficient and fresh. We took the cable car back down to the valley (a stomach-dropping experience) and finally found beds at a hostel called Funny Farm. We're not that excited about it, once again feeling a bit ripped off, but it's just one night. We made it over to the Nissan Outdoor Games in time to catch a lot of the Bouldering competition, including watching Nick Vu. He was the only American in the competition. Go USA! He did well. The walls were ridiculously difficult. Casey had joked about joining the women's competition, but was glad she didn't when she saw all the jacked girls.

Nick at his peak

Posing with our friend, the international athlete

Later, at the finals. This is a start for the Finnish guy who won.

Tomorrow we head to Munich. Pray that we find housing. How different from traveling with Mom and Dad! We're having a blast, though. I'll be sad when they have to leave. The Swiss have three official languages, and I'm not sure how to say Bye in any of them. Till next time...