Several months ago I read an article about Swiss Passes in the travel section of the Sunday paper. The pass covers buses, trains and boats as well as free admission to 450 museums all over Switzerland. Additionally, with the free family pass, kids under 16 travel for free with an adult. We activated our 8 day Swiss Pass and took the train to the town of Thun, Switzerland, in the foothills of the Bern Oberlande aka the alps.
From the train station we took the bus up to our mountain cabin. The bus dropped us off near the cabin and we walked along the road (no shoulders!) to the long and steep driveway down to the cabin. Cows with cowbells greeted us and chickens (not wearing cowbells) came to the door and looked in on us. We were up in the steep hills with a spectacular view of snow-covered mountains, Lake Thun, and at night the twinkling lights of the town of Thun.
The cabin is actually the lower part of one of those quintessential dark wooden Swiss houses. The family used to live there but now lives in Zurich and rents out the bottom level. Outside is a porch, outhouse and woodpile. Inside is a kitchen with wood stove, sink, stove and table. To the right is a living room with a large bed and through another door is a bedroom with 2 sets of bunk beds, a twin bed, a table and chairs and a wood stove. Walk through another door and there is a room with a twin bed, a tiny shower and a sink. Through the back door is a sort of enclosed back porch with an outhouse toilet (complete with cobwebs, 3 large spiders and some flies) and stairs up to the rest of the house. The cabin is surrounded by a little farm, hence the cows.
The ceilings were low and the house smelled of wood smoke. Rustic and quirky describes it well. It was also kind of dark and could have used a good deep cleaning. The kids were not thrilled with the bathroom & shower situation and 2 of the 3 declared they were not going to shower and would avoid going to the bathroom if they could help it. They were also unhappy that they would not have internet for a week. I cleared out the cobwebs and the spiders from the indoor outhouse toilet but alas could do nothing about the pit toilet smell. (A can of air freshener bought later in the week helped a bit). Enmgamer decided she wasn’t changing clothes until we left so slept in her clothes and wore the same outfit the whole time we were there.
During the first night I went out and looked at the stars. Amazing. I didn’t stay out long as the dew was seeping through my socks but thought I’d go out again the next night and see if the kids wanted to join me. Unfortunately it was cloudy each night after that but I did get to see the stars again the last night we were there. The first morning I awoke to the sound of cow bells. They sound kind of like wind chimes. It took me a minute to figure out what they were and where I was.
From the train station we took the bus up to our mountain cabin. The bus dropped us off near the cabin and we walked along the road (no shoulders!) to the long and steep driveway down to the cabin. Cows with cowbells greeted us and chickens (not wearing cowbells) came to the door and looked in on us. We were up in the steep hills with a spectacular view of snow-covered mountains, Lake Thun, and at night the twinkling lights of the town of Thun.
The cabin is actually the lower part of one of those quintessential dark wooden Swiss houses. The family used to live there but now lives in Zurich and rents out the bottom level. Outside is a porch, outhouse and woodpile. Inside is a kitchen with wood stove, sink, stove and table. To the right is a living room with a large bed and through another door is a bedroom with 2 sets of bunk beds, a twin bed, a table and chairs and a wood stove. Walk through another door and there is a room with a twin bed, a tiny shower and a sink. Through the back door is a sort of enclosed back porch with an outhouse toilet (complete with cobwebs, 3 large spiders and some flies) and stairs up to the rest of the house. The cabin is surrounded by a little farm, hence the cows.
The ceilings were low and the house smelled of wood smoke. Rustic and quirky describes it well. It was also kind of dark and could have used a good deep cleaning. The kids were not thrilled with the bathroom & shower situation and 2 of the 3 declared they were not going to shower and would avoid going to the bathroom if they could help it. They were also unhappy that they would not have internet for a week. I cleared out the cobwebs and the spiders from the indoor outhouse toilet but alas could do nothing about the pit toilet smell. (A can of air freshener bought later in the week helped a bit). Enmgamer decided she wasn’t changing clothes until we left so slept in her clothes and wore the same outfit the whole time we were there.
During the first night I went out and looked at the stars. Amazing. I didn’t stay out long as the dew was seeping through my socks but thought I’d go out again the next night and see if the kids wanted to join me. Unfortunately it was cloudy each night after that but I did get to see the stars again the last night we were there. The first morning I awoke to the sound of cow bells. They sound kind of like wind chimes. It took me a minute to figure out what they were and where I was.
During the week we used the Swiss Passes to take trains, buses and cable cars to visit Thun Castle (free with pass), an indoor pool in a nearby town, a fantastic open air living history museum the kids dubbed “Old World Swissconsin”( after a much smaller open air museum in Wisconsin. Free entry with the Swiss pass), multiple trips back and forth between the cabin and Thun and a spectacular trip up to 9000+ ft above sea level Schlithorn Alp (cable car to peak was free for the kids and ½ price for me with the Swiss Pass).
The Swiss make travel super efficient and easy. The trains are integrated with the bus schedule. All I had to do was stop in the train station, tell the person where I wanted to go and approximately when I wanted to leave and they would print out a schedule for me with the times, train/ bus numbers, platform numbers and departure and arrival times. The buses are right outside the train stations and would drop us off right in front of where we wanted to go.
The Swiss make travel super efficient and easy. The trains are integrated with the bus schedule. All I had to do was stop in the train station, tell the person where I wanted to go and approximately when I wanted to leave and they would print out a schedule for me with the times, train/ bus numbers, platform numbers and departure and arrival times. The buses are right outside the train stations and would drop us off right in front of where we wanted to go.