Happy birthday Val

Lots of cards for the birthday girl.

And flowers.

We’re off round to Jane’s for a barbecue.

The hens love a barbecue. They’ll eat anything, including chicken and egg.

Tess the cat is not going to be left out.

Richard has bought himself a grand piano. It’s too big for the house so it lives in one of the garages.

It’s really loud, people all over town must be able to hear it.

Valley walk

At last the rain has left us. It’s cool in the village, so we go down to the valley for our walk. Lauterbrunnen looking good.

After all that rain the waterfalls are in spate.

Goats enjoying the sunshine.

We pause at a bench and have lunch. Every couple of minutes a BASE jumper leaps from the cliffs above us. They land in the farmers’ fields on the valley floor, but nobody seems to mind.

After our walk we catch the train back up to Wengen and begin to pack our bags, as we’re going back to the UK for a few weeks tomorrow. Tune in next month for news from Greece.

Happy birthday Beves

It’s Beves’ birthday today, so last night we popped down to the flat she shares with Ibe in Matten. Frantic activity in the kitchen when we arrived. Fortunately Flavio works as a chef, so despite appearances everything was under control.

It’s a tapas party. Everything was delicious.

On the left is Debbie who works in a hotel in Interlaken.

We ate until we could eat no more, and set off for drinks at the Barracuda bar around the corner.

Great night out.

Today was predominantly wet, although I did get out for a run just before lunch.

Rain

Nice evening out at the Sunstar yesterday. Beves and Ibe got a really good party going. Val and Sylvia joined the dancing.

It was pouring with rain when we woke up this morning, and it looks like it’ll continue for most of the day. Not to worry, we can sort out our summer clothes and decide what’s staying here, returning to the UK, or going to the charity shop.

Village walk

It’s a nice morning, but the forecast is for rain later so we’d better get out for some exercise. We get the train up to Allmend and walk back towards the forest beneath Männlichen. It’s steep at the beginning.

Lovely views to the mountains.

Glimpses of the village. We’re never far away, and we can hear the band playing in the marquee.

Butterflies everywhere.

Lots of water comes down from Männlichen.

A good walk, and we were lucky with the weather.

Emily came round and we popped in to see the band. They are absolutely brilliant. We had Abba, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Ghostbusters, Frank Sinatra and all sorts of other popular stuff.

Uptown Lights at the Sunstar later.

Beer and bands

Last night the Caprice held a beer tasting event which sounded too good to miss. Beves’ sister Sylvia is visiting.

Lots of beer, supplied by the Old School brewery down in Faulensee.

Pizzas to sustain us.

It was pouring with rain when we got up this morning, but fortunately it dried up at lunchtime. Once a year the marching bands from the local villages have a big get-together, and this year Wengen are the hosts.

Here’s the Lauterbrunnen band in green.

Mürren in blue.

Grindelwald.

And Wengen. This stuff is incredibly popular hereabouts.

There’ll be a concert and a big party in the marquee later.

Abendlauf (2)

It was a beautiful evening last night. Perfect for a barbecue.

Good food and good company.

It was scorchingly hot today, and we didn’t do much apart from a few chores. Tonight however, we have the second Abendlauf of the summer. Off go the kids.

And here’s Aliena heading for the finishing line in her tutu.

Grown-ups go last. Here’s Jana, still smiling.

And Beanie.