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It’s another nice day, which is good as Val is off to see her surgeon in Bern again. The celebrated physicist Albert Einstein worked in Bern for a while – he was an assistant at the Swiss patent office. Although he was German by birth, Einstein became a Swiss citizen early in his life, and despite subsequently being granted a U.S. passport, he retained his Swiss nationality until his death in 1955.

The Swiss love to maximise a celebrity connection with the country (Sherlock Holmes and the town of Meiringen is perhaps the best example of this), so Bern is home to no less than 4 benches, where you can sit with Einstein’s likeness. Bern isn’t a very big city, so Val managed to visit them all before it was time for her appointment.

Einstein, by all accounts, was a bit of a lad. He only married twice, but had a string of high profile assignations with prominent women of the time, including an alleged Russian spy. Maybe that’s why the Swiss are so keen on him – it certainly makes more interesting reading than the General Theory of Relativity.

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It’s difficult to overstate the significance of last night’s final evening at the Alpine (formally Sunstar) Hotel. For twenty years, the bar has hosted us through good times and (rarely) bad. This weekend the hotel embarks on a major renovation which will see the bar’s removal. Here are a few photos from many years gone by, featuring some of the people with whom it’s been our privilege to share a space at the bar. Of course in the years since then, there have been many more.

That’s my mum with Val in the picture above, enjoying a cocktail 12 years ago.

So here is the very last photo at the Sunstar bar, of the two of us last night.

We all loved that bar. Here’s hoping the replacement, if there is to be one, will provide us with many more years of enjoyment.

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It’s a beautiful day, and this afternoon we had a wander around the village. The good people of Wengen are out in their gardens, kids are having fun in the playground. It doesn’t feel like winter at all, and yet there are still 5 weeks to go until the end of the ski season.

Val has finished my birthday present. She has cross stitched a Formula One car for me. I love it!

Colin is playing at the Alpine Hotel tonight.

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Mike and Mary-Anne run a charity called Raising Aspirations Through Sport (R.A.T.S.). The aim of this is to take youngsters from backgrounds where skiing would not normally be an option, and turn them into qualified ski instructors. They stay in Wengen all winter and undergo intensive training, before taking their exams. Needless to say, all this is expensive, so Mike and Mary-Anne have organised a fundraising event. Colin and Steve provided the music, and we started with an auction. Del, our auctioneer, was great entertainment.

I ‘won’ a drinks voucher.

The students are known as Rats. Here’s Roxy, last year’s Rat. She’s been working for ski school all this season, living the dream thanks to RATS.

Rocks was absolutely packed. We also had a quiz, and a raffle, and I’m sure a lot of money was raised. If you’d like to know more about RATS, you can visit the website here.

After all that excitement, we had a quiet day today, with a nice walk by the lake in the afternoon sunshine. It’s hard to believe that we walked all the way round Lake Brienz last summer.

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The Alpine hotel is closing for a big refurbishment next weekend, so last night it was Beves and Ibe’s last concert of the season. It’s Ibe’s birthday this week, so naturally we sang.

Today has been a deluge of rain, and we managed to scoot up to Rocks for a special event during a pause. Pictures from this evening to follow tomorrow.

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The spring-like weather continues, and we’re off down to the valley for some exercise. Ali has a day off work, so she joined us.

The little self-service kiosk outside the farm has been decorated for Easter. They also have a new product – goat’s milk soap! In a sign of the times, a credit card machine has replaced the honesty box.

High above Lauterbrunnen, the Ibex is enjoying the sun and the lush grass in the meadow.

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Val was off to Bern to see her surgeon today. Getting there early means she had time for a wander around. Bern is a lovely city.

I stayed in Wengen, and worked my way through my list of fairly dull jobs. I did manage to squeeze in a coffee at the Crystal bar this morning, and I got a nice snap of the crocuses at the bottom of the garden steps.

The bedraggled tree in the background loses a branch every time we have a storm. It keeps the farmer well supplied with firewood, but I fear it’s not long for this world.