Hello everyone - Maggie reporting in again on a somewhat mixed middle bit of our stay here.
We have made a few excursions which I will describe later but after our busy first week this middle part of our stay has been different. The weather changed somewhat and some of our plans were therefore unrealistic but the main problem was with my health. I had put my breathlessness in the first week down to the heat but things got worse - lack of energy, lack of appetite, cough, and difficulty with breathing made us decide to seek medical advice so we went to the emergency department of the hospital here in Thun. I was very impressed with the kindness and thoroughness of the treatment I received there. We communicated in a mixture of German and English which worked well. They gave me oxygen to relieve the immediate distress, then an ECG, numerous bloodtests, chest x-rays, an inhalation to open up the bronchii. They diagnosed bronchitis, gave me some medication for the infection and a prescription for a Ventolin inhaler to use when necessary and advised rest. So I have been relaxing on our apartment's balcony, looking at the mountains, doing lots of reading (I don't often have time to do much at home!) and not feeling too sorry for myself while I get some strength back!
However we have made some excursions since I last reported in, so here they are.
We made the planned trip to Glasi Hergiswil on Lake Lucerne - quite easy to reach from Thun - and really enjoyed the experience - the Museum and workshop were particularly interesting though I was less impressed with the labyrinth. There were lots of things to interest children too, experiments they could do and also a playground just beside the complex. We succumbed to temptation and bought a few small souvenirs from the shop. (Our pass covered entrance to Museum but not Labyrinth) We decided to take slower route back by taking boat back to Lucerne then Brunig pass train route.
The following day I was tired so Mike went to Lenk again to try to find more Houses on the trail but they were very spread out and some appeared to have been renovated and lost their unique style so a less than successful day for him.
On the 26th July we went to Maennlichen to the Trachtenfest - a lovely experience - yodellers, dancers, alphorns, flag swingers, accordions, a whip-cracker, cow-bell swingers - non-stop entertainment for hours! We went up by gondola from Wengen and returned by cable car to Grindelwald where we found a café for a sweet treat (apple fritters with custard and fresh fruit - gorgeous!) before returning to Thun.
The next day Mike explored a few local bus trips just to see what was there!
After a couple of quiet days we embarked on yet another boat trip! This time we took trains to Neuchatel then a boat trip down the lake to Yverdons-les-Bains - we hadn't done this trip before so it was good to add another new experience.
It was the following day I went to the hospital so Have been resting since then but have managed to persuade my husband to go out without me a few times!
On August 1st he went with our host to Oberhofen to a party - lots of food and drink and lively conversation in a great mixture of languages - the weather threatened to spoil things for the local celebrations but they watched the Flottenparade and fireworks from the balcony of the host's house.
Yesterday He went to Ballenberg (on a mission to buy me some chocolate!) and today I have sent him off to Windisch (near Brugg) to see Roman stuff - we were both teachers of Classics!
Hopefully will be feeling sufficiently recovered to go out with him tomorrow!
Will send final report when we get back to UK.
Maggie
