Leaving Switzerland...Arriving in Spain

February 21st--

Our travel day started early with a bus ride into Lauterbrunnen at 8:15 a.m. We had a funny story from last night in preparing for the bus ride. We have had a bus pass for the last 2 weeks that expired on the 19th. So we needed money to ride the bus into Lauterbrunnen. However, we have been trying to leave with no Swiss Francs so as not to loose money in a second currency exchange. We cut it a little close. Last night we spent about 20 minutes going through the apartment trying to find enough loose change to pay for the bus ride. I finally found some money in my ski jacket that put us over the top. Whew! After the bus ride into Lauterbrunnen, we caught a 30 minute train ride into Interlaken where we switched trains for Bern. It was about a 50 minute ride to Bern where we switched trains for Geneva. About 2 hours later, we arrived at Geneva Airport. The switching of trains was easy in comparison to arriving in Switzerland. We think we might be pros now. It helped that the kids hoped on our 2 rolling duffel bags. It was the funniest thing...they would grasp hold and ride on them as we pulled them along. It is a great way of keeping up with them and our luggage at the same time. Who needs strollers? Anyway, we arrived at the airport with plenty of time before our flight left so we checked in and grabbed some lunch. I tried a Rivella which is a Swiss made carbonated drink. I'm not even sure how to describe it because it's nothing like anything I've ever had. Mike tried it and said it tasted like Jagermeister. I can neither confirm nor deny that since I've never tasted Jagermeister. Anyway, after lunch, we headed through security and to our gate. We had no problems with any of the airport process including boarding the plane. It was all fairly simple. The airline we flew was easyJet...very comparable to Southwest Airlines. Our plane left on time about 14:45, and we landed in Madrid a little after 16:00. It was about a 1 1/2 hour flight. The interesting thing about the flight was drinks weren't included. Abby and Austin have already gotten accustomed to getting a drink on planes. Austin definitely didn't understand the concept that they cost and we hadn't exchanged our Swiss Francs for Euros yet, but luckily the airlines accepted credit cards. Whew...Crisis adverted! After getting our bags at the Madrid airport, we took a taxi to our "home away from home" apartment for the next 2 weeks. When we arrived, the owner's nephew was here to greet us. He spoke excellent English and was so helpful about the apartment. This apartment is awesome! It sits up on the 2nd floor of a complex, has Internet, Internet TV (many Disney channels that can be converted to English) and a washing machine. It'll be nice to not have to wash by hand for the next 2 weeks. After we got a little settled in, it was already 18:00 and we had no food. So, we took off walking and found a grocery store (Simply Market). We picked up a couple of essentials and some food for dinner. We are looking forward to our time in Madrid, but have quickly realized that it is going to be very different from Switzerland. Our last 2 weeks have been spent in a rural location with lots of "vacation" activities (skiing, sledging, ice skating, etc.). We are now downtown in a large city with endless "conveniences" (such as grocery stores, restaurants, etc.) within walking distance. However, outdoor activities will be a little harder to come by. We will be looking for parks, zoos, museums, etc.