It was Interlaken day, which meant natural splendor, friendships, and all the Handgemacht Schweizer Schokolade we could eat. We took the Guild to Schuh Chocolatier immediately. While the first half went in with Finn and Brazil, the other half treated SAussie, Canuk, and me to coffee & tea for being patient. We admired the fancy marble WC and drooled in the shop while we waited. They have truffles with cream, nougat, cherry, pistachio, vanilla, chocolate mousse, lime-orange, caramel, mocha, marzipan, almond, hazelnut, and pineapple crème, as well as whole almonds, hazelnuts, chocolate nibs, and walnuts, plus those with Baileys, vodka, kirsch liquor, grappa, champagne, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, and latte macchiato inside. These mostly came in Dunkel and Milch, but there were a few Weiss chocolates. 
My favorite through the glass was the Swiss Töpfli, which contained praline chocolate and waffle in traditional Swiss fashion, and had edelweiss and Swiss flags patterned on top. The official Schuh truffle was 70% Granadan cacao solids. They also had pavé, which were cubes covered in cacao powder and looked to be the melt-in-your-mouth sort. These truffles all looked extremely fancy, but they were priced beyond my range, even for chocolate. Besides, our chocolate show was coming right up....We got a video narration by one of the chocolatiers, in addition to the explanation on the film itself.
She went through the chocolate-making process and showed us the secret of how the Swiss get their chocolate so smooth. The chocolatier then made four truffles in front of us, as well as a bunch of pavé. She finished up by molding a tri-colored chocolate cow, showing us how to paint the mold and how to get the walls and base the proper thickness. 
Finally, she turned us loose to look at the giant chocolate sculptures in the showroom, ask questions, and eat all the chocolate discs we could from three-tiered displays. They had the truffles she made available for snacking, but I let the Guilders try those and filled up on dark, milk, and white discs, plus the trays of pavé and a few nibs. 
The milk chocolate was a bit sweet for me, so I mostly ate the dark bits. SAussie said Canuk and I were banned from the chocolate shop during the next trip for eating so much, but I think she’ll relent.Our next stop was Lauterbrunnen Valley.
Inside one of the cliff faces is Trümmelbach falls, the sole escape for the melting snow from the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. The twelve or so falls run through caves in the Cliffside outside Lauterbrunnen, which is a small town deep in a sheer valley. The ride through the valley let us see the layers of rock in the cliffs—they were shockingly straight lines, then suddenly pitched and whorled over themselves. 
Many smaller waterfalls came down the cliffs all along the valley, setting us up for Trümmelbachfalle. We got a lift up a steep funicular inside the cliff, then climbed up through a series of caves. There’s a bit of light coming through the top of the caves, but they’ve lit up some of the falls as well. I wish I could post a video of all of them, top to bottom, but the separate pieces will have to do. It was incredible. These falls drain about 20,000 liters per second through the cliff, and the falls are all thin and swift.We spent the afternoon strolling through Interlaken. The town itself isn’t very exciting, apart from the chocolatier, but the walk along the Aare river was pleasant and we could watch the paragliders landing in Höhematte (the high meadow).
This park used to be the monastery farmland, but now it’s a calm public space. They’re starting to set up for the Euro Cup soccer tournament that will consume Switzerland and Austria for May and June, but that won’t pick up for a while, apart from the fussball merchandise in all the shops. 
I wanted to swing through Unterseen, the old town, but the others wanted ice creams instead. I’ll be back in Interlaken in May, so I can explore more and go on a hike at that point. There are also a few castles on Lakes Thun and Brienz that I’d like to visit.We just got back from a closing night campfire with all staff and all the Guilders. They sang while we sipped hot cider and whispered. Our cooks leave us the day after tomorrow, to be replaced by a temporary fellow from London, so we gave them their presents during the campfire. The Guilders handed us a little packet as a reward for taking such good care of them. Word is it’s quite a bit of money, enough for us all to go out together.
Finn, Dutch, Canuk, and I stayed on a bit, circling around the embers. Canuk and I sang each other’s national anthems for the curious Europeans, and they sang us theirs. The Dutch one’s hilarious. It was written as a joke by the Spanish, or something like that, and they just kept it as an anthem, all nineteen verses. We compared songs, but the only ones we really had in common were various versions of Frère Jacques and the Do Re Mi song from the Sound of Music. They’ve both been translated into all sorts of languages. We all knew a fair number of English songs, too, but we gave up after a bit and headed for the kitchen. Leftover fondue, you know.
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