Alice and Randy at the top of the Nufen pass in Switzerland

Heard of Steinbock (Alpine Ibex) near top of Nufen pass

Close up of these magnificent wild goats

Literally a tunnel through the mountain side - the Swiss roads are really good

Swan on nest along lakeside of Lake Brienz in Boenigen

Two types of Thomy mustard for my sausage - with horseradish (red) and yellow (blue)

Alice at Lake Brienz or Brienzersee in German

Historic home and cow in the Open Air Museum

Lazy pigs at the Open Air Museum

Detail of thatched roof at the Open Air Museum

Flower - maybe Alpine Lupine - can someone help me identify this one?

Vegetable soup cooked in a 16th century kitchen eaten by candle light (in the middle of the day) at the Open Air Museum

I don't know about Lager Hell but this local brewski was mighty tasty

1890's building at the Open Air Museum where we had lunch

Potter at the Open Air Museum - I bought two of his unique coffee mugs

The only church at the Open Air Museum - what a change from the cathedrals in Italy!

Walking through the woods at the Open Air Museum

Randy as Sherlock Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls (that is all water in the background)

No, this is not Turkey - it is Switzerland where we were held up by cows on Axalp

Alice at the Giessbach Falls

Raclette -- very tasty - the best food in Switzerland is cheese with chocolate a close second

Randy's cheese and mushroom fondue - a large serving for one

A brief few hours outside the heat and urban sprawl of Milan is the mountainous glory of Switzerland.  It is surprisingly quick to get into the mountains and literally an hour or less to the Swiss border.  We were stopped there and asked to pay 40 Francs to cover use of all toll roads for 2012.  Hmmm, not such a good deal since we are in the country for only three days but there was no option.

Randy tired of highway driving so we got off and went the back way through two passes, each of which was spectacular and the roads were very good.  On the first pass (the Nufen) we saw wildlife - marmots and a herd of Steinbock (Alpine Ibex, a kind of wild goat).  These latter were magnificent -see the photos.  The scenery en route was wonderful also over the Grimsel pass and we enjoyed the few hours it took to get to Boenigen , a suburb of Interlaken.

We were greeted by Sam, the Swiss husband of our American hostess, Cindy.  They live in a large, traditionally designed (but fairly new) Swiss house with lake (Lake Brienz) and mountain views.  Our room contains a good bed and a kitchenette with table and chairs, etc.  The bathroom is really comfortable with big shower (a treat after Italy).  Best of all is a terrace outside that is large and has great lake views.
We unloaded and walked along the lake to downtown Boenigen to get some Swiss Francs from the ATM and ate at the See (as in German for lake) Hotel.  The food was pretty good (locally made sausage and rosti potatoes for me and a chicken sandwich for Randy) and we had a 3/4 bottle of Swiss white wine (this is a size of bottle I had not seen in the U.S.).  The bill was high though (food and pretty much everything costs a lot here even by European standards).

After breakfast in our room (we had brought cereal, fruit, bread, etc. with us) we headed out along the northern shore of Lake Brienz.  We stopped at their local wild animal park in Brienz, the town at the eastern end of the lake.  There we saw the Steinbock close up along with other local wild animals.  Next was the Swiss Open Air Museum in Ballenberg.  This was an amazing place where over 150 historic Swiss homes and agricultural buildings from the different cantons and ranging from the 1500's to the 1900's had been gathered.  Inside they were furnished as they had been and employees were showing the native crafts and works along the way.  The museum makes chocolate, bread, cheese, lumber, etc.  It was a version of our own Williamsburg but on a larger scale.  The museum spans 50 acres.  We spent a happy four or so hours there walking through the "towns" and the woods and viewing the houses and the farm animals and learning about traditional historic life in Switzerland.  We got caught in a rain shower and had to wait it out in a 16th century barn that also housed donkeys.  We ate at one of the restaurants there and had a local beer (very good - see photo) and split their version of macaroni and cheese which had sausage and potatoes thrown in for good measure (why have only one starch when you can have two?).

After this we drove to Meiringen, the site of the Reichenbach Falls, where Sherlock Holmes was supposedly killed by Professor Moriarty in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story.  We took a short, near vertical railway (funicular) up to the falls which were so strong we could barely view them (very cold water spray was everywhere).  We next drove up a small mountain (Axalp) overlooking Lake Brienz where the upper reaches serve as ski resort in the winter and cow grazing land in the summer.  Next was the Giessbach Falls.  This time we could get close up to these very powerful falls.

After wine and cheese (the latter from the Open Air Museum) on our terrace and catching up on the internet, we drove to Interlaken for dinner at the Baren.  This was a traditional Swiss building where we had competent Swiss food - cheese fondue for Randy and raclette (potatoes and melted cheese) for Alice.  It was a bit cheaper than the first night but still costly.