Ruth’s Diary

Meiringen to Interlaken. This was a beautiful ride – only about 20 miles. I, as usual, was the first one up. In fact, I woke Dot up & got her up at 5:30 a.m. thinking it was 6:30 A.M. We had a grand breakfast to start the day – oatmeal porridge, bread, orange marmalade, & cocoa. We then packed bikes, polished them, fixed tires & started out. It was only about 10 miles along the river past the Brienz see to Brienz, a wood carving center. We stopped here for about an hour & shopped around. I bot cards, stamps, & some hand embroidered things for Phyllis Mae. We then came on to Interlaken along Thane See. It was breathtaking, with the mountains, waterfalls, the lake, the Swiss Chalets & then our first glimpse of the Jungfrau – as the Am. fellow just said – “it defies description”. As it was about noon – four of us went scouting for lunch – we had ham sandwiches, plums, apples, & peaches & lemonade. I relaxed for awhile after lunch – then went down to do the chores of Interlaken – Prices were high so I confined my purchases to cards. This is Florence’s birthday & Lincoln’s was yesterday so we celebrated both together. We had the grandest birthday dinner – mashed potatoes, hamburg, fried onions, & canned beans – then to top it off the most delicious chocolate birthday cake. After supper – writing. It was rather difficult trying to write as a group of French Swiss were playing a very hilarious game & then gave out forfeits.