Entry # 17, Europe Journal

11:48 AM The Bus, Interlaken 28 July 2011
We just got back on the bus on our first town day. We went to this chocolatier in Interlaken, and he showed us yow they make hollow chocolate cows and how the chocolate goes from the pod/ bean/ plant to the chocolate place:

1. grown
2. pods = harvested
3. pods split open
4. beans harvested
5. put under banana leaves for fermentation - 7-10 days
6. 7-10 days = drying
7. shipped/ sold
8. ground
9. fat from bean = removed
10. all = melted
11. mixed so it's smooth
12. sugar/ milk/ vanilla/ necessaries added
13. mixed
14. heated
15. coolness
16. stuff is done
17. eaten

yeah, that's basically it.
I think.
Anyway, the chocolate was DELICIOUS.
And white chocolate isn't actually chocolate because the cocoa powder isn't used.
No we're on the bus to go to a waterfall thing.
I still wish we were going to do the white water rafting thing.  I'm sure the waterfalls are super awesome and all, and we can always go class-four rafting in West Virginia, but I was just looking out the window ad part of the river, and there is NOTHING like that in West Virginia.

Swiss Facts (written on bus; part of Europe Journal)

So these notes are what I took on the bus on the way to Interlaken. They're actually sort of interesting (I think, at least), and they're in the notebook, so why not put them in?

FACTS (7/27/11)
- Adelboden is in a valley with a river that gives its name to the valley
- I can't spell it (river/ valley); I probably can't pronounce it, either.
- *now I don't remember it*
- Adelboden = 1356 meters above sea level, same height as Chalet, just on the other side of the valley
- woodcarver visits since 1945 (Chalet opened 1932)
- suspension bridge over a river = 180 meters high, 30 meters long, largest (one of) suspension bridge in Europe
- Elsegen hike *one of the peaks* = at peak = Edelweiss = Swiss national flower; endangered species *who knew flowers could be endangered*
- Frutegen *town* = 800 meters *above sea level? not sure - I just put the measurement*, more bricks b/c of a fire in 1724, had to rebuild
- Kandersteg (spelling?) valley *Kandersteg = another peak* - Boy Scout World Center? World center of something with huge chalet (WAGGGS chalet = 12 summer volunteers; theirs: 70)
- Neissan Mt - 2400? meters - longest staircase (11,632 steps) record climbing - 55 minutes 50 seconds
- Aeshi *not sure where this is* = Helen Storrow's Ideal Location for Chalet (Falk talked her down for more adventure and it got moved to Adelboden)
*Helen Storrow = founder of Our Chalet; Falk = her friend who helped in Location Scouting*
- Lake Thun (pronounced Tune) = huge = 500 meters?
- Interlaken - one of best-known adventure sites