Interlaken, Switzerland

      Bret and I planned an overnight trip while Renee was here.  At first we were just going to do a day trip and go to the temple in Bern but it was closed so we decided to stay overnight in Interlaken instead (thanks Jen for telling me about Interlaken). Before we checked into our hotel we went and made some chocolate bars. I knew that going to this chocolate place was a touristy thing to do but it was really touristy. Everything in the window was english and everyone in the little class spoke english. Most of us were from the states. We still had a lot of fun though and came out with some delicious chocolate! We learned about cocoa beans and the difference in dark chocolate and milk chocolate. We tried chocolates that had different percents of cocoa. If there is more than 50% cocoa in it, it is considered dark chocolate. One that we tried was 100% cocoa...it was really bitter.  I had to spit it out but Bret ate it fine. The lady that taught it was funny and so nice. We also learned about tempering the chocolate. You heat the chocolate up and then stir it to get it to cool down to a certain temperature then heat it up again, then let it cool again some. Then it is ready to be put into a mold. Tempering it is what makes the chocolate stay shiny and not get the powder lighter color on the chocolate after it is cool and hardened. Bret made 3 dark chocolate bars and I made 3 milk chocolate ones. I think the kids would love doing something like that but it was a little pricey. 

      The hotel we stayed at was a really cool old building. However Bret and I felt like it was not run very well. We woke up to what we assume was house keeping at 7:00 in the morning. They unlocked the door, opened it and then closed it. An hour or so later we heard 2 other times them trying to unlock the door. It was crazy. When we went down for breakfast they asked what room we were in so we told them. The lady went to write down the room number then came back to us and said that the number was already written down that we had come and eaten already. She was nice about it and still let us eat. It was too bad because it could have been a really nice place. Our view was beautiful in the morning though. It had snowed a lot through out the night which made the sight even better. It was so good to just be with Bret. We had fun together and did a lot of talking about our future.  We definitely have some big decisions to make in the next few years. Military or no military, that is the major one. 

In the front bowl are cocoa beans. 

Playing with the extra chocolate. She told us they used to check the temp of the chocolate by putting some on their nose. 

This is what happens when you kiss someone with chocolate on their face. 

Bret decorating his bars. 

Heating the chocolate a little bit to fix some of his decorating. 

All the places people are from that have done the class. 

Some of the people in the class. Im pretty sure Bret and I were about ten years older then the others there. We were also the only ones that played a long with the teacher and made a mess. 

This water color was so cool.

Our view in the morning when we were so nicely woken up.

It was so beautiful!

The breakfast area. 

The first time in a few years we actually had to clean snow off the car.