Up a bit earlier than usual as today Jeff & I are jumping off a mountain!!! But it's ok, we'll have something strapped to us to make sure we float safely down to earth. Yes, today we are going tandem Paragliding - how awesome!

First we met our guide / instructors / pilots in Grindelwald and then took the cable car up to First, same as we did yesterday .

Today's descent was a lot easier and certainly a lot quicker though.

On the way up, one of the guides (Benny) said my accent was very strong and that it reminded him of a song from Australia. Interesting but he couldn't remember which one it was unfortunately. I'm leaning towards "Do you come from a land down under" while Jeff suggested "Waltzing Matilda".

About 8 of us in our group which was great as it meant we had the benefit of watching others take off before we had to do it ourselves.

Jeff took off before me and made it look so easy. Just run a few meters down the slope and then you're airborn.

Soon it was my turn to be strapped in with Benny and then run a few meters (don't sit down!) against the drag of the sail and voila! I was off and airborn high above Grindelwald! It really was easy .

We caught some really strong thermals and spiraled up on them near our take off point for ages before heading down the valley more. What a glorious view and an absolutely amazing feeling to be soaring in the sky like a bird! So happy we did this today and what a beautiful location to try it for the first time.

The only time I was a little concerned was early in the flight when Benny was mumbling "it's tangled, it's tangled". Not exactly what you want to hear when you're dangling from a paraglider in the sky! Eventually it became clear that the only thing that was tangled was the cord attached to the camera - not the strings attached to the chute (thank goodness!!)

Omg, so gorgeous with the snow and mountains and green valleys and cows and Heidi houses and clear water rushing through steams and waterfalls cascading down the mountain and, and sigh., beautiful.

During the flight I even had a go at steering us for a short time. What a spin - literally!

Meanwhile Jeff was also enjoying his flight but he did get a bit of motion sickness the poor boy. He'd taken a Kwell this morning too but it didn't seem to work. Apparently during his flight (without Jeff saying anything) his guide told him "I have a bag if you feel sick" . Around the same time my guide Benny pointed Jeff's canopy out and said to me "your husband must be sick". They must be able to pick up on subtle signs - like faces turning white, mouths set in firm lines and the person going very quiet.

Luckily Jeff kept his cookies but he did need to sit down for awhile at the end. (We actually saw the same guide later in the day at a different cable car station and he told Jeff "you look much less pale now!"

Did a few "tricks" just before landing. SO much fun with lots of sharp turns in both directions but a few more and I would have been feeling a bit ill too I think. Loved it to bits though. A definite highlight of the trip for me!

After Jeff recovered we walked back down to the village past houses with yards full of wildflowers, gnomes, cows and the occasional kitteh. The sun was shining, the bees were buzzing and we were on an adrenaline high.

Back to the chalet to pick the sleepy heads up and then we were off to Murren in the Lauterbrunnen valley for lunch . Murren is a small village perched on the side of the almost vertical cliffs. The only way to access is is via cable car so up we went.

First things first... lunch!!

We found a nice restaurant with a panoramic terrace overlooking the valley for lunch. A great perch to try some of the local cuisine from.

Jeff had a very unusual (though tasty) ravioli with garlic cream sauce and strawberries (weird!) and Jill finally got her lusted after Rosti in acceptable form. Rosti is one of her best memories of her visit to Switzerland 2 years ago. That and the chocolate of course. Rosti varies a lot from place to place, but essentially it's a plate full of grated and pan fried potato.

After lunch we perambulated around Murren at a leisurely pace in the sunshine while looking at the cute houses and watching other paragliders float past us and down the valley .

Decided to walk the trail down from Murren to another cliff top village called Gimmelwald, a scant 30 minutes away.

As always it took us longer than this, but this time the reason was not that we were battling snow and difficult terrain, but simply that we were taking our time, taking photos and enjoying the expansive views over the valley. Huge amount of wildflowers blooming along the trail including some new flowers we hadn't seen before. Lots of cows with their clanking bells in fields along the way too. Jill even got a friendly lick from one (eurggggh).

Down in Gimmelwald we found though it was cute too, that there wasn't really that much to do here apart from look at another gnome fettishist garden and of course the views.

Made the executive decision to cable car it down to the valley floor and motor over to Lauterbrunnen for afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea turned into an early dinner (yummy soup for me, Jill & Bev and a cheese laden Rosti for Jeff) followed by Apple strudel with custard and icecream (delicious!)! Yum, yum thanks Lauterbrunnen for assisting the development of our Swiss bellies.

Sated and mellow after our nice day we headed back to Grindelwald via a scenic detour of the upper end of our valley . Fun driving up the steep, narrow roads for great views over the town. We managed to spot our chalet - no easy feat when they all look like cute Heidi houses!

I should probably describe the Heidi Houses for those who didn't grow up with Heidi, Peter and Grandfather on tv. What we call a Heidi house is a wide wooden chalet with a low pitched roof. Sometimes the wood is blackened as apparently this helps against rot, and sometimes it is left as its natural colour. The window frames are white and are nearly always accompanied by coloured shutters on every window. Red, green and blue are the most popular shutter colours. And of course what is a Heidi House without window flower boxes bursting with vivid red geraniums or delicate trailing pelargoniums?

And it's not done for the tourists either. I've come to the conclusion that the Swiss just like things to be neat and pretty. I like their attitude!

Home to our chalet after this for cuppas and chit chat on the lounge while we watched night fall over Grindelwald.

What a great day :-)